"She meant what do you do in the kitchen," Alex supplied. "Like me, I burn things. Including the curtains. I also wilt things apparently. I can't be trusted around lettuce."
Espen laughed. "I slice off fingers on kitchen appliances then. That's my specialty."
"No. Not another one of you," Kenzi said, shaking her head.
"Well, if you would stop being a pain in the ass and let me pitch in," Breaker butted in, waving a hand out at the end.
Breaker was about every bit as big as Paine and Enzo, but lighter skinned with blond hair, a full blond beard, and light eyes. For a living, well, he was pretty much hired muscle. Though word was, he was trying to go a bit more legit now that he was settling down. Breaker was Alex's man, and the one who did pretty much all the cooking for the couple thanks to the aforementioned superhuman ability of Alex's to set things on fire and make them die.
"No," Kenzi, the stubborn ass she was, said immediately. "Look what happens when one of you 'helps out,'" she declared, waving at the rolls.
"Oh good lord, Kenz. Have a glass of wine or something," another female voice called, making eyes turn to find Gina standing there behind her elder daughter with a bottle of wine in her hand.
"I don't need wine," she said, shaking her head.
"Honey, this isn't about what you need; it is about what the rest of us need to be able to put up with another hour of this." She tempered the chastisement with a pat to her daughter's cheek as she pushed forward to stand in front of Enzo and Espen. "So, you're Espen," she said with a warm, motherly smile.
"And you're Gina," Espen said back with a nod. "I've heard a lot about you."
"Well, I wish I could say the same about you, but Enzo here has been trying to act like the two of you aren't a thing. As if we can be fooled," she said, putting an arm around Espen, and leading her away.
"Okay. Men. Out," Kenzi called.
It was right about then that he saw Reese in a corner, looking right at him, mouthing 'don't leave me with her' to him.
He smiled, chucking her under the chin, and following the other guys out into the main room. This was mostly because Kenz had picked up the wooden spoon again and started whacking them with it.
Didn't matter if you were a grown ass man, wooden spoons still stung.
"Looks a lot better already," Paine said as they moved outside, the living space feeling cramped and hot to so many large men.
"That looks better?" Tig asked, voice tense.
Enzo might not have known Tig too well, but after some conversations with him and Kenzi, he learned about the shit that happened to his little sister, and how he had become over-protective of women since then.
"She's got that freshly fucked glow to her skin too," Breaker said with a knowing grin.
"Her old man was over yesterday," he told Paine, both of them sharing a look.
"Aw man, yeah," Paine said, nodding. "Elsie's dad is, ah, a piece of work. I feel ya."
"He's a good man. They were just on the outs, and she didn't tell him about getting worked over."
"Who'd put their hands on a face like that?" Shooter asked, shaking his head.
"That's what we all want to know," Enzo said, shrugging. "They've been on this for a week, and they don't have a name yet."
"What case was this?" Tig asked, intrigued. Part of it was his protect-the-woman thing, but another part was the fact that Tig was one of the best private investigators in Navesink Bank. Enzo gave them a quick recap. When he was done, Tig was still watching him. "What company was this again?" he asked. The second the answer was out of his lips, Tig was reaching for his phone and storming off.
"The fuck was that?" he asked the other men.
"Damned if I know," Paine said, shrugging. "Don't know him that well yet, but that wasn't exactly a normal reaction."
"He has to know something about the case," Enzo insisted.
"Yeah, and he's likely calling Rhodes," Paine agreed.
"Should..."
"Where you going, kid?" Breaker asked when the front door to Gina's slammed shut and Reese appeared in her usual clothes - black yoga pants, some t-shirt that Enzo was pretty sure was a book reference, and an oversized, especially long, burgundy sweater.
Reese responded with a sound that was suspiciously like a growl. "The Creamery for five freaking scoops," she huffed, going to steer past them, only to be snagged by Shoot as he threw an arm around her shoulders, stopping her.
For anyone else, her outburst might not have been a big deal, but for quiet, bookish Reese, slamming a door was tantamount to a fistfight, and using a word such as 'freaking' was practically a battle cry.
"How is my first love doing?" Shoot asked, and no one was sure if they meant Reese or the girl who worked at The Creamery who had surely flirted with Shoot at least once or twice before.
And because there was confusion, Reese turned a deep shade of red. Because Shoot had known Reese since she was hardly even a teenager, he gave her a squeeze. "Had my heart the first time you stuck your finger through my ear gauge and informed me that heroes in books don't purposely put extra holes in their head. What were you then, eleven? Fucking cutest old-lady-kid I ever met. So, I have to ask, the woman who holds the oldest part of my shriveled little heart, what has you off to go binge overpriced ice cream?"
"My sister needs Xanax. Or or... one of those tranquilizers they have for animals. But she needs one of the ones meant for elephants to put someone with her rage-out down. Also, you have the biggest heart of anyone I know," she said, giving him a happy little-sister smile. "And The Creamery is not overpriced. It is independent and organic. You know... real food."
"What is she raging about this time?" Paine asked, giving her a smile.
"Something about women these days being able to do it all, and that includes being able to feed themselves. And, of course, Alex, Elsie, and Espen loved that. It's like Wild Kingdom in that kitchen. I swear food is about to fly soon."
"You'd think she'd calm down after this being a weekly event since for-fucking-ever," Breaker said with a smile. He liked spirit in women, as evidenced by the sarcastic-as-fuck, picks-arguments-for-the-hell-of-it woman he chose. So even when Alex or Kenz was being a royal pain in the ass, he was at-ease. Hell, he was two seconds from charging in there and throwing some fuel on the fire just to laugh while it burned. That was his way. "Maybe I should go and, you know, diffuse the situation," he suggested with a devilish grin.
"With some TNT?" Enzo asked, shaking his head. "Nah, I got this. I should check on Espen. She's, ah, not used to being around so much estrogen. This might not be pretty."
With that, he walked back in toward the house to hear a raised voice - Alex's, of course - yelling at, one would imagine, Kenzi.
"And furthermore, just because I have the vagina in the relationship does not mean I have to do the cooking, cleaning, and wash! What next, Kenz? Should I be doing those things in six-inch heels with a full bell skirt while my husband talks down to me about how his underthings aren't pressed like he likes them?"
"How you holding up?" he asked, walking up behind Espen, wrapping his arms around her stomach, and pulling her back into his chest.
"I need popcorn for this. It's freaking hilarious," she admitted, and when he turned his head, he saw the huge smile on her face. "I have such a small family," she went on, "there was never any crazy drama at gatherings. This is awesome."
"It's not a woman thing," Kenzi said with an eye roll. "It's a 'you're a human being who should be able to sustain herself even if the Chinese takeout is closed' thing."
"First, there are always chips and canned soup. Second, if it's not a woman's thing, then why aren't the men allowed in here?"
To that, Kenzi smiled, all the frustration gone. "Have you seen all of our men? I swear to Christ they suck up every last bit of air in a room as well as the space. Mom's China would be splintered everywhere."
"Well," Alex said, her own rage gone in a heartbeat, as it often went, "yeah, I can't fault that. Brea
ker and I once tried to get ready in the morning at the same time in the same bathroom... yeah, he might have gotten a knee to the groin. You know... accidentally on purpose," she added and the women laughed. "He doesn't understand the concept of personal space!" she added, trying not to look like a monster.
From there, crises averted, things went as they always did. Food finished, was served, everyone sat to eat. And you pretty much needed earplugs when they all got to catching up.
"What's going on in there?" he asked on the car ride back to his apartment later.
There was a long moment when she simply kept staring out the window, making him think she wasn't going to give it to him. But then she turned when he stopped at a light, a strange, dreamy smile on her face that somehow reached her eyes, and told him, "Even if this doesn't work out," she said, meaning them as a couple, "I'm keeping the rest of them. You'll just have to deal with me."
His smile was warm as he took her hand, sliding his fingers between hers, and pulled it up to kiss the back of her hand.
"Honey, I think I am going to enjoy the fuck out of having to deal with you."
SIXTEEN
Espen
She didn't want the call to come.
She didn't want the words to be said that she had been waiting for.
She didn't want what had to happen after they were uttered.
But her wants simply didn't have room in the reality the next afternoon when Enzo's phone rang on the counter, and he answered it on speaker while he scrubbed the oven. Even though he had scrubbed it the day before, and hadn't used it since.
Quirky, she decided.
He was quirky.
And she liked it more than she thought she possibly could.
"We got him. We got some shit to talk about. How soon can you be back?"
Her eyes had gone instantly to Enzo, trying to gauge what his reaction was, because inside, all she felt was dread.
Because a part of her was scared that what they had, what they were building while hiding out like fugitives on the run, was very insulated. It didn't have their real life stressors like work and the drudgery of normal, daily life.
What if they got back to the city and shit went to hell?
And that question, while it should have, didn't have a goddamn thing to do about her concerns about work.
No.
Because sometime between going to his family's house and meeting the crazy, amazing, loud, impossible-to-hate family of his, to the amazing hour-long sex session they had had after, to the breakfast that morning that involved a heavy makeout session for no reason, to the present second, she did it.
She fell.
Completely.
And she slammed right down into it.
Love.
It was such a foreign thing, this thing called romantic love. She knew all about normal love, the plain old-fashioned love one had for someone who was close with you, who shared ups and downs with you, who you could lean on, who you had created endless memories with.
That love was easy.
Hell, she might even be willing to say that she was good at that kind of love. Not in a wishy-washy way, of course. That wasn't her style. But in her own way. In her loyalty. In her willingness to drop everything if Atien or Biyen needed her. In her desire to do whatever it took to make them proud, to make them smile.
She was an old hand at that.
But this romantic love crap?
Yeah, this was completely new territory.
She was unfamiliar with the sensations of it - so unlike those of normal, familial type love. There was a similar heart-pull feeling, but this was somehow more intense. Along with it, there was a skipping heart thing that she always thought was a figment of romance novelists' and musicians' imaginations, not based on actual facts. But there she was with a freaking stammering heart like a teenager.
Then there was the stomach thing.
You know... that thing.
It was so cheesy that, in her mind, she refused to name it what it was.
Butterflies.
But regardless of whether she would stamp a name on them or not, there they were, all fluttering and unsettling, yet wholly welcome at the same time.
The other things didn't exactly surprise her. The almost chronic desire, a deep, pulsating ache to have his hands, mouth, tongue, and cock on and in her. But along with that, there was an urge to constantly put her lips on him. And not on his mouth or throat or earlobe or cock, or normal, sexual desire type places. No. When he wrapped an arm around her chest from behind that morning, she had, good lord, leaned down and kissed his forearm.
What the fuck was that all about?
She also felt oddly empty when his hand moved from hers. Never in her life had hand-holding seemed so needed, so welcome. Usually, she was swatting people away because she didn't want them all up in her personal space.
But she not only wanted Enzo all up in her personal space, she might have actually been okay with him like... attached to her hip for a while.
Jesus.
What a sap.
She needed to get a freaking grip.
They had just started dating and she was going all gaga over the man.
That would scare him off for sure.
"Honey," Enzo's voice cut into her head. When her eyes snapped to his face, there was a teasing smile pulling at his lips and a warmth she was getting way too familiar with in his green eyes. "We pulled up about three minutes ago," he added when she shot him a what look.
"Oh," she said, looking around to see that, yep, they had parked in the lot behind Gabe's place and that the engine and radio were even off.
She really needed to stop doing the drifting thing because Enzo was not the kind of man who let that kinda thing slide. She actually kind of respected that about him, but since it meant she had to be such a girl and spill her guts, she could really use to remember to keep her head in the present.
"It's nothing," she insisted when he just kept smiling at her.
"Uh huh," he said, going for his door.
She was out before he could come over and open her door like he liked to do. And even though they were walking into work, he reached down and took her hand again, making her stupid, traitorous stomach do the fluttering thing she both loved and hated. But maybe loved just a teensy bit more.
"Well well well," Xander said when they walked in, his gaze going right to their interlocked hands. "You motherfuckers owe me two-hundred bucks each," he declared to the room at large.
And that room consisted of not only Xander, Ra, and Kane, but also Gabe, K, Faith, and... yep, Atien.
It was so weird to see him there, sitting at her desk, looking like he belonged with his two-thousand dollar suit in another crummy neighborhood. He didn't look completely out of place, however, since K also dressed like he was constantly late for a business meeting.
"Fuck's sake, Espy," Kane said, shaking his head like he was disappointed as he reached into his pocket. But he was smiling. "Couldn't it just have been one more fucking day?" he asked, slapping the money into Xander's hand. "Hey, at least I wasn't as off as Ra was," he added, surprising her. Ra had done something like bet on when they would shack up? That didn't seem like him. But, then again, she really didn't know him at all, did she? "He was sure it was the first weekend."
"Way to think I'm easy, Ra," she said, smiling.
"Maybe he just thinks I'm fucking irresistible," Enzo shot back.
"Yes, hardy har," Faith said, shaking her head. "Let's get a move on. Some of us have work to get to."
"Alright, so," Xander started. "We all were at a dead end. Your father included, believe that shit or not," he said, giving the man a chin-jerk that her father returned with a small smile. "And then I got this call from fucking Tig of all people. Haven't heard dick from him in six months, then I get this call telling me that I needed to stop looking into this group, and start looking into the CEO, that word was he had been suspected several times of fucking with his own buildings
to collect the insurance payout."
"And I think Espen was on the right path," Kane added, "when she started looking into all that copper piping and shit at the beginning. He had over twenty grand just fucking sitting there for anyone with two brain cells to rub together to come along and take it and resell it. You don't do that shit on a construction site. That didn't add up."
There was a swelling feeling inside at realizing it hadn't been wrong for her to spend an afternoon looking into that before the CEO called and sent her focus in another direction, looking into this environmental group.
There was a squeeze on her hand that she took as reassurance, something she certainly didn't need, but was happy to have regardless.
"So once we brushed that PAED shit to the side," Xander went on, "and focused back on the CEO... it didn't take more than an hour to find the muscle he used to sabotage his jobs," he added, waving a hand toward the bathroom.
"Wait... what?" Espen asked, eyes going big. "You have him locked up in the bathroom?" she hissed, looking at Xander who, quite frankly, was kind of known for doing some shady stuff. Then her focus went to her father, who absolutely wasn't known for that. "You let them lock him in a bathroom?"
"You're lucky we were there to stop him from killing the man," Faith chimed in, looking like it wouldn't have bothered her in the least if he had, in fact, killed the man.
Stunned, Espen dropped Enzo's hand and took a step forward. "Seriously?"
"I let you live your own life, Espy," Atien said, eyes wise. "I let you date men who aren't worthy of you without comment. I don't interfere with how you spend your time. I know when my input is, and is not, wanted. But I will not stand by when a man puts his hands on you. That is one place I draw the line."
"Really, he's not that bad," Kane said, flicking his lighter, a telltale sign that he was ready to excuse himself for a smoke break, but he clearly didn't want to miss out on whatever was going down right then. "He has a cut to match the one you got and, um, a nice new bruise necklace. That was when Ra finally pulled him off, you know, before he strangled him to death."
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