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She smiled at that for a minute before it fell, her eyes going thoughtful.
"Can I ask you something?"
"Anything."
"Do you cook?"
"What?" I asked, chuckling, caught off-guard.
"Do you cook?"
"Ah, well, I can cook a few things, I guess. I can't claim to do it well. Why? Do you cook?"
"Honestly? I don't even know anymore," she admitted, a self-deprecating smile tugging at her lips as she shook her head. "I'm usually in hotels. I don't have access to a kitchen. I was taught how to cook though."
"Well, we have a kitchen here..." I told her, waving my hand over to it. "Thus far, we've only used it for talking and fucking, but I'm sure if we rolled up our sleeves, we could make a halfway edible meal in it. What?"
"We. That was a lot of wes. We're not a we."
"We could be. And don't object just for the sake of objecting," I told her, making her smirk. "Think about it. Why can't we give it a go?"
"Fifteen years."
"I'm sure there are some other people on the surface of this Earth who have reconnected after fifteen years - or longer - and decided to give it a go. We lost a lot of fucking time, Mack. I would prefer not to waste any more of it just because we think we are supposed to hem and haw this shit to death."
"I don't even know how to be with someone in a serious way, Roan."
"You think I do?" I asked, smiling. "I spent my life as a professional liar. It doesn't allow for anything serious to grow. But I'm done lying now. So, we trip around, make a mess of things before we learn to be more careful. It's not exactly a glamorous proposition."
"But we're not exactly glamorous people," she agreed, shrugging.
"Exactly."
"What about your brothers?" she asked, fingers sliding over my shoulder.
"What about them?"
"Are they going to be able to overlook the fact that I snuck into their compound, and shot one of their members?"
"You know," I started, smiling. "Once you get to know them, you'll find that they accept a lot of shit no one else would. There have been untold amounts of trouble around the compound during - and before - my time. And a lot of that trouble came on the heels of a woman. Not being sexist here. It's just the plain truth."
"They don't hate me?"
"Think they're more amused than anything."
"Amused, huh?" she asked, pressing her lips together.
"And the girls club is likely impressed."
"Sound like my kind of women."
"You have no idea how true that is," I told her, reaching up to tuck her hair behind her ear. "They own a martial arts gym."
"If I end up staying, I am going to need somewhere to practice."
"There's no if about it. You're going to be staying."
"Oh, so you have a say in the matter, huh?"
"Can't have my woman charging off to foreign countries, getting bullets in her ass. I'm kinda fond of it just how it is... what?" I asked when her face fell a bit.
"I just accepted a job," she told me. "That was why I was packing up. I... the only way I could seem to make myself go was to get invested in a case."
"What kinda case is it?"
"Kidnapping for ransom."
"Shit, you don't handle the easy shit, do you?"
"Well, the easy shit is what we have police for," she told me, smirking. "But it's obviously time-senstive."
"Where is it?"
"D.C."
"Not too far."
"No," she agreed, shrugging. "I could be back in a week or so."
"Think I'd rather go with you. Wait," I said, holding up my hand when she opened her mouth. "Hear me out."
"Okay," she agreed, nodding.
"What would be better than your expertise on a case?" I asked, not waiting for an answer. "Your expertise and my expertise on a case. You're good with finding people. I'm good with negotiating shit, being whoever someone needs me to be."
"But... don't you need to be here?"
I did, in general. It was my job. To pull my shifts, to do my part.
That said, I had been pulling double, triple, quadruple time for, well, years. If anyone would be granted a little time away, it was me.
And, well, Reign had a sense of humor about this kind of thing. The guys, their women, the trouble they often found themselves in.
He would probably let me go just so I came back with a story.
"I think I could get away for a little bit."
"Yeah?" she asked, cautiously hopeful.
"Yeah," I agreed. "Let's go save a kid."
"Ah... a Mini Schnauzer."
"Wait... what the fuck did you just say?" I asked, smiling.
"A very, very wealthy woman's very, very spoiled Miniature Schnauzer," she told me, lips twitching. "I am supposed to get him back, of course, but it is more about finding the 'monster' who would do such a thing."
"Alright, I gotta know. What are they demanding?"
