Page 148 of Beyond the Badge: Nox

“Hey, Liyah,” Jamison’s wife greeted. “I had no idea you were coming along today.”

“I didn’t, either, until he asked me last night.”

All three men exchanged glances.

Here we go…

“Last night?” Crew asked with one eyebrow cocked.

“Yes, that time of darkness that occurs between the time of daylight,” Liyah explained.

Nox wanted to fist bump her for that answer, but he refrained. Barely.

“A lot of stuff can occur in the dark,” Crew said. “But for some reason, my brain is stuck on only one thing.”

The corners of Liyah’s lips slightly tipped up. “Sleeping?”

Jamison snorted and grabbed his wife’s hand. “Let’s go and get this show on the road.”

“Yeah, let’s,” Nox agreed, meeting Crew’s eyes that were full of a mix of curiosity and amusement.

When Cross, Bella and Jamison wandered away, Crew still remained.

Of course. The task force leader was looking for any reason to bust Nox’s balls.

“Do you need assistance with anything else?” Nox prodded.

Crew pursed his lips.

“Cabrera’s getting impatient,” he warned.

Crew glanced over his shoulder at their newest task force member. “She can wait.”

“Do you want to tell her that or should I?”

Crew’s jaw tightened and he scraped his fingers over his short salt-and-pepper hair. “For fuck’s sake,” he grumbled before spinning on his heel and heading back to his bike.

“What was that about?” Liyah asked.

“He’s the king of ball-busting and I think his brain glitched when he saw us together. For Crew, being rendered speechless is the same as being neutered.”

“Ouch.”

“Exactly. I’m sure it was painful for him.”

* * *

About halfway through the ride,they stopped at a park that hosted food trucks on Sundays and had plenty of restrooms.

Nox watched Bella introduce Liyah, both with iced chai lattes in hand from one of the trucks, to anyone she hadn’t met yet.

Nox trusted Jamison’s wife to put any of their brothers in their place if they ribbed Liyah too much. Even though Nox had complete confidence in Liyah being able to handle anything thrown her way.

He had watched her the whole time she went around talking to everyone. His heart skipped a beat every time she gave someone a warm smile or she threw her head back in laughter.

From where he sat, it even looked like she cracked a joke with Crew. He didn’t feel the need to worry about him saying something ignorant to her because Cabrera didn’t leave his side. Nox knew the younger DEA agent would cut the older DEA agent off at the knees if he said anything stupid.

Nox thanked fuck for the women in their lives.

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