Tempted & Taken (Men of Haven #4)(77)
“What’s so funny?” Knox said as he came up behind her.
Natalie handed Knox a beer and pursed her mouth in a rueful mew. “Trev’s been bonding with Levi over the birds and the bees, and Gabe and Zeke are earning some serious karmic debt giggling about it.”
Knox eyeballed Levi, total seriousness. “Remember what I said about coming to me for electronics?
“Yeah.”
“Same goes for sex.”
“Don’t listen to him, kid,” Zeke said. “I’m the one with a medical degree. I know how it all really works. Especially the important parts.”
Just when Natalie looked like she was about to grab Zeke and Knox by the ears and kick them out of the loft, the front door opened to a chorus of boisterous voices.
“Sorry we’re late!” Sylvie bellowed, her arms full of grocery bags.
Ninette and Vivienne were equally loaded down right behind her, while Jace and Axel brought up the rear. “Only woman I know who thinks a store run is mission-critical in a crisis situation,” Axel grumbled, though his eyes danced with mirth.
Already halfway to the kitchen, Sylvie handed off her bags to Danny while Jace locked up the front door. “I’ve seen what these boys keep in their refrigerator. If we’re holing up until we get a decent plan for whatever’s going on, I’m not doing it without something to satisfy my stomach.”
And that was that. In seconds, Sylvie had commandeered the kitchen and set all the women to different tasks. The men gathered round the makeshift control center on the dining room table, their voices low and attention zeroed in on the screens now lit up with every view of the building. The only person dazed and motionless in the room was her.
Ninette moved in beside her and motioned to the untouched plate Levi had left on the counter in front her. “Are you saving yourself for Sylvie’s cooking, or is the general idea of food not something you’re up for right now?”
One glance at the white ceramic plate and anyone would guess a child had prepared it. Only one cursory carrot, a celery stick and three red grapes sat isolated in one spot. The rest of the space was loaded with three different kinds of cheese cubes, crackers and Nacho Cheese Doritos.
Such an amazing gift. Levi’s open kindness as genuine and unshaken as the reception she’d received from everyone else. Three times she’d had amazing people go above and beyond to help her. This time she had a whole team of guardian angels.
She lifted her gaze to the other women working in the kitchen, then slid her attention to the men. “I can’t ever repay this,” she said so quietly only Ninette could hear. “Ever. Not what they’re doing. Not how everyone has treated me. None of it. It’s too much.”
Just as softly, Ninette answered back. “What makes you think we’d want repayment?”
It was a good question. One she’d never really contemplated before. Only knew how many times she’d been blessed and wanted desperately to share what she’d been given with someone else.
Ninette moved in tight beside her and slid her arm around Darya’s waist. Together they watched the men as they worked, their low voices rumbling in a comforting cadence that somehow anchored all the activity in the room. “I’m not sure where you got the idea there’s some karmic tally being kept, but to my mind, family doesn’t work that way. Especially not ours.” She paused long enough to dip her head toward Knox front and center with his fingers flying over the keyboard. “But if you’re worried about payback, then take a good look at my boy and think about this. I’ve seen him happier the last many weeks than the whole six years I’ve known him. He’s always been funny, but I’ve never seen him free. Not the way he is with you. So, if you ask me, any repayment’s been made a hundred times over.”
She met Darya’s stunned stare head-on, jerked her head toward the island and winked. “Now, get your plate and plant your ass on a bar stool. If you need a stiff drink, I’ll pour you one, but I’ll be damned if I’m the last one who gets to hear all the sordid details of why we’re on lockdown.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
The last straggler from Beckett’s install crew closed the door behind him, leaving only Knox’s family safe within the loft. For the last thirty minutes, Knox, Danny and Beckett had tweaked camera angles throughout the building via remote access controls on their computers, each man seated next to each other at the massive dining room table they’d finally found a use for.
Lined up on the opposite side with their backs to the row of six flat screen monitors, Jace, Axel, Trevor and Zeke looked surprisingly calm for the curveball Knox had thrown on family night. Despite all the chaos buzzing around them and the lack of information as to why Beckett was pulling out all the stops, not a one of them had pushed for answers.
Now that the coast was clear, they were about to get an earful. It also meant he was one step closer to having logistics over and done with and Darya next to him again.
On his left, Danny waited until the elevator doors closed on the install crew then nodded. “They’re clear.”
“Good.” Knox twisted to see Beckett ambling back from a trip to the fridge with a fresh Bud in hand. Levi and the women were gathered round the island well behind him. “You checked for bugs, right?”
Beck chuckled and slid into his chair next to Knox. “Ninette’s been draggin’ details out of Darya for the last thirty minutes. Even with her sly references to cover what they were talking about from Levi and keepin’ their voices low when outsiders were close, you think I’d let them talk if I hadn’t swept the place first thing?”