Operation Blind Date by Justine Davis

pointed at the dog, whose reddish-brown tail waved with every step. “He’s got one for everybody. Well, almost. Hayley’s got her own, of course, and Quinn. And Rafe rates his own somehow. The rest of us share one.”
    Laney laughed in turn. “And people say I’m too tuned into dogs. But there is something special about him,” she agreed.
    “We don’t dwell on it too much anymore,” Teague said. “That way lies crazy, as Rafe says.”
    She shook her head, an amused but slightly amazed expression on her face. “Definitely a most unusual organization,” she said, echoing her earlier words.
    Teague liked the way she said it. He liked the way she looked when she said it. He liked that she looked at him dead-on when she said it.
    What he didn’t like was the realization of how much he liked it.

Chapter 10
    T hey reached the third-floor office and meeting area, and found Quinn and another man waiting. Cutter trotted ahead, stopped at the table where they’d sat before and waited. Only when they’d joined the two at the table and, at Quinn’s gesture, taken seats on the other side, did Cutter walk to his bed beneath one of the expansive windows and curl up comfortably, a dog whose job, for the moment, was done.
    “Laney Adams, Tyler Hewitt,” Quinn said by way of introduction.
    “Hello,” Laney said in surprise. She’d thought she’d recognized him; this was the man who’d done the composite of Edward with her, but they’d done it via an online connection. He looked even younger in person, like a kid just out of high school, a little skinny, hair looking like he ran his hands through it a lot, and a small patch of—or a try at—beard under the center of his lower lip.
    “I thought you were in St. Louis,” she said.
    “I was. I got on a plane right after we finished,” the young man said. “I’m installing the new work station. While it’s going through its own diagnostics, they put me to work on your case.”
    He sounded excited, Laney thought.
    “We’ll make a field agent out of you yet,” Teague said.
    “No, thanks.” Tyler gave a shudder that was obviously for effect. “I leave that to you outdoor types.”
    “Good thing we have Liam, then,” Teague shot back. Clearly this was a familiar routine to them both; there was an undercurrent of humor in both their voices.
    “Hah.” Tyler waved a hand in mock dismissiveness. “He’s good enough for an end user of the system, but if you want one built you need the real expert.”
    The reference to the Liam she’d heard about had the tone of a longstanding friendly competition, with the emphasis on the friendly part. It made her believe all the more in the feeling she’d gotten that Foxworth was indeed a family sort of operation, and not one limited by blood.
    “You children through?” Quinn asked with a lifted brow. The teasing back and forth stopped instantly. Quinn turned his gaze on Laney. “Sorry. Tyler doesn’t get out of St. Louis much, so it’s an occasion when he does.”
    “I didn’t mind,” she said, meaning it. The quick back and forth had amused her more than anything. At least, as much as anything could when the thing truly consuming her was worry about Amber. “I never had brothers, so I missed out on the male sibling rivalry.”
    Tyler laughed and gave her a genuine smile, not the slightly awkward one he’d proffered at first. “Quinn said you were really nice. He didn’t say how pretty you were, though.”
    Laney smiled; it was impossible not to in the face of the simple compliment. Teague, meanwhile, made an odd sound, as if a little brother had said something to embarrass him.
    “Maybe he assumed,” Teague said, “that you would be capable of seeing that for yourself when you met her.”
    Laney blinked at that. Tyler’s compliment had been sweet; Teague’s subtler one had sounded more like a challenge. She just wasn’t sure who the challenge was aimed at. Fortunately for her peace of mind, Hayley arrived