“That’s its own mess, but beneath the confusion of Kate, she worked her own magic. I do love her.”
Chase hesitated, unsettled despite the return of his emotional mask. “Did she—Tia—tell you? About me, and her?”
More water to move under the bridge. That was one busy bridge, spanning all of this. “Yes. That was after the divorce, and honestly, as Kate says, we’d be hard-pressed to find a woman one of us hasn’t slept with.”
Chase nodded. “I hurt her. Hell, I almost killed her.”
“She told me, and I wish it hadn’t happened for either of you.” Jake thought for a moment, adding time in his mind. “But think about the good that came from it. If Tia hadn’t scared you shitless, you would never have asked to go on that mission. You would have never met Kate.” Jake shoved his hands in the pockets of his jogging pants, not knowing what else to say. “I’m sorry, Chase.”
“You don’t love her? Kate?” Chase was never unsettled. Never anything but secure, unless it was about Kate.
Jake shook his head. “Back to second cousin status, but I’ll be honest—the sharing has to stop. I have too many feelings that are easily confused. I can’t do that again. And if I get Tia to come back to me, I don’t think she’d go for me joining you, and she’s not going to want a foursome.”
Chase nodded, and they exchanged a glance. Never again, and Jake knew a moment of sweet sadness. He’d miss that part of his buddy.
“Charlotte’s home,” Chase informed him. Charlotte was the one thing they would still share no matter what, and it comforted Jake to know Chase was still behind him, supporting the burden. Unlike Kate, Charlotte had a harder time settling into the spy life after her world had been destroyed during a failed mission. They still kept close tabs on their little sister even after four and a half years. “I asked her to come over. I need to tell her about the baby.”
Jake groaned internally. Charlotte adored Chase, which pissed Jake off since he’d risked his life to save her ass when her life imploded. Chase had been across England, following a different lead in the case. “The shit is going to hit the fan when she finds out.”
“I know. But what am I supposed to do? She can’t have kids, and I feel her pain. But I can’t not live my life because it will hurt her.” Chase shook his head. “I’m just making friends left and right with this fuck-up. Kate hates me, Charlotte will hate me…”
“It will work out,” Jake promised. It all had to work out, for both of them.
Silence ensued. They stared at each other for a moment and then Chase gestured to his gun room. “Want to shoot until she shows up? I have a new rifle—well, new to me.”
With that, their friendship was somewhat restored. Chase didn’t offer his guns to just anyone. Just the people he loved, and Jake found comfort in that. They may not be on best terms yet, but Jake wasn’t shut out. “Sounds good.”
****
“You want coffee? Water? Something?” Kate asked as she led Tia into the huge, immaculate kitchen. She waved to the breakfast bar. “Have a seat.”
Tia sat on a stool as far from Blondie as she could get, wishing she were somewhere else, other than Blondie’s kitchen. As Jake would say, she would rather have the measles than to sit here. But as Chase had said, the three were close-knit, and even if she were just Jake’s partner, she’d have to deal with all of them. Kate couldn’t be a hard or soft limit. God help her for giving in and not just running the other way, because it was all she could do to stay here and face this woman.
“Water, thanks.”
Kate got a glass and extracted ice, then water from the fridge dispenser. She set it in front of Tia and then sat on a stool across from her. She brushed a blonde lock from her perfect face and said, “So. We might as well get the tough stuff out of the way. I propose this. I ask an awkward question, you follow up with whatever you want. We clear the air, and maybe we can do something other than hate each other.”
“I don’t hate you.”
“Of course you do. Probably more than I hate you, which is fair.” Kate leaned onto her elbows. “I want to know how many times you’ve fucked my husband and if you plan to continue.”
“Don’t beat around the bush, do you?” Jake had never warned her that his Blondie was this direct. “We had sex once, at the club, long before he met you. And no, I don’t plan to start anything again. For some reason, he loves you. I don’t do married.”
“Thanks for confirming that.” Kate leaned back, satisfied.
“You didn’t know?”
Kate snorted. “You think Chase is going to tell me that? Or Jake? They’re afraid of me.”
“Because you’re TNT.” Blondie could wire them all to hell. They should be afraid.
Blondie shook her head. “Because they love me, and they don’t want me to be upset with them. Do you want Jake upset with you?” she asked softly. “Your question.”
Tia knew exactly what to ask. “Do you love him?”
“Jake? Absolutely. Like a second cousin I have slept with, but it’s way more than that. He was my only friend for a very long time. I would die for him. I almost did.” She hesitated and met Tia’s gaze head on. “But I would die for Chase first, as bad as I hate him right now. That’s the difference. And Jake knows that.”
Tia knew how she felt. She’d die for Jake, if he’d let her. She just didn’t know if she could trust him. Or Blondie. “It’s very hard to like someone who holds the man you love’s heart in her hands.”
Blondie snorted. “I gave Jake his heart and told him to find someone else. He spent the weekend with you because I told him he had to move on. Which didn’t help, because the minute he asked to leave, Chase knew.”
Great, so Jake slept with her because Blondie dictated it. He probably said he loved her for the same reasons. And Blondie’s left hand was bare. “You’re not wearing his ring. I saw you in Paris with Jake, in the hotel lobby, sporting a ring that would make most women drool. Not wearing it says a lot about where you stand.”
“Just because I took it off, doesn’t mean I can change my heart.” Kate sighed and looked at her hands, so bony and pale. “I don’t have to stay and take whatever Chase deems is right for me. To Chase, that ring is ownership.” Her hands fluttered to her neck and held out a beautiful gold locket that hung between her breasts. “This was a gift he gave me Friday night, as part of his quest to win me back. I wear it because I do love him. But those rings are a sign of ownership to him. He has forfeited his right to own me.”
See, Blondie felt the same way about her ring as Tia did about Jake’s. “Doesn’t mean you won’t run to Jake.”
“Jake isn’t fair game in my book. My issue with Chase is something separate. I don’t love Jake that way, and I don’t plan to hurt my husband by leaving him for his best friend, a best friend I don’t love with my whole soul.”
“It’s nice to know you won’t leave me for him,” Chase said as he walked into the kitchen, carrying a rifle. “It’s also nice to know you have a soul. I’ve been debating that lately.”
“I have a soul. I just don’t share it with you.” Kate glanced at the rifle, and then behind her husband. “Where’s Jake?”
“Downstairs.”
“Why?” Panic made it sound more like a squeak, and Tia wanted to echo that. Kate stared down the hallway. Tia stared at Chase and prayed he hadn’t killed Jake, despite spending a whole day wishing just that.
“I came up for a body bag so he doesn’t stain the rug.” Chase winked at Tia and with that, the alliance had begun. A pang of regret pinged in the pit of her stomach at the beginning of an alliance she couldn’t keep full time.
Chase then went to the fridge and filled a glass of water. “I regret cream carpets downstairs now. We’ll have to change that when the baby comes. Easier to keep clean.”
Kate swung around in the chair to glower at him.
He arched a brow and faked innocence. “What?”
“You’re a jerk.”
A ghost of a smile played at Chase’s lips as he toasted his wife with his water glass. “Your fault for assuming I would kill him. He’s choosing something to shoot. That’s how men handle problems. They put lots of holes in tin cans and paper targets.”
Kate smacked him on the shoulder, and Chase grinned and drank down his glass. Maybe he didn’t see how much Kate still loved him, but it was very evident. Even her glare held a note of possessiveness, one that warned Tia to stay away from her man. She was fine with that.
Chase cocked his head at Tia. “You two haven’t killed each other yet?”
Kate huffed. “Women are civil creatures, unlike men.”
Chase shrugged. “Let me know if you two are going to have a cat fight. Girls that fight are hot. I bet Tia is a hair puller. I already know what kind of a fighter you are, Kate. But I bet Tia fights dirty.”
Tia snorted but loved seeing a different side of him. “I don’t need to pull Blondie’s hair to make a point.”
Kate bristled. “Seeing I can’t stand you, maybe I’ll take her to my bed instead of killing her. Maybe we can be lovers and not need either you or Jake.”
“Call me if it comes to that, too. I’d love to watch.” Chase grinned and sidestepped to avoid another blow.
“Jerk.” Kate looked up, over Tia’s shoulder, and at the same time, a hand slipped around Tia’s waist and warm lips dropped to her shoulder. Jake. She hadn’t heard him come up.
“I’ll watch, too,” Jake whispered in her ear. Kate moved to Chase and they talked quietly for a moment. Blondie was probably trying to find out how things went.
Tia spun on the stool to see him better.
“You’re okay here for a bit?” Jake asked. “Chase wants to shoot his new gun before he runs out of light. Then he said he’d feed us. I’d ask you to come along, but there’s more we need to discuss. Man stuff.”
“Everything’s okay?”
Jake nodded, and the tense lines around the corners of his mouth had faded. Chase not killing him must have released a hell of a lot of stress. “As good as it can get for now. I can’t expect miracles overnight, but he understands.”
“I’m glad.” And she was. Losing Chase’s friendship would rip Jake apart. She offered Jake a small bone, since his afternoon had sucked. “Blondie isn’t so bad.”
“Give her a chance, Tia. Even though you don’t want anything else to do with me, we’re still partners for now. She is a better friend than she is an enemy.”
Friends? With Blondie? Tia looked over her shoulder at Kate, staring up into her boss’s eyes, looking like Chase was the best thing since sliced cheese. “Will there be a better chance that she won’t wire my car with explosives if she’s my friend?”
“No one is safe from her. Just hope you don’t piss her off.” Jake grinned and looked as if he wanted to kiss her, here, in front of his friends. Her heart leapt in her chest, and a delicious tremor of fear laced with pleasure ran over her skin. She should remind him they were just partners, but his lips touched hers, briefly, and she wanted to sigh, even at that small contact. Stupid, stupid her, for falling for her partner.
Jake tapped her on the nose. “I’ll see you in a bit, then.” Then he went around the kitchen island and slapped Chase on the arm. “Let’s go, Lord of the Spies. I’m sure you have a target with my face on it.”
“I have targets with Chase’s face on them. You want one?” Kate pointed to the living room as Chase kissed her cheek. “They’re in there.”
“I’m good.” Jake smiled at Tia one last time, and she wished she could capture that smile, because it said so many things. Happiness. Excitement. Love. All things she couldn’t keep. “See you in a bit.”
The men left, and Tia was left alone, again, with Blondie. Tia stared for a moment, and then asked, “What now?”
Kate shrugged but looked a hell of a lot livelier than she had earlier, more like she had when she greeted Jake. Perhaps she was usually bubbly, and just not for Jake’s sake? “Well, the guys are hoping we end up in bed, but I guess we can come up with something else. We could mess with Chase’s dinner plans. That would piss him off. If you want to shoot, Chase has plenty of guns in the basement. I’m more than happy to get you one.”
“Don’t you shoot?”
“Hell, no. Not with them. Shooting with a former sniper and his best friend, the pain in the ass, is not fun.”
They heard the beginnings of gunfire in the distance. The door to the mudroom opened and Kate’s gaze snapped over Tia’s shoulder. “Charlotte.”
Tia swiveled on her stool, her gaze clashing with a cooler, violet one. So this was Ginger, up close and personal. She was just as svelte as Tia remembered her from the Parisian bar when she had plastered herself against Tia’s man. Tia bristled a bit at that memory. Charlotte in a flowing purple shirt and tight jeans was just as attractive as Ginger in a blue gown.
“Crashing a party, am I?” Ginger purred as she shut the door behind her. Tia blinked, not expecting her to be English. Charlotte cast a calculating glance over Tia, making her feel like produce that had been assessed and then discarded as spoiled. “You must be Jake’s new…partner.”
Kate grinned, looking even a little more bubbly than she had. “That’s Tia, and yes, she’s Jake’s, so you have to be nice to her.”
Charlotte drew in a breath and forced a smile, looking as if she’d rather eat dirt than be nice. “Good to meet you, love.” Before Tia could respond, Charlotte directed her intense gaze back to Kate. “The boys?”
“Out back. Shooting.” Kate looked as if she was mulling something over. “They’re not getting along.”
“Oh? And you let them go out, with guns? Chase is a much better shot.” This smile was genuine and full of fondness as she glanced at Tia. “Short partnership for you.”
Tia bristled. “Jake can hold his own.”
Charlotte snorted, but her eyes gleamed. “I suppose I should mediate, then.”
“Yes,” Kate agreed. “You can clean up the blood.”
“I’ll see myself out. Enjoy your visit.” Charlotte nodded and went back out through the mudroom to wherever the shooting range was.
Well, that was freaking weird. Tia turned back to Kate and demanded, “Okay, who is she.”
“Jake didn’t explain Charlotte?”
“Just that she’s collateral damage and like a sister.”
Kate nodded in agreement. “She’s hell in sneakers, but she’ll like you a lot better than me, I think. She’s not as fond of Jake as she is Chase. Chase walks on water. But I feel sorry for her, and I’ve tried to make friends. She’s really had the crappy end of the spy stick handed to her.”