"No, the Navarros fucked up by playing their hand too soon," Caden countered. "Is this because of what we talked about the other day?"
Burke's head jerked up from the stack of paperwork he was shuffling. "Shut the fuck up."
"Whoa, man, what the hell?"
"I mean it." Burke stalked around the desk toward the two of us at the door. "Leave me the fuck alone."
I stared up at him, my mouth agape. He was seconds from physically shoving us out of his office, I could tell. "You know what? Fine. You take time to cool off, but I want an explanation tonight."
Blindly, I made my way around Caden and out the side door to the garden. I walked until my vision cleared from the tears flowing unchecked and finally wiped my eyes. Burke was pushing me away, maybe even on purpose. Caden knew things I didn't. I was so angry I could punch something. Deciding to do exactly that, I circled the house to go in the kitchen door and grab a bottle of water before going to my bedroom to retrieve the key to the basement. An hour or more of kicking the crap out of a punching bag might make me feel better.
When I'd sweated enough to make the muscles in my shoulders protest, I headed back up the stairs and pushed on the secret door. After ensuring it was closed properly, I went to my bedroom to shower.
By then, it was dinnertime, and I arrived in the dining room to see Maddie, Finn, Caden, and Parker.
"Kinsley, where the fuck have you been?" Maddie demanded.
"I took a shower after walking around the garden." I sat in my chair, feeling their gazes pinned to my back. Maddie didn’t know about the secret basement, and neither did Parker, but it felt wrong to lie by omission.
Nobody said anything else before Burke came into the room, and we all took seats around the table. Without looking at my husband, I ate my dinner. When I finished, I took Finn in my arms and kissed Maddie on the cheek. Once in the nursery, I sat on the floor and let Finn play with his toys.
It didn't surprise me when Burke came in a few minutes later. "Where were you?" His demand was quiet but forceful.
"In the gym. Don't you have a GPS chip embedded in my ass by now?"
"That's not funny, Kinsley."
By his tone, I realized he was sincerely pissed. "I needed to work out my aggression."
"Without telling me you were disappearing?"
"I didn't disappear, for God's sake. I was in the same house as you."
"Don't be coy."
Laughter burst out of me. "I wouldn't know how to be coy if I tried."
Finally, he sat on the floor next to me. "Nobody knew where you'd gone."
Sighing, I tilted my head to look at him. "Are you kidding me? I gave you time alone to work through whatever's going on, and I took the same for me. You knew I didn't go anywhere since all the guards and vehicles were here."
Finn made his way over and climbed in Burke's lap. For a moment, we were quiet while our son played with him. Eventually, Finn moved on to something else.
"Do you understand . . . when I didn't know . . ."
"Burke." I put my hand on his knee when he trailed off.
Burke straightened his back. "The rule is you don't go down there without me."
"No, the rule was I couldn't go down to the range alone until you had the chance to teach me about firearms."
A muscle in his jaw clenched. "I'm very upset with you," he said in a calm voice.
"Too bad. I did nothing wrong."
When he turned his head in my direction, I saw fire of a different kind. Not anger. Lust. "Kinsley."
"Burke."
