Twenty-Seven
Had the night of her engagement remained magical and just the two of them, Cass would have wanted a lazy Saturday morning: coffee in their PJs, cooking shows, and then maybe back to bed. But having Tenny and Reese in the flat made all of that less desirable. So she got up with first light, showered, and was making coffee when Raven texted that she was out on the sidewalk.
“I’m not even properly caffeinated yet,” Cass complained when she opened the door.
“You’re too young to need caffeine,” Raven said, whisking through the door in a green wool cape and gleaming back boots. “And since the first thing I saw this morning was Tenny’s text saying they’d arrivedin the middle of the night, I thought it best to rush right over.”
“Ugh.”
“That bad?” Raven asked. She unfastened her cape and turned to hang it up on the rack beside the door, revealing a simple black dress beneath.
“Actually, no.” She went around the peninsula into the kitchen and lifted the coffee pot in offering. When Raven nodded, she got down another mug. “Or, well, it ended up okay. They did let themselves in at, like, three-thirty in the morning and scared the bejesus out of us.”
Raven’s nose wrinkled in distaste. “Little bollocks.”
“Shep woke up first,” Cass explained, leaning to put her elbows on the counter and cradle her mug in both hands. “And then he wokemeup, and he was sitting up in bed holding his gun, and saying someone was in the flat with us.”
“Good Christ. I’ll kill him.”
“But once we got over our heart attacks,” Cass continued, “and I told Tenny to get bent, things were quite pleasant.”
Raven smirked against the rim of her mug. “Nothing that involves Shep nor Tenny could ever be described as ‘pleasant.’”
“Hey,” Shep said, appearing in the doorway, dressed but still sleepy-faced, scrubbing at his hair in the back and standing it up in wild disarray. He looked so good that Cass wanted to unwrap him like a fancy truffle. “I’m pleasant.” He slumped onto a stool across the bar from them and Cass turned to get him a cup of coffee.
“You are perhaps the least pleasant person I’ve ever had the misfortune of meeting,” Raven said, sweetly, “but I’m used to that sort of thing by now.”
“Unbelievable,” Shep muttered, but Cass could see a sleepy smirk threatening when she turned to slide him his mug. “Thanks, baby. You good?” His brows lifted meaningfully. Was shereallygood? After last night? Given what was still to come?
She nodded, and hoped her smile was reassuring.
“Baby,” Raven repeated, grimacing. “I’m not sure I’m ready to hear that.”
His smirk broke loose, full force and devastating (at least for Cass). “Be glad that’s all I called her in front of you.”
“Oh, God, Shep, no.” Raven waved a hand as though to dispel a bad odor. “That’s it. Approval rescinded.”
Shep’s brows jumped in a taunting way as he slurped down half his coffee in one go.
“Okay,” Cass said, still smiling, but feeling it dim. “I know the two of you enjoy giving each other shit.” And they did. Raven bickered with Shep the way she did with their brothers, and that truly warmed Cass’s heart, because it meant that Raven had already accepted him into the family. “But, Raven, you can’t join in with the boys when they start giving Shep hell.” She sent her sister a serious look. “I need you on our side.”
Raven’s expression was the one she always wore around Shep: nose subtly lifted, lips pressed flat, eyes half-lidded. Superior in every way. It softened at once when Cass spoke. “I know. I am on your side.” She glanced from Cass to Shep, and the look stayed soft. “I had to get it out of my system before they get here.”
Shep snorted.
“Speaking of.” Cass’s stomach fluttered with nerves. “Whenarethey getting here? When did you tell them to come?”
“Well…” She rapped her nails on the sides of her mug.
Shep set his own down with a sigh. “Since when is that word ever a good thing?”
Raven ignored him. “I made ahostof calls last night. First to Maverick, who didn’t seem surprised in the slightest to hear the news.” She cocked a brow at Shep, who glanced away and picked his coffee up again. “Unsurprised, and very willing to host in Albany. He said he’d talk to Joanna the moment he got off the phone with me, and that they could be ready next Saturday.”
Cass’s gaze flew to Shep’s, and she knew her brows mirrored his, the way they lifted. “Next Saturday?” they said in unison.
“That’s only a week!” Cass said.
“Too soon?” Raven asked, all innocence.
