“Does a woman like that exist?” Smoke asked.
“Yes,” Bull and Eagle said at the same time, then smiled at each other.
“Of course you two think that,” Smoke grumbled. “You’ve already found your women.”
“Gramps? You’re being awfully quiet over there,” Bull said with a smirk.
“I’m not going to speculate on love. I have no idea if there’s anyone out there for me. If there is, I’m gonna take her exactly how she is. Short, tall, fat, thin, snarky, sweet . . . timid, or a woman who’s not afraid to speak her mind. As long as she can put up with me, I’m good with anything.”
“You’re not that hard to put up with,” Eagle said.
“I’m forty-five and have never been married. What does that tell you?”
“I think you’re selective . . . as you should be,” Bull said. “Don’t settle. Trust me, when you find your match, it’s worth all the lonely years that came before her.”
Quiet settled over the team for a moment.
“On that note, my brain hurts from trying to figure out who this asshole is who’s stalking Taylor,” Eagle said. “I’m going to leave you guys to it and get out of here. If you need me, or if you find out any information, please let me know. I might be taking the weekend off, but . . . not really. On the off chance this guy follows us to Bloomington, I need to be on the lookout.”
“You think he will?” Gramps asked.
“That’s the problem. We don’t know what this guy’ll do. He must’ve followed her to my place at some point. He hasn’t acted maliciously, per se, but he’s still menacing. Until we find him, and know what his motive is, we have no idea what he’s got planned. He might decide to follow us, or he might decide he doesn’t want to leave the Indianapolis area to do his stalking. But I’m not taking any chances.”
“You’ll call if anything happens?” Smoke asked.
“Of course,” Eagle told him. “If I need you guys, I’m gonna call immediately.”
“Keep your phone on at all times,” Gramps said unnecessarily. “We can track it if anything goes wrong. If the need arises, I can call our connections with the local PD and give them a heads-up on the situation.”
“If you do that, they’re going to want to know why we haven’t come to them before now,” Eagle cautioned.
“I know. And I’ll explain it. But if you’re really as concerned about this asshole as you seem to be, there’s a reason to be worried, even if Taylor can’t describe him or if he hasn’t done anything illegal yet.”
“I can’t explain why this feels fucked up,” Eagle began, but Gramps held up a hand, stopping him.
“And you don’t have to,” he said. “We’ve been teammates long enough for us to know that if the situation feels hinky, then it’s hinky. I’ll make sure the cops know this is a serious thing.”
“I appreciate it,” Eagle said, thankful for the millionth time that he had such an amazing core group of friends.
“Try to have some fun,” Gramps said. “I know you’re both on edge, but Taylor should be proud of what she’s accomplished.”
“I will, and she is. Thanks,” Eagle said as he stood up. “Have a good weekend.”
His friends all said their goodbyes, and Eagle headed out of the safe room. He smiled when the first person he saw was Taylor. She was standing by the pinball machine, trying to give Christine advice as she played.
“There, see if you can hit that—it’s worth double points.”
“Won’t it lock my ball?” Christine asked.
“Yeah, but that’s a good thing. Because if you get two more balls, here and here, then it’ll drop them all at the same time, and everything you hit is worth double. It’s hectic, but the points you get are insane.”
“What do I do if—oh crap,” Christine said as the ball obviously went between the flippers.
“Aw. It’s okay, just keep practicing,” Taylor told her.
“Just don’t get good enough to beat my Taylor, and you’ll be fine,” Eagle teased.
Taylor’s head whipped around, and she smiled. “Eagle! Are you done?”
“Yup,” he said. “You ready to head out?”
“If you’re sure you can leave early.”
“Take him,” Christine begged, her eyes once more glued to the pinball playing field. “He’ll just stand here and annoy me if he stays.”
“You love it when I annoy you,” Eagle told his employee.
“Oh yeah, you just keep telling yourself that,” she sassed back.
Eagle chuckled, then asked seriously, “Everything okay with you, Christine? You’re early for your shift.”
“I’m good, thanks,” she said absently. “The kids are at their grandparents’ house, and Bob is on an overnight trip. So I decided instead of cooking for myself, I’d get out of the lonely house and come eat some of Shawn’s awesome food. And play some pinball.”
“Great. Well, have at it, then. As long as everything’s okay.”
Christine looked up then, and Eagle heard the ball fall between the flippers once more, but she didn’t seem concerned. “Thanks for caring,” she said sincerely.
“You’re welcome,” Eagle told her, then he held out a hand to Taylor. “Come on, glamour girl, let’s go get your stuff, and we’ll be on our way to the ball.”
Taylor laughed. “I’m not sure I’ll ever be a glamour girl, but thanks for the vote of confidence,” she said.
Eagle pulled her close and nuzzled the skin by her ear. Her curls immediately seemed to want to fuse with his fingers as he brushed the strands over her shoulder. “You’re my glamour girl,” he told her softly, loving the way she shivered at the feel of his warm breath in her ear. “I can’t wait to make love to you tonight, where we can both be as loud as we want.”
“How do you figure? I mean, we’ll be in a hotel,” she said shyly as he steered them toward the stairs and away from Christine’s hearing.
“Right, and I don’t give a shit if strangers hear you moaning. But I know you’d be embarrassed if the Silverstone employees heard us.”
“True,” Taylor said with a small smile.
“No objections?” he asked as they headed up the stairs.
“To you making mad love to me and making me orgasm so hard I can’t keep quiet? Um . . . no. No objections. And . . . just saying, the other day when I went down on you, when we stopped at your apartment so you could grab a change of clothes I know you didn’t really need . . . you weren’t exactly quiet yourself.”
Eagle couldn’t help but burst out laughing. He was busted. Even though he’d known they shouldn’t linger in his apartment, he’d figured since it was the middle of the day, and he was with Taylor, it would be all right. He’d needed to get her alone. And when she’d gone down onto her knees as soon as the door was shut and locked behind them, he’d realized she’d needed to be alone with him just as much.
They’d made love at Silverstone, and it’d been sweet and easy. The sex they’d had in his apartment had been frantic, passionate, and almost out of control. Eagle enjoyed both kinds of sex, but most of all he loved seeing Taylor lose all her inhibitions.