Sean walked in. “You were up early, Lucy,” he said.
Lucy leaned up and kissed him. “You didn’t sleep well last night. I thought I’d let you sleep longer.”
Sean took out a pan and started preparing scrambled eggs. He got out tortillas, sausage, salsa, and cheese. “Spicy or sane,” Sean asked Siobhan.
She laughed. “Spicy.”
Sean moaned. “You and Lucy. It’s a wonder your taste buds aren’t fried by now.”
“You don’t have to cook,” Lucy said. “We can get something at Starbucks.”
“Sit. At least you’ll have one good meal today.”
“You’re not hearing me complain,” Siobhan said.
Sean left for a minute, then returned with a small black bag and put it in front of Siobhan. “It’s not what you lost, but it should work until you can replace your camera.”
“What?” Siobhan stared at the bag, then looked at Sean.
“Open it.”
Lucy crossed over to Sean and kissed him. “You’re amazing,” she said.
Siobhan opened the bag case. Inside was a digital camera. Almost as nice as the one she’d lost. “I can’t take this.”
“It’s a loan, until you get yours replaced. Seriously, I rarely use it. I configured it like your old one, so it should work with your phone app.”
Siobhan jumped up and hugged first Sean, then Lucy, then Sean again. She blinked back tears. “You guys are so, so… wonderful. Thank you.”
There was a beep at the door that startled Siobhan. “What’s that?”
“Our security system.” Sean typed in a code on a small tablet that was attached to the wall. “Oh, he has the code.”
“You gave Noah the house code?” Lucy asked.
“Of course not. Kane.”
Siobhan froze. “Kane’s here?”
“Yes I am,” a deep voice behind her said.
Her heart raced as she whirled around to face him.
Kane looked like he always did-hard, handsome, rough around the edges. He’d lost weight, and he’d never been overweight. His jaw was still square, firm, defiant. He had a touch of gray at his temples. His dark hair was still short, but a little longer than the military cut he usually kept. He wore khakis and a black T-shirt. He dropped his duffel bag just outside the kitchen entry.
He stared at her, his dark-blue eyes unreadable because he was good at shutting down his emotions.
I’ve always loved you, Kane.
She had, from that day when she rescued the little girl and he saved them both. He was impossible, arrogant, condescending, loyal, and brave. He cared more than he showed, more than he could say, about the plight of others. He acted, always acted, to stop bad people from hurting innocents. He didn’t want to care, he said he didn’t, but she saw that those who talked cared less than those who acted.
Kane didn’t talk much.
He could deny his attraction until his last breath, and she wouldn’t believe him. She’d spent too much time with him, on and off, over the years. She knew he loved her. Knew it as deeply as she knew the truth about her own feelings. He would come to accept the truth-though seeing him now, after what happened after his surgery, how he’d ordered her to leave as if she were one of his soldiers… that had hurt. She tried to tell herself it didn’t, but it had. How was she going to get through to him?
“Just in time for breakfast,” Lucy said, breaking the awkward silence.
“Seems you’re not surprised to see me,” Siobhan said to Kane.
“I’m not.” He didn’t elaborate. What did he know about the baby? Marisol and Ana? She opened her mouth to ask, but he cut her off.
“We need to leave, Sean.”
“Breakfast first,” Sean said.
Siobhan frowned, looked from Kane to Sean and back again. Silent communication.
Lucy took Sean’s hand and pulled him from the room. Siobhan glanced over her shoulder, wistful. They loved each other and told each other often. They didn’t stop touching. The little things. Sean brushing by her shoulder, planting a light kiss on her lips. Lucy rubbing his biceps. They couldn’t pass each other without physical contact. Why couldn’t she have that? Why did she have to fight for everything?
Kane took over where Sean left off and slipped Siobhan a breakfast burrito. Then he pulled out aluminum foil as if he knew the kitchen well and made two burritos to go for him and Sean. He dished up the remainder of the food for Lucy, put it on the island, and popped a bottle of hot sauce next to her plate.
“I like her,” Siobhan said, hating the silence between them.
“She’s one of the best.”
“From you, high praise.”
“Don’t do anything stupid, Siobhan.”
She bristled. “Don’t start.”
“You were arrested.” He turned around and stared at her. There was a flash in his eyes, heat and ice, and she almost couldn’t speak.
“I did what had to be done. You would have done the same.”
“I would never have been caught.”
“I’m just not as good as you then,” she snipped. “Where are you and Sean off to? Someone disappeared in Mexico, Sean said?”
Kane opened his mouth, then closed it. He glanced over Siobhan’s shoulder, and for a moment Siobhan saw indecision on his face. Kane was never indecisive.
“Businessman disappeared with his son,” he said. “Friend of Sean’s.”
Kane put the breakfast burritos and several water bottles into a small cooler and zipped it up. He was about to walk out when Siobhan reached out and touched him.
“Kane.”
“Good-bye.”
“I meant what I said three months ago, and if you think I’ve forgotten, you’re an idiot. I certainly know you haven’t.”
He walked out.
“Well, dammit, that didn’t go well,” she muttered and ate her breakfast.
Kane drove, which irked Sean-he much preferred driving.
“You didn’t tell me Siobhan was at your house.”
“Problem?”
No answer.
“She was pretty shaken last night. What was I supposed to do, tell Lucy to leave her in Laredo after her motel room was ransacked?”
“Why didn’t she call us?” Kane said.
It took Sean a full minute to understand what Kane was talking about. “You mean, why did she call Rick and not JT?”
“The feds are ill equipped to handle this situation.”
Sean had second-well, tenth-thoughts on leaving Lucy this week. “Lucy told me about the case.”
“She doesn’t know the half of it.”
That angered Sean. “Then give her something. She trusts you, Kane. If you keep something important from her because of some stupid jealousy thing, that’s on you.”
“This has nothing to do with jealousy, little brother. I talked to Rick. This isn’t sex trafficking. It’s black-market babies.”
“Lucy is good at her job. She already figured it out.”
“I didn’t say she wasn’t.”
“What’s with you and Siobhan?”
“She finds trouble. Actively seeks it out. If she had a lead on the missing sisters, she should have contacted RCK. Rick chose his side long ago. He’s good, but he and his people can’t do what needs to be done.”
Sean’s phone rang, cutting off this infuriating conversation. He glanced down and swore under his breath before answering. “Madison.”
“Where are you? What’s going on?”
“I told you last night that Kane and I were leaving first thing in the morning.”
“And I told you I need to come with you!”
“And I said no. Go back to California, Madison. There is nothing you can do except slow us down. If you hear from Carson or Jesse, call me at this number. Otherwise, I don’t want to hear from you at all.”