Page 5 of The Flame Game

“Not particularly. We’ll just give you twenty or thirty minutes a day working the machine and set a rotation so everyone gets a chance to have your coffee. That’ll give you an outlet for your wicked coffee-making ways, and it’ll make everyone happy.”

I liked that idea. “We need to look at increasing our training, too. Once we’re—”

Quinn rested his fingers over my mouth. “We’re not working until January. You can turn the station upside down on me our first day back, but you have to wait until then.”

I stared at him with wide eyes and kissed his fingers.

As always, his smile narrowed my world to him and only him.

Once he seemed satisfied he’d quelled my need to work, he lowered his fingers. “Play now, work later, and if you really need to get some work out of your system, you can express yourself in our suite. Be warned, however. I will do my best to thoroughly distract you from any inclination to work.”

“Yes, please.”

Two

To my amazement, Ra indulged me.

Someone needed to talk to the cops and our family about excess. Presents, which we weren’t supposed to unwrap until after everything was ferried to our suite, towered on the tables, piled on the floor, and otherwise transformed the restaurant into a maze of red, green, silver, and white boxes and bags. At a complete loss of what to do or how to respond, I hid under the table and abandoned Quinn to his fate.

He peeked under the tablecloth. “Would you like your dinner?”

Hiding with steak seemed a lot better than hiding without steak, so I held up my hands in an acceptance of his offer.

The bastard cheated, and he gave me his plate, which had a lot more steak on it than on mine.

“Pregnant cindercorns need to eat more.” He grinned. “I’ll make them bring out another one for you.”

“Rare, please.” With the issue of too many nice people around me solved, I went to work making his steak disappear while my husband resumed chatting with his cops, who insisted on loitering for as long as possible.

“Don’t mind her,” he said with laughter in his voice. “She has reached her limit for people for one day, especially people she’s embarrassed herself in front of already today.”

I chewed on my steak, considered his words, and swallowed. Unable to smother my need to giggle, I said, “It’s true.”

Someone lifted the tablecloth, and my father bent over to peer at me. “Enjoying yourself?”

After a moment of consideration, if I sat on my husband’s feet, there was sufficient room for my father under the table. I scooted over and waved for him to join me.

To my amazement, Ra indulged me.

Despite the tablecloth falling to the floor, I could see surprisingly well in the dark. I showed off my plate. “I am. I’m tasking you with making sure Quinn actually eats enough, because he gave me his steak.”

“He will get plenty to eat, never fear. Making certain he is fit for your enjoyment later is in the forefront of his thoughts, and he plans on getting a steak for himself while ordering you another. I spotted you crawling under the table and wanted to make sure everything is all right.”

“I’m fine. This steak is not long for this world, and I have never seen so many presents in my life. What am I supposed to do with so many presents?”

“Enjoy them. You will find there are many you will like, and as word has spread you shall have twins, many gifts come with something for your little ones as well. You will enjoy your time opening them later with your husband. As he does not expect me to discuss serious matters with you today, I thought it would be prudent to do just that.”

I giggled and had another bite of steak. “Now we’re talking. He’s in vacation mode. I can’t blame him for that, because he doesn’t get to go on vacation, but I’m in a different mode. It involves me having a salary for the first time in my life, so I want to do a good job.”

“You get your vigilance from me and your ethics from your mother, which means as long as there are problems you are aware of, you are not happy until it is dealt with. I will help you learn to control those tendencies.”

I considered my father, eating more of my husband’s steak. “You say that like I have an actual desire to change those tendencies.”

I’d only met him earlier that morning, but Ra’s sigh implied I tested his patience. “That comes from your mother’s side of the family. It is part of your mother’s charm, but it can be quite the source of frustration from time to time.”

I could think of a few things I might do to annoy Ra, and one possibility rose over the others. “She tells you no, doesn’t she?”

“As a matter of fact, yes.”