Page 127 of Cole

“You should come,” Annie urged. “It might do you some good to get out of the house and be around some genuinely nice people.”

“Think some of the niceness will rub off on me, Annie?” Julian asked, a sarcastic edge to his tone.

“One can always hope.”

“Downside for you is that there won’t be any eligible single women there for you to flirt with,” Benji informed him.

“Well, that settles it,” Julian said, a grin quirking up one side of his mouth. “I’m definitely not going now.”

“Benji…” Annie shook her head. “Leave Julian alone.”

Benji shrugged. “I just figured he should know in advance that there wouldn’t be any women to mess with there. He’d probably take one look at Lexi and start flirting with her.”

“Oh, he could try,” Cole said with a laugh. “But Lexi would probably freeze him out. And if that didn’t work, Wilder would happily let him know that she’s off-limits.”

“You think he’d punch Julian?” Benji asked, sounding just a little too eager at the prospect.

“Wouldn’t be the first time I’ve been decked.”

Annie sighed. Trust Julian to turn the mood of the room.

“Regardless, you’re welcome to come,” Cole said. “The women in my family know how to take care of themselves. And the ones who might be too shy to rebuff you have husbands who will help them out.”

“I’ll think about it.”

“Have you talked to Dad this morning?” Annie asked. She didn’t think he had or they wouldn’t be having such a ridiculous conversation.

Julian scowled at her, then glared down into his mug. “I thought I’d try to avoid the lecture for as long as possible.”

“You know you could avoid the lecture altogether if you didn’t act like such a jerk,” Benji said, getting up and taking his plate back to the buffet for more food.

“Benjamin isn’t wrong about that.”

All of them straightened at the sound of her dad’s voice. He came into the breakfast room with Elizabeth at his side.

“Good morning, Mr. Burke,” Cole said as he got to his feet.

“Good morning, Cole.” He nodded in Cole’s direction, then bent to kiss the top of Annie’s head. “Good morning, Annalisa. Boys.”

“Morning, Dad,” Benji said.

Julian settled for a simple, “Father.”

“Why don’t you sit down, darling,” Elizabeth said. “I’ll get your food.”

Her dad drew Elizabeth into his side and placed a soft kiss on her lips. “Thanks, my love.”

Her dad went to the head of the table and sat down, laying the folder he held down on the table beside him. Even though they were in a different room, they’d all ended up in the same positions around the table that they’d had the previous night.

“Julian, I have news for you,” her dad said. “I would have told you last night, but you were in no condition for that conversation.”

Julian turned his hard gaze to his father. “What have I done this time?”

“That is a loaded question, indeed. However, this has nothing to do with any of your errant activities.”

“Then what is it?”

“We’ve received a credible lead on Angelica’s location.”

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