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Straightening, I held his stare and lifted my coffee mug in quiet salute. “You made me a part of the plan, Captain. I’ll handle it.”
At my use of his rank, the hint of a smile kissed his lips again. I wanted to make him truly smile, unguarded and without any need to shield me or anyone else from what might make him really happy.
For now, though, I had to settle for his nod. “Fair.”
Lunchbox grunted as he slapped a magazine into one of the guns Voodoo had been going over. “Fourteen minutes,” he muttered the complaint. “That’s not even enough time for me to get dramatic.”
“That’s why we love you,” Alphabet said dryly. “Short fuse, high yield.”
Another smile tried to escape out of the locked barricade of Bones’ expression but he just shook his head. Voodoo shot me a wink. The guys were winding themselves up. Goblin huffed from under the table. I bent and scratched behind his ear—gentle, a grounding motion.
As I straightened, Alphabet leaned in close even as the other guys were already moving to load the equipment in the vehicles.
“You need anything?” His eyes were warm. Steady.
“Just you in my ear when it counts.”
“Always.”
“What about you, AB? Do you need anything?”
“For all of you to come back in one piece.” He held my gaze for a long beat then nodded once.
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Don’t make me come in there after you…”
“Yeah,” I said slowly, recognizing the invitation to play in his blue eyes. “Bones might get upset with us.”
Alphabet smirked. “That’s one way of putting it.”
Bones was back before Alphabet finished closing his laptop. He lifted the tactical vest and held it up for me. At my nod, he slipped it over my head then secured the velcro straps. When he finished, he dropped to one knee then slid a holster around my hips, buckled it before he tied it to my thigh.
He added another one to the opposite thigh, though one got a gun and the other a knife. When he stood, he checked the fit of the vest then added a secondary holster to the first belt and that had my taser in it.
Another pat down, then he flipped open a case and held out the comm unit. “This goes in your ear. It will lock over the shell and tucks right into the canal. It will hold in place even if you have tiny ears—which you do, since you have a tiny everything.”
I wrinkled my nose, but took the comm unit. Our fingers brushed, but he didn’t pull back. Instead, he watched me set itin place, then brushed my fingers aside to check the fit himself. The contact just threw me back to when it was his teeth and not his fingers.
“If things go sideways…” he began, dropping his hands to rest on my shoulders.
“We adapt,” I finished. “Wing it, but—I follow your lead. Follow your orders. No questions, just move when you say move.”
“You’ve never done this.” Who was he reminding? Me? Him?
“That’s why I’m with you,” I said.
“Yeah.” He blew out a breath. “You stay with me, too. Like we’re sharing one skin. Got it?”
I saluted. “Got it.”
His eyes gentled, the crinkles at the corners deepening. “You really like giving me shit.”
“Just a perk. I promise.” But he’d almost smiled and that was worth it.
“Let’s go.” He jerked his head toward the door and I followed him out.
Everyone was at the pair of SUVs and they loaded up in silence. The kind that wasn’t awkward—just full. Bones and I took one vehicle. The guys were in the other with Goblin.