Kenzie looked at her cousin and winked his way. “I’m trying a recipe for cheese puffs. And dinner is pulled pork. Ben’s never had mine before.”
TJ made some satisfied sounds and might have started drooling. “I’ve missed your pulled pork. Kenzie mostly cooks when she’s happy. When she’s sad she bakes. Not that I would want her unhappy, but if you want to have like the tiniest fight with her, I could use some cookies. She makes these apple cider cookies that I dream about at night.”
“Is there a reason they’re not in their own flats?” Ben asked since he hadn’t had a moment alone with her all day. They’d been in conferences with her parents and the Knights. They’d had a virtual meeting with Lucy and Sami. They’d been watching a remote villa Manny owned in France, but the shipment they were concerned with hadn’t shown up yet.
He and Kenzie had already done a day trip to Scotland where Disrupt had a compound. They’d managed to set up surveillance and were monitoring the situation. Next week they were heading to Italy to do the same thing.
He wanted to be in Taiwan, but they’d sent an MI6 team because Manny shouldn’t have ever met them. He wouldn’t know them by sight, and they might be able to keep eyes on him that way. He hadn’t spent much time with the other members of Damon’s team, but he trusted them.
Besides, he was starting to wonder if he wanted to put Kenz in Manny’s way. He would have to figure out a way to gently leave her behind when the time came.
He’d started all of this to see if there was any way it could work. He wasn’t going to lie to himself now and say he was investigating her. The only thing about that woman he was investigating was her gorgeous body and that wickedly absurd brain of hers. She amused him. She confused him. She made him want something he hadn’t in a long time. A normal life. A life where they lived together and had friends over to watch ball games and she cooked and he cleaned up.
Pretty much like now except he was being a dick because they were her family. He didn’t have any family. He had Tim.
He missed Dare.
“I might have a surprise coming,” she said with that mysterious smile she got on her face from time to time. The one that made his heart clench and pray she was exactly who she said she was.
She was his fucking favorite person, and it had taken exactly fivedays of living with her to know he wanted this. Wanted to bicker with her father and watch her around her sisters and friends. Wanted to be the one she went home with. He wanted her damn dog here so he could get in good with Bud Two.
This tiny flat felt more like home than his own back in Toronto, and it was all about her.
There was a knock, and he sighed before kissing the top of her head. “I’m sure that’s your dad come to tell me what a dumbass I am.”
“It’s how you know he loves you,” she called out.
He stopped at the fridge and pulled three beers, handing them to TJ and Cooper before moving to the door.
“Thanks, man,” TJ said, popping the top. “Hey, what do you know about the Blue Jays’ new pitcher?”
No one asked him about sports. He was the dude who worked twenty-four seven, and now he realized with the exception of Dare, he hadn’t had a male friendship that didn’t revolve around work in…years. After what happened with Deanna, he’d pulled in on himself. He hadn’t wanted to bring in anyone who Manny could hurt.
TJ and Cooper could handle themselves.
Was Kenzie offering him way more than her beautiful body? Was she offering him a whole circle he could be part of if he opened himself a bit?
It couldn’t hurt to sit and drink beer and talk about the baseball game it had taken Tim a couple of hours to manage to get on their satellite. It helped to have a dude who knew how to cut into national television feeds. Tim sat beside TJ, but he was happy with his soda.
Kala and Lou were playing some card game in the dining area.
It was comfy. It was warm. It was one of those random Saturdays most people enjoyed. One where he didn’t work, simply had fun with the people around him. It was still awkward with Cooper and TJ, but he was getting to where he didn’t not like the time he spent with them. He was still the new guy, which was why he wished Dare was here since he’d been through all of this before.
He opened the door and stood there for a moment because he wasn’t a man used to having the universe send him the things he wanted.
Dare stood in the doorway, Tash by his side. They looked relaxed and tan.
“Hey,” Dare said, holding a hand out. “You didn’t think we would let you have all the fun, did you?”
Dare. His friend. Ben hadn’t realized how much he’d wanted to talk to him.
“I’m here for the drama,” Tasha announced.
He frowned Tasha’s way. “We don’t use that word around Kenz.”
Her smile amped up mightily. “Then things are going great.” She moved past him. “Hey, Kenz, why are we neglecting drama now? I thought we loved drama.”
Tasha walked in and Kenzie leaned out like she’d expected they were coming. “Cooper said some mean shit about me and my drama and Ben took offense because he’s my dream Dom and he knew I would want him to valiantly defend me.”
