“It’s more sweat than glow, but thank you.” She beamed. “Judge is a big fan of my pregnancy, but everyone knows compliments from other women are what we really want.”
I nodded since she was absolutely correct.
Assured she wasn’t about to go into labor or fall over, I returned my attention to where it belonged.
My cupcake.
Finally.
“Lo.”
Dammit.
Snack-blocked again.
I was tempted to ignore Rhys—at least until after I ate the strawberry goodness. But with the wires and Glitch’s caginess and all that, I knew it had to be important if he was interrupting.
“Hey, Rhys,” O greeted around her own mouthful of something.
“Hey, darlin’.” I turned in my seat in time to see his dimpled smile aimed her way. “You here ’cause you’re taking me up on the bouncer job offer?”
I ignored the way my stomach clenched at the term of endearment, giving me yet another reaction to add to my irrational list. I’d told him not to call me that, and he’d listened.
So why did it suddenly bother me?
Focusing on the rest of what he’d said—the potentially important stuff—I looked between the two of them.
Neither offered an explanation, and I was willing to bet my cookie that there was a reason for it since they shared pretty freely.
It’s the day of secrets, I guess.
She gave a pointed stare to her stomach and then to him. “If you keep me up past nine and make me stand on my feet for longer than twenty minutes, I won’t just kick out the troublemakers. Everyone would be out on their asses so I could get home to bed.”
“Maybe after the little one is born,” he said.
“Yes, because it’s well documented that new mothers have an abundance of energy, time, and patience. I’m probably going to have too much sleep, really.”
“With all the brothers jumping to babysit? You’ll likely be fighting for a chance to just hold the kid.”
The back and forth was clearly fake bluster, but a very real smile curved her mouth at that.
Pangs.
Pangs of envy everywhere today.
If I keep this up, I’m gonna be green with it.
I choked down the stupid emotion and asked, “Did you need something?”
His eyes—more green than blue thanks to his green tee—met mine for a long second that turned into seconds. “Glitch wants to run you through what he suspects.”
There were very few things that would take precedence enough to drag me away from what I was doing. That was pretty much top of the list.
With a forlorn—and, fine, dramatic—sigh, I set my cupcake back in the box. “If this is an elaborate ruse to steal these, I am going to let O kick you in the junk and Judge cut out your tongue.”
His eyes widened, but they also crinkled at the side in amusement, so I knew he wasn’t taking me seriously.
But I wasn’t one hundred percent sure I was actually joking.
