No Love Lost (Masters & Mercenaries The Forgotten #5) - Lexi Blake Page 0,112

for showing her around. I appreciate it. And I also appreciate everything you’ve done to make her feel welcome.”

“I like her,” Charlotte said with a smile. “And I always love shopping. I brought some of Travis’s clothes. I think they’ll fit Roman. The girls and I did a Target run and bought him all of the basics. Also, if you noticed, there’s now food in your kitchen. I know many men are confused about where food comes from, so I made it easy for you.”

He chuckled because she was right. He ate sad takeout far too often. “I promise I’ll take them both shopping. From what Kim’s told me she’s become quite good at cooking. I’m looking forward to some home-cooked meals.” He saw Charlotte’s eyes narrow and immediately moved to block the inevitable lecture on household duties and emotional work. “And the dishes and cleanup that I will do after our lovely meal.”

“Well played, Kent,” Eve said. “You want to keep those meals coming, you have a bottle of wine chilling for your lady after dinner and you let her relax while you deal with the dishes and the kiddos.”

Li huffed. “Kiddos? He’s got it easy. His is six. He missed all those terrible toddler years. Not that mine were bad. Daisy takes after her mother, and she’s practically a saint.”

“Sure she is,” Tag said while shaking his head. “All our kids are.”

“Mine aren’t,” Alex admitted with a sigh. “How did I go from we probably can’t have kids to having three? And don’t let Li overemphasize the toddler years. Yes, they suck, but I would take all the stinky diapers in the world to not have to answer questions about what is lube and why is there so much of it in your bathroom, Dad?”

Eve groaned. “I have to admit, I ran. I left him standing there to answer that one.”

“You don’t hide it well enough,” Tag replied.

“I hide it fine. Who do you think put Coop up to asking that question? I’ll give you three chances, and the first two don’t count,” Alex shot back.

“See, my Daisy doesn’t know anything about that. An angel of a girl that one is.” Li looked perfectly satisfied with his self-delusion.

“Not if she’s around Tag’s monster she’s not. You need to talk to Kala about…everything,” Alex said. “Just everything.”

“I’ll get right on that,” Tag replied in a way that said he wouldn’t do that any time soon.

“Is Kim coming back?” He was waiting for the moment when she walked in the room.

“She wanted to run by the kids’ club,” Charlotte explained. “We have to call it that now or I can’t get Travis to go. It’s not a nursery anymore. It’s a very cool club that only kids get to go to. It’s important that it be elite.”

“It’s important that his dad is banned,” Tag groused. “I really thought that slide would hold my weight.”

The conference room door opened and Kim walked in. Beck shot to his feet and pulled out a chair for her. “Hey, I got you some coffee.”

He’d even put it in one of those little thermoses so it would stay hot.

She smiled as she sank into the seat he’d saved for her. “Thank you. I could use it.”

“Did you get me coffee?” Ezra asked, taking the seat across from Beck.

Beck simply stared at him.

“All right then.” Ezra settled in. “I’ve been meaning to cut back. Discipline is good for the soul.”

“It’s good for a lot of things.” Tag winked his wife’s way.

Beck wouldn’t know. He hadn’t been able to discipline his sexy sub at all. And now he had some questions because he was fairly certain they’d agreed it was dangerous for Ezra to be out and about. “Why is Ezra here? I thought we were keeping my brother in a bunker somewhere.”

“Nah, they’re keeping me in a sex club,” Ezra replied. “Mr. McKay tried to tell me it was some sort of a gym given the large hamster wheel that lights up, but I didn’t think that bench thing was for weights.”

“You stashed the priest at Sanctum?” Li was suddenly sitting up straight.

“Well, it was good enough for Jesus,” Tag replied.

Beck couldn’t help but laugh, which earned him a stare from Kim. He saw church in his future.

“I’m serious,” Tag continued. “Contrary to what most people think, Jesus liked to hang with a rough crowd. Also, there’s nothing wrong with sex. What consenting adults do is a beautiful thing. I personally am very grateful for sex.”

Beck