“Just to be clear, Wheeler made this and not Pasco?”
He crossed his heart. “I swear.”
“Okay, then I’ll try it. So, does Wheeler always share that much about his love life?”
“He didn’t tell me that last part. But trust me, there’s always a woman he wants to impress.”
We fell easily into conversation about our friends, our work week, and Bella’s training schedule for the weekend. Now that she was nearly fully healed, Kyle was going to begin working with her in earnest.
“You’re not planning to recruit her to...you know, are you?” I asked.
“It’s a done deal,” he said. “But her duties strictly have to do with being cute and getting petted, right girl?”
There was a comfortable lull in the conversation as we tried and failed to make a dent in the dinner he had prepared. Now was the time I should speak up. He needed to know the truth. He might even need to tell his team, or at least Kat. That thought sent me spiraling down a rabbit hole of shame.
“Oh, crap, I need to get this cleaned up,” Kyle said.
I startled out of my thoughts. “What?”
“I have the family conference call in five minutes. The one my mom set up with Jamie and me. You can join us.” He leaned in over the table. “It could be time to meet the family.”
God, what if his family ever found out about Riker?
“Umm… I sh-sh...”
He laid his hand over mine. “Cam, I’m kidding. I’mhappy for you to meet them whenever you want, but I’m not pressuring you.”
“I know.” I was being ridiculous. If I kept it up, he would know something was wrong. He should know, though, because I should tell him. Right now. Just blurt it out, get it done, out of the way. “I’ve got this. You did all the cooking, the least I can do is the clean-up.”
His phone alarm beeped. “I need to go set up my computer.” We both stood and he pulled me into his arms. “Hey, is something wrong? You seem distracted? I can postpone the call. Ten minutes, an hour, whatever you need.”
The man was laying the offer right at my feet. All I had to do was take him up on it. Then this would all be behind me. But that wasn’t true. In fact, if I told him,whenI told him, when I finally said it out loud, the worst would be just beginning.
“I’m fine.” I shooed at him. “Go, have your call. I’ll see you in a bit.”
He frowned, unconvinced. “We can talk after the call.”
“There’s nothing to talk about,” I said. “And don’t rush off your call for me. I’m going to catch up on some reading. Take as much time as you need.” I kissed him. “And later, when I meet your mom, you can tell her how supportive I am of your family calls.”
“Brown-noser.” He patted my butt as he passed me. Bella followed him into the house.
I pulled out my phone and stared at the screen. Maybe I shouldn’t have deleted the texts. No, that didn’t matter. I didn’t need to show them to Kyle, I only needed to tell him. And I didn’t need to do it tonight. I was exhausted, and we’d both had a long week. I would tell him in the morning. First thing, over coffee.
I took a deep breath, feeling better already now that I had a plan.
25
KYLE
My phone rang at 0600 Saturday morning. I didn’t have nor need a special ring tone to tell me it was Pasco. I swore the fucking guy didn’t sleep.
“This better be good,” I snarled into the phone as I padded out of the bedroom with an excited Bella on my heels. It was my fault she was used to getting up so early, which was only a problem for me when I stayed up half the night with Cami. And I wouldn’t trade that problem for anything in the world.
“I need you in here at the office,” Pasco said.
“Is this your definition of need or mine?”
“Someone’s cranky,” he said. “I’ll put on a pot of coffee.”
