Page 1 of Deception and New Direction (Ranger Shield Security #3)

RUTHIE

According to my grandfather, I was the “most stubborn person on the entire planet”— I disagreed. That title belonged to a man named Jack Hutchinson . Jack was my coworker, possibly my superior, my best friend’s brother and, currently, the biggest pain in my ass.

Granted, we didn’t exactly start off on the right foot, and that may or may not have been my fault. Partially .

In my defense, hot guys flustered me, and Jack was hands down the hottest man I had ever met. Oh , and my best friend had just been kidnapped.

* * *

Five Months Earlier

I was wrapping up for the day at Ranger Shield Security , where I worked as a receptionist and administrative assistant. I loved my job. I had been here just over six months now and had met so many great people.

Archer, Wade , and Vince , who owned and ran the company, were all upstairs finishing up a meeting.

We had just hired two new guys since the security and investigations business was taking off.

Dane Enderson and Axel Skarsg?rd had just finished all their onboarding paperwork, and I was showing them around the building.

Our front lobby and reception area were downstairs on the street level, along with two small conference rooms where we could meet with prospective clients.

All the good stuff was upstairs though, including our security room, which housed all the cameras we had in and around the business.

Plus some cameras for a few other small businesses that paid us to monitor them.

We had a weapons room where we kept various guns, knives, Kevlar vests, and a few other items the guys might need.

There was also a small fitness room for the guys to use if they wanted to.

Finally, there were individual small offices for Archer , Vince , Wade , as well as Jack —the fourth founding member who had just finished up his last tour overseas with the Army .

He was back on US soil but finishing up his discharge paperwork.

He was supposedly flying home tonight and would be meeting the rest of us over at the pub after work.

His sister, Ellie —the only friend I had made since moving here— was very excited to see him.

After showing Axel and Dane their new offices, which were right next to Diego’s —our other recent hire— I brought them back down to the main lobby to show them where I kept any paperwork they might need while working on certain cases.

I had just finished and was about to close up when I heard Wade yell from the hallway.

“Ruthie! Get upstairs and help Archer and Vince . Now !” There was urgency but also fear in his voice, so I knew something was wrong.

Likely sensing the same urgency, Dane and Axel followed me as I sprinted up the private stairwell we had that led upstairs.

Despite running what felt like the fastest ever in my life, both men dashed past me, meaning I was the last to arrive at Archer’s office. They had the building cameras pulled up on the large TV monitor adjacent from Archer’s desk.

“What’s going on?” I asked, very much out of breath.

Before anyone could answer me, Diego yelled out and pointed to the screen.

“There! He grabbed her from the back door.”

I looked up to see someone hitting a woman over the head as she exited the back door of our building. As she fell to the ground,someone scooped her up and put her in a nearby car. It took a few moments, but recognition finally dawned on me.

“Is that Ellie ?” I asked the room.

“Yeah,” Vince responded.

Moments later, Archer sent Axel and Dane off to follow up on the woman who assisted inputting Ellie in the car. Then Archer and Vince took off with the tablet to go help Wade rescue Ellie , and Diego came with me downstairs to the main lobby to wait for the police to arrive.

It was chaos. Diego and I fielded questions from the police, showed them our security cameras, and walked them through everything that had happened.

In the middle of all this, a man off the street decided to enter the pandemonium.

“Excuse me—can someone tell me what’s going on?”

I turned to see a man I had never seen before at the entrance to our lobby.

He was good-looking, and he clearly worked out.

Dark , close-cropped hair with an equally dark five o’clock shadow all along his jawline.

His tanned skin was covered with an olive-green T -shirt and khaki cargo pants.

He was wearing a backpack and had a large duffel bag on the floor next to him.

His tall frame demanded attention, but not today.

This had happened before. Guys who left the military came in looking to see if we were hiring. On any other day I would have asked him some questions and made notes for Archer , maybe even added a few of my own just to stare at him a little longer, but again, today was not that day.

“Listen here, shitwhistle. I don’t know who you are, but you can’t be here right now,” I said to this man.

“Ruthie, I think this guy…” Diego interrupted, and I could just sense he was trying to get me to help this man, but I had other priorities.

“This guy can wait, Diego ,” I emphasized. “ Every minute we waste answering his questions,” I said, pointing to the new guy, “is a minute that could be used to help the cops find Ellie !”

Okay I may have shrieked a little at the end of that, but I wanted to find Ellie . She was the only friend I had made here.

“Ellie Hutchinson ?” the new guy asked. “ What happened to Ellie ?” His voice got louder, and he moved back into my space and closer to the cops.

“Sir, if you—” One of the cops tried to interrupt him, but he wasn’t having it.

“That’s my sister. I’m Jack Hutchinson , her brother,” the new guy said, speaking louder and with more authority. “ What happened, Officer ?”

Oh crap. This was Ellie’s brother?

Archer and Vince said he would be coming into town tonight, but I totally forgot after everything that had happened. Now I felt like a complete idiot. I’d been a total bitch to my best friend’s brother.

What a great first impression.

* * *

Four Months Later

A knock on my door reminded me that it was time to go pick up my new dog.

Dash was a retired racing greyhound. My grandfather had gotten him for me because he didn’t like me living alone.

When I met my granddad for Thanksgiving dinner yesterday, he presented Dash to me, informing me he was all mine once I got him everything he would need.

Given that it was Thanksgiving Day and nothing would be open, he was keeping him for me until I could go out and buy a bed, food, collar, leash, and everything else.

I made my way to the door, knowing Archer was on the other side.

I had asked him if he could give me a ride to pick Dash up since it would be a tight fit with a sixty-five-pound dog and all his stuff inside my small Prius .

I unlocked the door and swung it open to see Jack , not Archer , standing on the other side.

“What are you doing here?” I asked. “ Archer lives in the unit across the hall.”

I assumed he had gotten the unit number wrong, but since I was headed over there anyway, I figured I would just show him. I started to grab my purse so I could lock up and walk over with him when he finally replied.

“I’m not here for Archer . I’m here to take you to get your dog.”

“No, Archer is taking me,” I explained, a little peeved because he had offered last night and I’d turned him down.

Plus, I didn’t want to be alone in a small space with Jack .

It wasn’t that I didn’t feel safe— Jack worked for the same security business both Archer and I did.

I knew he was a decent guy. It was mostly that I didn’t trust myself with him.

He was extremely attractive. He’d also made no bones about the fact that he was interested in me.

He’d asked me out a few times in the last few months, and I’d turned him down each time.

I had hoped he would have taken the multiple hints, but there was no shaking this guy.

He wasn’t rude about it—it was more like he had amnesia and forgot I turned him down, so he just tried again, undeterred when I would say no.

“Ruthie, have dinner with me?” he asked politely as I cleaned up my desk for the day.

I thought back to how shocked I was that a man like him would even be interested in someone like me. I wasn’t ugly, but I also wasn’t on the same level as the Adonis standing in front of me.

“Um, that’s nice of you, but I’m not interested,” I said, stumbling through my response.

“Not interested in me, or men in general?” he returned.

“Oh, I’m attracted to you—uh, I mean men. I’m attracted to men, but I meant, um, I’m just not interested in dating right now.” God , this man flustered me and turned me into a blubbering idiot.

“Good to know. Another time, then,” he countered then walked away before I could even mutter another blundered response.

“Archer texted me this morning to ask me if I could do it because something came up for him,” Jack said, bringing me back to the present.

“Why?” I questioned, getting nervous that I was going to have to spend the day with the man in front of me. The man who turned me into a teenage girl staring at her first crush.

“Because he needed a favor and I want to help you out,” he replied as though it was something so simple.

“This could take a while,” I warned him so he knew what he was getting himself into.

“Then let’s go.” He waved me through the door.

I knew I could stand there and argue with him, but I also knew I had a lot to get done, and I still wanted to go into work for an hour or two and get some things done.

I wanted to introduce Dash to the office since Archer said I could bring him with me some days.

I grabbed my coat and purse and locked up, following him out to his car.