Page 13 of Invincible
“Yes, my wife and I live in a small community where I’m the only vet for miles.”
“But you’re originally from where?You don’t sound like someone from up there.”
“I grew up in the foster system in Memphis, Tennessee,” he answered with a smirk.“After I graduated, I went to the University of Memphis on a baseball scholarship, then into the Army, then on to vet school.I bought out the little practice I own now after finishing my residency.The old vet was looking to leave, and I was looking for a good place to hide.”
“How long have you known Mr.Monroe, I mean Knox?”
“The first time I met Knox was when he shot me with a Taser gun before tying me to a chair.I guess that was not quite a year ago.”He smiled when he found her looking at him in surprise.“I found out we were related by accident when I was recovering from two gunshot wounds after he blew up my house.And no, I don’t know what possesses me to continue hanging around him.”
Tyler laughed, shaking her head in astonishment.“I think you might need to find better relatives,” she said.
“Right?I guess finding out I had a brother after being alone for so many years just keeps me coming back for more punishment.”He grinned at her.
Tyler found herself relaxing at Memphis’s easygoing nature.Maybe this guy wouldn’t be so bad to have as a brother.But Knox?The jury was still out on that.
“You said you were married?”she asked as the waitress walked up to take their order.She ordered a cheeseburger, fully loaded, with a side of onion rings.Memphis doubled the order for himself before fishing out his phone.
Pulling up his pictures, he flipped it around for Tyler to see.It was a picture of him and Thayer in front of their new house.Tyler studied it for a minute before returning his phone.
“My ability to find people is actually how we met.She was kidnapped by a man working for a company with a pending contract her father oversaw.I had to find her in order to give Knox enough information to coordinate her rescue.”
“Based on that picture, she must have been an infant at the time.”Tyler grinned when Memphis rolled his eyes at her.“She’s okay now though, right?”
“She’s good.It is a long story, but the man who took her was killed.Thayer is currently working on finishing her undergraduate degree.”
“Good for her.She sounds like a tough one.”She watched as Memphis’s chest literally swelled slightly with pride.What would it be like to have someone so devoted to you that he became your champion?
Their conversation turned to her job when the waitress set their order down.Weirdly, she was actually enjoying getting to know her brother.Brother!That idea was still so shocking, she wondered if she would ever learn to embrace it.
Catching a scowl from Memphis out of her periphery as she finished her burger, she turned to see what he was watching.
Two men had just walked through the door of the diner, heading toward them.One was her giant math teacher turned older brother.She had thought he was trying to kill her the semester she took calculus from him, but now she thought that was just the tip of the iceberg.
The man walking slightly behind Knox, however, she didn’t know but might want to.
He was taller than she was, but not gargantuan like Knox was.Dressed in a suit cut perfectly to hug his body and black hair perfectly cut to above his collar, he screamed law enforcement.His warm golden skin made her itch to get her hands all over it.Tyler had never had an immediate reaction to anyone this intense before.
Grabbing up her drink, she reined in her thoughts before her hands could reach out to seize him.
“Hey,” Knox said with a nod at them.The man really wasn’t a great conversationalist.“Mind if we join you?Dex’s plane got in early and I had to listen to his stomach growl the entire way over here.”Without waiting for an answer, Knox slid into her side of the booth, pushing her over.
“Dex Tanaka.You must be the Tyler Buchanan your brother told me about.It’s very nice to meet you,” the man said, extending his hand.Tyler narrowed her eyes at him, reaching for his hand as he lowered himself into the booth next to Memphis.
After ordering two more burgers, Dex turned his warm chocolate eyes on her.“I understand they’ve filled you in on why we could really use your help.Anything you can tell us will be appreciated, Miss Buchanan.”
Her gaze cut over to Memphis, raising an eyebrow in question at him.He raised his hands in surrender, looking as annoyed as she felt.
“I don’t remember agreeing to help yet.Tell me, Agent Tanaka, how exactly are you involved?”When her scowl landed on Knox, waiting for someone to answer, he ignored her in favor of plucking the last of Memphis’s fries off his plate.
“Please call me Dex.I’m sorry, I forget that Knox is like working with an intelligent mute.I’m with the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Washington, DC.I’ve been tracking a human trafficking enterprise that has been abducting runaways off the streets before shipping them down here to be exported.It’s not a very transparent trail, which makes finding the girls difficult.Anything you can do to help shut down the ring while recovering the girls I would be very grateful for.Very grateful.”
“Very grateful, huh?”Tyler watched in fascination as the FBI agent’s face turned a slight shade of pink.There was definitely more to this buttoned-up man than he liked to let on.She suspected that somewhere under his perfect suit lay a story she very much wanted to hear more of.
“I guess you never know when you can use a good, hard bout of gratitude,” she said with a wink at him before taking another long drag of her soda through her straw.Was she actually flirting with him?Glancing back up at her from analyzing his burger, he smiled.Maybe she had better check for a wedding ring before getting too carried away.
“If you’re both done sexing each other up, can we discuss what we do from here?”Knox asked, glaring over at the FBI agent.Tyler snorted out a laugh as Dex looked up at the ceiling in what appeared to be an effort to regain control.The laugh was followed by a good smack at Knox’s arm.
“Oww,” he growled around an impressive mouthful of onion rings.Memphis reached out for a fist bump, grinning.Really?She couldn’t have inherited more sisters?It had to be men?
