“Okay. I’ll tell the boss.”
“Okay.”
Click.
What thrilling conversations they had.
Emmie sighed and slid a leg across his hips, rubbed her face against his bare shoulder. Her voice was throaty with sleep. “Who was that?”
“My brother.”
“Hmm. Which one?”
He smiled up at the ceiling. “Fox. He’s coming in with the Texas boys.”
“Fox. I like that.”
He squeezed her hip.
She snorted and sounded more awake. “Not likethat. Though I do appreciate the jealously.” She stroked a hand down his chest. “Don’t worry. It’s not half as cool as King.”
“Hmph.”
“So Texas,” she said. “Why are they coming?”
“They’re the cavalry, love. Let’s just pray we don’t need them.”
~*~
“Yeah. Thanks.”
Maggie listened to Ghost disconnect his cellphone with a beep and set it down on the nightstand. Dawn was just breaking and the pale blue light coming in through the blinds fell across his face, illuminated his eyes before he covered them with the heels of his hands with a sigh.
“Texas is on the way,” she said, and it wasn’t a question.
“Yeah.” He pulled his hands back and rolled his head toward her. “Candy’s bringing Colin.”
She smiled and then winced.
“How did he and Merc leave things? Are they gonna try to kill each other?”
“You’d have to ask Ava” – Ghost’s expression tightened at that, that old dad resistance to the idea of his little girl and his expert torturer – “but I think they smoothed things out. Doesn’t mean Mercy won’t hate seeing him.”
“Yeah.”
She rolled to her side and propped up on an arm, so she could face him fully. “Kenny.”
The mattress twitched beneath her as he stiffened.Kennywas a rare thing, used only for moments of extreme passion, tenderness, annoyance…or fear.
“We’re not kids anymore,” she said quietly. “We’re grandparents. We…”
“Mags.”
“I don’t want another war,” she told him. “Not like last time. I don’t want to be afraid of drive-bys every time I go out for coffee. I don’t want to worry about my grandbabies that way. I don’t want to watch Ava bury a husband. I don’t want to bury you.”
He stared at her, face full of dread though his tone was joking. “Hey, I’m about to wear out. You bury me, you can get a newer model.”
With expert aim, she reached through the dark and pinched his nipple.
