“Don’t care,” Jake said.
Maria rolled her eyes. “See what I mean?”
Riley laughed. So far, she really liked these people. She also believed that Logan allowed the nonsense knowing it would help calm her. Except for Cody and Ryan, the men wore wedding rings, and she’d love to meet the women strong enough to take them on.
“Playtime’s over,” Logan said, drawing her attention back to him. “Cody, what’s your plan to handle this situation?”
Riley was eager to hear that, too.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Because he’d put a lot of thought into how to protect Riley while hunting down their target, Cody didn’t hesitate. Also, he knew the boss expected him to be prepared to answer that question. Since he was already on shaky ground, he wasn’t about to screw up anymore, so yes he had a plan.
He shifted to face Riley. “The most important thing is your safety. The only way to achieve that is to have someone with you twenty-four seven.”
“I have a practice to run. Are you going to follow me around while I clip toenails and neuter people’s pets?”
“Not wanting to watch that,” Jake said, and every member of the team shuddered.
Cody had the urge to cover his balls. “I think we’ll all pass on that one.”
“You guys are such babies,” Maria said.
Jake laughed. “Where our junk’s concerned, you bet your ass, sweetheart.”
Riley and Maria shared a look as if to say these guys are idiots. Something inside him unfurled at seeing how well Riley was fitting in with his friends. He’d known she would, but watching it happen quite honestly scared him. She was working her way into his life without even trying, and how big of a hole was she going to leave when he went and screwed things up?
“No, we aren’t going to get in the way of your work. Most times you’ll forget we’re even there,” he assured her.
She smirked. “I doubt that.”
Well, they were an imposing bunch, but she had no clue. “Darlin’, we’re very good at what we do, and when that means we need to blend into the woodwork, we disappear from sight. Most of the time, that’ll be me, but if I’m needed elsewhere, it will be someone in this room taking my place.” He glanced at Kincaid to make sure one of the team would be available if needed and got a slight nod.
“I just don’t want my pet owners to think they’re in danger. You won’t be packing guns or whatever, will you?”
“Oh, we’ll be packing whatever,” Jamie said, “but you or your clients won’t see anything alarming. Like Cody said, we’ll blend in.”
The next thing Cody had to say was going to be the hardest. Before he got into the details of his plan, he needed to lay everything on the table. Debating how much to say had kept him awake most of the night, but it had to be done. Other than Kincaid and Ryan, the others didn’t know he was dealing with some serious issues, and it was only fair they were warned, especially Riley, since it was her life on the line.
He probably should have told her privately, but he didn’t think he could deal with speaking twice about what was going on with him. “Here’s the thing you need to know. I’ve been grounded.” His gaze was on Riley, his words for her, but even without checking, he knew his teammates were listening as he had sensed their attention, had heard the creaks of their chairs as they sat forward. As for Riley, by the way she was looking at him and only him, and the softness in her eyes as she waited for him to continue, he wondered if she’d forgotten there were others in the room.
“Why? Because of your nightmares?”
Trust her to get right to the point. He almost regretted not telling her privately as he’d like nothing more than to lay his head on her lap, close his eyes, and tell her all his secrets while she used her fingers to stroke his hair. “In a way. I had a flashback that mirrored my dream when Ryan and I were in the middle of an operation.” He couldn’t meet the eyes of his teammates. Every man here knew you never allowed a weakness to endanger a warrior brother’s life. If that boy would have had a gun instead of a knife, the situation could have easily turned tragic.
Don’t go there, Dog. Not here and not now. “I’m getting help,” he said, finally meeting the gazes of his friends.
“Whatever you need from us, man, you know you got it,” Jamie said.
The others echoed him, and when Riley put her hand on his leg and squeezed, he came close to losing it. He’d been alone and isolated since coming home from his last deployment, and until the day Kincaid had knocked on his door, offering him a job that reunited him with his team, he’d tried to numb himself with scotch, a lot of the stuff.