Adored (Masters and Mercenaries #8.5)(40)

“Says the perpetually single sadist,” Li cracked back. “Love ain’t got nothing to do with logic.”

Li was right about Kai. And Mitch was beginning to think there was nothing logical or rational about his sub at this point in her life. Laurel seemed to be running on pure emotion and he had no idea how to handle that. “I’m going with Irish on this one, Kai. How do I handle Laurel?”

“Agree with everything she says. She thinks bears and tigers can be best friends, so do you. Absolutely, my love. Let’s go buy two. Trust me, by the time you get around to finding that exotic pet shop she’s moved on to worrying about something else. Avery cried pretty much every single day of her first three months. And then there were three lovely months where we f*cked like rabbits, and I hid for the last three. That’s pregnancy in a nutshell.”

“Which is why this is a horrible time to begin a relationship,” Kai pointed out. “Laurel isn’t capable of thinking properly when she’s so emotional and has a ton of stress on her. And starting a D/s relationship is even more risky. I applaud you for taking responsibility for the child, but you might take a step back and concentrate on becoming a father and then later, after the baby is born, then you can work on your relationship with Laurel.”

That sent Li into a fit of laughter. “Oh, yeah, you’ll have so much time for that after the baby’s born. You got no idea what you’re talking about, Kai. I know you’ve got some fancy degree and all, but you have zero idea how the whole marriage and parenting thing works. There’s no logic to you. Look at the big guy there. His wife gave birth and the poor sap ain’t had a decent night’s sleep since. Do you honestly believe he’s capable of logic?”

Kai rolled his eyes. “Big Tag is only capable of sarcasm and sitting perfectly upright while he naps. That’s actually impressive, but not my point. Look, Mitch, you asked my opinion.”

“No. I really didn’t. I asked if you were ready to sign the paperwork on the office space and I got a lecture on how I’m screwing up with Laurel. And you know, aside from the whole crying at commercials thing, we’re doing pretty good.” Better than good. They’d had one fight in the six weeks they’d been together and apparently that was more about her hormones than his being a truly evil person who liked neither animals nor friendship. Her words, not his. After he’d gotten her some mint chocolate chip ice cream and rubbed her feet and watched some horrid show about doctors saving lives in between screwing each other in tiny rooms—she’d cried during that, too—she’d settled down and been the loving, affectionate sub he was crazy about.

They’d found a nice routine, one he’d come to crave. They had breakfast together every morning. He was used to grabbing something on his way into the office, but Laurel preferred to cook. He was getting used to egg white omelets and steel cut oatmeal, but he’d put his foot down when she’d tried to buy turkey bacon. Bacon came from pigs and no one was going to tell him otherwise. After breakfast, they went to work. She came to his office or he went to hers for lunch when they could. And she was always waiting for him when he came home. He would open the door and enter the living room and his gorgeous sub would be waiting there for him on her knees. Most of the time he had her right then and there, but a few nights had come that he could tell how tired she was, and he’d scooped her up and cuddled on the couch with her and ordered takeout so she wouldn’t have to cook.

It was the times when he felt almost compelled to change the routine that scared him the most.

Li shook his head. “Kai’s being pissy because his house exploded and there’s no good place at the new Sanctum for him to live.”

“I am not pissy,” Kai shot back. “I’m annoyed because the place I lived and worked at exploded in a fiery hell ball and took everything with it, including most of my patient notes. I’m having to reestablish everything and I can’t do that without office space. I’m tired of working out of McKay-Taggart. Do you have any idea how not peaceful that office is?”

Li shrugged. “Big Tag wouldn’t let him put in a waterfall or some shit.”

“It’s a reflection pool and it’s very peaceful and calming for my patients, all of whom have been through hell. I also would like to make myself clear on how wrong it is to bring the entire club in on one of your missions, Tag. Look what happened the last time and you were hiding Jesse and Phoebe at Sanctum. The club blew up. Letting Tennessee Smith work an op at Sanctum is going to cause trouble. But is Tag listening to me? No. He’s asleep. That dude can sleep through anything.”

At least Mitch could solve one issue. “Well, I got the paperwork for your new office so you can add all kinds of reflecting pools and stuff and still be close to the club. The building next door came up for sale. It’s industrial, so you’ll have to do some renovations.”

The building next door had already been quietly purchased by Big Tag and his brother-in-law, Simon Weston. They’d come to Mitch with the plan to sell to Kai for a fraction of the price. What Kai didn’t know was his loan had also been secured via Weston’s relatives, the Malones. A whole bunch of very wealthy people were backing Kai’s efforts to help soldiers with PTSD reintegrate into the civilian world. They weren’t telling Kai, who was on a “stand on his own feet” kick after the club exploded.