Epilogue
EPILOGUE
MILA
“We obviously have a situation we’ll need to deal with.” Jax pointed at Kyle. “Not a word.”
Everyone laughed when Kyle held up his hands. “Didn’t say anything, boss.”
As I glanced around the table, it was nice to see everyone at today’s meeting. It hadn’t been that way in a while, with so many cases taking us out of town, but we were finally back. I’d spent the entire weekend with Ethan, only leaving my apartment on Sunday so he could shower and change his clothes at his place, but I went with him. Then we spent the afternoon with Everly and Riley. It didn’t take long for Everly and me to begin chatting like old friends, and I smiled to myself when she shared a look with Ethan that told me in no uncertain terms that she was happy for him. Riley spent most of the time telling us all of Everly’s secrets, including the fact that she had a man to the house.
And that man was sitting in this room with us.
Which was driving Ethan crazy.
Before we left Everly’s townhouse on Sunday, I heard him ask her who was at the townhouse, but she was very hush-hush about all of it. It wasn’t until Ethan asked Riley that he even got a name. Sneaking a peek at Landon, I couldn’t help but wonder what the hell was going on with him and why he’d been spending so much time with a woman he barely knew.
“Told you not to bring on a woman.” My head snapped toward Striker when I heard his voice, but after I saw his grin, I smiled.
“Come on, how boring was this place before you hired me?” I teased back.
“Because this is new ground for all of us,” Jax interrupted, “We’ll figure shit out as we go, but in this office everything remains professional.”
“That means no sex in the office.” Kyle smirked. “Unless you’re Striker and it’s in the gym.”
Striker’s head snapped toward Kyle, but he only shook his head when he saw the smirk on his face. I dropped my head to hide my grin because we’d all heard a rumor that he and Beth had been overheard in the gym, but I assumed it was only a rumor. Maybe it wasn’t.
“I’ve never said these words before, but Kyle’s right. No sex in the office,” Jax replied, but it was obvious he hated that he had to agree with Kyle.
“I always knew I’d get you to like me.” Kyle put his hands behind his head and rocked his chair back on two legs.
“You work hard and get shit done, and I’ll like you.”
“I’m one of the hardest workers you got, boss.”
That was true. Kyle was always working and usually in the office on the weekends.
“I was here this past weekend and didn’t see you,” Brody mentioned, which was odd. He didn’t usually get involved in the teasing. “You have plans?”
“Spent the weekend showing Striker’s sister around town.”
Striker turned all of his attention on Kyle. “Why?”
He snorted. “Because you’re not. Plus, she doesn’t know anyone around here.”
“Been busy,” Striker replied, but he seemed annoyed. “I told you to leave her alone.”
“Just bein’ friendly, brother.” Kyle shrugged. “She called and asked me, so I said yes.”
“We’re getting off track.” Jax sighed. “Again.”
“True,” Kyle agreed, which was odd, but I knew why when he turned his attention on Ethan. “I wouldn’t have pegged you for liking cougars, Ethan.”
“No idea what you’re talking about, man,” he replied, but I knew where Kyle was going with this. I was a few years older than Ethan, which didn’t really mean anything other than Kyle had more to tease us about.
“Isn’t Mila older than you?”
“Isn’t Striker’s sister younger than you?” he fired back, and I laughed beside him. Sometimes Ethan surprised me with how sneaky he could be with an answer. He knew Kyle spending time with Striker’s sister, Bridget, was a sore subject, but he did it anyway just to take the heat off us.
“You are not dating my sister,” Striker said loudly.
“Who said anything about dating? I’m just playing tour guide,” Kyle defended himself.
“Make sure you keep it that way.”
Kyle rocked his chair back so all four legs were flat on the ground and stared at Striker. “What are you sayin’, man? You don’t think I’m good enough for your sister.”
“Didn’t say that.” Striker shook his head. “You just don’t have the best track record with women.”
Kyle snorted, but he looked a little more relaxed than he had a second ago. “Doesn’t matter anyway. I’m seein’ someone else.”
“Who the hell are you dating?” Nick looked confused. “With all the fucking gossip around here, I can’t believe I haven’t heard that.”
He turned his attention to Nick and grinned. “Like to keep my shit on the down low.”
I laughed again, surprised at how easily I was laughing today. To be honest, I’d been dreading this meeting and how it would be handled, but the guys were acting as if they didn’t really care. Or maybe we really were terrible at hiding it, and they suspected this was coming. Either way, they were making it really easy for me to feel even better about my decision.
“Down low? No one else I know says the stuff you do,” I replied.
“Anyway.” Jax interrupted again, and it was easy to hear the frustration in his tone. “Brody and I have decided that Mila, you, and Ethan will not have cases together.” I was ready to protest before Jax held up his hand. “Let me finish. You won’t work cases together unless we need you to pose as a couple or an install Ethan’s working on overlaps with a case you’re working on.”
“You don’t trust that we can get the job done working together?”
“It may not seem like it, but we’re doing you a favor.” Jax looked back and forth between us. “It’s hard as hell to work all day with someone and then go home with them. You need a break, and your work can offer that.”
I glanced at Ethan, and it was easy to see he agreed, so I nodded. Jax was right. It would be hard to work together all day and then go home together. This would give us time apart and still let us do the jobs we loved. Satisfied with that, Jax continued. “We have some new assignments.”
We listened while he detailed those and handed them out. Ethan and I talked about him doing installs, and he insisted he liked it more than what we had to do in Devil’s Lake, and I couldn’t disagree. Helping Brody design and install security systems challenged his mind like how tracking and investigating challenged mine. I was still working with Nick on the case from last week, which had taken us out of town for a day, but it seemed like we would be local all week, and I really liked that. I didn’t mind the small undercover jobs, but I no longer wanted to take long jobs out of town. I didn’t want to leave Ethan for long, but I also wanted to get to know the people of this town, and working away from home for long periods put a strain on those efforts. Beyond work, we hadn’t really talked about our plans. We’d just fallen into a routine, but I had every intention of bringing up that conversation today because there was no way in hell I was sleeping at my place alone. Not now that I had him in my life.
“Okay, that’s all for today.” Jax stood and said what he said every Monday after our meeting. “Find us if you need us.”
There were murmurs while everyone started moving around, but as soon as Landon stood, Ethan called out to him, and I barely contained my smirk. “Hey, Landon. You got a minute?”
“Yeah.” I stood and followed Ethan to stand in front of Landon who was grinning at me. “You ghosted me Friday night.”
“Sorry about that. I was umm,” I cleared my throat but grinned when I glanced at Ethan. “Working something out.”
He chuckled. “I’ll bet.” He shifted his attention to Ethan. “What’s up?”
“Heard you’ve been at my sister’s place.”
Still grinning, he shook his head. “Who ratted me out? Riley?”
Ethan looked surprised by how easily Landon referenced Riley. “Yeah, she did.”
“Not surprised.”
He tilted his head to the side. “Is something going on with you and my sister?”
“Is this the brother talk?” He laughed and slapped his hand against Ethan’s shoulder. “I live in the townhouse next to hers. I helped her move in and told her to call me if she needed anything since I’m literally right there and you were out of town. She called, and I helped her move some shit around after they got settled.”
That made sense, to me at least, but it was obvious Ethan wasn’t totally buying it. “Why the hell didn’t she just tell me that?”
He shoved his hands in his pockets. “She shared that you’re a little overprotective, and she didn’t want you to worry.”
“I am,” he admitted. “She doesn’t have the best luck. Thanks for doing that.”
“No problem.” He shrugged. “Figured you’d do it for my sister if I couldn’t.”
“Your sister is Lucy Dimarco. If you couldn't help her out, there’s a fucking line of Dimarcos who would.”
He laughed again. “You’re right about that.”
“Well, since I'm back, you’re off duty.”
“Looks that way.” He rocked back on his heels. “Gotta get going. I’m heading to Crush. We had a security nightmare last night that I need to go over with the new owner.”
“Is he cooperative?”
“Not really,” Landon admitted. “But I think he’s trying to find a balance between bringing in money and keeping shit up and running. He knows he needs to follow our guidelines to do that. We’ve been butting heads, but this past weekend proved I was right so this should be a fun meeting.” He started walking backward. “For me anyway.”
Ethan grunted. “Good luck.”
I waited for him to leave to look up at Ethan. “That was nice of him.”
“Yeah,” He replied, but it was obvious in his tone that something was bothering him. Luckily, I didn’t have to wait long to hear what that was. “Didn’t it seem like he knew them better than a guy who only helped move furniture?”
I snorted out a laugh. “Oh, absolutely.” I poked him in the chest. “But you’re gonna leave it alone, right?”
“Right.” He shrugged like it was no big deal, but I was calling bullshit.
“What’s going on in your head, Ethan?”
He sighed and leaned his hip against the conference table. “I like Landon but not for my sister. He’s impulsive and walks a fine line between extreme fun and danger. She doesn’t need to walk that line with him. She’s been through enough.”
I tugged on the front of his shirt. “You need to just let this go.”
“You’re right.” He shook his head as if he was clearing it.
“She’s an adult,” I reminded him.
“I know.”
“And a mother,” I continued.
“Right,” he agreed. “I know.”
I pushed to my tiptoes and kissed him quickly before dropping back down. “Your overprotectiveness is one of the reasons I love you, but give your sister a little wiggle room. She’ll figure it out. Everly’s smart and she’d proven how smart when she moved to North Carolina to put some much-needed space between her and her ex.”
This time, the lines around his mouth eased. “You’re right. Okay, we should probably get to work.” He pushed a piece of my hair behind my ear and grinned. “See you tonight?”
I smirked. “Your place or mine?”
“Yours,” he answered immediately.
“You answered that pretty fast.” I narrowed my eyes. “Is this because Everly’s townhouse is closer to my building than yours?”
He snorted as if I was wrong, but that was exactly why. “No.”
“Yes, it is.” I rolled my eyes but then laughed.
“Why are you laughing?”
I slid my hand into his and squeezed as we approached the door. “It’s just going to be a lot of fun watching you navigate having your sister this close.”
“I’m not that bad,” he grumbled.
We stopped in the doorway, faced each other, and I slid my hands over his chest. “Yes, you are. But that’s one of the things I love about you.”
He grinned and leaned down, kissing me softly, only pulling back slightly when Kyle walked by and called out. “What the hell’s wrong with you? We just had a meeting about this. At least Striker did it in the gym.”
I watched Ethan laugh, his lips hovering just above mine, and smiled softly.
This man.
I knew from the moment we met that there was something special about him.
Lucky for me, he felt the same way.
Continue reading for a peek into The Boy Next Door, the second book in the Spring Fling Series.