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I stared at him, stunned. Had he just said he loved me? Without waiting for me to process his words, he bent down and gave me another peck on the lips. “You visit with your brothers,” he said. “I’m going to shower. And you,” he pointed to Keene, “stop trying to get me in trouble.” And then he was gone. I was still looking down the empty hall after his steps faded.
Chapter 31
Alessia
Gideonwasthefirstto talk when I turned back to them, deciding to think more about Brody later. Always the leader, it didn’t surprise me in the least when he set his tablet aside, turned his full attention to me, and spoke. “I’m not upset that you kept secrets about your job from us. We’ve all served our country,” he included me in his gaze as he looked at all of us, “and we’ve all kept our mouths shut to protect others. The past is in the past, but I want it understood that, unless it reveals confidential information, you are to beyoufrom here on out.” He gave me a rare smile. “I miss our sister. We’ve seen plenty of the woman you think we wanted, or expected, to see. We want the person you actually are.”
Keene added, “We don’t run from each other in this family, Lessia. You have an issue with us, you tell us so. We get too far into your business, you push back like you did when we were kids.”
Royce chimed in, “I don’t think she’s completely forgotten how.” The amusement was clear in his voice, and I knew he was thinking about my retribution last week. Boone made a sound of agreement.
I tilted my chin up stubbornly because I stood by my past actions—both the confrontational and nonconfrontational ones—but nodded in agreement. “Okay. But you’renotsticking me with a job in H.R. or finance.” Both of which had been brought up yesterday, and I’d promptly shut both down, but it bore repeating.
“We’ll, figure something out,” Gideon said magnanimously. I narrowed my eyes, unsure if he was humoring me or not. Before I could say anything, Boone cleared his throat.
“I owe you an apology,” he said quietly but firmly. He shook his head when I waved him off. “No, I do. What I said yesterday was wrong—it was spiteful and meant to hurt you, and it did. And I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it, never even really thought it. It just seemed to spill out.”
That was the thing about Boone. He might be hotheaded and rash, but he always—always—owned up to it when he had time to calm down.
“To be honest,” I said, “I thought I’d get more of it from more of you.” I shrugged. “Kinda figured it would be a default response. I accept your apology.”
“We’re good?” he asked skeptically.
“We’re good. No retribution.” I gave him a playful smirk. “I don’t think your stomach could handle another round, anyway.”
He groaned, placing his hand over his middle in part truth, part fun. “I think you ruined enchiladas and whiskey for me for life.”
“Just don’t go switching to tequila,” I said, only partially in jest.
“So,” Royce said, throwing down the rag he’d been using to wipe off the counter.
“So,” Boone echoed, both of them giving each other a sideways look before looking at me expectantly.
“So, what?” My voice came out slow and wary, unsure of what they wanted to know and mentally trying to flip through what I could divulge from my past missions and what I had to keep to myself.
“Since you’re basically retired and all,” Royce said casually, “I guess you could show us where a covert operative might have, at one time, stored their weapons and other tricks of the trade.”
I put my hands on my hips. “Semi-retired. And I’m not showing you where I keep the fun stuff. You’d never leave unless it were to head to the range to try out my toys. Besides, they’remine.”
Boone looked around at the floors again while Royce gave a speculative glance at the walls. “You’d have to hide them someplace unexpected,” he mused. “You couldn’t have one of us getting suspicious and poking into something we weren’t supposed to find.”
Keene’s eyes widened, and I slammed a mask in place, knowing he’d put the pieces of one part of the puzzle together. “Holy shit.” He gave me a wild-eyed look. “Do you actually have a dungeon? You told me—” He cut himself off, turning to our brothers. Even Gideon looked intrigued. “The morning she made Brody sign that NDA, she said that’s why she didn’t want him… us… poking around. That we might find her dungeon. I thought she meant—” He cut himself off a second time, looking at Royce, who was as stone-faced as I was.
“I don’t have a sex dungeon,” I protested, trying to turn the conversation. “I don’t have any kind of dungeon. All my kinky sex stuff is stored in my bedroom. I wasn’t kidding about not looking under the bed.” Pausing for dramatic effect, I continued, trying to change the subject. “I guess if I’m going to keep Brody, we’re going to have to agree for him not to talk about our sex life while he’s in the locker room. All y’all are not going to want that mental picture.”
Boone winced. “Good thing he’s not one to kiss and tell, but I agree, no sex talk.”
Gideon, who had stayed silent through our exchange, stared at me, clearly not detoured by the conversation the way I’d hoped. “Keene’s right,” he mused, watching me. “I never noticed how well you toed that line between lying and blatant honesty so outrageous we thought you were joking.” He turned to the other three. “You aren’t looking for an in-ground cubby. You’re looking for an entrance to a basement.”
Damn it, I thought, hating how well he could read me when he put effort into it. “I can show you the blueprints for the house—no basement permit was pulled, was in the home inspections, or was on the plans.”
“I bet not,” he agreed. “But I’m right, aren’t I? I remember thinking you were going off the deep end with this house. After you bought it half-finished, you went through what, five or six contractors? You said it was because they kept ditching, but I’m betting you didn’t want any one company to have full purview of the house design. At the time, I thought you were being high-strung, but you played that shit up on purpose.”
I smiled smugly. “I can neither confirm nor deny the existence of a basement. But even if there was,” I said, over my brothers’ voices, “you wouldn’t be able to get into it.”
“That sounds like a challenge to me,” Boone said, looking like a kid getting geared up for a treasure hunt.
“As fun as that would be,” Gideon glanced at his watch with a flick of his wrist, “our lunch hour was over an hour ago.”
