We couldn’t be more different: the party-loving, womanizing Brit and the boy scout, stoic cowboy but, for some reason, it worked. I balanced JD, helped him unwind and have a little fun. And JD was like the big brother I’d never had, responsible and always there for me. For the first time in my life, I felt that deep connection that other people seem to make so easily. JD became my best friend and the only really close friend I’d ever had. For years, we fought side by side: The Middle East, anti-terrorist and protection work in Europe, Africa and Asia and countless secret missions in places the US and UK has never officially sent troops to.

I’d die for JD. I’d taken a bullet for him more than once, and he’d done the same for me. But I couldn’t protect him from the thing that destroyed him: losing his wife and kid. I’d watched, helpless, as he quit the military and withdrew to a dark, dark place. That was when I got out of the army, too: I didn’t want to carry on without him. I did private security work for a few years, mostly driving VIPs around. Then, when Kian O’Harra recruited me for the team, I saw a chance to get my best mate out of the pit he was in. I told Kian I’d join…but only if he recruited JD to be the team’s leader. The team had been good for him so far but I was still worried. JD was as good a leader as ever, the best I’d ever seen, but he still wasn’t the guy he’d been before his wife and kid died. There’d been a lightness to him back then and I wasn’t sure he’d ever get it back. Last night, the anniversary, must have been hell for him.

I threw my teabag at the trash can and scored a direct hit, then glanced across at JD. “How are you doing?”

JD started to shrug but I pinned him with a look. He sighed. “I’m okay,” he said at last. Then, “It was good to have Erin there.”

I added milk to my tea. “She okay?”

JD didn’t answer. When I looked up, he was glaring at me suspiciously.

I spread my hands wide. “She told me she lost her job in Vegas. Just wanted to check she was okay.” It actually had been an innocent question. But now I could feel my face blooming with heat: it was like being a kid in school, when someone realizes you like some girl. What’s going on? I never normally had a problem playing it cool.

JD crossed his arms, muscles bulging, and pushed out that heavy jaw. “Danny…” he growled.

“JD, I swear, nothing happened. We sat in my garage. She fixed her laptop.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah!”

“Because she asked about you.”