Master No (Masters and Mercenaries, #9)(34)

Faith felt herself flush. She was likely a nice shade of red.

Ten just frowned at Erin. “No. I didn’t leave. Now reach over there, pass me that box of condoms, and go away.”

“Oh, that’s probably not happening,” Erin said with a rueful shake of her head. “Big brother’s here. Apparently Tag knows who tried to kill Faith and he’s all pissy about it.”

“Yo, Ten,” a masculine voice shouted. “Dude, I have my daughters here. Could we keep this family friendly? Get your ass out here. You’re going to want this intel. And dear god, make sure you’re dressed and calm and stuff. Sweet baby girls don’t need to see that kind of thing, do they? No, they don’t. Tell Uncle Ten to put away his junk. Yes.”

“Oh my god. Fatherhood has turned him into a complete idiot.” Ten groaned.

Erin tossed Faith a robe and put the coffee on the side table. “I tried to tell Tag you weren’t here, but he bet Theo that you were likely in here, you know. Doing it. Though Tag doesn’t say the words around the babies. He makes a deeply junior high gesture.” She made a circle with the thumb and forefinger of one hand and inserted a finger into it.

Ten rolled out of bed. “He’s an *.” He put his head out the door. “You’re an *. A cock blocking *, and this intel better be good.”

“Dude, language around the girls. And it’s f*cking really good,” Theo’s brother replied.

“It can wait ten minutes while I take the world’s f*cking coldest shower. I hate him.” The door to the bathroom slammed shut.

Erin sat down on the bed. “So you totally…”

“Nope. I mean I had a pleasant morning, but we didn’t get as far as that.” She sat up, now happy she hadn’t gotten naked. She couldn’t help but grin back at her totally juvenile friend. She knew she should be a bit more interested in whatever information Theo’s brother had discovered, but she kind of wanted to leave that to Ten. It was more fun to talk to Erin about relationship stuff. Of course, she could only do it because she trusted Ten to take care of the security aspect of her life. Maybe she shouldn’t, but her every instinct told her she could trust this man with her life. “But seriously, when you make that gesture and you’re talking about Ten, you should use two fingers. Maybe three.”

That skinny finger Erin was using didn’t describe her Master in any way.

“I can hear you, Faith,” Ten growled through the door.

Her poor Master. She dissolved into laughter with her friend.





“God, you’re a bastard, Tag.” Ten strode into the kitchen ready to kill someone, but Tag had his bulletproof vest on, and by bulletproof vest Ten really meant there was a damn baby in his arms. Even he wasn’t horrible enough to shoot through a tiny, wriggling baby.

Tag’s face split in a shit-eating grin. “Hey, remember when you tried to cock block me in India? Payback’s a bitch, brother.”

He didn’t like to admit it, but when Ian Taggart called him “brother” it made Ten want to kill him less. With Jamie gone, Tag was the closest thing he had. “Yeah, well, I remember you greeted me at the door with a revolver and threatened to shoot the next person who came between you and your wife.”

“See, I taught you, but you didn’t listen. You should have shot Erin on sight.”

“Hey,” Theo said with a frown as he entered with the second baby in his arms. Tag’s actual brother shook his head Ten’s way. “No shooting my girl. No matter how much she deserves it. This one’s diaper is changed. Jeez, man, what are you feeding her? That was horrible.”

Maybe he didn’t want to be Tag’s brother if it meant having to change diapers. “He should be paying you to do that, and you do understand that this is an op, right? We’re alone. You don’t have to keep your cover up. Erin took Faith out to pick up a few things she needed.”

“Hey, this might be an op, but she is my girl. And this stinky thing is my niece. I have a blood obligation to ensure her backside is clean while her momma is at yoga class.” Theo shifted the baby on his shoulder. The little girl seemed to settle in for a nice nap. “I personally think it’s great that Charlotte is finding her Zen. She’s going with Phoebe, Eve, and Avery.”

“Serena and Grace claim they have a prior engagement. I happen to know they meet every Saturday morning for mimosas and beignets. It’s their form of relaxation. I’m kind of with them on that one.” Tag took a drag off his coffee. “And this isn’t a cover for Theo. He’s in love.”

“Tell me you’re not serious.” The last thing Ten needed was his backup operatives having their own soap opera going on.

Tag laughed as he shifted the baby and dragged the rag on his shoulder off, wiping down her mouth. “This is my child. I mention the word love and she barfs.”

Theo rolled his eyes while Tag cleaned up his unromantic child. “Erin and I are good. That’s all anyone needs to know. Erin and I are going to be perfectly fine after the op is over. She even likes the house I bought for us.”

“Yeah because you totally used this op to seduce her,” Tag shot back. “You better keep her happy because I’m firing your ass if she sues us for sexual harassment.”

“There’s no harassment. There is some truly beautiful lovemaking though,” Theo explained.