Chapter 1

Landon

Life is sometimes nothing but a series of mistakes.

Mistakes that leave you wondering a few hours later what the hell you were thinking.

Mistakes that seem like a brilliant idea at the time.

“Ooh, coffee,” my latest mistake says, walking into the kitchen, wearing nothing but a hockey jersey. My hockey jersey, which was hanging in my closet until a few minutes ago.

“I’m going to need that soon.” I nod at the item of clothing.

The blonde, whose name I can’t quite remember, sidles up to me. I met her at the bar Adam, Connor, and I went to last night. I hadn’t gone there to get laid, but here I am, with a strange woman in my town house.

“I didn’t know you play hockey,” she says with a seductive purr. It was a turn-on last night. Now, not so much. “I loooove hockey.”

Something about the way she says this hints that it’s not entirely true. I recognize the look in her eyes from my days in junior hockey.

She’s not a real fan of the game. Hooking up with hockey players is her sport of choice.

I’d dealt with a few of those in my past, back before I realized I’d never be good enough to play in the NHL.

I give her a single nod—because there isn’t anything more to say on the subject. She’s just reminding me why I don’t typically bring one-night stands to my place.

Not that one-night stands are a habit of mine these days.

Blondie is one of those rare occasions.

She doesn’t get the hint and leans against the granite kitchen counter. “Can I have some, please?” Her gaze drops to the mug in my hand, and I stiffen.

But while I’m not exactly happy she’s still here, I’m not going to be an asshole and kick her out of my home.

Yet.

If she decides to overstay her welcome, I’ll politely ask her to leave.

I remove a mug from the kitchen cabinet, fill it partway, and hand it to her.

“Thanks.” She takes a sip and pouts at me. “You’ve already showered?” she says, stating the obvious. My hair’s still damp.

My goal had been for her to wake up while I was in the shower and be the kind of woman who bails while the guy’s preoccupied.

Instead, she slept the entire time and only woke up when the coffee had finished brewing.

“I was hoping we could shower…together.” She flashes me a look that reminds me of Mojo—my colleague’s Bernese mountain dog—whenever he sees his favorite treat.

Then she winks at me…which lasts an incredibly long time. Like her eye has frozen shut. “Oh, darn it. My false eyelashes are stuck together. Can you help me, Landon?”

Sorry, sweetheart, you’re on your own.

Before I can voice that out loud, “Hit Me with Your Best Shot” plays from my phone on the kitchen table.

Saved by Pat Benatar.

“Sorry, I have to take this.” I don’t suppose you’ll be gone by the time I return.…

I pick up my phone and head upstairs to my office.

Inside, I close the door behind me. “What’s up?” I ask Liam. My boss.

The owner of Quade Security and Investigations.

My former brother in arms.

Liam doesn’t call the team on a Sunday unless it’s super important. He’s a family man through and through—especially since his daughter was born over a year ago.

Cassie and his wife, Ava, are his world.

“I need you to come into the office this morning. I’m calling the entire team in.”

“I’d ask what this is about, but now’s not a good time for me to talk.” I have no idea if Blondie’s the curious type—if snooping gets her off. “As soon as I get some baggage out of my house, I’ll be there.”

Liam has been my friend for too long to miss the hidden meaning between the words. “You know, if you found a nice woman to settle down with, the overstaying-their-welcome baggage wouldn’t be a problem.”

“You sound like my mother.”

“Your mom is a wise woman.”

We end the call, and I head downstairs. Blondie is still in the kitchen, in my hockey jersey, coffee mug in hand, in no particular rush to leave. Her eyelashes are no longer stuck together.

“I have to go to work now,” I tell her, hoping she gets the hint this time.

She frowns, her pout resembling that of a toddler denied a cookie more than it resembles the pout of a supermodel selling sexy lingerie. “Work? But it’s Sunday.”

I shrug because it is what it is.

“You never did tell me what you do for a living.” She sips on her coffee.

“I’m a janitor. The usual weekend guy called in sick.”

Rule #1 when it comes to hookups: Never tell them my real job.

Even if I don’t mention the off-the-website part of the job—the part involving secret government contracts—telling women I work for a security and investigation company leaves them with all kinds of alpha-hero fantasies.

It makes me, in their eyes, more desirable, more exciting, than someone who cleans an office building for a living.

The frown between Blondie’s eyebrows returns. “This is a really nice place for a janitor.”

I don’t dignify her comment with a reply.

Fortunately, she finally gets the hint, puts the mug on the counter, and heads upstairs to hopefully get changed. She returns a few minutes later in the dress she was wearing last night. Her hair is no longer messy.

“I had fun last night,” she says, batting her eyelashes at me. They miraculously don’t stick together this time. “I would love to see you again. Maybe we could catch a movie and dinner later this week?”

Her tone is not of someone hoping to be a booty call. It’s more along the lines of wanting something I can’t give—my heart.

Or what’s left of it.

No, a woman didn’t cheat on me or do me wrong. Just the opposite. My post-college girlfriend was the love of my life. I was positive she was it—the woman I would one day marry.

At least that had been my plan until she went out with friends. The next time I saw her, she was in a coma and on life support.

Her parents removed her from it a month later.

After that, I joined the military. And on more than one occasion witnessed a brother die—and each time, like with my girlfriend, I was unable to do anything about it.

“Sorry,” I tell Blondie, “but I told you last night it was a one-time-only deal. That hasn’t changed.”

She shrugs, the disappointment on her face nothing more than a flicker. A minute later, the front door clicks shut behind her.

I grab my jeep keys and head out the front door. The crisp November air is heavy with the promise of rain.

A faint whimper, almost a squeak, draws my attention to a bush on my property. I walk over to the sound and crouch next to the bush, where a small tangle of reddish-brown fur with large floppy ears lies.

“Hey, little guy, what are you doing here?”

The puppy lifts its head slightly and gives another whimper. It doesn’t have a collar, doesn’t look familiar.

I hold my hand out to him, letting him sniff it, and stroke his soft head. “Are you injured?” I don’t know a whole lot about dogs. My only real experience with them comes from my colleague’s dog, Mojo. Jayden’s dog is a Bernese mountain goofball who likes to hang out at the office and soak in as much attention as possible.

I scan the sidewalk, searching for the puppy’s owner. With the exception of several cars driving past, there’s no other sign of life.

I gently scoop him up and cradle him against my chest. He releases a soft, pained sound at the movement, but then he snuggles closer to me.

“There’s a twenty-four-hour vet clinic on the way to my office. I’ll drop you off there on my way to my meeting.”

I carry him inside the house, locate a box big enough to hold him, and cushion it with a towel. The puppy whimpers and licks my hand when I lower him into the box.

The clinic isn’t busy when I arrive—other than a talking parrot that keeps saying, “Spank me naughty boy,” two cats eyeing him with distrust, and a snoozing golden retriever.

The parrot’s owner is a woman in her midtwenties. Her blush deepens every time he speaks. “Would you quit saying that?” she mutters to the bird, sounding more than ready to stuff a cracker down his beak to shut him up.

While I wait for the puppy’s turn, I fire off a text to Liam, letting him know something came up, but I’ll be there as soon as possible.

Five minutes later, the puppy and I are in the exam room, and the vet is checking him over.

“He’s a little malnourished, and his front leg is sprained,” the man explains. “But he should fully recover in no time. I’d like to keep him for twenty-four hours to monitor his condition; then you can take him home.”

“He’s not my dog,” I remind him.

“He didn’t have a tattoo. Let me see if he has a microchip.”

The vet checks the puppy’s neck with a handheld device and shakes his head. “Either the owner didn’t get around to having the microchip inserted, or it’s not functioning.”

“What do I do now?”

“I can look if there’s space available in a foster home. Otherwise, you can drop him off with the SCPA and hope someone claims him or adopts him soon.”

“What would you do?”

He chuckles. “Keep him. But unfortunately, my house is already full of pets, so that counts me out. I don’t suppose you know anyone who would love to give him a home in the meantime, and potentially permanently.”

“Not really. I can ask my colleagues if they’re interested, though.”

“Let me know. And if not, I’ll look into the foster care situation, and I’ll let you know what I find out when you pick him up tomorrow.”

“I hadn’t planned on coming back for him. I was just going to pay his bill and was hoping you could find him a new owner.”

“Unfortunately, we don’t have room for him once he’s no longer a patient.”

The furball flashes me his puppy eyes, gives a little whimper, and licks my hand.

“He definitely likes you,” the vet says.

Likes me or not, I’m not looking at adopting a dog.

But despite that, I can’t help but stroke the soft fur on his head. “What kind of dog is he anyway?”

“He looks like a cockapoo.”

“A cock-a-what?”

“It’s a designer breed. One of his parents was a poodle and the other a cocker spaniel.”

“Isn’t that the definition of a mutt?”

“Not in this case. It’s when two different breeds are mated to produce an animal that hopefully includes the best attributes of both breeds. That’s why they call it a designer breed.”

I shoot the puppy’s picture with my phone to show the guys and Isabelle at the meeting. Maybe I can convince one of them to adopt him, because one thing’s for certain, I don’t want to drop him off at the animal shelter. The poor little guy deserves better.

***

Liam, Connor, and Adam are seated in the conference room when I arrive at our office.

“Jayden and Isabelle aren’t here yet?” I ask, taking my seat next to Adam. A coffee from The Coffee Nut is waiting in front of me. I nod my gratitude to Connor.

“They’re on their way,” Liam says.

“Do you think he’s asked her?” Adam is referring to Jayden’s plans to propose to Isabelle this weekend. His girlfriend. The woman who used to be our kickass office manager before she finally proved to both Liam and Jayden that she deserved to be the company’s first female operative.

But while she was proving herself capable of the job, she and Jayden were falling in love.

Well, truth be known, they were in love prior to that…but they were both too blind to see for themselves what the rest of us already knew.

“I guess we’ll find out soon enough,” Liam, the only married member of the team, says. “What took you so long to get here?”

I tell them about the puppy and show them his picture. “I don’t suppose any of you would like a dog.”

Liam shakes his head. “I’ve already got my hands full with Cassie. I don’t think I could handle a puppy thrown into the mix.”

“I’m more of a big-dog lover,” Adam says. Connor agrees with him.

“Why don’t you adopt him?” Adam asks.

“Same deal. If I adopt a dog, it’ll be a big one. But I’m not looking to adopt a dog or a cat or any other animal.”

Liam opens his mouth, as if to say something, but doesn’t get that far. Jayden and Isabelle enter the room, holding hands.

“She said yes,” are the first words out of Jayden’s mouth. A wide grin spreads on his face.

“We told you she would,” Liam says, pushing himself out of his chair.

We congratulate them. Hugs are exchanged.

“You called us in to see if Jayden went through with the proposal?” Isabelle asks after we’re finished. From her expression, I’m guessing the two of them were celebrating the proposal with some horizontal action when Liam called them.

“No, I called everyone in for another reason.” Liam gestures for us to take our seats. “We’ve been asked to help, once again, with the Orlov case. Even though Vadik and his men at the winery were arrested—and are currently facing life in prison—the Feds have yet to locate his grandson, Nikolai Orlov. As long as he’s still free, the Orlov family will continue to commit crimes. He was marked to take over the family business once his grandfather stepped down, and it’s suspected he’s doing just that. Only now, he’s deep underground.”

“And the Feds want us to flush him out?” Landon asks. Vadik Orlov was the leader of a Russian crime family we helped the FBI with several months ago.

“That’s exactly what they want us to do. But we’re doing it through his cousin, Chloe Reinhart.”

“Chloe? Isn’t she the owner of that winery?”

“Yes, the winery that the Feds suspect she has no idea she owns. Her name is on the legal documents, but the Feds have nothing beyond that to indicate she’s ever been on the property. They interviewed the employees, and none of them have actually met her. Or at least, none of them have met the woman in the photo they were shown.

“They’re hoping she knows where her cousin is hiding, or at the very least, he’ll attempt to contact her.”

“Would he really take that risk if he believes the Feds are looking for him?” Isabelle asks.

“It’s possible. As kids, the two were close. Back then, Nikolai would do anything for Chloe and was super protective of her. The Feds don’t know why, but it’s clear there was a special bond between them. They’re hoping it’s still there, even though he has yet to reach out to her—as far as they’re aware.”

I pick up my coffee. “So they want us to do surveillance on her?”

“It’s more than that. They want someone to get close to her. Get to know her and gain her trust. But they’re also concerned for her safety. They have reason to believe one of Orlov’s enemies has issued a contract on her.

“The Feds obviously can’t put her under witness protection because then Nikolai won’t be able to contact her, and they won’t be able to nail him.”

“What do we know about her?” Jayden asks.

“She’s an elementary school teacher. Single.” Liam pushes the manila folder in front of him toward me. “And she’s about to become your girlfriend…”

©Stina Lindenblatt 2020

Available in ebook and print.