As the cops traipsed out, El murmured, “Well, that was creepy.You all speaking at the same time like that.”
Marc snorted.“Seems you have a thing for creeps then.That happens a lot.”
She wrinkled her nose.“It does?”
Trip chuckled.“It does.”
“Great.”
At her glum tone, Ryan smiled, then murmured, “El, we really do need to visit with your family.”
Her glumness reappeared in a great wave.“We do?”
“Sooner rather than later, sweetheart.”
“And with them, you’ll have to just tell them about Ryan, but Marc and I can come as hired muscle.”Trip joked around by lifting his arm and tensing his bicep.“I always wanted to be a bodyguard.”
She giggled.“You can guard my body any day of the week.”
When heat flared in his gaze, she felt a responding inferno blossom inside her.The reaction took her by surprise, and she pressed a hand to her throat without thought.
Though she was gradually becoming accustomed to their bond, she knew there was still a whole world of surprise waiting to rain down on her.
She just hoped she didn’t drown in the deluge.
Chapter 9
Shawn rubbed his chin as he watched El depart for the bathroom.She was nervous and had gone to hide.He’d seen the signs too often before.The involuntary hand to her throat, the biting of her lip, the little tick beside her right eye, and finally, the stuttering.
She was as easy to read as a kid’s book.
Well, she was to him.But then, they’d been together for fifteen years.
What he didn’t know about her was the only aspect he’d ever refused to explore.An aspect he suddenly had permission to seek out.
Marc cleared his throat, drawing Shawn’s attention to him.He was the tallest of the bunch, had russet-colored hair, and eyes so green they were a bit discomforting.He had a habit of staring at people in a way that should have been unnerving, but made a man feel comfortable.It was beyond weird.
He was, like the other two, heavily muscled, but he wore his strength easier.Lithe rather than coiled, as it were.
“I think we need to work this out alone.Without El around to get upset.”
“She’ll be gone a while,” Shawn said softly.“She gets lost in the bathroom when she’s nervous.”
Trip chuckled.“I shouldn’t find that funny, should I?”
Ryan sighed.“No, but because you’re you, you will.”
Trip flipped him the bird and, to Shawn, said, “We should welcome you to the family, I suppose, Shawn.”
“I don’t expect that,” he admitted, honesty weighing down each word.“I’m a spanner in the works.”
“You are,” Marc agreed, “but you make El happy.”
“You can’t be happy about this.”
“It isn’t a matter of being happy,” Ryan explained.“It’s a matter of accepting what we can’t change.The Mother works in mysterious ways.”
“How many other quartets are there?”Shawn demanded, a tad irritated by their acceptance when he was still in shock.
