Beyond the Breaking Point - Lori Sjoberg Page 0,106
family. “Don’t be a hater. It’s not my fault you don’t have enough testosterone to grow one.”
“Yeah, whatever.” Nate crossed to Austin, and they did one of those complicated handshake things that ended with a one-armed bro hug and a slap on the back.
“So where’s your girlfriend?” Ryan asked Wade. “I’m dying to meet her.”
“She’s not my girlfriend.” That wasn’t entirely true. But aside from his, he didn’t know how to refer to Hope. Girlfriend sounded way too casual, while partner implied a commitment they hadn’t discussed and he wasn’t sure either one of them was ready for. Who knew what would happen between them once they returned to the States? It was a topic they definitely needed to discuss once Aranza was brought to justice.
“Then what is she?” Nate asked. “Fuck buddy?”
Wade’s eyes thinned to slits. He knew Nate was only jerking his chain, but referring to Hope in what he considered a derogatory manner pushed every last one of his buttons. “Say that when she’s in the room, and I’ll put my foot so far up your ass you’ll taste shoe leather for a week.”
Undaunted, Nate nudged Ryan with his elbow. “Aw, isn’t that cute? He’s getting all protective and shit.”
“And you’re getting close to spending time in intensive care.”
Austin snorted. “All right, that’s enough, you idiots. We’ve got work to do. Did you bring the stuff I asked for?”
“What stuff?” Wade asked.
“Nothing fun, since the Mexican government doesn’t take kindly to people smuggling weapons into their country.” Ryan set his black carry-on luggage on the table and unzipped it. After rooting through the loosely packed clothing, he pulled out something resembling a walkie-talkie with two stubby antennas. “Lucky for me, the security screeners didn’t have a problem with this jammer.”
“Is that a Ty special?” Austin asked.
Their youngest brother was like MacGyver when it came to building gadgets. Given enough time and motivation, he could probably build a nuclear reactor out of a spool of wire, some expired cold medicine, and an empty two-liter bottle.
Ryan grinned. “It certainly is. He made sure to build one with a strong enough signal to knock out anything within a three hundred-foot radius. That includes cell phones, GPS, and anything else that operates through a wireless connection.”
That would definitely come in handy. When they moved on Aranza, one of the first things they needed to do was cut him off from the outside world so he couldn’t call for reinforcements. Larissa had already hacked the house’s wireless connections, but it was impossible for her to remotely silence every electronic device in the area. On the downside, the jammer would knock out their phones as well, which they’d have to factor into their plans.
A door opened at the end of the hall, and a few seconds later, Hope walked into the room. She looked good enough to eat in a white T-shirt over dark-blue shorts that showed off toned, tanned legs that had been wrapped around Wade’s waist the night before. Her blonde hair was pulled back in a short ponytail, while her bare feet sported shiny purple toenail polish.
Wade had seen her less than two hours ago, had left her soft and warm in their bed, but the sight of her still managed to make every cell in his body rev. Those three little words kept bouncing around in his head, but now they didn’t concern him as much as they had a couple of weeks ago. One of these days, maybe after they had that relationship talk, he’d work up the nerve to say them aloud.
Confusion crossed Hope’s face when she noticed Nate and Ryan, and came to a stop at the end of the hall. “I, uh…I didn’t realize we had company.”
Unable to be this close and not touch her, Wade moved to where she stood and placed a hand at the small of her back. The simple contact grounded his soul as he began the introductions. “Hope, these are my brothers, Ryan and Nate. They’ve come to help.” He shot his brothers a look that said play nice or I’ll pummel your asses. “Guys, this is Dr. Hope Chandler.”
Ryan gave her a cordial nod and hello, while Nate crossed the room to shake her hand.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Miss Chandler. We’ve never had a doctor in the family.”
Wade glared daggers at his brother. Leave it to Nate to be an asshole about this. “Knock it off.”
“What?” Nate tried to act all innocent and shit, but the cat-who-ate-the-canary