Page 130 of Hushed

“Up with you, imp. Let’s clean up and get you some food.”

He lifted her off of him, and they headed into the shower together to rinse the sex and sweat from their bodies.

It was hard not to push him against the wall and kiss every inch of him, but he had a lot to do today and not very much time to do it, so she was going to have to resist the urge.

When they were dressed, he held her hand as they walked downstairs. In the kitchen, they found Reggie and Austin making small talk over their first cups of coffee for the day.

When Reggie saw her, he motioned her to his side and draped an arm around her shoulders. “Hey short stuff. Did you get some good sleep?”

She blushed and nodded, and he lifted his eyes to the ceiling “Dear lord, give me the patience not to knock Gage’s head off.”

She shoved at his hip. “Stop. You promised.”

He laughed and tousled her hair. “I’m just giving you shit, kid. I had an adverse reaction at first, but I’m thrilled for you, and I trust Gage with my life, so I have to trust him with yours, too.”

She hugged him tight at those words and marveled again at the fact that he was really here in front of her after all this time.

Gage sidled up to Austin and kissed her cheek. “Any chance of getting a cup for myself, gorgeous?”

Austin grinned. “I’m sure that could be arranged.” She turned and grabbed a mug from an upper shelf and put it under the fancy coffee maker. A few button pushes later, and dark brew poured into the cup.

“Kenzie, I think there’s some soda in the fridge. Gage says that’s your preferred drink.”

She beamed at the fact that he remembered and opened the fridge where six cans of her favorite soda were perfectly chilled. It was as if these people got off on one-upping each other for acts of perfect kindness and grand gestures.

Or maybe it had just been so long since she’d had more family than her brother, that she wasn’t sure how to take this many people loving her for who she was.

A few minutes later, Samuel and Patrick joined them, and Gage offered to cook breakfast.

“Gage is one of the best breakfast cooks ever,” Austin declared as he pulled stuff out of the fridge.

“Gage is only a good cook when he has fancy equipment,” Reggie quipped.

“Fact’s,” Samuel said with a snort. “Without that, we’d be eating charcoal.”

Kenzie guessed there was some sort of inside story between the three around Gage and a cooking mishap. She would have to get him to tell her later.

After Gage finished cooking, he kissed her cheek and disappeared with Samuel and Reggie, each carrying a plate of food. A knot sat in her stomach, and made it hard to enjoy the delicious food, but she did her best to eat a few bites so Gage wouldn’t scold her when he returned.

Twenty minutes later, Samuel stuck his head in the kitchen door. “Miss Kenzie, can we borrow you for a moment?”

She looked up in surprise but pushed her plate back and stood. “Of course. What’s going on?”

Samuel didn’t say anything, just led her into what had to be Patrick’s home office.

Gage and Reggie sat glaring at each other, and she wondered what she was stepping in the middle of and whether she was going to be forced to choose between her brother and her boyfriend.

Samuel cleared his throat, and both men looked up.

“Is everything OK?” she asked after several seconds of awkward silence.

“We have a role for you to play in this operation, Kenz,” Gage said, patting his knee.

She walked to him and perched on his leg, looking back and forth between him and Reggie.

“What’s that?”

“No one can find Maggie. We need you to reach out just in case she’s willing to take your calls.”

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