“No. Although, Ian, boss wants to talk to you.”
That did not surprise him. “Luc or Conner?”
“Probably both, but that came from Luc.”
“You called him?”
“No. He called me because Em talked to him.” He looked at Lila and his gaze softened. That would not do at all. He didn’t need Elwood Carlisle getting ideas about his woman.
Fuck. When had he started thinking of her that way? Last night when Jenner had called her his woman, Ian had barely noticed it, but it seemed to be rooted in his head now. That was, fuck, insanely, he wanted it to be true. And that was a problem.
“You know Emily?” El asked.
“Yeah, you know I do. You should ask her out.”
He looked at El, whose face flushed. “Stop. You know that isn’t going to happen.”
“Yeah, Aaron would probably beat you over the head for that,” Jenner said.
“Men. You’re a bunch of neanderthals and if she wants to date him, she should. I mean, unless El is okay with another dude coming along and sneaking into her bed.”
“What the hell does that mean?”
“Scuttlebutt—” she broke off and looked at Jenner. “Is that the right word for gossip?”
Jenner nodded.
“Scuttlebutt is that there are a couple of guys from that Team Charlie who want to date her.”
Team Charlie was the newest team for Task Force Hawaii. They would be the terrorism unit, the one watching out for any threats and would work to coordinate between Homeland, state, and city. They were still in training.
“I think there are already bets on it,” she said.
He didn’t roll his eyes, but it was close. TFH was notorious for betting on just about anything, but mostly about each other’s sex lives. Apparently, things were moving beyond the parameters of just the team. Then it hit him.
“Are there bets about me?”
She shrugged. “I just heard a lot of talk about Emily. TFH would also steal her in an instant if they could.”
Ian wanted to demand an answer from her, but he knew that would be showing his hand. Also, he would get it out of his sister one way or another.
“While we’re eating, why don’t you tell us about some of the others you are interested in?” his father asked. Because he was being a professional even if Ian could not.
“Luis Schmidt.”
The name sent a rush of anger through Ian. “That bastard.”
She nodded. “I’m sticking to the three that have ties to your former employer.”
“What does this Schmidt have to do with MI-6?” Jenner asked.
Ian glanced at El and realized he would have heard the name too.
“He was in the drug trade, especially fentanyl,” Lila said. “Before it was so well known, he saw the uses in the illegal markets, and we think made a fortune on it. I was on his trail when I got burned.”
He glanced at her. Ian knew he was wanted by MI-6, but he had no idea he’d been in the business over a decade. “He’s been around that long?”
She nodded. “You didn’t know?”
