Grim studied me, coming to the conclusion that I wasn’t going to leave my kids with him for that long. The hour he’d watched them while Sebastian taught me how to ride made me feel guilty enough. I wasn’t reckless, especially not when it came to my kids.
And he understood, nodding at me. “Then work down here. I’ll watch them while you do your thing.”
That was an offer I’d gladly accept. “Are you sure? They can be a handful.”
“Honey, as I mentioned before, I have eight grandkids,” he said, his eyes dancing with mirth. “I also have three kids. And so far, I haven’t killed any of them.”
I bit my lip, thinking I should take this opportunity to concentrate on work for once and maybe get ahead a little instead of always playing catchup.
“That would be amazing,” I said, meaning it.
“I’ll help too. I have an hour before I have to take off for work,” Talon said, sitting down on the ground next to Lena. She was busy putting dresses on her dolls, and he dove right in and helped her.
After one last glance at my kids, I got my laptop, headset, and notebook from the room and set up on the bar that was currently deserted. It was huge and gave me plenty of room to spread out. The day went by in a blur of phone calls, calendar appointments, and people coming in and out of the building.
Talon came back from work after a few hours and sat with me for a bit while Lena was taking her nap and Luca was watching a movie.
“Do you like your job?” he asked, pointing at my computer.
“It pays the bills,” I said, not stopping my furious typing on the keyboard.
“What would you do if you could choose anything?”
I missed a few keys and had to start over. Nobody had ever asked me that question, and I’d never thought about it because it had never been an option.
“I’d become a nurse,” I said. I’d always loved listening to my mom tell us stories from the hospital she worked at. She was an ER nurse and loved her job.
“Huh,” Talon said, taking a sip of his coffee.
“What does that mean? You don’t think I could be a nurse?”
He leaned back, eyes wide. “That’s not what I meant at all. You would be a great nurse. I just didn’t think it would be what you would want to do.”
Intrigued, I stopped typing and looked at him. “Why?”
“Ace said you love cooking and your food is the best he’s ever eaten. And he said you’re into that baking show on TV. Just thought you’d be interested in becoming a chef or something like that.”
His comment startled me. Not only did Sebastian talk about me, but he also seemed to know about my secret obsession. Guess he hadn’t been ignoring me as much as I thought.
“I enjoy cooking but don’t want to do it for a living. It would suck the fun out of it. I’m not passionate enough,” I said, having found my voice.
“Talon, what the fuck are you doing?” Blade called out from the hallway that led to his office.
I narrowed my eyes at him and huffed out a breath. “Stop using the F-word.”
“Sorry, Nora,” Blade called out and looked at Talon, jerking his head toward the hallway, the universal sign to get over there.
Talon got up with a groan. “I better go. Nice chatting with you, Nora.”
“Tell Blade I’m putting a swear jar on the bar,” I said.
“Good luck with that,” Talon said, grinning. He walked to where Blade had disappeared into his office, closing the door once he was inside.
I finished work an hour later. Grim was in the kitchen feeding the kids. He was incredible with them, and for once I had time to get ready without rushing around. When Sebastian showed up just before we had to leave, I was waiting for him instead of trying to find my wayward possessions.
The kids were in their pajamas, and Grim said he would hang out with them and then put them to bed. I hadn’t thought about what I would do when I was at the club. Neither Stella nor Malena could come to the compound to watch my kids, so Grim offering to watch them not only during the day but also at night was saving my bacon.
And since they’d taken to him so well during the day, I felt somewhat confident leaving them with him. Besides, there were at least ten other people in the compound. And what it all came down to was that I didn’t really have a choice. Just like with everything else in my life lately.
