Page 29 of Deception and New Direction (Ranger Shield Security #3)

RUTHIE

I’d been thinking. A lot. Probably overthinking, if I were honest with myself. It was a week later, and I realized I was falling for Jack . Hard . I needed to talk to my friends.

I texted all of them to see if they could get together later for happy hour drinks and maybe dinner. Ellie said she was working, so we should just come over to the bar and hang there, at least until her shift was done. I agreed and tried to go back to my day at the office and focus.

Near the end of the day, a man walked in, and boy, was he a looker. Gorgeous dark-copper skin, shaved head but with a neatly trimmed goatee, and muscular.

“Hello. How can I help you?” I said to the tall, dark, and handsome man.

“My name is Andre Fallon ,” the man said in a smooth voice. “ I’m a friend of Diego’s . He told me to stop by and fill out some paperwork about a job opening.”

“Ah yes,” I said clapping my hands together. “ Diego told me you’d be stopping by.”

I pushed back from my chair to grab the paperwork. When Dash popped his head up to check out our new visitor, I said, “ He’s friendly, I promise.”

“Oh, I’m good with dogs. My girlfriend trains service dogs, so I’m around them all the time,” he said as Dash walked over to him and began sniffing him as though he was covered in food.

I laughed and apologized. “ Sorry . It appears he knows you have been around other dogs and is going to sniff every detail he can from your pants. Dash , leave him alone. Come sit.”

Dash’s head slumped and he looked at me as though I had just crushed all his hopes and dreams.

“He’s okay. I don’t mind,” Andre said as I handed him the forms.

“What kind of dogs does she train?” I asked, handing him a pen and clipboard to go with the papers.

“Mostly golden retrievers, but she does a variety depending on the client’s needs. She just got in two new golden retriever puppies last week.”

“Oh my goodness,” I squealed. “ I bet they are so cute! Do you have pictures?”

“Yeah, she sent me one earlier of them jumping all over each other,” he said, pulling out his phone to show me.

I stood there next to him as he showed me cute picture after cute picture of puppies, until Jack walked in and made everything awkward.

“Can I help you?” Jack asked Andre .

“Name’s Andre . I’m Diego’s friend. He sent me here to fill out some employment paperwork.”

“Great,” Jack responded as he slid his hand around my waist and pulled my back up against his front. “ Diego isn’t here right now, but we can get you the paperwork you need to fill out.”

“Jack,” I admonished, gently pushing at his hand and embarrassed at how rude he was openly claiming me in front of our guest.

“Not a problem, man,” Andre told him with a small grin on his face, and then he turned to me. “ If you don’t mind, I’ll take these home and bring them back tomorrow.”

“Sounds good,” Jack responded, sliding to my side and unlatching himself from me, though he stayed close. “ I’ll let Diego know you stopped by. I’m Jack , by the way—nice to meet you.”

Jack stuck his hand out for Andre and he shook it.

I felt bad and didn’t want Andre to be put off by Jack’s alpha-possessive moves. “ You don’t need to if you’d rather stay here and fill them out.”

“It’s all good. I’ll bring these back tomorrow. Thank you,” Andre said as he walked out the door.

I turned to face Jack and give him a piece of my mind. “ Are you done being a jerk?” I barked out.

“How was I a jerk?”

“Don’t play stupid,” I chastised him. “ You came in here, grabbed me, all macho- I’m -gonna-pee-all-over-my-territory-and-mark-it-so-you-know-she-belongs-to-me, like a jerk. I’m not a piece of meat, Jack .”

“You do belong to me,” Jack began.

I started to get pissed, but he held up his hand at me and spoke again before I could get a word in.

“Not in some chauvinist kind of way, but in an I’m yours and you’re mine kind of way. That man was too close to you, and I have no problem letting him know you’re taken.”

“He has a girlfriend! A girlfriend who trains service dogs! He was literally showing me photos of puppies because he saw Dash . So you got territorial for nothing.”

“It’s never for nothing,” he said before pulling me into him and kissing me hard.

His hands, which had previously been moving down my back, now glided over my butt and squeezed.

“I don’t feel any panty lines,” he whispered against my ear. “ Will you tell me what color thong you’re wearing, Ruthie ?”

“I can’t since I’m not wearing one,” I muttered back.

His hands froze. I wasn’t sure if he hadn’t heard me or if he was confused.

“What? Panties leave lines, and thongs get all twisted, and I hate that feeling,” I explained. “ It’s just easier to go without sometimes.”

“Please tell me you haven’t sat around in that tight skirt in front of me all day with nothing underneath?” His voice sounded strained as he spoke. “ Are you trying to kill me?”

It made me feel sexy when he talked about me like that. About how he lusted over me. It made me feel powerful that I could derail his thoughts and his priorities.

He kissed me again, and it felt very possessive. It also turned into a kiss with tongue. He tilted my head with the hand on my neck and effectively took over not only that kiss, but also my thoughts.

“Get into a room,” Axel yelled teasingly from behind Jack , startling me and causing me to pull back.

I snorted. Recently Axel had informed me that the hardest thing for him to learn after moving to the US was all the common phrases and sayings. He had asked me to tell him when he got one wrong. I was happy to have something else to focus on, so I let him know.

“Umm, Axel . The correct phrase is get a room ,” I informed him.

“Good to know,” Axel replied. “ Just dropping these files off, and then you two can get back to your makeover session.”

I smiled and corrected him. “ It’s called make- out session.”

“Got it,” he said with a smile then turned to go back up the stairwell.

I felt light shaking in front of me and looked to see Jack smiling big and doing a poor job of containing his laughter.

“What?” I asked, not sure if he was laughing at Axel or me.

“Nothin’, sweetheart,” Jack said as he leaned in to give me a quick peck on the lips and walked away.

Men were so weird. He went from angry and territorial one minute to laughing and smiling the next.

I needed to get out of the office and away from Jack for a bit, so I decided to run to the bookstore down the street really quick and pick up some books I had ordered before I met the girls at the pub for happy hour.

I sent a message up to the guys to let them know I was headed out about twenty minutes early.

We didn’t have any more appointments scheduled for the day, but I wanted them to know that no one would be manning the door or phones.

Archer and Dane gave a thumbs-up, so I grabbed the keys to the company car and made my way out.

Doctor Foster had told me I was permitted to drive if needed, and I had been good up to this point, but I needed this time to get away, so I took it.

Forty minutes later, I finally made it back to the pub and joined Cat at the bar. Ellie and Tammy were both working behind the bar and came over to say hi when I sat down, which I reciprocated before letting out a big sigh and thunking my head on the bar top.

“What’s wrong?” Ellie asked.

“Hypothetically speaking,” I said before lifting my head up. “ If someone were to get a ticket from a cop, do you think they would tell Archer since he’s my boss?”

“I don’t think that’s legal to tell your employer if you get a speeding ticket,” Cat responded.

“Well, what if it was a bit more than just a simple speeding ticket and it was in a company car?” I asked hesitantly.

“Oh, this is gonna be good. Hold on. Chet , I gotta hear this story, and then I’ll bring your beer,” Tammy yelled across the bar then turned to me. “ Spill , girl.”

“I got a little excited getting my car freedom back so I drove to the new bookstore on Peachtree Canyon Blvd and was jamming to my favorite Usher song,” I started to explain.

“ I guess I was really into the song, because when I was sliding in to parallel park, I accidentally backed into the car behind me.”

“Oh shit,” Ellie said. “ Was it bad?”

“No. The damage was only a couple scrapes to my car. The other cars were fine.”

“Cars. As in plural?” Cat asked, her eyebrows lifted all the way up to her hairline.

“Well, when I backed into the other car, I freaked out and pulled forward, which caused me to slightly bump into the car in front of me.”

Tammy cackled. “ Yeah , Archer is definitely gonna find out about that.”

“In my defense, the cars were parked really close together. And I love Usher and was really caught up in the moment when the song started playing in my car,” I grumbled defensively.

“I’m starting to think Archer was right about your driving skills,” Ellie said while laughing.

“Thanks for the good laugh, I needed that,” Tammy said.

“ I’ll be back. I’ve got some plans, and Val and I have decided on a few things, so once I get my break I’ll come over and fill all three of you in on them.

” Tammy walked away, rubbing her hands together as if she had plotted the greatest thing in the world.

Ellie sighed loudly. “ I’m getting nervous about what those two have planned.”

We assured her we would make sure it didn’t get too out of control, and then we ordered several appetizers to share while we chatted some more about wedding plans.

“God, I needed this so bad,” Cat said beside me as she shoved a handful of loaded fries into her mouth.

“Is everything okay?” I asked her.

“Even though I wasn’t injured that badly with what happened back in December , Vince is still on me to eat healthy and take it easy while I recover ,” Cat said, using air quotes for the last word.

“ He made me one of those chocolate protein health shakes—the kind that tastes like plain oatmeal, cardboard, and a spoonful of regret.”