Jardin's Gamble (Haven, Texas 9)

As Thea looked around, she saw Flick staring at her. She waggled her eyebrows up and down.

What? She didn’t speak eyebrow.

Oh. She wanted Thea to ask that question. Shit. Why had she said she’d do that?

“Thea, can we go play Kingdom Hearts?” Ace asked.

“Take your plates into the kitchen first,” she said.

Mia made to stand and collect the plates, but Alec gave her a firm look. “Mia, sit. Rest. Tanner and Raid are on clean-up.”

The two men got up without a word and started picking up plates.

After the boys left, she looked over at Maddox. “Wh

at did you do with the tracker?”

He grinned. “I made sure it went on a nice bus ride to Oklahoma.”

“And my car?”

“Afraid we had to get rid of it,” Jardin told her. “We couldn’t take the risk that there was a tracker on it.”

She called bullshit on that. She narrowed her gaze at him. “You had my car destroyed?”

“It wasn’t safe.”

“Jardin!”

He just gave her a calm look. “Did you seriously think I would allow you to drive around in something unsafe?”

She rubbed her forehead. Okay, she guessed her car situation was the least of her worries right now. Tackle one thing at a time, Thea.

“Don’t worry, we’ll get you something much safer,” Carrick told her.

“I don’t want you guys buying me things.” Especially something as big as a car.

“Why not?” Jardin asked. “If the situation was reversed and we needed something that you could easily give us wouldn’t you do the same thing?”

Well. Crap.

She sighed, giving in. “Okay, but nothing too expensive.”

Oh, Thea. You are fighting a losing battle.

Flick gave her another look. Shoot.

“So, um . . .” Shit. What if Jardin and Carrick thought she was going to ask them to marry her?

Mia took pity on her. “Flick, Thea and I thought we’d watch a chick flick tonight. There’s this new one about a woman who asks her boyfriend to marry her and he says no.”

Alec grunted. “As he should. A man should ask a woman.”

“Don’t you think that’s awfully old-fashioned?” Mia prodded.

“Nope. If you’d asked me, I’d have put you over my knee.”

“West?” Thea managed to ask the gruff man, who’d barely spoken a word during dinner.