“Me too.”
Then she was gone.
He brushed at his pants. “That was fun.”
CHAPTER TWO
“I forgot how hot he was.” Jax stood in the doorway of Claire’s room in the Tarzana house they shared.
It was after one in the morning, but they were still buzzing from the late night. Claire was slipping out of the formal clothes and into a pair of boy shorts and a T-shirt to sleep in. And Jax was talking about Cooper.
“Don’t let him hear you say that. He will remind you every chance he gets about that ‘one time’ you said he was hot.” Claire motioned toward the disguised camera in the hall that she knew was equipped with audio as well. The home had undergone some extensive security adaptation back when Neil’s wife had lived there. The man took protecting his family to serious extremes. When Jax made the move, she and Claire both decided that the internal cameras and audio needed a kill switch. The last thing either of them wanted was for their coworkers to see what they were doing in their personal time. Like talking about the hotness that was Cooper.
Jax flopped on the end of Claire’s bed and curled her pajama-covered legs under her. “Any idea what this special meeting we have tomorrow is about?”
Claire shook her head.
Neil had told the team to sleep in but be at the office at ten in the morning.
“Neil’s cryptic. You never know what the man is thinking until he actually tells us.”
“I hope it’s fieldwork.”
Claire walked into her bathroom and turned on the hot water in the sink to scrub off her makeup. “You and me both. Running after Cooper and taking him down was the highlight of my week.”
Jax spoke from where she sat on the edge of the bed. “Neil knows you get bored. I think that’s why he arranged a decoy.”
“He’s right. Things need to pick up or I’m going to be signing up for those weekend murder mystery things for a little excitement.” Claire used a washcloth to work the mascara off her eyelashes.
“Those look lame.”
“Better than sitting at a computer all the time.”
Back in her bedroom, she climbed onto her bed and faced her best friend.
“It’s crazy how much stuff Richter taught us that we never use,” Jax said with a sigh. The more tired her best friend got, the more her German accent showed up.
Richter was a military-style boarding school in Germany where they both went to high school. Emphasis on military, right down to arms training and hand-to-hand combat. The school housed many secrets inside of its halls. From murderous faculty to recruiting for special agents and covert assassins. All that changed thanks to Neil’s team. Not that the team had any real recognition for their efforts. No, they moved in, exposed the wrongs, and moved out. “That was an exciting night,” Claire said, reminiscing about the evening Richter changed its ways forever.
“Feels like yesterday.”
It had been six years. Jax had had a semester to go before she could graduate from Richter, and Claire had moved with her new chosen family to Southern California.
Neil set her up in the Tarzana home, and Sasha paid for her to go to college. Sasha had attended Richter years before Claire landed there. When Sasha had returned, searching for direction, Claire had taken their mutual understanding of each other as a sign. A sign to liberate herself from the walls of Richter and venture out on her own. Only she hadn’t been on her own. Sasha had been there, along with AJ, her now husband. Claire had always viewed Sasha as an older sister. Sasha made sure that Claire had what she needed, but didn’t helicopter and assume the role of parent.
Claire looked up to the woman. Respected her.
Claire worked for the security business nights and weekends when she was in college. The summer after Jax graduated, she moved in and joined the crazy. The difference was, Jax returned to Europe a couple of times a year, since that’s where her family lived. Claire spent her holidays with Neil and his family, or Sasha and her chosen family.
Neil, the big, stoic dude, busted her ass all the time. He was half father, half boss. And Claire did whatever she needed to to earn the man’s respect.
Jax unfolded from the bed. “I’m exhausted.”
“Me too. Good night.”
“’Night, Loki.”
There was nothing formal about her work when Claire wasn’t on a personal detail. She arrived at nine thirty and was dressed to go for a late-morning run once the meeting was over. Which meant she wore running shorts that hugged her legs, a pair of Adidas, and her hair pulled up in a ponytail. She would have loved to say she wore some kind of special running bra, but since nature teased her in that area, the garden-variety sport top did the job.
She walked into their main headquarters and straight to the surveillance room. Up on the wall of monitors were views from cameras on many of their clients. Most were angles from front doors, or backyards. But all of them could be expanded with the flip of a switch. Security was a serious business for the rich and famous.
“Good morning,” she said as she walked into the room.
Rick turned around in his chair and offered his signature smile. “Hey, Yearling.”
She rolled her eyes at the nickname she couldn’t shake, regardless of the fact she’d been on the team for over six years. “I’m surprised to see you behind the desk.” Rick was Neil’s right-hand man on many occasions. He was almost the size of the other man, but with an easier smile. The two of them went back to their days in the Marines. They’d been to hell more than once, from the stories Claire had heard.
“Favor to Neil,” he said.
“Is this about today’s meeting?”
“Yup” was all he offered before changing the subject. “Judy told me everything went like clockwork last night.”
“Did your wife tell you about the false heist?”
Rick laughed. “I heard about that from Lars.”
Claire moved to the coffeepot that never seemed to empty. “It’s probably wrong for me to crave that kind of excitement.”
Rick glanced back at the monitors. “It’s normal for people like us.”
“I’m not sure that applies to me or Jax. We never saw combat.”
“No, but you both trained for it.”
She supposed that was true.
The door to the room opened and Neil popped his head in. “Good, you’re right on time,” he said to her.
“I’m a half an hour early.”
He looked her dead in the eye, blinked. “Like I said, right on time.”
She shook her head. In the early years, she had to arrive fifteen minutes early, and then somehow, after she graduated with a degree in criminal justice, Neil pushed that fifteen minutes to thirty.
She could lie and say she hated his expectations.
The truth was Claire liked the boundaries and structure.
“You gonna tell me what today is all about?” she asked.
He looked at his watch. “In about twenty-five minutes.”
Claire returned her attention to the coffee, smelled it, and decided to put her effort into a fresh pot. “I don’t know how you guys drink this stuff,” she said as she walked out of the room to find water.
“Grows hair on your chest,” Rick called out behind her.