Page 13 of Deception and New Direction (Ranger Shield Security #3)

RUTHIE

I woke up groggy the next morning with the realization that this was going to be a three cups of coffee kind of day—and that was just before noon.

I hadn’t slept very well last night. I told myself it was because of the flowers and rehashing my past, not because of the kiss with Jack .

Who was I kidding?

After he walked away, I went back to my room and stood there like a teenage girl with my fingers on my lips, remembering the feel of his mouth on mine.

His kiss had hit me like a caffeine overdose—heart racing, knees weak, and questioning all of my life choices.

I also realized that couldn’t happen again. Jack was dangerous. Not in the sense that I thought he would hurt me physically. More like I could see myself falling hard for him, and I wasn’t sure I would recover when he left me later. Especially knowing we would have to work together.

Dash was awake, which meant I needed to be awake, judging by the way he was lying half on top of me, and staring creepily at me.

“Alright. I’m getting up. Let’s go get some food for you and coffee for Mom ,” I muttered to him, not that he could understand me.

He hopped off the bed, and I grabbed my crutches and made my way out to the kitchen, though much slower than Dash .

Jack was already standing there filling Dash’s bowl, fully dressed, when he said good morning. “ You mind if we leave a little early today? I’m thinking we can swing by and grab breakfast somewhere since I’m out of coffee.”

Wait. What was that last part? Did he just say he was out of coffee?

“You don’t have any coffee?” I asked, hoping I hadn’t heard him correctly.

“No, sorry. I thought I had another bag, but we’re out.”

I stared at him in response and just blinked. Then blinked some more.

This day just kept getting better and better.

“I don’t know if you’re aware, but in ancient Turkish culture, if a husband failed to provide his wife with enough coffee, she was allowed to divorce him.”

He grinned at me, setting his water glass down in the sink. “ Interesting . I’ll have to remember that for when I have a wife.”

I knew he was just teasing me back, but hearing him talk about having a wife, someone who no doubt would be gorgeous, and nice, and not me, just rubbed me the wrong way. I hated it even more that my gut reaction to that comment was jealousy and envy of someone I didn’t even know.

“You okay?” he asked, seeming genuinely concerned, perhaps seeing the look on my face.

I chose not to answer his question but move forward. “ I’ll be ready to leave in twenty minutes.”

I turned and exited the kitchen, making my way back to my room.

Pulling the top half of my hair into a clip and brushing some dry shampoo through the rest since I didn’t have enough time for a full shower right now, I got dressed and ready for work and was out in the kitchen with three minutes to spare.

When I made it out to the kitchen area, Jack was walking back inside with Dash .

I wasn’t bringing Dash to work with me today because I had planned to have dinner over at the pub with the girls after work.

Vince was headed over to meet a contractor at his future property—conveniently located next to Jack’s —so he offered to let Dash out for a little bit so he wasn’t cooped up all day until Jack got home.

“Are you ready to leave now, or do I need to order a rideshare to take me to get a coffee before I get cranky?” I shot back at him, and he just grinned.

“ Before? ” Jack quipped.

I growled in response. Blast , this man irked me.

Eighty-four years later, we finally made it to the office, and my anger had calmed slightly thanks to a super-large coffee. And I only thought of killing him twice more on the drive over, so I considered that an accomplishment.

Cat could tell I was upset when I got to the office, so I gave her the shorter version of what had happened today. Mostly the parts that made Jack look bad and me look good.

So, sue me.

She just chuckled, shook her head, and smiled at me.

Midway through the morning, Vince came down to our area to see Cat . After a sufficient make-out session, he walked over to my desk to ask me about Dash .

“Does he need to be walked on a leash, or do I just let him out in Jack’s backyard?”

“You can just let him loose in the backyard,” I told him. “ It’s fenced in, and he likes to roam.”

“Speaking of which,” Jack said as he walked into the room from the back stairwell. “ When you’re done, leave the back door unlocked. Archer is gonna come over and let Dash out after work because I’ll be late coming home tonight.”

“You doing late recon or something?” I asked, because this was the first I was hearing of this.

He stared at me a bit, as though he was debating whether to answer me. “ Umm , no.” He paused. “ I’m meeting up with someone after work.”

Meeting up with someone? Oh God . He was meeting up with a woman and didn’t want to tell me. My stomach dropped.

I had noticed over the last few weeks I’d been staying with him that he hadn’t asked me out to dinner. He used to ask me out at least once a week, I would politely turn him down—okay semi-politely—he would then laugh and do it again the next week.

Not that I was upset, per se, because I knew it shouldn’t happen, but still.

He was so persistent for so long, and now just nothing.

Maybe it was because we were roommates now, he didn’t want it to be weird?

Or maybe it was because of the kiss last night— I thought the kiss was great, but maybe he hadn’t felt the same.

Regardless , he had obviously lost interest and was going elsewhere.

This was on me since I had been the one to turn him down so much.

This was also good. Because we couldn’t get involved.

“Oh. Okay . Well , umm, have fun,” I told him, turning back to my desk, pretending to be really busy on my computer, and not feeling like my heart was being squished.

No one said anything else, and I continued on with my day just like any other.

By the time five o’clock rolled around and it was time for Cat and me to head next door to the Watering Hole Pub , I was strung tight. I had been distracted the last few hours trying to get work done, while simultaneously thinking about what Jack’s date looked like.

I needed a margarita.

We walked over to the pub next door. It was part of the same building as Ranger Shield , which was nice because it meant I didn’t have to walk far in my crutches.

According to Archer , Wade’s uncle previously owned the pub but sold it to the guys, along with the entire building, when he retired.

That not only provided Ranger Shield with the huge building, but also with an initial income source via the pub, as well as a great location to scout future employees.

The pub was also a hot spot for current and former military, since it was right down the street from Dobbington Air Reserve Base .

While Dobbington was the 22nd Air Force headquarters, it was also home to Navy operations support, Army Reserve , Marine Reserve , and Georgia National Guard , which meant there were a lot of military-trained personnel to recruit from, which was exactly how we found Diego .

Half of the people I helped recruit for the company came from Dobbington in some fashion.

When Cat and I arrived, we found her sister Val and Jack’s sister Ellie already seated.

These girls were all quickly becoming my new best friends.

I’d had friends back in Las Vegas growing up, but I never felt comfortable bringing them over to my house since my dad would inevitably say something mean in front of my friends.

Then as I got older, I didn’t want for them to be at my house and have Mal show up unannounced.

I’d made some friends at the salon I worked at, but since I moved around between a few different locations every few weeks, they weren’t deep friendships.

Val, Cat , and Ellie were different. We all seemed to get along really well and enjoyed each other’s company.

We joined Val and Ellie at the booth, ordered drinks, and then Val decided to go big or go home.

“Did you and Jack have sex yet?” Val asked, and I nearly choked.

“What?” I coughed to clear my throat.

“Girl, we’re not stupid,” Val said. “ He is so into you. He asks you out at least once a week, and the chemistry between you two is off the charts.”

“I think it’s cute,” Cat added.

I had planned to ask them all about it, but once I found out he was going on a date tonight, I changed my mind since Jack had too.

“He’s obviously not that into me because he has a date tonight,” I said, probably a bit too defensively.

“What?” Val all but shrieked then turned to Ellie . “ What do you know about this? He’s your brother—do you know who it is? What does she look like?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Ellie replied. “ This is news to me too. Not that I really want to talk about Ruthie and my brother having sex, because, ewww.”

She made a gagging sound then looked back at me. “ Sorry , not you. I just don’t want to picture my brother doing that. Jack doesn’t really talk to me about that stuff, but I can ask Wade if you want me to.”

She was looking at me when she said it, but I tried to play it off like I didn’t care. “ It’s okay. He can do whatever he wants. We’re not a thing. We can’t be, really—we work together, so that would just be awkward if things didn’t work out.”

“Notice how she didn’t say she didn’t like him, just how it wouldn’t work because they work together,” Val said conspiratorially to Ellie and Cat .

I just rolled my eyes then looked over at Ellie , who was smiling at me.

“Cat, Val ,” Ellie said to them. “ You weren’t here yet, but Ruthie seems to have forgotten we had this very same conversation last year when I moved here and first got together with Wade .”