“Oh, that’s good news,” T said. “I can’t believe how well you played.”
“I have a few surprises up my sleeve.” He hoped to one day show her a few more.
His comment seemed to catch T off guard, and her hand strayed up to her pocket.
Skye laughed. “Should I leave you two alone?”
T’s brows pinched together. “No. Why?”
He had an answer. All he wanted was to slam T up against the wall, kiss her until she forgot her name, and do unspeakable things to her in one, or both, of those bunks. Instead, he tilted his lips into a grin and kept those thoughts to himself.
While more spacious than his accommodations, T’s converted shipping carrier was cramped with four people inside. He needed to get T alone, see where her head was at, and confirm his suspicions about her plans for the band. Although he had a solution for that. If he played with Angel Fire, he’d have a better chance at looking out for her interests. He’d be able to break anything up. She would hate him for it, but he didn’t care. His top priority was taking care of T.
“It’s almost time for chow.” He directed his comment to Skye. “Do they have something planned for the band?”
“I don’t really know,” she admitted. “Probably, but to be honest, I was kind of hoping to meet with your team. Tia’s told me so much about your job…well, at least those bits she can share. I have a personal interest in how you operate.”
“Operate? You mean, surgeries in the field?”
She shook her head. “Yes, and no. Sorry, I see how that might be confusing.” Her fingers brushed back the hair from Ash’s face. “This man can sleep through anything.” She shifted on the bunk. “Forest has a need for…well, I guess you could call it an insurgent team. I’m interested in how your team operates under such austere conditions. How much do you know about what Forest does?”
“Not much,” he admitted.
Other than the fact that Forest and Skye were filthy rich, he understood Forest’s business had to do with tech industries. There was little in the press about Ash’s unusual wife or her brother, although everyone knew about the story behind the marriage of Ash and Skye. They’d taken off on a three-day adventure, found themselves accidentally hitched, and somehow decided to stick it out with each other.
What he wanted to know was how Skye and T had met. All he understood was T had worked as a nurse in an emergency room where Skye was an attending doctor. From what little he’d gleaned from Forest’s comments, T had been involved as one of his rescue projects. He’d have to ask T to fill in more of those blanks, but other than that, he knew next to nothing.
“Do you know about Forest’s foster program?” Skye asked.
“No.”
She glanced at T. “It’s how we met Tia.”
T leaned against the wall and crossed her arms. “Lyons doesn’t know that story. It’s not something I share.”
“Oh!” Skye’s eyes widened. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to spill your secrets.”
T vented a sigh. “Nah, it’s okay. I just tend not to talk much about myself.”
Unfortunately, that was true. Their team trained and socialized together as much as they could. It increased unit bonding. Family picnics, children’s birthdays, and holidays were well-attended events. He and T were the only unmarried members, and neither of them had any children. He never brought dates to unit events, and T had only recently started bringing Scott around. Ryker had hated the man on sight. There’d always been something not quite right about Scott.
T’s focus landed on him, and her expression tensed. “I met Forest when I was sixteen,” she explained. “I was in foster care, doing okay but not. If that makes sense.”
“I’m sorry,” he said and wondered how to ask the delicate question of what had brought her into foster care.
“I’d just been placed in my second home,” T continued. “Foster care for teens is…difficult. We’re not as cute as babies and not as simple as toddlers. There are few families willing to take on a teen foster child.”
“You said, second home? How old were you when you went into foster care?”
“I was fifteen,” she said. “It was scary and traumatizing.”
“Do you have any siblings, or was it just you?”
A cloud of pain settled over her eyes. “I did.”
“Tia,” Skye soothed, “you don’t have to talk about it.”
“No, it’s okay.” She turned back to him. “There was an accident. My parents and brother didn’t survive.”
