Page 220 of The Defiant Curse

“I’m aware. Apparently, cuckoo is contagious. ACHOO,” she said, fake sneezing.

He laughed.

Then, he said goodbye to his husband.

“I love you too, EJ. See you when I see you. Take care of our girl for us. You’re in charge. She’s clearly lost her mind.”

They both found that amusing because he wasn’t wrong, now was he?

“Bye, Babe.”

With that, Gene hung up.

Now, Elizabeth was curious.

“Had to call, huh?” she asked. “Or did he know you were coming here?”

Ethan shared why he did it.

“No, I snuck out, just like you. As for the rest, they took a lot of heat from Ivan. You know how bitchy he gets. Toady isn’t good when he loses one person, but he lost two. Coincidentally, both are Blackhawks, and you know that…what’s a good term?”

She rattled them off.

“Butters his biscuits? Pin the tail on him and call him a donkey?” she asked, with a Southern accent that she’d had when they first met.

He laughed.

“Yeah, along those lines, Ms. LaRue.”

She grinned.

“All joking aside, I bet that annoyed the fuck out of him. God. I wish I could have seen it. I love when the Toady gets his warts all in a twist.”

He found that funny.

“Oh, I bet you do. That’s something you should get help for while you’re at it. You’re going to give him a stroke.”

Elizabeth reassured him.

“He’ll be fine. Secretly, he loves shit like this. I can tell it keeps him on his toes.”

Oh, well, he hoped she kept that energy for when she got back there, and he was a tyrant.

Because it was definitely coming.

He could feel it in his balls.

When she sniffed the air, he was curious.

“What?”

Oh, it was the most delicious smell in the whole damn world, and it called to her.

“I smell coffee. Want to join me for breakfast, my love?” she asked.

He played with one of her damp curls.

“Absolutely. I need to fuel up for a long morning of digging up a body. Our lives are pretty much consistent on both sides of the pond.”