Caleb squinted his eyes; the sun beat down and reflected off the gravel of the lot. “The feeling is mutual.”
It was impossible not to recognize the younger version of Joe, even with the ball cap pulled down over Jake’s forehead. While Jake had the same dark coloring and blue eyes, he wasn’t quite as tall as Joe. But, they both had a way of charming Amanda whenever she got her britches in a twist.
As much as Caleb had hated it in the beginning, these men loved Amanda, as a wife and a sister, and that made them family.
Cooper stepped forward as they approached and extended his hand. “Heard you had some trouble last night?”
Caleb cast Joe a look before grasping Cooper’s hand. “A little out of your jurisdiction, don’t you think, Sheriff?”
“I’m here in a strictly unofficial capacity.”
Cooper Jackson was Sheriff of Burnet County, where Amanda and Joe now called home. Cooper and Joe had grown up together. For that alone, Caleb had accepted Cooper’s friendship. But, it was Coop’s help last year when Amanda had been attacked that had earned Caleb’s respect and gratitude.
“As long as you don’t get in my way, I’m happy to have you here.” Caleb softened his remark with a grin. “I called my buddy, Charlie Dermot, at the Austin PD. He and his team should be here any minute. There’s enough evidence out there to keep forensics busy and the APD looking for the guy.”
His meaning was clear. Caleb wasn’t interested in the shooter. He had bigger fish to fry.
“What is it with you military boys? You think law enforcement can’t do as good a job as you?” Cooper mused. “One of these days you’ll realize we’re on the same side.”
“As long as that side is mine, we’re good.”
“How’s Sam?” Jake interrupted and stepped forward to clasp hands with Caleb.
Caleb pulled Jake in for a shoulder bump before releasing him. “She’s fine. Tough. Damned tough.” He had no business puffing his chest out with pride, but he couldn’t stop himself. She’d held up like a champ. What reduced most women to tears just pissed Samantha off. He’d discovered he liked that about her.
A lot.
“She give you a hard time last night?”
“You worried about me, Jake? Aw, ain’t that sweet,” Caleb drawled.
Jake shuffled his boots in the dirt, trying to hide his smile. “I expected you to show up sporting bruises in interesting places.”
Caleb shoved Jake’s shoulder. “Who says I’m not? I’m sure as hell not dropping my jeans to prove one way or the other, though.”
Jake laughed. “Thank God for that. I don’t need the image of your junk swinging in the breeze burned into my skull.” His expression turned to one of concern. “Sam … she’s cool though, right?”
He was struck at the love and concern everyone showed for Samantha. It was good to know she had so many champions. “As a cucumber, buddy. She’s good. Promise.”
Satisfied, Jake winked and got them back on track. “So, what’ve we got?”
Caleb gave them the rundown.
“We need more to go on. What little Sam has offered isn’t enough at this point.”
Joe nodded in agreement to Cooper’s statement. “We need Samantha to give us more information.”
Unfortunately, Caleb agreed. A sense of dread settled over him as he imagined the conversation to come. She’d refused to give them anything regarding Carlotta Matteo. Her need for silence put her life in danger and Caleb wouldn’t stand for it any longer.
“She’ll tell me what I need to know,” Caleb informed the group.
Joe studied him. “You seem pretty sure of yourself. Why would she talk to you now, when the two of you barely tolerate each other?”
Caleb imagined a naked Samantha, straddling his hips as he’d fingered her to orgasm. They’d done more than barely tolerate each other last night. Was she barely tolerating Alec right now?
Son of a bitch! He needed to get his head out of his ass if he had any chance of getting her out of this mess. He had to stay focused.
“We have a deal.” A deal that meant he’d have to let her go when this was all over. “She’ll talk to me.”
“Then get on it, man.” Joe tapped his wrist. “Time’s a wastin’.”
“I gotta go inside and talk to Rosanna first. I haven’t had time to talk to her yet and she deserves to know what happened here last night. At the very least, she can tell me who all was here when the shit hit the fan.”
Cooper spoke up. “I’ll take care of that. You focus on getting Sam to open up.”