"But you two can't cozy up in the cabin long term," Harlan says as he, too, pushes back from the table. "Not that you want to stay here if you're going to be sharing space, I pay you well enough you should be able to find a place in town."
Arizona
Talon joinedhis colleagues where ever they went in the back of the house. It was pretty obvious I wasn't part of their meeting, so I sat at the table with the mostly empty pizza boxes, staring at the beer I'd wanted so badly and had barely touched.
Half an hour or so later, Talon returns with Austin and another man who introduces himself as Jaden, jarring me out of my thoughts.
"You're sure his name was Meyers?" Jaden asks as Talon pulls my chair out for me so I can get up.
I guess we're heading out. Which is fine by me. Exhaustion is leaning on me heavily and I'm looking forward to more time alone with Talon.
Austin has his phone in his hand, holding it up for Talon's inspection.
"Pretty sure, yeah. Is that you?" He points at the phone screen to a teenage boy in that developmental phase between adolescence and adulthood. Maybe a senior in high school, that I would have thought was drop dead gorgeous when I was that age.
The boy in the photo just looks unfinished and more than a little sad, standing beside another boy about the same age and a younger boy that looks like he's not quite in his teens yet.
The one that turns out to be Austin, is holding a young girl in one arm. She's barely older than toddler age, with her hand hiding half her face and her head leaning on Austin's shoulder.
"Thanks for helping us out." Jaden shakes Talon's hand across Austin, who I've now picked up on is his brother. "Anything else you can think of, let me know right away."
"We've been looking for them for a long time. Never considered names might change."
I watch Austin's face cloud, his voice thick with emotion that he probably thinks he's hiding. Whatever happened to the other kids in the photo, it's clear that they mean a lot to the two men standing with Talon.
"I told you what I remember. Like I said, we were both just passing through, didn't really get a chance to know him. Seemed like a good kid, heading out for his first deployment-- eager to see action."
The other two men acknowledge that with noises that say a lot about their own experiences and I start putting together more of the picture of who Talon works with-- and who he is as well.
Another half an hour and we're back at the cabin, Talon doing a security sweep of the space before giving me the go ahead to fully enter-- something I'm noticing all the guys do when they enter a space.
I guess I'll get used to it. To be honest, it's kind of nice to feel protected and after today? Talon's protectiveness is something I don't plan to take for granted.
"I'm going to hop in the shower." Talon steps behind me while I find space in the fridge for the two boxes of left over pizza that got sent back with us-- one of the boxes has the untouched California veggie pie in it. "Wanna join me?"
Dropping my head back against his chest, I moan long and low at the thought.
"Make that noise again and we'll be getting much dirtier before we get to that shower."
God, I love that deep, throaty growl in his voice that has my toes curling and my panties dampening.
"There's a tub in the back bathroom," I remind him. "I might take advantage of that in a bit--youcould joinme?"
"Sounds like a plan. I'll go run the water."
I get an upside-down kiss that makes me smile while Talon heads into the back room and I search the cabinets for glasses.
"I found bubble bath, would you rather have Summer Raspberry, or Spun Sugar and-- did Cap give you something to take? He was worried about you having side effects from the..."
When Talon comes out to ask about the bubble bath, I'm still pretty much where he left me. A glass of water sits on the counter in front of me, all my concentration centered on the small pill in my hand.
Talon picks up the packaging and reads the box, catching on pretty quickly that it's not something Caspian gave me and has nothing to do with getting drugged and kidnapped earlier.
"You haven't taken that yet."
It's a pretty dull statement of the obvious.
I shake my head, closing my fist around the pill and looking up into concerned blue eyes.
