“What the hell are you doing here?”
“Easy, big guy.” Nate held up a laptop. “I come bearing gifts.”
He looked at the computer then back up to Nate. “You’re finished already? I thought you said it would be later.”
“That was almost three hours ago.” The other man looked at him deadpan. “It is later.”
“I told him to wait until morning, but he said it was important.”
The sweet, feminine voice took Gabe by surprise. “Gracie?”
Peaking her head into the doorway from Nate’s right, the tiny blonde came into view. “Hey, Gabe. Things were slow at the office today, so Jake said I could tag along with Nate. You know, keep him out of trouble.”
Snorting, Gabe moved to the side to let the couple in. “Not sure that’s possible.”
“You’re probably right.” Gracie laughed as she and her husband passed by. Making a bee line straight for Ellena, she held out her hand. “You must be Elle. I’m Gracie Carter. Nate’s wife.”
“Nice to meet you.”
Gabe watched as the two women shook hands.
“Okay.” Gracie shook her head. “I’ve got to say, I was a little more than shocked to find out Gabe was married. We all were.”
Elle’s eyes slid to his, her smile faltering slightly before she recovered. “It’s kind of a…long story.”
“One I’m dying to hear. But I have a feeling that story should wait to be told over a bottle of wine. When the other wives are with us.”
“Other wives?”
“Sure. They’re alldyingto meet you, by the way.”
“They are?”
“Uh…yeah.” Gracie looked at Ellena as if she were crazy. “We always wondered why Gabe never dated anyone. We neverdreamedit was because he already had a wife. Our only question is where the heck have you been all this time?”
“Gracie,” Nate warned his wife.
The other woman swung her head around toward her husband and frowned. “What?”
“These two have more important things to worry about right now, don’t you think?”
“Oh.” Gracie looked back at Ellena with a chagrined expression. “Right. Sorry. I guess I just got overly excited to meet you.”
“It’s fine.” Ellena gave Gracie a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “And I’d love to share a bottle of wine with you and the others sometime.”
“Really?”
Great. The last thing Gabe needed was for the other R.I.S.C. wives to find out what a shithead husband he’d been.
Made your bed, asshole.
“I’m assuming that thing’s fixed?” Gabe nodded toward the computer in Nate’s hand, praying his attempt to change the subject was successful.
“Huh?” Nate frowned before his brows rose into high arches. “Oh, right. Yeah. Well, sort of. The shell is different because, well, the bullet pretty much destroyed the other one. But the innards are almost all the same. Most importantly”—he shot Ellena a grin—“the hard drive was fully intact.”
Walking over to where he and Nate were standing, she took the computer from Nate’s hand. “That’s incredible.”
“The model’s a little different than the one you had, so the keyboard will probably take a bit to get used to. But I installed a faster processor so it will work faster than your old one. You should be able to fire it right up and do your thing.”
