Chapter Twelve
Week One
“Kenzie, I do not need to see that…place where bugs obviously bit you,” her father managed to choke out as she entered the conference room.
She was pretty sure she glowed. It was amazing what having truly filthy sex with the man of her dreams could do for a girl.
She might have selected this slouchy sweater to show off the superhot bite marks she had.
“It wasn’t bugs, Dad. It was Ben.” She moved to the coffeepot.
“Do you need some coffee? Did you get breakfast? Tell me you didn’t order a full English.
Dad, you are supposed to be watching your cholesterol. ”
“I do not eat any breakfast that comes with beans,” her father announced. “The coffee just finished brewing, so yes, I will take a cup and don’t worry about me eating breakfast. I’ll never be hungry again. Are you and Kala okay?”
Oh, they were getting serious fast. She grabbed two mugs and filled them. Black for her dad. A splash of creamer and two sugars for her. “You still get all the best gossip. Were they betting on whether Kala and I would have fight club?”
Her father’s brows rose as he took the mug. “It got that bad?”
“Not really.” She felt so much better about her sister right now.
Kala had snuck out in the early morning hours, but not before she’d thanked Ben for letting her stay.
Actually thanked him. With words and not with just not killing him, as was Kala’s traditional gratitude offering.
“She’s wrapping her head around the idea of Ben hanging around. ”
“Is he?” her dad asked. “Hanging around? We’ve got a lot of sites to investigate. We could be here for a couple of weeks. He might miss… I’m trying to figure out what he could miss in Canada. There has to be something.”
“Poutine. Tim Horton’s. The smell of true freedom.
” Ben was suddenly striding into the room, dressed in his gym clothes.
After their morning play session, which had ended up with him kissing all her boo boos before fucking her senseless, he’d gone off to work out while she’d spent the morning making herself pretty.
And staring at the places where Ben left his mark.
She felt beautiful with those marks and the ache in her ass from his hand and later a paddle. “Hey, baby. Is there any left?”
She pulled down a third mug. A little cream, one sugar for him. She remembered everything.
He didn’t even question it as he took the mug. He gave her a smile that told her he remembered last night, too.
“What the fuck is the smell of freedom? America is the smell of freedom,” her father insisted. “We invented freedom.”
“I know something from America that smells good,” Ben said with a low, sexy tone. He got into her space, rubbing against her from behind. His hands went to her hips and he nuzzled her neck. “Hey, gorgeous. Your father sounds irritable this morning. Is his sciatica hurting?”
Oh, he was going to play things that way? He would discover her dad dealt with sarcasm and teasing way better than performative respect. “I think it’s his knees.”
Her dad stood up. “It’s my stomach from having to watch all of this. Could you keep this whole thing to the club, please? We don’t need this kind of distraction.”
Ben took a long breath like he was taking in her scent and then kissed the top of her head and took his coffee mug before turning to her dad.
“Somehow I think you’ll get used to it. And sit back down, Mr. Lemon, because we have new intel.
Manny’s on the move. According to Joseph, he’s in Taiwan.
Also, we’ve got some intel that puts another assassin in Dallas. ”
Her dad sighed and sat back down. “All right. Let’s hear it. Also, it’s both, okay. You two wait until you’re old and your body starts getting back at you for all those times you tortured it for the job.”
The door swung open and her mom strode in, a tablet in her hand. “Ian…”
He held out a hand. “Ben’s already working on it. Did Drake send us an update?”
Her mom nodded and found herself sitting on her dad’s lap. Kala and Cooper walked in seconds later followed by Lou and TJ and a happily chatting Tim.
Ben took her hand, and when she was going to sit next to him, he pulled her onto his lap.
Her dad groaned but her mom gave her a thumbs-up.
Ben kissed her cheek and started his briefing.
* * * *
Ben frowned as he watched Kenzie in the kitchenette their flat contained.
Apparently at some point in time almost all of the flats here at The Garden had been actual residences for the operatives.
Robert and Ariel had started their family here.
Nick Markovic and his wife Hayley had done the same before they bought their place in Kensington.
Damon and Penny had lived here many years before retreating most of the time to their country house.
If this was what it was like back then, he had no idea how they got anything done.
“Bro, you want a beer?” Cooper asked from the living room.
“Are you asking me if I want one of my own beers?” Ben was still feeling out this whole family thing.
“I think he’s asking if he can have one,” TJ corrected. “You know, if you are. Also, Kenz, whatever you’re cooking smells amazing.”
Kenzie looked at her cousin and winked his way. “I’m trying a recipe for cheese puffs. And dinner is pulled pork. Ben’s never had mine before.”
TJ made some satisfied sounds and might have started drooling.
“I’ve missed your pulled pork. Kenzie mostly cooks when she’s happy.
When she’s sad she bakes. Not that I would want her unhappy, but if you want to have like the tiniest fight with her, I could use some cookies.
She makes these apple cider cookies that I dream about at night. ”
“Is there a reason they’re not in their own flats?
” Ben asked since he hadn’t had a moment alone with her all day.
They’d been in conferences with her parents and the Knights.
They’d had a virtual meeting with Lucy and Sami.
They’d been watching a remote villa Manny owned in France, but the shipment they were concerned with hadn’t shown up yet.
He and Kenzie had already done a day trip to Scotland where Disrupt had a compound. They’d managed to set up surveillance and were monitoring the situation. Next week they were heading to Italy to do the same thing.
He wanted to be in Taiwan, but they’d sent an MI6 team because Manny shouldn’t have ever met them. He wouldn’t know them by sight, and they might be able to keep eyes on him that way. He hadn’t spent much time with the other members of Damon’s team, but he trusted them.
Besides, he was starting to wonder if he wanted to put Kenz in Manny’s way. He would have to figure out a way to gently leave her behind when the time came.
He’d started all of this to see if there was any way it could work.
He wasn’t going to lie to himself now and say he was investigating her.
The only thing about that woman he was investigating was her gorgeous body and that wickedly absurd brain of hers.
She amused him. She confused him. She made him want something he hadn’t in a long time.
A normal life. A life where they lived together and had friends over to watch ball games and she cooked and he cleaned up.
Pretty much like now except he was being a dick because they were her family. He didn’t have any family. He had Tim.
He missed Dare.
“I might have a surprise coming,” she said with that mysterious smile she got on her face from time to time. The one that made his heart clench and pray she was exactly who she said she was.
She was his fucking favorite person, and it had taken exactly five days of living with her to know he wanted this.
Wanted to bicker with her father and watch her around her sisters and friends.
Wanted to be the one she went home with.
He wanted her damn dog here so he could get in good with Bud Two.
This tiny flat felt more like home than his own back in Toronto, and it was all about her.
There was a knock, and he sighed before kissing the top of her head. “I’m sure that’s your dad come to tell me what a dumbass I am.”
“It’s how you know he loves you,” she called out.
He stopped at the fridge and pulled three beers, handing them to TJ and Cooper before moving to the door.
“Thanks, man,” TJ said, popping the top. “Hey, what do you know about the Blue Jays’ new pitcher?”
No one asked him about sports. He was the dude who worked twenty-four seven, and now he realized with the exception of Dare, he hadn’t had a male friendship that didn’t revolve around work in…
years. After what happened with Deanna, he’d pulled in on himself.
He hadn’t wanted to bring in anyone who Manny could hurt.
TJ and Cooper could handle themselves.
Was Kenzie offering him way more than her beautiful body? Was she offering him a whole circle he could be part of if he opened himself a bit?
It couldn’t hurt to sit and drink beer and talk about the baseball game it had taken Tim a couple of hours to manage to get on their satellite. It helped to have a dude who knew how to cut into national television feeds. Tim sat beside TJ, but he was happy with his soda.
Kala and Lou were playing some card game in the dining area.
It was comfy. It was warm. It was one of those random Saturdays most people enjoyed.
One where he didn’t work, simply had fun with the people around him.
It was still awkward with Cooper and TJ, but he was getting to where he didn’t not like the time he spent with them.
He was still the new guy, which was why he wished Dare was here since he’d been through all of this before.
He opened the door and stood there for a moment because he wasn’t a man used to having the universe send him the things he wanted.
Dare stood in the doorway, Tash by his side. They looked relaxed and tan.
“Hey,” Dare said, holding a hand out. “You didn’t think we would let you have all the fun, did you?”