Chapter 11 #3
Everyone looked up when Jamie appeared before going back to eating.
Jamie carried his plate with him over to the table, hoping his sister wouldn’t mind the company.
She was eating the same food as everyone else, just in daintier bites.
Leah nodded at him but continued her conversation with Katie—something about what was the best place to hide a knife in a dress.
He couldn’t even be angry with Katie for having that conversation with his little sister, and Jamie took her silence with grace. Better than a screaming match any day.
Kyle didn’t join them; he’d left his plate on the side table by the couch near Alexei.
Jamie ate his way through his food, trying not to miss Kyle’s presence, before getting up to get another serving.
Donovan had made enough food to feed what felt like a full platoon, but in reality was just enough that Jamie doubted there would be any leftovers.
“I’m going to stay here tonight and then leave tomorrow,” Leah said, catching Jamie’s attention a few minutes later.
He looked up from soaking up sauce on his plate with a piece of garlic bread. “I’d rather you stay here.”
“Everything you do here is going to be classified,” Leah pointed out.
“There’s a threat out there that targeted you by inviting you to the gala. The people behind that are dangerous, and I don’t want you in the cross fire. I can’t keep you safe if I don’t know where you are.”
Leah reached for her wineglass and took a sip of the crisp sauvignon blanc. “First you don’t want me here, now you don’t want me to go. Make up your mind.”
“I never said I didn’t want you here. I asked earlier what you were doing here. I thought we cleared that up? I want you safe, Leah.”
“You are so overbearing sometimes.”
“Leah.”
“Fine,” she snapped back exasperatedly. “But I don’t want to stay here.”
It hurt that she didn’t want to be around him, but in the long run, her absence would make it easier for them to work. “I’ll talk to Liam about safeguarding you somewhere else tomorrow, but you’re staying here tonight.”
“Your team needs to give up a room because I’m not sharing.”
“Already got it figured out,” Katie assured them both quickly before Jamie could respond. Leave it to his second-in-command to anticipate that need and head off another argument.
Leah went back to eating her pasta, smoothly switching back to her conversation with the girls while Jamie wondered how long she would be angry with him over this mess.
Leah could hold a grudge better than anyone he knew; he just hadn’t been around long enough lately for her to hold one against him.
As dinner wound down, everyone started to drift away to do their own thing.
It was Madison’s night for kitchen cleanup duty, but everyone brought their own plates into the kitchen.
Jamie gathered up his dishes and everyone else’s at the table, carrying them into the kitchen proper.
Kyle had beat him to it, dumping his and Alexei’s plates into the dishwasher.
“Are you done for the night?” Kyle asked.
Jamie shook his head. “Not by a long shot.”
The modifications to the field plan wouldn’t write themselves, and he needed them ready to present to Liam’s superiors.
Kyle nodded. “Okay.”
Sean was in the living room, finishing up his dinner.
Leah sat at the table, openly watching them.
But with their secret now out, they didn’t have to hide here.
What’s more, Jamie didn’t want to. He kissed Kyle, quick and easy, a firm pressure against both their lips, the way he’d kiss the other man when they were at home.
“I’ll come to bed when I’m finished.”
Jamie wished he could hang out with the team, but his job wasn’t done yet. Kyle understood that because he didn’t argue when Jamie retreated into the office.
Finished turned out to be well after zero dark thirty, when the house was quiet and everyone was asleep.
Jamie saved and locked down everything he’d been working on before making his way back upstairs.
He’d done as much as he could, though it still didn’t feel like enough.
They were working on maybes and what-ifs, not solid evidence.
But they couldn’t discount the possibilities sitting on the table, and Jamie wanted to be prepared for anything.
He only hoped the UMG would take his recommendations and act accordingly.
The second floor was dark when he crested the stairs, no lights shining from beneath any of the bedroom doors. Pushing open the one to the master bedroom suite, Jamie voiced the lights on low, unsurprised to see Kyle burrowed under the blankets on his side of the bed.
Jamie undressed quickly, tossing his dirty clothes into the hamper in the walk-in closet.
He eyed the second set of suitcases tucked out of the way on the floor and the extra clothes that hadn’t been there when they first arrived.
Jamie fingered a black wool jacket that was too small for him on a hanger.
“Didn’t see any reason to keep bunking with Trevor, and your sister needed a room anyway,” Kyle murmured from the bed.
Jamie stepped out of the closet and quickly pulled on a pair of sleeping pants from the dresser.
That, too, held more clothes in its drawer than the day before.
Crawling into bed, Jamie got underneath the covers and wrapped an arm around Kyle, pulling him close.
Kyle didn’t fight him, for which Jamie was immensely glad.
He didn’t know what he would’ve done if Kyle had wanted distance between them right now.
“I’m sorry,” Jamie said quietly.
“Don’t know what you’re apologizing for. It’s not like we could have kept us a secret forever. At some point, your family was going to find out. At some point, the brass will.”
When the brass eventually found out, that would be the breaking point; not this, not here, not right now. “I was hoping we could at least make it longer than seven months.”
Kyle hummed softly, working one warm hand between the weight of the blankets to stroke Jamie’s hip. “You giving up on us that quick?”
Jamie didn’t fight the reflexive tightening of his hands on Kyle’s body. “Never.”
“Good, because neither am I. We’ll figure it out.”
They wouldn’t be a field team forever, Jamie knew.
Their bodies could only sustain so much damage, metahuman or not, before needing to step back and let someone younger take over.
Jamie knew they had at least five more good years in them, maybe a little more, before they’d have to seriously consider if they wanted to remain a team or get promoted out to different support positions.
If they survived, that is.
Jamie stroked his fingers absently over Kyle’s warm skin, exhaustion pulling at his body, but his mind wasn’t giving in to sleep that easily.
“If we weren’t in the position we’re in, I would’ve introduced you to my family long before now,” Jamie said.
Kyle’s sharp breath blew warmly over Jamie’s chest. “I know.”
“I’m not ashamed of you. I need you to know that.”
“I know, Jamie. The job is important. If you didn’t believe in what we did, I don’t think we’d even be together. You being who you are is why I—I’ve stayed. Why I’m willing to be with you even if we can’t tell people. I wouldn’t have you any other way.”
Jamie closed his eyes against the darkness of the bedroom, pressing a kiss to the top of Kyle’s head. The words were on the tip of his tongue, an echo of what he’d almost told his sister, but Jamie swallowed them back.
“Just keep trusting me,” Jamie asked.
Kyle’s lips brushed a soft kiss over Jamie’s heart. “Always.”
* * *
Kyle eyed the coffee maker with something like desperation as it brewed.
At 0450, he had ten minutes before everyone’s alarms would start going off and the fight over the coffeepot would begin.
With Jamie still sleeping, Kyle was hoping to wake him up with fresh caffeine instead of a blowjob because they didn’t really have time for that today.
He heard footsteps on the stairs and glanced over his shoulder, freezing when he caught sight of who was making their way to the kitchen.
Leah was bundled up in a thick robe, soft-looking sleep pants, and fuzzy slippers.
Her hair was a mess, but Kyle knew from years of experience living with sisters that pointing that out to her would be a death wish.
Leah didn’t seem to know it was him at first until she actually made it to the kitchen. Kyle watched as she came to a stop near the kitchen island, blinking rapidly at him. They stared at each other in silence for several seconds before Leah cleared her throat.
“Please tell me that’s coffee and not synthcaf,” she said.
The coffeepot beeped softly, and Kyle nodded. “Coffee.”
Kyle took down another mug to join his and Jamie’s on the counter. He poured coffee into all three and let Leah doctor hers up how she liked it before dumping creamer and sugar into his and Jamie’s.
“That for Jamie?” she asked, nodding at the mug beside his.
“Yeah. Figured I’d grab some for us before the horde descended.”
“So you’re sleeping with my brother.”
Kyle tensed, staring at her with a wariness he usually only reserved for an adversary, and that wasn’t really fair to her.
In the cold light of morning, Leah looked small and young and tired, different from the hurt, angry woman he’d glimpsed in the office last night.
However much he and Jamie rationalized keeping their relationship a secret, Leah had still been hurt by their actions.
Kyle had hated hurting Valentina and Tatyana while growing up, and he knew Jamie felt the same way toward Leah.
Feeling sorry for her still didn’t make this easy.
“I am,” Kyle said slowly.
Leah leaned against the counter, taking a sip of coffee as she stared him down with a frankness that reminded him of Jamie. “I was a little pissed last night.”
“I know you’re probably still angry—”