Sanctuary (Family Justice Book 3) (49 page)

“We’re good to go.” Retrieving her carry-on bag, he helped her up and dropped a sweet kiss on her lips. “Come on. Let’s get moving. Boston, here we come!”

Quickly directing her to a waiting plane, the enormous jet stunned Heather. She barely managed to pick her jaw off the tarmac by the time they reached the foot of the stairs where a man in a smart pilot’s uniform stood waiting.

“Brody,” the man greeted with obvious affection as they shook hands. “Finally decided to enjoy the perks of being a Justice bigwig, huh?”

The affable cowboy holding her elbow laughed heartily. “Not a bigwig yet, man. More like a newb getting his ass tested in boot camp.”

Gently but firmly pulling her in close, Brody placed an arm around her waist.
And so it begins,
she thought.

“Captain Sawyer, I’d like you to meet Heather Clarke. Honey,” he grinned as he used the affectionate term, “this is Sawyer. Just Sawyer. He won’t fess up to having another name, and I’m pretty sure Captain isn’t on his birth certificate. He flies the Justice crew around like a hotshot fly-boy at a country fair.”

Both of the big men laughed, but the pilot eyeing her with curiosity was quick to offer a jaunty salute followed by a warm handshake. “He’s kidding, of course.” The sneer he flashed Brody made her laugh out loud. “Haven’t crop dusted in years.”

Holding onto her a bit longer than necessary, she struggled not to shriek with laughter when Alpha Cowboy pointedly removed her hand from Sawyer’s grasp. The two men exchanged some silent eyeball communication before the pilot smiled broadly and smacked Brody on the shoulder.

“Welcome aboard, you two. Quick flight. Little more than an hour depending on the air traffic around Boston. Up you go,” he motioned with his head. “Oh, and Brody … there’s a surprise for you in the cabin.” Snickering, Captain Sawyer waved them on and went about his pre-flight duties.

“Ladies first,” Brody murmured as his eyes looked past her, toward the open door of the plane. He had the look of a boy on Christmas morning who was barely managing not to run screaming to the tree in search of presents.

Winded from the climb by the time she reached the cabin door, Heather hesitated, said a quick prayer, and then stepped less-than-confidently into the plane. And just like that, all hell broke loose.

A deep man’s voice crooned, “Dude!”

Then a female voice exclaimed happily. “Brody!”

She heard his surprised gasp at finding people waiting on the plane but felt what she assumed was his absolute joy.

A low whining sound in the background became a mighty bark and then a large black object came hurtling out of nowhere, pushed past her, and literally leaped onto Brody.

What the hell?

“Zeus!” Brody hollered. “How are you, girl?

Heather watched in amazed silence as an adorable love fest between man and dog unfolded right before her eyes. Dropping to his knees, Brody wrestled playfully with the enormous black Labrador, who was covering his face with happy dog kisses.

Hmm. So it would seem she had some competition.

A tall, blond-haired man with his arm around a strikingly beautiful woman watched with obvious amusement. If she were to venture a guess, she’d suppose that Brody rolling around on the ground with an animal was nothing unusual.

“I thought you trained these beasts to show some goddamn manners,” the man teased.

Getting to his feet and calming the lovesick canine with a barely noticeable gesture, Brody dismissed the comment with a shrug. “Didn’t train her. She’s Alex’s creation. Shit.” He chuckled. “Zeus sat in on my interview. I think if she hadn’t given me a paws up, I’d be driving a mail truck in the middle of nowhere.”

The gorgeous woman moved right past Brody and walked straight toward Heather. She gulped. Pushing hair behind an ear, she wished Brody wasn’t standing so far away.

“And who’s this?” the woman asked with a friendly smile and a serious Southern drawl.

In what could only be described as a comical ballet of awkwardness and stumbling, Brody practically climbed over everyone and everything to get to her. Grabbing her hand, he squeezed his reassurance, smiled, and winked.

“Stephanie. This is Heather. Heather Clarke. She’s a counselor at the college.”

Ah
. So. With these two, her full resume was called for. Okay. No problem.

To her, Brody spoke with obvious tenderness. “Honey, this is Stephanie Bennett. She’s our resident six degrees person.”

“Six degrees?” Stephanie asked. The man approaching from the rear chuckled good-naturedly.

“Yeah. Six degrees.” Holding up his fingers, Brody started ticking off facts. “Friend to Alex. Mother to Victoria. Mother-in-law to Drae. Sleeping with Point Break over there.” He snickered. “Who also happens to be Alex’s uncle and like me, the newest Justice partner. Six degrees, get it?”

Stephanie rolled her eyes and took Heather’s arm. “Men.” She chortled. “I’m very happy to meet you, Heather.” She glanced at Brody, then at the man looking at her with a gleam in his eyes. With a soft laugh, she smiled and said, “Alex is going to love you!”

Pushing past Brody with a hearty shove, the man slung an arm around Stephanie’s shoulders and gave Heather his hand. “Calder Dane, Ms. Clarke. It’s indeed a pleasure.” She saw him shoot Brody some side eye before he laughed and added, “And yep. My nephew is going to be your most ardent fan.”

“Stephanie. Calder,” she greeted them briskly. “Are you the greeting party for this jaunt north?”

Calder nodded with an eye roll. “Sort of. Stephanie and I stayed behind until the key players were in place. That left us to deal with Zeus. Gus suggested pawning her off on you, Jensen. Think you can keep her under wraps until the big day? She has a rather important part to play.”

“Oh, man. No problemo. She’s a dream to have around. What’s the deal at the hotel, though? Better be pet-friendly or someone,” he motioned to the dog with his head, “will take it personally.”

“Carmen made the arrangements, so I’ll assume there’s some sort of doggie day care in play. We’ll figure that part out on the other end.” Calder bent down and peered out a window. “We better get settled. Sawyer’s anxious to leave.”

Brody ushered Heather to a pair of side-by-side seats. “See? Now, that wasn’t so bad. Was it?”

She glanced at Calder and Stephanie. They were clearly in love and not afraid to show it. She liked the older couple immediately. Giving Brody a warm smile, she offered her reassurance and an observation that got her companion laughing. “They remind me of my parents, and I don’t mean that in a snarky, senior citizen way. I do wish, however, that you’d prepared me for your other girlfriend.”

“What?” he asked. “What girlfriend.”

Heather looked pointedly at Zeus, who was wrapping herself around Brody’s legs. He was still chuckling sometime later when the plane took off.

“O
H. MY.
GOD
!” Stephanie giggled into his shoulder as she snuggled close when the plane made a dramatic ascent. “Your nephew is going to shit himself when he gets an eyeful of Brody’s little friend.”

Calder couldn’t agree more. Alex’s unreasonable jealousy over Brody and Meghan’s mild friendship was widely laughed at. Holy fuck was all he could come up with. Jensen pulling a bona fide female out of his ass and introducing her to Family Justice at a goddamn wedding was a ballsy move. And not only that, he could tell right away that this was no seat-filling wedding date. The dog guru was clearly besotted with the stunning but very quiet beauty.

“I can hear that woman’s brain of yours churning at high speed. Should I warn her that you’re about to embark on a one-woman intelligence gathering mission?”

“Now, shugah,” his Southern Belle cooed. “Why not? After all, you men stick together like crazy glue gone bad.”

“Point taken.” He quickly glanced at Heather and Brody. “While you’re at it? Try to find out how long this has been going on. He’s supposed to be moving to Arizona permanently in a couple of months. Can’t help but wonder what her deal is. Believe me, that’s going to be one of the first questions anyone asks.”

Stephanie also peeked at the other couple. “Well, it looks serious to me. He hasn’t let go since they sat down, and it doesn’t look she minds.”

“So is this where I provide a diversion while you circle the prey?”

“What’ve ya got up your sleeve, big guy?”

He grinned. “Well, you know that one routine in
Magic Mike XXL
? I was thinking I could-” He grunted when the surprisingly strong woman landed an exuberant punch on his arm.

“Hey,” she yelped playfully. “I thought we agreed your stripper moves stay private?”

“Sure do know how to spoil all my fun,” he grumbled as Calder gazed lovingly into her eyes. He couldn’t remember ever being this happy before. Ever.

Although he gave off a plausible and nuanced air of nonchalance about their arrangement, he was busy plotting out the future. Actually, he was glad for the distraction of Alex’s wedding. Gave him time to really think everything through instead of being rushed into action. Stephanie deserved the full court press with all the romance and Mr. Darcy bullshit he could manage to pull together.

He was not in any way unaware of the serious honor she bestowed on him with the gift of her love. Something he was quite mindfully aware of any time she or Victoria spoke of Daniel Bennett. The long-deceased man’s larger-than-life shoes were damn hard to fill.

They would marry, of course. Though they’d spoken of this commitment in broad terms, he’d yet to seal the deal with a formal proposal and a ring. But once the festivities in Boston wound down and life returned to near normal, he was going to throw down with an epic proposal that’ll melt her garters right off.

Right now, however, he had work to do. Give his lady love a clear path for getting to know Brody’s companion better.

Soon as they were at altitude and could move around freely, he whispered his plans to Stephanie, kissed her soft cheek, then got up and went to the guitar case he’d strapped down earlier. Strumming lightly, he walked up the center of the cabin and commandeered Brody’s attention.

“Jensen. Front and center,” he barked with a head gesture. “Been working on that harmony you talked about.”

“Oh, uh …” Brody mumbled with a wide-eyed look of sheer horror.

Oh, fuck,
Calder thought. Right. Duh. The song Jensen was bringing to the party was about Heather. Wow, man. The guy had some smooth moves, that’s for damn sure.

Chuckling as he strummed more forcefully, Calder offered a sly grin. “Okay then. So no to
Ava Maria
. How about we work on something else? Come on. Let’s sit near the back so we don’t annoy the ladies.”

Throwing Stephanie a meaningful look, he handed off the floor to her and peeled Brody away from his date. The rest was up to her.

“I don’t understand kiwi. Do you? My assistant eats it, fuzz and all.” Stephanie shuddered. “Yuck. Just the thought.”

Plucking some big, red grapes off the fruit plate, she plunked one in her mouth and bit down. “Now, give me something simple, like a grape. No questionable outer covering. And, most of the time, no seeds to deal with.”