their top suspect. Few people wanted to be seen with her and those who did were punished. Like Reilly.
Susan coughed, the cold of the night sharp against her lungs and disappointment heavy on her shoulders. She felt trapped and without options. Her life was falling apart and at the moment, Brady’s help was the only lifeline dangling within reach.
* * *
Brady studied Susan’s face. Exhaustion framed her eyes. She hadn’t been sleeping well. The urge to pull her into his arms was overwhelming. He wanted to do something, anything to make her feel better. Though he wasn’t here to comfort her, gentleness and kindness could help. He could relax her and earn her trust. He’d coax the missing information out of her.
He’d meant to help her as a friend. But when it came to being close to her, touching her, those boundaries were unclear and his body had its own ideas. Making love with Susan had always put them both at ease. Kissing her had been a lengthy and intensely pleasurable activity. She liked having her feet rubbed and her calves massaged at the end of a difficult day and he’d been happy to oblige her. Taking care of her had been important to him.
Brady quashed those thoughts. That was the past. The landscape of the present was much different.
Susan’s fiancé hadn’t been dead a week. She was heartbroken and grieving. She didn’t want Brady in her life. She certainly wouldn’t want him in her bed. If she knew what he was thinking, she would shut him out completely.
Her current frame of mind wasn’t conducive to learning what he needed to about Justin’s murder. Brady would have to win back her trust. Maybe they would never stand on the same ground they once had, but he’d settle for getting close enough to help his brother.
“Do you have a place to stay?” Brady asked her.
Susan rubbed her forehead. “I can call my mother.”
That wouldn’t be easy on her. Susan didn’t have a good relationship with her mother and if anything, her mother would add stress. “I don’t know what’s going on yet, but from what I can see, this investigation is being bungled. Badly. The police suspect you. They’re not looking out for you. I can. I will. Stay with me. I’ll keep you safe,” Brady said.
Wariness flickered across Susan’s face. “That isn’t a good idea.”
It was a great idea. He could keep her close, protect her and work on establishing a friendship with her. “I’m planning to watch over you and keep you safe. I can continue to follow you around, or you can make it easy on me and stay close.”
“Easier on you?” Susan asked.
Brady shrugged. “It will be harder on my leg if I have to follow you around all the time with you working to dodge me.”
Indecision and a hint of compassion flickered across her face. “Staying together will create more problems than it solves.”
For her or for him? He could control himself. Brady knew Susan well enough to read her emotions. She needed someone to look out for her. She was run-down and exhausted. A gentle push and she’d agree. “You need a place to stay. You need someone to watch your back. I can offer both, no strings attached.” Why had he felt the need to add the last phrase? Of course he wouldn’t expect any attachment from her. He’d had his chance for her love and friendship and had blown it. Twice. Once when he’d broken up with her and again when she’d visited him in the hospital. Now, she was hurting, her heart broken over another man and she needed time to heal.
Susan folded her arms over her chest. “I don’t have much choice at the moment, do I?”
He didn’t mince words. “No, you don’t.” Given Justin’s murder, Reilly’s suspicions and the events of the evening, Susan needed someone to protect her. Brady would be that man. His knee stung as if to remind him he was working with a deficiency.
He hated that he was weak and questions about his abilities flickered through his thoughts. She’d agreed to stay with him, but if tested, would his injury get in the way and prevent him from protecting her? Would he fail again at his duty, leaving Susan for dead and Reilly paying the price for a crime he didn’t commit?
* * *
Ten minutes later, Susan was buckling her seat belt in Brady’s truck. The same pickup truck he had driven when they’d dated. She ran her fingers over the dash, memories invading her senses. Before she could tumble into reminiscing about the past, a loud voice screamed in her mind to stay somewhere else. Anywhere else. Staying with Brady was a mistake. The last time she’d spent the night at his place, they’d been lovers.
The last day they’d been together before Brady ended their relationship, they’d spent at the park. The weather had been unseasonably warm and Susan had her new camera and lenses. Brady had played in a pickup football game with a few friends he’d run into. He hadn’t wanted to leave her especially when he had limited free time, but she’d enjoyed sitting on the sidelines and taking pictures. Justin had been playing in the game that day, as well. It was the first time she had met him.
She’d sensed the tension between Justin and Brady right away and had chalked it up to good-natured competition on the football field. It was only later, after her relationship with Brady was over and she’d been dating Justin, that Justin had explained he’d known Brady from their time in the military. They’d been in basic training together though their careers had taken different paths. Much to his father’s disappointment, Justin had left the air force after a couple of years, preferring work as an accountant, and Brady had remained in the service.
Susan had loved watching Brady play football. Her camera captured him in action as he ran down the field, the look on his face when he caught the ball and his intensity immediately before a big play. She’d planned to take a few of the best shots and arrange them in a photo frame as a gift for his mother. With the holidays coming up, she and Brady had been talking about their plans and Susan had been hoping for an invitation to his parents’ house for Christmas.
Susan had never gotten the opportunity to edit and print the photos for Brady’s mother. Without Brady in her life, it had been one of the loneliest Christmases she could recall.
Brady had meant more to her than she had to him. She had been tied in from her soul. Brady had his own way of connecting and yet keeping her at arm’s length. The only way she knew how to move on was to forget what she could and leave the past behind.
They’d been on unequal emotional footing. If she was going to survive this, she had to be as cold and detached as he was. She was too tired to think of alternative places to stay, but tomorrow, when she was fresh, she would relocate. “Thank you again for helping me. I’ll find another place tomorrow.”
“You can stay as long as you need to, darlin’. I’m not rushing you out. I want to keep you safe.”
Darlin’. A casual endearment he’d used a thousand times in the past. The urge to lean closer and rest her head on his shoulder nearly overpowered her. She could let Brady take the reins and make decisions and figure out what had happened to Justin. But that wouldn’t be safe for her heart. It wouldn’t end well. It couldn’t. She would too easily give him her trust and her heart, and he would leave her again with more questions and more anger.
Susan closed her eyes and sealed off her heart from the barrage of memories and emotions that swirled inside her. Worrying about Brady should fall dead last on her list. She was emotionally debilitated by the events of the week.
