Run the Risk

And women would be saved. Pepper softened more.

Rowdy must have agreed, because Logan nodded. “Fine. Leave him hobbled until the morning. It’s no skin off my nose. I don’t give a damn if he suffers a little. But, Rowdy, don’t do any serious damage to him. I mean it.”

Again drawing Logan’s attention, Pepper moved to the top of the bed and leaned against the headboard, getting comfortable. He evaluated her new position with interest.

“Sure, you can call Reese yourself if that’s how you want to handle it. Just know that I’ll be calling him, too.” He listened, shook his head. “It’s not up for negotiation, so just deal with it.”

Two such controlling men, Pepper thought. Knowing they respected each other left an unfamiliar tightness in her chest.

“Rowdy, before you go…” Logan hesitated, then said, “You did good with this. Thank you.”

And there went the last of her reservations. Damn it. How could she hold on to her hurt feelings still?

Logan closed the phone but didn’t join her on the bed.

Without righteousness to fuel her brazenness, she felt a little shy. “You need to call Reese?”

“In a minute.” He folded his arms and regarded her. “Your brother wants to talk to him first.”

More than a little aware of her own nakedness, she struggled against the urge to get under the covers. “You’re okay with that?”

He shrugged. “If that makes Rowdy feel better about things, then I don’t see the harm. They can figure out a good place to leave the snitch before Reese picks him up.”

“You trust Reese, don’t you?” Just as he couldn’t discount her brother’s misgivings, she couldn’t discount Logan’s judgment.

“Ultimately, I do, yes.”

“But you’re not willing to ignore Rowdy’s concern?”

“How could I? He knows what he’s doing.”

The space between them got to her, and she patted the mattress beside her.

Gaze contemplative, Logan unfolded his arms and approached. He stopped at the side of the bed. “I’d like for you to stay here with me. In the bed.” He reached out and fingered a lock of her hair. “Sleep with me.”

Being truthful, she said, “I’m pretty zoned. I’m not sure I’ll be up for anything other than sleeping.”

“I don’t need anything else.” He sat on the side of the bed and cupped his hand around her skull. “I want to hold you, Pepper. All night. Not to get too poetic, but I want to feel your heart beating, breathe in your scent and…just touch you.”

Her heart melted.

Brushing his thumb over the corner of her mouth, he said, “Stay here with me tonight.”

Something new and different and wonderful blossomed inside her. She needed to lighten the mood or she’d soon be an emotional mess. “If I snore, no complaining in the morning.”

Recognizing her acquiescence, his grin came slow and easy. “Give me ten more minutes to make sure Rowdy and Reese have worked out the details, and then we can make it an early night.”

Yeah, that worked for her. No reason to go face-to-face with Dash after what he’d probably just heard. Besides, Logan looked as exhausted as she felt. “Same here,” she said around a yawn. “Until then, why don’t you fill me in on what Rowdy had to say.”

He did, and soon after that, they both fell asleep.

Logan forgot all about calling Reese.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

REESE SAT ON HIS COUCH, his feet propped on the coffee table, a can of beer at his elbow and his dog sprawled over his lap. A sports program played on the TV, but he wasn’t really paying attention.

Cash’s fur was sleek and soft—because Alice had given him a bath and brushed him. For some absurd reason, that really got to him.

He could almost picture it, her gentleness, that soft way she spoke…

Great. Instead of putting his brain power to the mystery surrounding Morton Andrews, he was daydreaming about a woman’s voice.

Pathetic.

He looked down at the dog and found Cash looking back. That made him grin. “You’re thinking of her, too, aren’t you?”

The dog’s tail started thumping in excitement. He lifted his head in expectation.

“No, we can’t go bother her right now. But I know she likes you a lot, too.” He tipped up his beer for a deep drink and muttered, “Me, she’s keeping at a distance. I’m going to have to do something about that, but I don’t want to screw up our arrangement with you.”

Cash’s eyebrows raised and lowered; he tipped his head.

Reese laughed. When his cell rang, the laugh almost changed to a groan. Sitting forward, he snagged it off the end table. “I just got comfortable, damn it.”

Assuming it must be Logan with another glitch, he answered.

But it wasn’t Logan, and it was a hell of a lot worse than he’d expected.

He could only juggle the issues and players for so long before everything crashed down around him.

And with every day, the crash seemed more imminent.

* * *

AS SOON AS LOGAN got to work the next day, Reese pulled him aside in the hallway. He looked haggard, tired and itching for a fight.

“What the f**k were you thinking?”

Logan studied Reese. “I take it you got the anonymous tip?”

“Not funny, damn it!” A uniformed cop glanced their way, and Reese, with a strangled breath, tried to rein in his temper. “He’s here, but Jesus, man, how do you expect me to fix this?”