"Lot to take in."
"In a good way."
His smile is small but genuine. "Good."
Dinner is loud and messy and wonderful. Everyone talks over each other, passing dishes back and forth, sharing stories aboutmissions and mishaps and embarrassing moments. I learn that Mace once accidentally set his beard on fire during a training exercise. That Wolfe can track a person through solid rock if he has to. That Deck proposed to Vivian while literally bleeding out on a cabin floor.
"He was delirious," Vivian says, rolling her eyes. "I thought he was hallucinating."
"I knew exactly what I was doing." Deck's arm tightens around her shoulders. "Couldn't let you get away."
"You couldn't even stand up."
"Didn't need to stand to know I wanted to marry you."
The table erupts in groans and laughter. Deck looks entirely unrepentant.
"They're always like this," Cade murmurs in my ear. "Disgusting."
"I think it's sweet."
"You would." But he's smiling, and his hand finds mine under the table.
After dinner, Vivian produces a massive tiramisu that she swears she didn't make from scratch but definitely did. I'm three bites in when Sadie corners me on the couch.
"So." She tucks her feet under her, angling her body toward mine. "How are things going with Cade? And by things, I mean sex things. Specifically."
I choke on my tiramisu.
"Sadie." Vivian's voice carries a warning from across the room.
"What? I'm just asking! It's called female bonding, Viv. We share details. It's what women do."
"Some women," Vivian corrects. "Other women respect privacy."
"Privacy is boring." Sadie turns back to me with expectant eyes. "Come on. Just give me a rating. Scale of one to ten."
My face is on fire. Across the room, Cade is watching us with a mixture of amusement and concern. He raises an eyebrow in question.
"I'm fine," I mouth at him.
"She's fine!" Sadie calls out. "We're bonding! Go away!"
Cade shakes his head but turns back to his conversation with Mace.
"You don't have to answer," I tell Sadie. "I know you're just being..."
"Nosy? Inappropriate? Wildly invested in the love lives of everyone around me?" Sadie grins. "Guilty on all counts. But also genuinely curious. Cade's been alone for as long as I've known him. And now he looks at you like..." She pauses, searching for words. "Like he finally found the thing he didn't know he was looking for."
The description hits me somewhere soft.
"It's complicated," I say finally.
"Love usually is."
"I didn't say love."
Sadie's grin turns knowing. "You didn't have to."
