“Somehow? Geez, thanks.” I rolled my eyes but smiled, my heart lifting. “I love you, Bellezza.”
“I love you, Attie.” I kissed her softly, wanting to cherish this moment, as it might be the last good one I got for a while.
“Just out of curiosity, what number down the line am I? You know that you’ve said the L word to.”
“Hmm,” she said, scrunching up her eyebrows in almost an exact replica of Sax. I couldn’t stop the laugh.
“Fuck. You’ve been hanging out with Sax too much. I swear, he just did that same move a few hours ago.”
Loren kissed my nose, still refusing to answer, and reached around to hand me the coffee she’d brought in, a soft smile on her lips. I took the cup and brought it to my mouth for a sip when I realized she was watching me.
“Did you put ex-lax in this or something? Why are you watching me so closely?”
Loren slapped my arm, shaking her head. “Nothing like that, I promise. I made it. That’s all, and I don’t know. I guess I wanted to watch you enjoy it. I’ve never had that before.”
It was such a sweet and sad thing, I couldn’t help but oblige. I took a long sip, savoring the flavor as it rolled over my tongue. “Mmm, that’s amazing. Damn, Bellezza, you’re definitely earning your title. Maybe we should make it official.”
She blushed, looking at me. “Um, what?” She shook her head, dislodging the thought. “Here, Nicco said it’s programmed with everything.”
“Thank you. For the coffee and the phone, and just listening. I needed it more than I knew. You’ve helped me prioritize what needs to happen.”
“I’m glad. It feels nice to be useful.” She laid her head on my chest. “I hate to be a dash and go girlfriend, but I need to head back to my place. I return to work today, and Imogen is starting school.”
“Do you really think that’s the best idea?” I asked, some tension returning.
“I do. We need to live our lives and not let him take anything else. You have guards in place, and you’ve covered every detail a million times. The kids will go to school with Beau and afterward to the youth center. I’ll go to work with Topher and then meet them there, where we’ll come back here. Monroe is keeping Levi home until the Brittni thing is done, but the rest of our family is good. We’re ready for this. You do your job, and we’ll do ours. Trust, right?”
“I hate that you’re right. Fine. But I want check-ins every hour. No exceptions.”
“Fine, you overprotective, grump.”
“Mm, you better watch it, or I’ll make your number 4.” She sucked in a breath, heat filling her eyes. Thoughts of making her late to work so I could have her on my desk were dashed away when Sax walked in with a woman I’d never seen before. Her bright purple hair stood out, making me wonder just who she was.
“We have a situation,” he growled, his eyes flicking briefly over at Loren. She kissed me, slid off my lap, and then walked over to the angry giant and kissed him, too. She smirked as she left, winking at me. I’d watched her the whole way, forgetting momentarily about the intruder.
“And you are?” I asked, my eyes landing on the purple-haired pixie.
“Impressed.”
I rolled my eyes. “Sounds like an odd name.” The woman laughed and then looked down at my phone. When I glanced down, it lit up, ringing through with an unknown number. She jerked herself free from Sax, did some jazz hands, and took a seat, swinging her legs over the arm. The phone kept ringing, and she looked back at me, an eyebrow lifted behind her glasses.
“You’re gonna want to get that, Cous. Aunt Phea doesn’t like to be kept waiting.”
Shit. Looked like my Siren cousin was here.