Page 48 of Rafe’s Future

“You’d better not.”

Alice leaned down and gave her husband a kiss on the cheek. “Scout’s honor.”

“You were never in the Scouts.”

Lena’s eyes flew to Rafe’s with a grin. The twitch of his lips told her his line of thinking matched up with hers.

They sound like us.

“You boys relax,” she told him before turning away.

It wasn’t long before the two women had fallen into an easy-going, efficient routine.

“So.” Lena handed a suds-covered plate to Alice, who’d taken over the rinsing. “You gonna ask me?”

“Ask you what?”

“Whatever it is you want to know.” She gave Rafe’s daughter a sidelong look. “That’s the real reason you’re in here, right? So go ahead. As long as it’s not classified, I’m pretty much an open book.”

“Are you using my dad as bait to catch Kozlova?”

Lena froze halfway through washing the fork in her hand. Turning to Alice, she gave a vehement, “Absolutely not.”

“It would make sense.” The intelligent blonde’s eyes never left hers. “From an operator’s standpoint, that is. Intel supports him being the one going after your team. Putting you and my dad in one location to wait it out would be⁠—”

“Like putting rats in a barrel.” Lena gave her head a slight nod. “You’re right. It would make for a tempting play. But I promise you, that’s not what this is.”

“No?”

“No.” Her gaze remained locked with the other woman’s. “I care about your father and would never do anything to purposely put him in harm’s way.”

Alice’s baby blues held steady a moment longer before turning away. “So you and my dad.”

“Is that a question?” Lena’s attention returned to the fork still clutched in her hand.

“Are you two a thing?”

She chuckled as she handed over the cleaned utensil. “You’re very direct. I like that.”

“Same.”

“Okay, then. I’ll be as direct as I can. Your father and I are former colleagues and friends.”

“Friends.” A look of suspicion turned her way. “With benefits?”

Lena barked out a laugh. “That’s direct, all right. And no. We haven’t . . .” She paused. “Do you really want to talk about this stuff? He’s your dad, after all.”

Alice turned off the faucet before shifting her petite body to face her. “Look, I like you, Lena. I respect the hell out of what you do for a living, and I get that you and my dad are both adults. But at the end of the day, he’s the only parent I have left, so . . . yeah. I need to know you’re not setting him up to get hurt.”

“I already told you I’d protect your father’s life with my own.”

“I’m not talking about physically. I’ve looked you up. You can obviously handle yourself in the field.”

“Then what are you⁠—”

“Emotionally,” Alice clarified. “I’m saying I don’t want to see him end up with a broken heart.”

Oh. That.