“Or maybe God’s trying to tell you something?” She casually winked, then picked up her coffee.
“Tell you what?” Ryder’s deep voice filtered through the air, and he walked into the kitchen and over to his fiancée to kiss her. “Everything okay?” he asked after popping a pod in the Nespresso machine and starting it up.
Seraphina shared her neighborhood plan, and his eyes lit up.
“That’d be amazing.” He leaned forward and lightly squeezed my shoulder. “Reed could get a place, too. He’s a man without a home. Wandering from place to place. Could get a dog to live with,” he added with a laugh.
“After spending time with that team dog, Bear, Chase will beg for a pet, too,” I said at the memory.
“And hell, Hollis could probably just buy out every house there and it could be our private safe haven,” Seraphina teased.
“Don’t give that woman any ideas,” a new voice cut in. “And did I really just hear you all planning to start a compound?”
I turned to find Reed in the doorway, arms folded. Classic brooding stance. Honestly, the man could scowl in his sleep.
“Should sound like heaven to you. No chance of strangers and small talk. Just people you like,” Ryder joked.
“Who says I like you?” he responded with a tight voice while also clearly fighting a smirk.
I waved a finger at him. “We need to find someone for you that’ll turn that frown upside down for good.”
I focused back on the pan. Eggs were now not just burnt but also cold.Oh well. Frozen pancakes it is.I tossed the egg disaster into the trash. “Where’s everyone else?”
Reed shrugged. “Trevor and Alex are in the office, talking about something.”
Something?That was vague enough to concern me.
“And my nephew is trying to lift Eden’s spirits by performing a magic trick for her that Alex taught him,” Ryder said with a smile after I retrieved the pancakes. “You raised a good kid. He’s going to be okay.”
I could hear Chase’s muffled laughter down the hall as he performed that trick. He sounded light and free. And I wanted to keep it that way.
“Mind if I steal a word?” Ryder tipped his head to the side, seemingly forgetting about the coffee machine he’d started up.
Seraphina took the pancake box from me. “Here, let me. Go ahead.”
“No, no. I’ll cook. Don’t eat that garbage,” Reed grumbled, pushing away from the wall before I followed my brother from the room, curious what kind of sidebar conversation he wanted to have with me.
Any chance it was similar to the one happening between Trevor and Alejandro?
“What’s up?” I asked once we were in the library, rolling ladder and all.
Ryder closed the door and slowly faced me.
Was he about to lecture me on the make-out session he’d witnessed in the laundry room? We’d tried to behave. Really, we had. No shared room. No PDA. But we were also human.
And maybe this morning’s shared shower wasn’t our most innocent moment.
Okay, definitely not innocent. Thankfully, the door had been locked, for no interruptions.
“What are your thoughts on Trevor working with us?”
Talk about a way to pull my head from the shower and back into the room. “What?”
“Not active duty. Not all the time. Maybe a job here and there twice a month? Quick in-and-out things. Two, three days, tops, each time. Would pay well enough he’d have free time to be a stay-at-home dad all the other days of the month.” He let that idea sink in before continuing, “And that would give you a chance to do something you gave up.”
I walked backward, processing, trying to wrap my head around his words, worried this wasn’t real. Maybe Seraphina was right and I had a little PTS after what had happened, too. I might need some counseling, along with Chase and Eden.
“Perform again?” I lifted my hands, staring at my fingers, which were aching to touch piano keys again.
