Boomer slid out the big floor-to-ceiling glass doors. He’d slept most of the flight but then he’d probably needed his rest to digest his lunch.
“We’re all secure. I checked the whole house. No one was listening in, but Mae did find something suspicious on Madeline’s alarm system,” Kyle explained. “The only camera is on the front door, and someone had piggybacked off it.”
“Do they know we cut them off?” He didn’t like the fact that someone had been watching her, seeing who was coming in and out of her home.
“Nah, Mae took care of it,” Boomer said. “She told me she’s duped some footage she found on the backlog and that should work until she can make a twenty-four-hour fake. She’s not concerned. I’m going to take the room over the front door. I can get on the roof from there if I need to. I’ll go over the whole house in the morning and build a couple of stashes in case we need them.”
Boomer would make an assessment of points of ingress and hide some weapons where he thought they would be easy to get to.
“How big is that room? Please tell me there are two beds,” Kyle pleaded.
“There’s a frilly daybed that won’t fit either one of you and a couch,” Deke announced. “Just sleep in Mae’s room. You won’t sleep if you don’t.”
“I’m not ready to sleep with her. I wouldn’t be able to keep my hands off her if we’re in the same bed,” Kyle shot back, and his eyes went steely. “Especially since MaeBe’s gotten spectacularly handsy this afternoon, and I know who to blame. You need to get control of your sub. She’s got to be the one who convinced MaeBe she needs to be physically stuck to me at all times. It’s very disconcerting.”
Yes, it was hard to be so freaking horny. “Why would Maddie convince MaeBe to do that?”
“I don’t know, man. You should figure it out because she’s obviously being a bad influence,” Kyle replied. “Mae’s a sweet girl who would never put me in a tough position.”
“I think she’s trying to get you into any position at all,” Boomer offered. “I don’t think she would be picky. Missionary. Doggy style. Cowgirl. Reverse cowgirl. I don’t think she cares.”
Kyle’s eyes rolled. “She’s not even thinking that way. She doesn’t know how I feel about her.”
“Well, she knows how she feels about you.” Boomer ran a hand over his head with a groan. He usually kept his sandy-colored hair in a military-style cut, but in the last year he’d let it grow out, and he seemed to be growing in a beard. “And I don’t think you’re as good at hiding stuff as you think you are.”
That was when Kyle ignored Boomer, who really did have a point.
“Talk to your sub,” Kyle ordered. “There’s zero reason for us to be uncomfortable when we don’t have to be.”
Kyle strode away, going back into the house.
“I’m pretty sure it was MaeBe who told Madeline how to get under your skin,” Boomer said, looking out over the pool. “This place is real pretty but something’s missing.”
“What do you mean by get under my skin?” He wasn’t going to question Boomer on the whole MaeBe thing. MaeBe was way sneakier than Kyle gave her credit for. She was on a pedestal with that man. MaeBe played board games at least twice a week, and she was excellent at strategy games. She could work an end around any strategy Deke could come up with. She might not always win, but she came close.
“It wasn’t just MaeBe.”
Deke groaned. Only one other person had been on the plane besides the five of them. “Big Tag is a meddling old man, and I’m going to tell him that.”
Boomer shrugged a big shoulder. “It’s your funeral. I might have overheard them. I started up the stairs to the plane and stopped because they were having a very interesting conversation. MaeBe’s fucking around with Kyle. Or rather MaeBe’s done fucking around with Kyle. She’s planning a wedding.”
“It couldn’t happen to a more deserving guy. I want to be there when he wakes up and has a wife and kid and wonders where he lost control.” He hoped Kyle ended up with as many kiddos as his meddling uncle and they caused just as much trouble. “Why would they tell Maddie to sit on my lap and take every chance she has to brush her body against mine?”
It had been an uncomfortable flight.
Boomer stared at him. “Dude, I’m supposed to be the dumb one.”
“You’re not,” Deke started.
Boomer waved him off. “I make up for it by being an amazing guy. I’m not the brightest bulb, but I know my worth. I’m not sure you do when it comes to this, brother. You are crazy about this woman, and you’re acting like you don’t have anything to offer her.”