Page 84

“And what the hell are you so happy about?” Kyle demanded.

He pointed downward, to the ever-growing puddle between my legs.

“I’m all for it too,” he chuckled. “As long as we keep doing it on your bed!”

Forty-Six

SAMMARA

After that things returned to normal, or at least what passed for normal in our house. The tension was gone, though. Our sense of normalcy and everyday life returned, and we’d even fallen back into our old household routines.

The guys took turns making dinner again, still cooking up some of the most outlandish combinations of food I’d ever seen. On one night I’d be eating peanut-butter and curry noodles, and the next, fresh tuna on pizza. It was almost like they took some of the more exotic foods they’d experienced while overseas, and mixed them together with American food without blinking an eye.

Either that, or they enjoyed secretly fucking with me.

“What?” Ryan asked one night, as I side-eyed him dipping his french fries in Nutella.

“Nothing,” I said, forcing a smile. “Absolutely nothing.”

The size of our meals was never consistent either. Kyle’s meals were sparse, and Dakota’s meals usually produced ridiculous amounts of leftovers. Ryan put ketchup on just about everything he cooked, and even added bowls of ketchup to the table like it was some sort of a side-dish.

All of it made me laugh, and endeared them even further to me. When it came to my Rangers I loved every little quirk, every last idiosyncrasy. I wouldn’t trade these things for the world, even if my own meals appeared bland by comparison.

Work progressed quickly, and I was forced to find even more funding. Luckily, Cindy’s efforts had paid off handsomely. She’d hired herself an assistant — Tina — and landed the job with Merrick Studios. Their advance came in just in time to further my new construction along.

I’d even subcontracted some work out to Dawn. Sort of, anyway.

It had happened when I was still in Iowa. I’d needed a dozen or more design decisions made on the fly, and I couldn’t be there for the approval. Oddly enough, Dawn had called me that day to see how Sarge was making out. I mentioned my problem, and she’d offered to go over to the job sites and act as my eyes and ears.

Despite all sorts of warning alarms going off in my head, she’d performed more than admirably. Dawn’s choices were spot on — her design always was — and she’d helped keep my projects moving even though I’d been away. She’d even thanked me for the opportunity to see what I was up to, and thought Modern Vintage was an amazing idea overall.

And if Dawn thought it was amazing…

“Sammara.”

I glanced up to find Dakota’s lovely head poking into my bedroom. I was seated cross-legged on my bed, chewing a pencil.

“Yes, love?”

“Come downstairs for a few,” he said. “Family meeting.”

I cocked my head at him curiously. We never had ‘family meetings’, just meetings. And there was a seriousness to his voice that I didn’t like.

“Everything okay?”

He nodded once. “Just… come.”

I put away my work and headed down to the kitchen, our usual meeting place if there ever was one. But the kitchen was empty. Instead, voices floated in from the living room. The three others… plus one I didn’t immediately recognize.

Not until I walked in, and saw Markus Ladrone.

“Ah, good,” he quipped upon seeing me. “The boss is here. Now we can really get down to business.”

He was leaning against the fireplace, arms folded, looking as smug as usual. Kyle and Ryan sat on either arm of the couch, looking on. Jason stood between them, arms folded.

“Tell her what you just told us,” said Jason.

Markus looked a little surprised. “What? You share everything with her?”