Protect Me Not ((Un)Professionally Yours 2)

“I thought I’d be staying with Brand,” Ty said.

“What would be the sense in that?” Miles asked. “Of course, I understand if you’d like to go and visit him. You’ll have use of the Jeep while you’re staying here. To take Vicki wherever she needs to go. In fact, if you don’t want to stick around for our family dinner tonight, you’re more than welcome to take the night off and drive over to Brand’s.”

Ty cast a covert glance in Vicki’s direction. She was holding the happily wriggling dog in her arms, still talking and laughing with her mother and George, even though Ty could tell from her tense body language that she was aware of his exchange with Miles.

“Thank you for your kindness, ma’am, sir…” He tipped his head politely. “If you wouldn’t mind directing me to my room, I’d love to shower and change before heading out.”

Charity waved her hand and continued to grace him with that warm smile, “Please, call me Charity.”

Ty exchanged an awkward look with Miles Hollingsworth, whose stern face was softened by the amusement in his eyes. He didn’t say anything to ease Ty’s discomfort, and Charity snorted good-naturedly. The sound drew Ty’s gaze back to her lovely face.

“And you can call this one, Miles. No point standing on ceremony, this is a happy occasion. I want everybody to be as comfortable as possible.”

“Right. Thank you.” He didn’t really know what else to say.

But it must have been enough because she nodded, as if that settled the matter. “Follow me, I’ll show you to your room.”

“I warned you,” Sam Brand laughingly told a disgruntled Ty as they left the town’s retirement village the following evening. Ty now had a significantly lighter wallet, thanks to a couple of savvy old card sharks and a cutthroat game of poker.

Brand’s dog—a huge, friendly boxer named Trevor—trotted ahead of them. The dog was proudly wearing a fluorescent yellow therapy dog vest. He had spent the evening, going from person to person for treats and hugs.

“That Bertie guy seemed so damned harmless,” Ty grumbled—picturing the well-dressed elderly man, in his white fedora.

Brand laughed again.

“So you come here every Sunday?” Ty asked.

“Yes. Poker on Sundays, social mixers on Wednesday. Which reminds me, they’re expecting to see you on Wednesday. You were such a hit the last time you were here.”

Ty smiled as he recalled the mixer he had attended the last time he had been in town with Vicki. He wasn’t the best dancer, nowhere near as good as Sam—who appeared to have had to some formal training—but he’d held his own. He had enjoyed the sweet old ladies, who had giggled and flirted with him as if they were teenagers at a high school dance.

“Depends on Vicki. She might have plans.”

“Naturally,” Brand agreed smoothly. “Does she have a schedule?”

“No. Honestly, I don’t know why I’m here. This feels more like a vacation than work.” And Ty would much prefer to be back in cold London than here, where he and Vicki had barely exchanged two words.

“You deserve a vacation.” Brand seemed wholly unconcerned that Ty being here was a colossal waste of company time and money. They climbed into Brand’s truck. Ty had left the Jeep at Brand and Lia’s cottage. “Speaking of holidays, have you decided yet if you want to return to the States for a short while before you start shadowing Job? Or do you want to dive right in?”

Ty considered the man’s question, stroking Trevor’s broad head as he thought about it—the dog had thrust his head over the back of the passenger seat to slobber all over Ty’s shoulder.

“I think I’ll start right away. I have a lot of thoughts about streamlining our selection process. I also want to focus on different types of training for different positions. The one-size-fits-all policy was okay when we were a smaller company, but it’s important to diversify as the company grows and we have more specialized…uh…” His voice trailed off, and he coughed when Brand shot him a quick, inscrutable glance before refocusing on the road. “I mean, it’s working well now, of course, Job has been…”

“Tyler,” Brand interrupted his awkward ramble. “This is why I want you for the position. I’m aware that we need to make changes. Job is a great guy, but he lacks the vision and leadership abilities I’ve seen in you. I want you to take us in a different direction. I trust you to. And you won’t be treading on any toes. Job is aware of his limitations, he’s the one who told me that we needed to shake things up, but he wasn’t sure how. I figured this was a good compromise.

“You’ll shape our international training and recruitment policies, while guys like Job will implement them. Still, this conversation is somewhat premature. I want you to stay in Riversend for a few days after your assignment ends. Then we can have a proper discussion about what the position entails, and what my expectations are.”