From Sanctum with Love (Masters and Mercenaries #10)(53)

He was going to vomit. “Mia, do you want to try to take this with you?”

“I’m late, but thanks anyway.” Mia was following Case into the living room.

“Thank god,” Jared said, taking her place at the bar. “I’m starving. All you had at your place was granola and shit. I need some protein. I can start with that, but I’ll probably need two or three of those.”

Sarah set the coffee mug in front of him. “Because you burn so many calories when you’re doing all that workout stuff. I subscribe to all your YouTube channels. My favorite one is Jared’s Abs of Steel where someone spliced all your Dart workouts together and set it to Marvin Gaye’s ‘Let’s Get It On.’ I watch it at least once a day.”

He was definitely going to vomit. There was a reason he didn’t spend much time on the Internet.

“So you can give Kori a ride?” Case said as he held the door open for Mia.

Sarah sat down beside Jared as he dug into Mia’s omelet. Kai was fairly certain he heard her saying something about how perfectly masculine Jared’s eating practices were.

Kai was confused and not only by his brother’s innate ability to attract fawning women. “I can but why would Kori need a ride?”

Case looked out the door as though making certain Mia didn’t get away. “You don’t know? I thought that was why you came over here. I was sure when I saw your Jeep in the driveway that she’d called you. Dude, did you and Kori get it on last night? Because I’ve got some money riding on it and it would be better for me if you held off a few weeks.”

Fucking *s. “When did this start up?”

“After that scene last night,” Case admitted.

“This is excellent, Kai,” Jared said with a nod. “I don’t suppose you could whip up some pancakes. It’s been a long time since I had your pancakes. I’ll run ’em off, if you know what I mean.”

“I’ll watch you run,” Sarah vowed. “I’ll set up a couple of lawn chairs, make some mimosas, and you can run all around the block.”

“Shut that shit down, Case.” He wasn’t about to have it get back to Kori that there was a damn betting pool concerning when they were going to sleep together. Still, something was definitely missing in all the chaos his brother had brought with him. “And why were you coming over here to check on Kori? Did you honestly think I would hurt her?”

Jared shook his head. “No. My brother would never hurt her. All that sadism stuff is strictly for the dungeon, and it looked like she was having fun, Case.”

“Kori was having fun,” Mia said, her purse over her shoulder as she stepped back in the doorway. “Case should understand that. I know he’s a baby Dom, but he’s been around Sanctum for a while I would think.”

“I am not a baby Dom. I hate that term. It makes me sound soft and fluffy.” Case stared Mia’s way.

“Well, I was told you don’t have Master rights at Sanctum,” Mia returned. “If you’re in a training class you’re a baby Dom.”

“I think we use that term in the script.” Jared seemed to warm to the conversation. “It’s cute.”

“And it doesn’t apply because I do have Master rights,” Case argued.

“I don’t care about baby Doms. I want to know why you thought I would hurt Kori.” It rankled. He would never hurt her.

“I think he’s talking about her car,” Sarah explained.

“Some French toast would be good if you don’t want to make pancakes.” Jared was already finished with omelet number one and had reached for one of the muffins Sarah had made earlier. Where the hell did he put all those calories?

“You should have more respect. They’re Doms in training.” Case was still trying to make his point.

This was why he lived alone. Chaos. So much of it. “What about Kori’s car?”

“Someone slashed her tires last night,” Sarah explained, passing Jared another muffin. “The secret ingredient in these is love. Well, and chocolate chips, so you’ll definitely need to lift some weights. I have hand weights in my room. Never been used before.”

Someone slashed her tires? What the hell? She hadn’t mentioned that. Not once. They’d talked and cuddled and slept together wrapped up all night and she hadn’t once slipped that tidbit of information in.

They had rules. Oh, they needed new rules, but they had a few rules that had been set down when she’d become his assistant. Try to be on time. Call if you’re late or sick. She had free run of the building, including his living quarters if she needed anything at all. And if she felt herself in danger, she was to call him.

He hadn’t gotten a f*cking call.

Everyone was talking at once. Mia defended her use of the word baby while Jared talked to Sarah about his workout plans. Kai turned to walk down the hallway. It was time he and Kori had a serious talk. He’d meant to be patient, to ease her into this whole couple thing, but he needed to make a few things plain.

She stood in the hallway, her eyes wide. She was wearing a tank top and those pajama bottoms that clung to her curves. She looked soft and sleepy and infinitely f*ckable. Also confused. “Why is everyone here?”

“Why didn’t you tell me someone slashed your tires last night?” Kai shot back.