It didn’t get by Kim that Tasha had retreated to the door.
Kala shrugged. “I put a couple of bugs in Cooper’s lunch box. Or I thought it was Coop’s box. Turned out Aunt Eve used it, and she does not get a joke. They weren’t real or anything. They were plastic.”
Charlotte leaned over and put her hands on Kala’s shoulders. “You are never going to get Cooper to like you by playing practical jokes on him, baby.”
Kala made a gagging sound and backed away. “Like I want him to like me. I don’t even like boys.”
“You keep that up, baby girl. Boys are stinky and gross and bad for you.” Ian Taggart walked in and winked Tasha’s way. “Any chance I can get you on the no boys train?”
“Sure, Dad.” Tasha gave her dad a hug. “After all, you smell stinky lots of the time.”
Ian simply chuckled and kissed the top of her head. “True. And that’s what you’re in for. Now go, my daughters. I’m paying you. You gotta work before you go to camp.”
The girls all rushed out.
Ian raised an arm and gave himself a sniff. “I’m not stinky. I took a shower and everything.”
“I don’t think your daughter likes me very much.” It was good to have something to distract her from her previous thoughts. Not that it was a problem for her. She’d had lots of people not like her, but she usually had to do something to them first.
Tag waved a hand and took a seat by his wife. “I wouldn’t worry about it. Kala doesn’t like anyone.”
“Except Cooper,” Charlotte said.
Tag flinched. “I reject that notion.”
“I was talking about Tasha.” There was something going on with that girl. “Does she have a thing for Beck?”
Ian’s whole body shuddered. “No. Ewww. That is a sweet baby girl we are talking about, and she doesn’t like boys much less super-old dudes who haven’t smiled in seven years.”
Charlotte frowned and glanced out the conference room windows. “She did seem a little off. I’ll talk to her. I’ve never noticed her paying Beck any attention. Not more than she pays any of the adults. I would be less surprised if she had a crush on the younger guys. We’ve got some attractive bodyguards.”
“And they’re smart, too, because none of them would be interested in fourteen-year-old girls,” Tag said and then seemed to get serious. “Has Tash been rude? That’s not like her. She’s the sweetest of my kids. Probably because she doesn’t actually have any of my DNA. I swear Kala got a double shot.”
“I wouldn’t say she’s rude exactly.” Kim shook her head. “Or I’m being paranoid. It’s been a long time since I hung out in an office. Forget I said anything.”
“She’s a teen. They’re all on the moody side.” Charlotte nodded as the door came open again. “And honestly, she gets a bit emotional any time the fact that she’s adopted comes up. It’s why we don’t talk about her dad often.”
Tag sobered. “When she’s ready, we’ll tell her everything.”
“God, don’t.” Beck had a grin on his face as he held the door open for his brother. “Sasha could be on the wild side.”
Beck was smiling like nothing was wrong. Like everything was going right in his world. The man who hadn’t smiled for seven years.
Well, she hadn’t been the one who pushed him away. She hated that she was suddenly having these thoughts. They’d crept up on her. Or perhaps they were leaking. Perhaps last night had exposed some cracks in the walls she’d built, and years of pain were beginning to seep out.
She needed to patch those up and quick.
“Hey, you need anything?” Beck asked as he set a folder on the table, claiming the seat beside her. “Coffee?”
She shook her head. “No, I’m good. Thank you.”
He settled in as Ezra took his other side. “So, Tag, what’s the word? Did you hear back from your DPD contacts?”
“It was Beck’s bad driving, right?” Ezra asked.
It was odd to sit here with them. She hadn’t thought about it before, but it had been so very long since she’d been with the both of them. Even back when she and Beck had been married, Ezra had been deployed or on assignment, or Beck had been out of the country. They hadn’t spent much time together as a family. They hadn’t all sat around the breakfast table making jokes and enjoying the morning.
Had she ever truly had that? What would it be like to have it and lose it?
Was that what she was setting Roman up for? Even back in Malta her uncle had spent a lot of time traveling. It was usually her and Roman and Ezra in the mornings.
“I wish I could agree with you.” Tag sat back. “Adam did a deep dive on your officer yesterday. I don’t like the situation. Derek Brighton is our police department contact and he told me that Officer Gates has been bragging that he’s going to get a job with the feds. According to Adam, he’s been in DC recently.”
“Any overt ties to Levi?” Beck asked.
For her the fact that he was applying for a federal job was all the ties she needed. “He wanted to get a look at you. I would bet he had his body cam on the whole time. We have to assume Levi now knows Ezra is alive. The question is how did he even know to look? We know for a fact he didn’t see Ezra in Malta.”
“Do we?” Beck asked. “I know if I’d been Levi I would have had someone use their phone to tape the helicopter rescue.”
“It was rainy and Owen got pretty low.” The walls to the upper fort were high. “I don’t think that’s where he saw Ezra.”
What she didn’t say was how worrying it was.
“It’s possible that Levi was trying to figure out if you’re staying with Beck,” Charlotte mused.
“Why pull me over?” Beck slid a look her way like he was coming around
