Page 98 of Protecting Bree
And before she knew it, she was engulfed in Patrick Hurt’s embrace. He too thanked her, with deep emotion swirling in his words.
Bree was beginning to feel a little embarrassed by all the attention. She truly believed she hadn’t done anything the other two women wouldn’t have done themselves, if they’d had the chance. She was just the one who’d been let out of her cage first.
“Right, so…I think we all know why we’re here!” Turning toward Jessyka’s voice, Bree found herself once more in Smiley’s arms. She snuggled in, feeling content to be with him and all her friends.
The owner of Aces was standing behind the bar, addressing the crowd.
“Tonight, there is no chicken on the menu, for obvious reasons.”
Bree laughed along with everyone else. She shared a look with Julie and Fiona, who both wrinkled their noses at the same time, making Bree laugh even harder.
“There’ll be trays of hors d’oeuvres carried around for a few hours. If you want something different…too bad.”
Everyone laughed again.
“Champagne is on the house as well, everyone grab a glass from the servers and let’s raise a toast. To Bree, Julie, and Fiona being home. For our SEALs being the best of the best. And…to Tex!”
Bree blinked, twisting her head to look in the direction everyone else was looking. Standing alongside the far wall was a man she’d never met. But she’d know him anywhere. For one, he was wearing shorts, and it was easy to see his prosthetic leg. But also, he gave off confusing vibes. Fatherly and pissed off at the same time.
Without hesitation, Bree headed his way. She felt Smiley at her back, but she only had eyes for the man who’d gone out of his way to help her. Who’d helped somany others in his lifetime. It washimshe had to thank for doing the legwork to find out they were in Ensenada. And even though Smiley’s tracker had failed, she had no doubt he hadn’t slept while he tried to discover where they’d disappeared to while in Guayaquil. Not to mention his role in the plane ride home, and the passport for her that Kevlar had pulled out of his pocket after they’d landed.
She’d heard the larger-than-life stories about this man, and it was almost surreal that she was about to meet him. From Remi to Wren, Josie, Maggie, Addison, and Kelli…this man had played a part in all of them being happy and healthy today.
The first tear fell as she approached him, and they didn’t stop as she practically fell into his arms. Tex held her as she completely lost her composure. How long she stood in his arms crying, she had no idea, but he didn’t seem uncomfortable holding a hysterical woman he’d never met.
When she finally got control over herself, Bree eased out of his hold.
“Hi,” she said a little sheepishly, as she wiped tears off her cheeks. Her makeup was certainly ruined, but that was the last thing on her mind at the moment. She had so many questions, but couldn’t remember a single one.
Tex smirked. “Hi.”
“I…you…Dang it!” Bree complained, hating her inability to speak.
“I’m Tex,” he said. “It’s nice to meet you.”
“I’m Bree.” It seemed a little surreal to be introducing themselves to each other when they were both more than aware who the other was.
Suddenly, all the things Bree wanted to say came back to her at once, and she tripped over her words trying to get them out. “Thank you. And please thank the women you work with too. If it wasn’t for you…I don’t know how Smiley would’ve found us. How did you know where the boat was going to dock? Which city and port? Were you tracking me all the way from Ensenada? I’m sorry the tracker Smiley gave me got taken away, that must’ve made your job a lot harder. Fiona and Julie told me all about you. I already knew about you from Remi and the others, but we had some time to chat on that truck, and they told me how awesome you were when they were taken the first time, and what you did for Fiona…calling her every four hours even though you had your own stuff going on. And I don’t know how you got a copy of my passport, but I appreciate that too. And the plane ride home. I just?—”
“You’re welcome,” Tex said, interrupting her and effectively stopping her word vomit.
Then he pulled her into a tight hug once more. As he let go, he said, “I need to get home to my wife and kids. And dog. And I need to figure out why the hell Smiley’s tracker failed. I’ve got his underwear in a plastic bag in my suitcase—I’m sure that’ll look weird as hell if someone searches my luggage. But I hate when technology fails me. I’ll figure out what happened, even though it’ll mean having to touch Smiley’s fucking dirty underwear.”
Bree couldn’t help it, she laughed. Hard. She’d expected this man to be…stiff and nerdy. But he was anything but. He felt like a favorite uncle. Someone she could tell all her secrets to and know they’d be safe.
He gave her a small grin that she felt down to her toes. “You moving in with Smiley?” he asked out of the blue.
Bree shyly looked behind her at the man in question, then back to Tex as she nodded.
“Figured. I’ve arranged to have your things in the Vegas storage facility shipped here to Riverton. You might want to think about where everything is gonna go.”
Bree blinked in surprise.
“Thanks, man,” Smiley said, reaching around her to shake Tex’s hand.
Then the older man nodded at her, gave Smiley a chin lift, and strode across the room toward Fiona. If she hadn’t known it before, it was obvious that woman was a favorite of his. They had a lot of intimate history, and the love they had for each other was a beautiful thing.
“You good?” Smiley asked, as he wrapped his arms around her from behind and rested his chin on her shoulder.
