I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, Sid, you always want bananas, they’ll be on the list. Along with that gross protein powder you like and a gazillion eggs.”
The man ate like a caveman, but with the way he looked, I wasn’t complaining.
“You liked that last smoothie I made,” he replied, his arms crossed over his broad chest.
I wrinkled my nose. “Loved it.”
Theo threw back his head and let out a laugh loud enough to shake the windows. He slapped Sid on the back. “All right man, I’m outta here.”
“Later.” Sid nodded, giving a chin lift to Trent and Declan as they too headed toward the offices, ready to get home.
When we walked back into the office, Travis was the only one left, still bent over his desk intent on his task.
I worried about my brother. He worked too much and didn’t allow himself to have much fun, if any at all. He was going to go gray before his years if he didn’t let up a bit. “You almost done?” I asked him, trying not to sound like a nag.
He looked up as though surprised to see us standing there. He’d clearly been deeply absorbed in whatever he was doing. “Yeah, just about.”
Declan, Theo, and Trent were headed out on this next job. From what I’d overheard, it sounded like they were headed to Nigeria. Even though Travis wasn’t joining them, he prepared as though he was. He felt responsible for them and I knew it weighed on him.
“All right, boss, we’ll catch you tomorrow,” Sid said, offering a chin lift as he took my hand. “He’s all right, babe, let the man be,” he murmured in my ear when he caught my worried expression.
I bit my lip and nodded, following him out into the evening air.
“Oh, crap,” I groaned when we were fifteen minutes down the road. “I forgot my phone.”
Sid sighed with practiced exasperation. “I take it you need that?”
I gave him my best beseeching expression. “Yes.”
He shook his head with a chuckle as he cut the wheel. “Christ, baby, I swear if your head wasn’t attached, you’d forget that too.”
“I did once. It was really awkward.”
He burst out laughing, the sound loud and rich in the cab of the truck.
“Trixie should be okay for a little while longer.” I continued. I was still getting used to the idea that we were keeping her. Brad had called the week before and albeit reluctantly had agreed to my terms. I’d promised him he could visit her whenever he wanted.
When we pulled back up to Talon, I hopped down from the truck with as much grace as I could muster, which wasn’t a lot. “I’ll be right back.”
He nodded with an amused grin.
I gave him my best glare. “Hey buddy, it’s a big truck.”
He chuckled. “Baby, we both know the truck didn’t give you two left feet.”
“Yeah, yeah.” I laughed as he grinned back at me, his expression so warm it stopped me in my tracks. “You can tease me,” I murmured, as though this was some sort of epiphany.
For me it was.
He looked confused.
I blathered on, trying to explain myself. “I know it might sound stupid or trivial, but I never felt safe when someone teased me. You—you make me feel safe. Safe enough to open myself up to whatever you have to give because I know it comes from someone who loves me.”
His eyes burned with intensity as he reached over and hauled me back into the truck and into his lap. “Sweetheart.” He swallowed thickly, looking like he wanted to say more but couldn’t.
I ran my finger across his full lower lip, watching the path that my lips hungered to follow. “You were right about my parents. I hadn’t ever thought about it much before. They put us aside. They didn’t nurture us or pay much mind to us. I really wanted their attention, to feel loved by them. It scarred me, I guess. Made me close off to people the way I’d learned to do with them to avoid rejection. But you healed those scars, Sid. First by being a friend I could rely on, and then by being a man I could love and be loved by.”
His fingers tangled into my hair. “That last part—you should put that in a song.”
I shook my head. “No. That’s all for you.”
He pressed his forehead to mine, his breathing labored as his expression darkened with a heat that lit my inner fire. “Get your shit so I can take you home.”
I nodded eagerly, and with a quick kiss slid out of the truck just as ungracefully as last time. This time when he smiled at me, that glimmer of teasing in his eye—it meant so much more.
It meant everything.
When I stepped into the office, most of the lights were off. I was still riding high from my conversation with Sid, so the nagging sensation at the base of my neck that said something was off took longer to register. I told myself it was just because I wasn’t used to seeing it so dark, and soldiered through to the training area where I’d left my phone.