Page 54 of Silver Linings
“Yes.” She blushed again as she opened the oven door and peeked inside. He loved the way her beautiful skin always betrayed how she was truly feeling around him. “I asked to borrow some ingredients from Mae.”
“Well, whatever it is, it smells delicious.”
“I made some cinnamon rolls for you to take with you today. And I packed your lunch. I wasn’t sure if you wanted to come up here and eat with us, but I figured I’d pack you something in case you stayed downstairs and caught up with the guys. Which, for the record, I hope you do.”
“I’ll probably just work through lunch, but that was really sweet of you, Lil.”
“It’s nothing, honestly. I enjoyed doing it.”
“So,” he stopped the chair Sage was swinging in from moving and undid the clasp keeping her in place. God, the way her eyes went wide and her toothless smile popped out at him made his whole fucking day. “What did you pack for me?”
“Sage’s favorite. A peanut butter and onion sandwich.”
Gunner laughed, tickling Sage’s belly as he walked towards their table. “Is your mommy teasing me, Sprout, or did you really convince her to pack me that monstrosity? Was it you?”
“I guess you’ll just have to see at lunch time. Now sit down so I can get you a cinnamon roll before you have to be downstairs.”
He watched with Sage on his lap as Lily bustled around their new kitchen, pulling the rolls from the oven and then slathering them in frosting. Lord, he was going to have to hit the gym before his meeting with the guys or he’d be in a sugar coma for a week. Not that he would tell that to her.
“Here you go.”
“Wow. These are huge, Lil.”
“Don’t you know that saying about everything being bigger in Texas?” she laughed.
“I guess so. I’m not sure I can eat all of this.”
“Well, whatever you don’t eat, you can take with you. And you have to take the rest down to the guys and Mae because if I have them in this apartment, I’ll end up the size of Texas myself.”
He picked up the roll, still holding Sage with the other hand, and laughed as she reached for it.
“Sorry, sweetheart. Go to your mama. It’s a few more months until you can have anything other than her milk.”
“What’s going on with the Santoro case?” Gunner asked an hour later in the conference room at Montgomery Defense. He’d spent thirty minutes in the ring sparring with Hawk when he first got downstairs trying to work off the sugar rush from his breakfast. The other guys were too busy indulging in Lily’s baking to join them, and he was watching them pay the price as the meeting went on.
“Max has been keeping us in the loop as best he can.”
Maxwell Wilson was the FBI special agent the team had worked closely with over the past year while investigating the Santoro crime family. Gunner had nothing but the highest respect for the man, who, from all accounts, dropped everything to provide resources after Emma’s attack.
“So, he’s hoping we can help with their push into the south?”
“Seems so.”
What was with all the clipped answers?
“What the fuck aren’t you guys saying?”
The guys all looked back and forth, doing nothing to settle the unease building in Gunner’s chest.
“Look, man, we weren’t sure how to bring this up to you, but we’ve been talking about the direction we want for the business,” Hawk said.
“And?”
There was a pause. A really long and fucking annoying pause as Gunner watched them decide who was going to say whatever had all their britches in a twist.
“We don’t want to do this contract work anymore.”
The silence that followed was deafening.