He nodded. “You all are. I just don’t want her ever feeling embarrassed because we were intimate.”
Nichole snorted. “Jay and I were having sex the first night we met.”
Amelia waved. “I have a baby, proving Apple and I were busy long before we were serious about a relationship.”
Danika patted Sharp on the ass as she passed him. “I got Sharp into bed as fast as I could. Trust me, none of us will judge. You two are consenting adults, and that’s what matters.”
He didn’t know what to say. The guys had never really talked about sex, not with these women. He hadn’t known about Danika and Sharp. He didn’t think less of these women. Trusting his team came easy to him, and he should trust their women. The guys wouldn’t be involved if they didn’t trust.
His phone buzzed and he glanced at the screen. “She’s coming to lunch and bringing cookies.”
“Oh, cool,” Danika said.
“Now we need to plan lunch,” Nichole added.
Sharp stood. “We’re going fishing this morning. Do you want to plan lunch around grilled fish?”
Nichole nodded. “Sure. And if you don’t catch fish, we have some steak that we can cook.”
“Sounds good.”
They ate breakfast then headed out to the river that was close by. They had few responsibilities this week, and he was enjoying just hanging out with his buddies. Fishing wasn’t his favorite activity, but Shine and Apple proved to be excellent and caught four fish each. The fish he caught wasn’t big enough to keep, so he tossed it back.
“Looks like the two of you caught enough for all of us,” Sharp said.
Apple threw back his head, laughter booming out. “We shall eat like kings because of my skills.”
Griz rolled his eyes. “You’re such a dork.”
Apple raised his hands over his head. “King of dorks!”
“So are you calling all of us dorks?” Jay asked.
“We know you’re a dork,” Shine said.
“Damn straight,” Jay said.
A hawk swooped down in the river, picking up a fish before flying away. They all stared in wonder at the hawk.
“Damn, that was impressive,” Apple said.
“Hawks are very impressive,” Jay said.
Squat opened the cooler and pulled out a beer. “You know, when I was in Alaska a few years ago we ran into bald eagles that were drowning. Not all together, but they go to dive and maybe it’s the chop of the water, or the fish is too big, and they get pulled under.”
“How many did you guys save?” Sharp asked.
“Five total over the course of the week. It was so weird.”
Apple grabbed a beer. “It’s been a while since I’ve had a beer before noon.”
“Yeah, last time was on vacation,” Jay said.
Griz grabbed a bottle of water. “When I first joined up, none of us were legal age, and we all thought we were hot because we would drink at seven in the morning when we got off night shift. We were in Italy, so we were legal there, but still, we were such idiots back then.”
Shine laughed. “The first time I went to Europe, I thought I was hot shit being able to drink at eighteen.”
They all chuckled. It was almost time to get back, so they packed up their gear then left the river. The walk back wasn’t long. Sharp, Shine, and Squat took over cleaning the fish and wrapping them for either storage or use at lunch.
