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.”
“Sean—don’t be like this.”