Until You (The Redemption, #1)(66)

Are they suspicious of my sudden need to find a receipt for my new Birkin bag that might be in Kaleo’s office? Have they noticed how jittery I am? How I’m always asking questions—the main one being when’s my husband expected home? Has anyone in the staff quarters heard my alarm go off at two in the morning so I can sneak downstairs and go into his office unnoticed?

My nerves are shot.

My paranoia is at an all-time high.

I can’t sleep. I’m not eating. I fear everything and anything is going to reveal what I’m doing.

But I make sure I keep smiling in front of the staff.

And to my husband, I love him just the same.

I’ll be surprised if I don’t have a nervous breakdown by the time this is all over.

And I’ll gladly accept it if I’m able to pull this all off and still live.

Kaleo was right that night on the yacht. There is an informant in his ranks. And that informant has provided the DEA with more information than I could ever know.

But there are some things missing.

And I’m being asked to supply them in exchange for my freedom and a new life.





CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE


Crew




“So, Pheebs’s mom is on her way to pick us up.”

I glance over to Paige, my putty knife mid-scrape on the patio railing. “What are you talking about? For what?”

She shrugs. Clearly she has an agenda. “We’re going to spend the night there.”

I chuckle. “Did you forget that you’re eleven, and you still have to ask to do things?”

She puts her hand on her hip and juts it out. “We’re not babies, Dad. We have social lives.”

“Uh-huh.” I stand, cross my arms over my chest, and give her the stare down. “Give it to me straight, Paigey. What’s really going on?”

“Nothing. I’m serious.” She huffs out a breath that is more than a warning that the teen years are going to be anything but easy.

“Then I guess you’re not going.”

Three.

Two.

One.

She stomps her foot and huffs again right on cue. “That’s not fair.”

“Neither is you not telling me the truth.”

She doesn’t back down from my stare for a good thirty seconds. “We just figured that you and Tenny needed some non-kid time—”

I bark out a laugh. “Non-kid time?”

“Yeah, so you can talk about 401ks and the weather and . . . I don’t know, so you can finally get the guts to kiss her and stuff.”

I nearly choke at her words, fighting back my grin. “What makes you think I want to kiss her and stuff?” Lord, help me.

“Well . . . I don’t know.” She shrugs, and her cheeks turn red. “She’s really pretty and funny and can cook way better than you. We think you should like her.”

“We?”

“Yep. We.” She gives a resolute nod. “So we asked Pheebs if we could spend the night so maybe you could take Tenny on a date and finally make her your girlfriend or something.”

“Or something.”

“Exactly.” She glances over to where her sister has just walked out onto the verandah.

Addy eyes the two of us, and before she can run back in the house and avoid this conversation, I say, “Uh-uh. Get your butt out here.”

“It was Paige’s idea.”

Wow. She sure threw Paige under the bus fast. That’s unusual.

“It was our idea.”

“Girls.” I sigh and take a step toward them. “Thank you for thinking of me. For wanting to give me some adult time, but—”

“We saw you kiss,” Addy blurts out. “The other night. You were dancing, and you kissed her.”

“Um. Okay.” Well . . . shit. I fumble over what to say. For how to explain. For—

“So see? We’re going to Pheebs’s house so you can take her on a date or buy her flowers or something. She’s a girl. Girls like that kind of stuff,” Paige says so matter of fact that I’m left a little stunned.

So much for keeping things under wraps.

“We’re okay with it, Dad,” Addy says.

“Totally okay with it,” Paige repeats.

“Thanks for the approval,” I say and tip the bill of my ballcap at them in an attempt to try and cover up the shock over their comments and the simultaneous guilt over hiding it all from them and pseudo getting caught.

“Did someone forget to invite me to the meeting?” Tenny asks as she comes out the door looking from the girls to me and then back.

Both girls start giggling as they tell Tenny about their spontaneous plans for a sleepover. I watch the three of them together. The ease between them, the way they read each other, and I realize that even if the girls had never found out about Tenny and me, they’re still attached to her regardless.

There was no way I was or am going to avoid that. Hell, I should have realized that the night of my nightmare. How she handled the girls with such a natural ease and how they allowed her to comfort them.

It was ridiculous for me to think they wouldn’t attach themselves to her when I’m attached to her myself.

When I’m worried about how bad it’s going to sting too.