Chapter 10
CHAPTER TEN
Rhett
I hit the video button and waited for it to connect. It was torture to talk to Elle without actually seeing her face. Especially when I had the feeling most of what I was saying was causing her to blush.
"You sure do like to video-chat, don't you?" she said as soon as the connection was made.
"Only with you."
There it was. The blush I desperately craved. I was going to make it my life mission to see it as often as possible on her porcelain skin.
"How did the rest of your training go?"
I settled further into my couch before I answered, "It was good. We were done by fourteen hundred."
"So not a typical nine-to-five kind of guy?"
"Not in the least." Was that the kind of guys she preferred? If so, I was far from it and could never see myself being that way. Not after the things I had witnessed in my life. I doubt I could ever have a life that didn't involve taking assignments or saving people.
Some people would probably call it a hero complex, but I just called it normal.
"When do you leave again?" I watched Elle walk through her house and managed to catch glimpses of her style. Feminine but not overly so, and certainly not nearly as drab as my bachelor pad was.
"Why do you want to see me?" I waggled my eyebrows, half expecting her to blow me off, so color me surprised when she answered the opposite instead.
"Well, you do owe me a coffee date."
A huge smile overtook my face, and for the first time in forever, it wasn't forced or fake. "That's right, I do. When are you free?"
Elle chewed on the side of her lip, and I wished I was in her presence so I could take my thumb and relieve the poor mutilated flesh.
"How about dinner tonight?" she finally asked after a few moments of silence.
That got my full attention and had me sitting straight up. "Dinner?"
"Or just dessert." Elle started to backpedal. "It doesn't matter to me. I just figured we could get it out of the way before you were called out on another assignment."
"Out of the way, huh?" I teased.
Elle groaned, and it was plain as day she was flustered with the conversation. "That's not how I meant it. I just thought it would be better to make plans the day of instead of in the future just in case you have to leave again."
"I knew what you meant. I was just teasing you, and yes, it's probably better not to plan too far ahead."
I never knew what my day looked like let alone my week. I had the kind of job that could call me away at any given moment.
"So tonight, then?"
"Tonight. Shall I pick you up?"
I knew the answer even before she said anything. The hesitation was written all over her face. "I'll meet you at the restaurant."
I tried to not let her answer bother me but deep down it did. I had to remember we were just friends and me picking her up could be construed as a date. Something I wasn't ready to do; even if a small part of me wanted it.
"Text me the time and place, and I'll be there."
"Okay."
We said our goodbyes, and with much reluctance, I ended the call.
I only had the chance to rest my head back on the sofa for a minute before my phone was ringing again. Recognizing the ringtone as one of my siblings, I debated answering. In the end, I decided it was better to do so now before they sounded the alarm, and all of them started to harass me.
"Hello."
"He does know how to answer. Can you believe it, Colt? My brother actually knows how to answer the phone when I call."
I rolled my eyes at Alexa's antics.
"I'm going to hang up if you continue your shit," I told her instead.
"Ooooooh. Someone has their panties in a twist today. What's wrong, big brother, did a girl break your heart?"
"Alexa! Leave your brother alone." I could hear her husband Colt in the background.
"I would have to actually date for someone to break my heart," I reminded her.
"Oh that's right. You would have to talk to someone more than once in a blue moon, and we know that won't happen. You barely talk to your family let alone a woman."
"Did you call just to give me shit?" I asked after she went off on her tangent.
Alexa huffed at me. "No, smartass. I called to tell you the good news before you heard it from Mom and Dad on your monthly call."
The way she said monthly call had me cringing. I know my family hated that I restricted them to my life, but it was all I could do in order to keep them safe. The less they knew about my life, the better.
"What good news?" I asked when it was obvious she wasn't going to give me the information on her own.
"Makenna is going to be a big sister."
Makenna was Colt's fifteen-year-old daughter. She and Colt came into my sister's life two years ago, after Alexa had gotten arrested for murder. Obviously my sister hadn't murdered anyone, but it had looked like it when her CI showed up dead.
"Congratulations, sis. When are you due?"
"In six months. We decided to wait until we made it through the first trimester before we told anyone."
I remember my sister Lucy mentioning over a year ago that Alexa had been trying to have a baby, which made me wonder if maybe she had a miscarriage before this that I didn't know about.
"I'm so happy for you guys. I get to be an uncle again." I tried to inject as much happiness into my voice as possible even though in my heart all I could think about was how I now had another human being to worry about.
"Are you planning to see this baby or is work more important?" Leave it to a pregnant Alexa not to pull any punches.
"You know my job keeps me out of the country a lot."
"So you say, but how am I supposed to know if that's true since everything about your job is a secret?"
My family had no idea I worked for Black. Even my brother Zack who worked for Black's friend Wes didn't know what I did for a living, and that was how I preferred it. I didn't want them to have any idea the danger I was constantly in. Otherwise they would hover more than they already did.
"You just have to trust me."
"Trust is earned, Rhett. I swear you're more secretive now than when you were in the military."
"You're one to talk," I argued back. "Last time I checked, you didn't tell the family what you did for a living either."
Alexa had been a CIA agent, and none of us had known.
We all thought she was just traveling the world finding herself until things blew up, and she got charged with murder.
Since getting married, though, she had left the CIA and opted to become a prison guard like her husband.
Although now that she was pregnant, I was sure Colt would want her to stop that as well.
"And look where it got me," she fired right back.
"Yeah, a husband, a daughter, and a baby on the way.
Sounds like a good deal to me." The attitude that I was giving my sister wasn't necessary but I needed her to drop the subject.
With a sigh, I added, "I don't want to fight about this anymore.
Congrats, again. I'm really happy for you.
Let me know when the baby is due, and I'll make sure I'm around. That's the best I can do."
I could hear Colt in the background telling her to drop it, so with her own sigh, Alexa answered, "We'll keep you posted."
"Love ya, sis. Give Makenna a kiss for me."
"Love ya too and I will."
By the time we hung up the phone, I was mentally exhausted from the verbal exchange that all I wanted to do was crack open a beer and chill on the couch with some mindless TV.
A quick glance at the clock was all it took for me to realize that wasn't an option. Not if I wanted to make it to dinner on time.
Elle had sent me the location and time while I was on the phone with Alexa, and according to the map app on my phone, it would take me a good hour with city traffic. That didn't leave me much time to shower and get ready.
The beer and mindless TV would have to wait for another time, and with any luck, the dinner conversation would go better than the one with my sister.