Page 35 of Reset

As usual, it was meticulously organized, with everything arranged in sets of three or seven. The three brightly colored notebooks he’d given her the day before sat on her desk in pride of place. They were precisely spaced, as though she’d measured the gaps between them. Joe knew she hadn’t. Julia didn’t need to.

She rounded her desk to pick up her iPad from its designated spot. She kept a running list of each completed task on it, as well as a spreadsheet with every piece of information that came across her desk for each job. The one she’d started on Ryan would already be stuffed with detail. Nothing got past Julia. She saw patterns in data that other people could never spot, and she was careful to assess every single piece of information to ensure they didn’t miss anything of importance.

She was a genius. And Joe would never figure out why she’d fallen in love with someone as ordinary as him. All he knew was that he was damned glad it’d happened.

“You okay?” He came up behind her as she gave into the urge to adjust some Post-it notes on one of her many whiteboards.

He swept her shoulder-length hair aside and placed a kiss in the crook of her neck, breathing her in deeply. Home. That’s what Julia was to him.

She melted into him, giving him her trust in a way that humbled him. For someone who found it so difficult to negotiate the world, having her at ease around him was a gift.

Julia turned in his caress and threaded her arms around his waist. “I can’t bear the thought of anything happening to Ryan. He’s only now coming right from the coma and was so upbeat about getting his life back. I want him home. Where he belongs.”

“We all do.” He held her close, and she pressed her ear to the spot above his heart. Softly counting the beats to soothe herself. “You don’t need to stay in the office. You can compile notes from home. No one would think anything of it.”

“Yes, they would.” She rubbed her cheek against his shirt. “They’d think I don’t care, and I do.”

“Not if we told them about the baby.” He knew his voice was softer when he mentioned their pregnancy, and he didn’t care one bit.

She leaned back in his arms to look up at him. “I’m not ready. Soon, I promise. I’ve barely passed the twelve-week mark, and I’m still worried that…”

He hated the pain in her eyes. “That we’ll lose this one too?”

Julia focused on a spot in the middle of his wide chest. “Once Ryan is safe, then we’ll tell everyone.”

“Whatever you need, Jules. You know that.”

“Thanks,” she whispered.

Gently, he angled her chin up and covered her lips with his. She tasted like saltwater taffy, straight from his hometown’s boardwalk. Maybe, once Ryan was safe and sound, they could take a trip back to Atlantic City, just to rest up and enjoy the sea air. It would do them both good.

Reluctantly, Joe eased his lips from hers as he heard David and Elle coming back down the stairs. “Time to deal with Callum,” he said.

She nodded, clasped her iPad to her chest like a shield, and followed him out of the room.

Harvard had tagged along with David, and Joe lifted his chin in hello.

“Thought he might see something we didn’t,” David said.

“More eyes, the better,” Joe agreed as he knocked on Callum’s door.

“What?” came the charming response.

Joe shared a grin with the other two men as he opened the door. “We’ve got something you should see,” he said as he entered the room.

Callum had obviously been pacing again because he wasn’t behind his desk; instead he was over by the window. He inclined his head to the police officer taking up one of his guest chairs. “Officer Mark Jensen, Scotland Yard. Joe Barone, head of training.”

Joe shook hands with the cop, whose eyebrows rose as the rest of the team filed into the room.

“We need more chairs,” Elle said to David, who turned around and went to fetch some.

“No, we don’t,” Callum shouted after him. “I’ve already got too many bloody chairs.”

“Bad day, boss?” Elle asked as she plonked her laptop down on his desk and made herself comfortable in his seat.

Joe, meanwhile, made sure Julia took the other guest chair and didn’t decide to hide in a corner instead. She gave the police officer a shy smile before focusing on her iPad.

David came back with a couple of folding chairs, and when Joe shook his head, Harvard took one and David set the other beside Elle before sitting in it.