Page 50 of Meet Cute the Virgin

“Gardening,” I confirm.

We look at each other. At the empty champagne. At Reginald’s glassy eyes.

“They left us,” I say. “We have trauma. Actual trauma. And they’re... gardening.”

“Yeah! They could be trauma bonding with us,” Teddy adds.

“That’s what the kids call it these days?” I ask, reaching for the cheese puff balls. They’re gone too.

“Rude,” we say together.

Then we laugh, because what else is there to do?

I wipe cheese dust from my lips with the back of my hand and look at Teddy. “We should go see about this ‘gardening.’” I make air quotes.

Teddy blinks, then grins, adorably evil and reckless. “Grab a crown. We’re going in disguised.”

“What about the gold bar and those weird antique handcuffs?” I ask, standing. The vault sways, but I adjust. Nothing is going to stop me from going on this mission.

“Those aren’tmyhandcuffs.” She tucks a piece of hair behind her ear.

“Don’t frame Grams or Reginald for your kinks. Be open about them, Teddy. We live in a new, open sexual world nowadays.”

“Shh.” She covers Reginald’s ears. “You have to say ‘earmuffs’ so he knows not to listen.”

“Right, silly me.”

“Now, yes to the cuffs that aren’t mine.” I nod dramatically. “Reginald, you hold down the fort.”

I give him a mock salute, and we’re off on our next adventure.

Chapter Twenty-Three

TRISTAN

“I’ve been thinking,” I say. “What about a virtual geofence?” I’ve been bouncing that idea around in my head. The girls aren’t going to let the dome thing fly, so we have to be resourceful, and I have lots of resources.

Killian twists the pliers. The man on the table screams, high and thin, until he finally runs out of air.

“Virtual what?” Killian asks, not bothering to look up.

“It would be a dome but invisible to the human eye.” Killian finally glances up at me. “Think of it as an invisible, electronic upside-down bowl made out of invisible radio waves or light beams instead of glass or metal. A 3D Airspace Perimeter. Radar Drone Detection.”

Killian releases the pressure and considers this. “Shit, it even goes up?”

“Complete coverage. No one in or out without tripping sensors, whether on the ground or in the sky.”

The man on the table whimpers. Killian pats his cheek absently.

“How soon can we get this geofence? Those two are getting harder to contain.” Lily I can handle alone, but the two of them together are an entirely different story. It’s like they’reconstantly playing a game of who can think of the craziest idea to put them in danger.

“You see my Lily hit this dumbass with the two-by-four?” I smirk. I hate that she had to do that. She should have been back here tucked in the library. I would have built a whole ice cream store for her right here. But I respect the hell out of the fact she wasn’t going down without a fight. She gets that from her father, whether they are genetically related or not. “She’s a little bloodthirsty.”

I lick my bottom lip, thinking about her nipping it last night. Fuck, I can’t wait to get back to her. Then I can spank her ass, and then kiss and lick it all better.

“Speaking of.” Killian nods toward the second man, zip-tied to the chair in the corner. “Hey. You. Has either of you ever killed a woman?”

The chair man shakes his head, fast and desperate.