Acceptable risk, p.15
Acceptable Risk, page 15
“Well, you’re not great at understanding the whole concept of team. In a team, one person doesn’t run for safety while the other gets riddled with bullet holes or blown to smithereens. So how about we call it even?”
He smiled. “How about we go home?”
“Sounds perfect to me.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
“You know you don’t have to do this. I know we joked about it when we were on the run, but I never actually expected us to go on any sort of romantic getaway.”
Tanner reached over and grabbed both Bree’s hands that were wringing nervously in her lap. He brought one to his lips.
“I wanted to do this. Wanted to take you somewhere romantic and secluded. And where I didn’t have to compete for your attention with a certain dog and her pups.”
The case had been closed now for nearly a week. Dr. Michalski was on extended administrative leave while law enforcement got the rest of the hacked-files situation under control.
Darin Carrico had been devastated by his brother’s death, but true to his word, Tanner had looked into the situation surrounding Darin’s sudden prison transfer. Once he started questioning it, nobody seemed to be able to provide a real reason for why the transfer was occurring. Tanner made a special request, and with the help of Ryan Fletcher, it looked like Darin was going to be able to stay at Camp George West for the remainder of his sentence.
It seemed a waste for four people to die in order to make something happen that should’ve happened with just a phone call.
Bree reached over to cup his cheek. “Hey, what’s that frown about?”
He turned his head so he could kiss her palm, loving the way she pushed her own discomfort aside because she was worried about him. “Nothing. Just thinking about how all this could’ve been avoided if Darin and Glen had felt like someone would listen to them. None of this had to happen.”
She nodded. “I wish it hadn’t happened this way. Even though the dead guys were criminals, they still didn’t deserve to die. And the thought of Glen being so desperate... I feel like he only became a killer because he was backed into a corner.”
“Yeah. Under different circumstances, his life would not have ended up this way. And I’m going to try to help Darin as much as I can once he gets out. God knows that family needs some proof that not all law enforcement is bad. Maybe I can help him get a job. Get visitation with his daughter.”
It was the least he could do, because if the system hadn’t been broken in the first place, all this might have been avoided.
She nodded. “Good. Because he’s going to be lost without Glen. But still, I can’t help but be glad there are a few good things that came from all this.”
“Like what?”
“Like the fact that you and I might have danced around your PTSD for months before we talked about it outright. It could’ve festered and grown into something a lot more difficult to surmount.”
“You’re definitely right about that.”
She nodded. “And of course helping Darin, like you said. Everybody needs a way to be heard. Speaking of, I talked to Cassandra about the computer class she wants me to teach for the shelter. I’ve decided to do it. To teach it myself.”
He grinned. He’d known it was just a matter of time until she’d come around. “I think you’ll be great at it.”
She shrugged. “If they can find the guts to leave their abusive situations, certainly I can find the guts to help teach these incredible women a new skill.”
“Have I told you how absolutely amazing you are?”
She grinned and waggled her eyebrows. “I’m hoping maybe we can take this weekend and both find some ways to show each other that.”
Sheriff Duggan had insisted Tanner take the entire weekend off. He’d been working twelve-and fifteen-hour days since he’d been reinstated. Just the paperwork involved with everything that had happened had been a full-time job, plus everything that had fallen through the cracks while he’d been away.
The sheriff hadn’t needed to twist Tanner’s arm to take a whole weekend off. He’d been more than happy for two full days to devote to Bree. He’d barely seen her all week. Except for the night immediately after Glen’s death, when he’d taken them to the ranch, they’d both been staying at their own places in Risk Peak.
But he planned to talk to her about moving in with him by the time the weekend was over. He wanted her with him.
They pulled up at the resort in Estes Park—an ornate place with remote bungalows meant specifically for romance and privacy.
He hadn’t told Bree where they were going, and her eyes grew big now as they parked and walked inside the main lodge to get their key. “Wow, this is fancy.”
He pulled her up against him. “You deserve fancy.”
She deserved everything.
The sun was setting as they checked in and walked down the lovely path that led to their private bungalow.
“It’s a different view from the ranch, but the ranch is gorgeous in its own way,” she said. “Maybe you guys ought to consider opening a resort.”
He chuckled. “Noah would love that. He says I already owe him a week’s worth of winter chores for having to spend three hours in the sheriff department’s interrogation room avoiding answering questions about me.”
She laughed. “You know he’s going to wait until the middle of a blizzard and then call in his marker.”
“I have no doubt about it.”
He opened the door and escorted her inside with his hand at the small of her back.
“Man, this place really is bougie.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Bougie? Is that bad or good?”
“Do you not ever talk to any of the teenagers in town? They taught it to me. Bougie is fancy good. I finally researched its origins and found out it’s from the word bourgeois.”
He shook his head. “I’m obviously not up on my slang. I’ll work on that.”
Once they were both inside and had looked around the bedroom and the living area with windows that opened out to a stunning view, Tanner wasn’t exactly sure what to do.
He’d brought her here to make love to her. Because he wanted the first time to be absolutely perfect for her, to make up for everything she’d gone through in the last week.
He hadn’t let himself get too close to her this week because he hadn’t wanted their first time to be rushed or ordinary. He wanted it to be...bougie.
He’d wanted to make love to her for so long, but now that the time was here, with no obstacles in their way and in a wondrous, romantic spot, he was actually a little nervous.
“I’m not sure what I’m supposed to say right now,” she said. “Is everything okay? We don’t have to do anything if you’re not ready.”
Enough. His own indecision was making her nervous. He snagged her around the waist and pulled her up against him. “Isn’t that supposed to be my line?”
She smiled, winding her arms around his shoulders. “It’s been a long week for you. And I know it all turned out okay in terms of your job, but we don’t have to do anything tonight if it’s just not the right time.”
“An isolated room with a giant bed and nobody interrupting us? Oh, I think this very definitely is the right time for you and me.”
His lips had barely touched hers when the phone rang on the bedside table. He ignored it, much more interested in the feel of Bree’s lips than whatever was going to be said on the phone.
But when it kept ringing, Bree finally wiggled away from him and answered it herself.
“Hello?” He continued to kiss down her neck as she answered. He could hear the voice speaking briskly.
“So sorry to interrupt you, Mrs. Dempsey. This is the front desk.”
“I’m not Mrs. Dempsey, but I’m here with Mr. Dempsey.” Tanner loved how she was breathing hard and struggled to get the words out as he continued to kiss her neck.
“My apologies. We have a bottle of champagne, for the Dempsey party, courtesy of the Grand County Sheriff’s Department, waiting for you at the front desk. We would normally deliver it to your room, but our bellboy just got sick and had to go home.”
“That’s okay. I’ll walk up and get it.” She squeaked out the last word as he bit down lightly on the side of her neck.
She barely got the phone back in its cradle before he had her pulled up against him. Her arm reached back, fingers threading into his hair, throat tilting back as she leaned her head on his shoulder, giving him better access.
Her back was completely pressed up against his front. He used one hand to keep her neck tilted at the angle he wanted, and the other to find all the places on the front of her body that he could play with until she gasped.
He found many.
And didn’t stop until she was bucking against his hand and calling out his name.
“You stay here, and I’ll go get the champagne,” he whispered in her ear as she finally caught her breath and recovered from the shudders racking her body.
She turned and snuggled against him like a little cat, rubbing his chest with her nose. He loved to see her so sated and happy like this.
And the weekend was just getting started.
“No,” she whispered. “I’ll get it. I know you wanted to shower. You get going on that, and be ready when I get back with the champagne.” She slipped away from him. “You better hurry, because if you’re not done, I’m going to have to join you in there.”
He pulled her in for a quick kiss. “You’re going to have to work on your threatening skills.”
“Oh yeah?” she asked. “Then how about this as a threat?”
He nearly swallowed his tongue as she whispered some of the things she planned to do to him once they were both naked.
“But I need a couple of sips of champagne first,” she finished with a smile.
“Good gravy, woman. Hurry up and get that champagne.”
The sound of her laugh as she ran toward the door ranked right up there with his favorite things on the planet.
He made a beeline for the shower, because although he wouldn’t mind her joining him in there, that could wait. The first time they made love, he wanted it to be in a bed, where he could take his time.
For just a second, he had a moment’s pause. Their first time really should’ve been in his bed back at the ranch—where everything started for them. But he shook it off. There would be plenty of time to make love to her there, too.
He was out of the shower five minutes later and slipping on the sleep pants he’d brought but had no plans to be sleeping in and walked back into the bedroom. No Bree.
It was only after another ten minutes had passed that he began to get concerned.
He picked up the phone on the bedside table and dialed the front desk. “Did anybody come by yet to pick up the bottle of champagne left for the Dempsey party?”
He could hear papers shuffling around before the woman at the front desk answered. “I’m sorry, sir. I just arrived for my shift. Can you give me just a moment and I’ll call you right back with an update?”
“Sure.” He hung up.
Had Bree gotten lost on the path to the front desk? It was a pretty straight shot, but she had been known to get distracted by things. He wasn’t worried, but he’d just go look for her. He slipped on a shirt and pair of shoes.
He saw the envelope as soon as he came out of the bedroom. The bloodred color of it was almost garish against the snowy white of the rug it lay on. Tanner tore it open.
Bungalow 42. I have a surprise for you.
What the hell? What in the world had Bree done? Had she figured out where he was going to take her—not that that would be difficult for her, since he’d put the reservation on his credit card—and had planned something of her own?
This woman kept him on his toes, that was for sure.
Ironically, bungalow 42 was the one he’d wanted. It was the most isolated, with the very best view. But it had already been booked.
Tanner smiled. Looked like now he was going to get it anyway.
He slipped out the door. Of course, if Bree had hacked his credit card account, they were going to have to have a long talk.
But first they were going to have a long time not talking.
He half jogged to the outskirts of the property, smiling the entire time. His grin grew bigger when he saw the door was cracked open and candles lit inside. Who would’ve thought Bree would have her own romantic side.
He pushed the door open. “Freckles, you are in so much trouble. I’m going to show you how to—”
Tanner stopped talking when he heard a voice from the far corner, obviously not Bree’s.
“Dempsey. I thought for a second I had misplayed this, that you weren’t going to come.”
Ryan? What in the hell was going on?
“What are you doing here, man?”
In the dim light of the candles, he could see Ryan reach over for a light switch on the wall. “It’s a little dark in here, isn’t it?” Ryan asked. “Let me shed a little light on the subject.”
He flipped a switch, and all the oxygen was sucked out of Tanner’s world when he saw Bree, strung up by her neck, struggling to keep stable on a chair balancing precariously on its back legs.
“Does this situation feel familiar at all?”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Fear was a fist in Tanner’s throat, blocking his airway. He let out a vile curse. “What the hell is going on here, Fletcher?”
Tanner rushed toward them, but Fletcher pulled out a knife and held it against Bree’s ribs. “No farther, or she’ll be dead before she hits the floor. Oh, wait—she won’t hit the floor. She’ll just dangle there in the air.”
Tanner stopped his approach. He didn’t want to tip her balance in the chair or cause Ryan to do anything to hurt her further.
“Fine.” He held his hands out in front of him in a gesture of surrender, wishing desperately he’d brought his weapon.
Bree’s arms were restrained behind her back, and there was a piece of industrial tape covering her mouth. Her beautiful green eyes were wide and frantic as she struggled to keep her balance with her toes on the chair.
Yes, this was a very familiar scene, and Tanner knew exactly what she was going through.
“Hang in there, freckles,” he said in a low voice.
Ryan laughed, the sound cruel and ugly. “Hang in there? That’s a pretty poor choice of words if you’re trying to provide her any comfort.”
“I don’t know what kind of sick game you’re playing, but it ends now. Cut. Her. Down.”
Fletcher’s handsome face contorted into a sneer. “No, I don’t think so. Not after all the trouble I went through to get us to this place. I think it’s about time that you learned what it’s like to lose someone.”
Tanner’s body twitched with the need to move as Ryan took the point of his knife and ran it down Bree’s bare arm.
“My original plan involved you rotting in prison for a few life sentences, but it didn’t take me very long to realize how deeply you have everyone fooled. Everyone in this entire damn county thinks that you’re some sort of hero. They have no understanding of what you really are—a murderer.”
Tanner tried to wrap his head around what Ryan was saying, while keeping his eyes glued to Bree’s face. “I didn’t kill those guys. Glen Carrico admitted to it.”
Ryan shook his head. “Glen Carrico had about twenty-three more seconds to live and was willing to do whatever he could to keep his baby brother from being transferred to big-boy prison. I was happy to scratch Carrico’s back if he scratched mine.”
It was all starting to make sense to Tanner. “You are behind the whole thing from the beginning. Did you kill Anders, Newkirk and Duquette yourself?”
Tanner grimaced when Ryan gave the chair Bree was balancing on a little push, causing her to rock haphazardly. Tears squeezed out of her panicked eyes.
He made his peace right then and there that he was going to have to kill a man he thought was his friend.
And he wasn’t going to hesitate.
He let out the breath he’d been holding as Bree finally found her balance again. He knew the terror she was going through. Knew how tired the muscles in her legs would be from trying to hold her weight at an awkward angle and just on her toes. It wouldn’t be long before her calves would begin to cramp and seize.
He could feel the phantom noose around his own throat like it was yesterday.
“Yeah, I killed them.” Ryan raised an eyebrow. “So what? The world should thank me for removing people like them from the streets. Hell, you were the one who stated outright that they should stay in jail.”
“But that didn’t mean I thought they should be killed.”
Ryan shrugged one shoulder carelessly. “They were just a means to an end, anyway. Their deaths were supposed to be your fall from grace. But nobody was willing to believe the great and mighty Tanner Dempsey could possibly be the bad guy.”
There was no point in trying to argue that Tanner hadn’t actually killed anyone and that was why no one believed him capable of it.
“Why are you doing this, Ryan? Because of Nate? Why now? You and I have been hanging out for years.”
“And never once during that time did you mention the fact that if you would’ve broken that rope around your neck sooner—tried a little harder—you could’ve saved Nate’s life.”
It all became clear to Tanner.
“You got into Dr. Michalski’s hacked files.” That had to be it. Besides Noah and Bree, Michalski was the only other person he’d talked about Nate’s death with.
And he’d said those very words. Felt that very guilt. That if he’d just made an effort and snapped the rope sooner, he could’ve stopped Nate from being shot.
