Ten

TEN

T here was some kissing, more snuggling, and very soon after, napping. When we woke up, it was a little after eight thirty and we had to get moving if we were going to stop and get food before showing up at the party.

"Or we could not go," Lang said from the shower as I was drying myself off. No way could both of us fit in that stall. "And by the way"—he gestured around himself—"reason number 867 why my place is better."

"Yes, yes," I placated him.

"You have all the stuff I left over here, don't you?"

"Yes, princess, I have it."

"You're so funny," he said, quickly lifting the shower wand over the top of the stall and shooting water at me.

"That was helpful," I deadpanned, drying myself all over again.

"Don't be so lippy," he warned, and I noted his hooded gaze as he stared.

"What?"

"I've decided that lying between your thighs is my new favorite thing in the world."

I felt my face flush with heat from his sincere words and the fresh memories, and could not face him. I turned away fast.

"Hey," he said, hitting me with the water again.

"Oh, for crissakes!" I yelled, spinning around. "We are never gettin' outta here."

"Like I care," he said, his smile lazy and his voice like honey. "Come here."

The man was incorrigible and sexy, and I was drawn like a magnet to steel, reaching the shower door as he rolled it open.

His wet hand wrapped around my throat fast as he leaned out and laid a kiss on me that had me clutching for the towel bar. Unfortunately, unlike his in his bathroom, mine could not take even a fraction of my weight. It collapsed right away, taking some crumbling dry wall with it to the floor, along with the towel he was supposed to use.

"Reason number 868 why my place is better," he said flatly.

I only shook my head as he cackled.

We stopped for pizza because, for the most part, everybody liked pizza, and even if we were late, somebody would be later and need to eat. We also picked up a couple of bottles of a chianti Lang liked on the way.

Miro and Ian lived in Lincoln Park, which was a nice part of town, on a lovely tree-lined street, in a beautiful brownstone. A wrought-iron gate opened onto a walkway leading to steps to the front door, where at the moment, Eric Pazzi was standing doing a really good impersonation of a lawn ornament.

"What are you doin'?" I asked him, carrying three large pizza boxes, walking ahead of Lang, who had the wine.

"I was admiring the vintage architecture," he told me, and I noticed he had a bottle of tequila with him.

"That's smart," I told him. "Tequila is always a better choice than beer."

"Yes. Not as many calories."

"Plus, you can do a lot more with tequila. Shots. Mix drinks. Good call."

His smile transformed his face, and I returned it.

"Oh, for fuck's sake," Lang grumbled. "I took a shower so I wouldn't smell like sweat, so will you ring the damn doorbell?"

Pazzi hesitated.

"Give it a rest, Eric," Lang said, using his first name like he never did. "If they didn't like you, they didn't have to invite you. We're all on the same team. You just need to trust your instincts more."

"Every time I trust my instincts, something horrible happens," he replied, sounding terribly forlorn.

"Well, then trust Yamane's until yours kick in," I offered. "That's what your partner is for—to be your backup. And he's been a great one to you. Everybody says so."

He nodded.

"You'll be fine," I told him. "Now ring the bell."

"Yeah, but?—"

"Great men are not born great, they grow great," Lang told him.

"What?"

Instant scowl from him. "Are you kidding? I'm giving you sage advice and you don't know what that's from?"

"It's from The Godfather ," someone said behind us, and when I turned, there was a beautiful woman there with long, glossy black hair and big dark-brown eyes. "Which is full of wonderful advice, it's true, but really, we're melting. Ring the bell."

After he pressed the doorbell, I smiled at her. "Most people don't remember the lesser-known lines," I praised her.

"Well, this one," she said, tipping her head toward the guy behind her, who looked a lot like Chris Hemsworth when he was playing Thor, "loves that movie. I've seen it too many times."

"It can never be too many times," Lang offered, looking at the thunder god.

"No argument," the guy said, grinning back.

"Hey," Ian said happily as he opened the door. "Two of my favorite people and some other guys are standing in front of my house."

"No," she corrected him. "That one has a great bottle of tequila, this one has pizza from Pistores, and this gorgeous man has my favorite chianti, so let us in."

Ian put up his hands in defeat, and I realized I really liked her—not to mention, she'd noticed that my boyfriend was breathtaking. Not that her husband—the diamond ring on her finger was not small—was not a stunning specimen himself.

Inside it was packed, and Miro came to greet us, thanked us for the pizza, and took it from us to the kitchen.

"Hey," Eli Kohn greeted me and Lang, not Pazzi, letting him walk by without even a begrudging hello. They were still not over the stapler incident. "You brought pizza."

"People are always hungry." Lang grinned as we were joined by Kohn's fiancé, Celso Harrington, a ballet dancer who was a big deal at the CBC. I knew all that because of Talia, who worshipped him and had nearly passed out when I told her we worked with the man's partner. She'd be thrilled he was there tonight, which I told him.

"Oh, I can't wait to meet her," he said, then bit his bottom lip.

"What's wrong?" Lang asked him.

"I'm starving," Celso disclosed. "And everything is?—"

"We brought two veggie pies," I told him. "It's there, go get it."

"Thank you," he said happily and bolted away.

"Thanks," Kohn said. "Thought we'd need to run out and bring something back. Miro's usually great about that, but Ian did all the ordering this time, forgetting that some of us can't have bacon and others no meat at all."

"Well, you should get some too," Lang told him, "because I don't know what it is, but those veggie pies smell amazing when you open the lid. People forget they're eating artichoke hearts when the spices hit them."

He left us, taking the chianti with him, and we were standing in a sea of people, all loud, all happy to see one another, and I realized I was somehow feeling quite vulnerable.

"Your face," Lang said softly, leaning in close. "This is a little hard for you because of us, isn't it?"

"Us?"

"Yeah. We're a new thing, and you had to literally and figuratively strip down in front of me, and then, before you put your usual armor back on, we had to come over here."

"Yeah, but it was also new this afternoon when we went to see your mother."

"That's different. You know the family, and more than that, you know her. She stays by your side…" His brows furrowed. "You know what, Talia's right. My mother does like you best."

I chuckled, and he slipped a hand around the side of my neck and pulled me close, his lips on mine for long moments before tucking me against him.

"Oh good," Redeker said as he joined us, drinking an Old Fashioned. "I'm glad that got off the ground."

"What?" I asked him.

He indicated Lang with his glass. "You two. I know what it's like to moon over your partner. I'm glad you sacked up and told him how you feel, so now you can be more."

"Sacked up?" I asked him.

Quick grunt from him. "Those are the words that were used when I finally got the balls to tell Bodhi how I felt. It took a minute."

"It took five years," Callahan said, stepping up beside him with a beer for me and an Old Fashioned for Lang. He had a beer for himself as well, which he took a long pull of. "But who's counting?"

Redeker shot him a look that made him choke on his drink.

"I wasn't complaining," Callahan chuckled, as Miro, who was walking by, passed him several napkins and kept going. You had to keep moving when you were the host. "I am more than happily married, so go me."

When Redeker turned back to me, I said, "I didn't sack up. Lang did."

He looked at my partner. "All right, then."

"Well, I was the one with my head up my ass, so it had to be me."

"Always good to realize that it's up there, though," Callahan told him. "Some people never do."

"Do all these people stay to play poker?" I asked them.

"Oh no," Redeker scoffed. "Ian gets way too serious about it. People start bailing the second the card table comes out."

"Lang's sister wants to play with him."

Callahan looked almost startled. "Has she met Ian?"

"Not yet."

"Oh, Lang, does she cry easily?"

"Because she's a girl?" he asked, not bristling with Redeker as he normally would have with others.

"No, sir. Ian scared off some very nice FBI agents and some vice detectives not too long ago. If you hadn't noticed, he's kind of a dick."

Lang's smile was wide. "He is that."

I told Lang I was fine, which I was. Mostly. Not like I was some wallflower in need of his constant attention to prop me up in public. I normally did well on my own. But I was still a bit tired, Lang and I had been through an emotional grinder, and my social battery had a time limit, which was definitely somewhere right around when we left his mother's house hours earlier.

I was sitting on the top step of Miro and Ian's small back porch, looking out at the beautiful area that resembled a small park with both lush green grass and tall trees, when there was a sound behind me, like the whack of a baseball being thrown into a mitt, and when I turned, I was startled to be face-to-face with a wolf.

"Oh, hi," I said, not frightened—dogs had never scared me; I'd had my father for that—just aware that he, or she, was very big and could eat off my face if they wanted. The thing was, the dog immediately walked over to a bucket, dipped their muzzle in, and retrieved a fuzzy yellow tennis ball. Returning to me, they waited patiently.

I wasn't stupid, so I held out my hand, and the ball was deposited gingerly in my palm.

"Yeah, all right," I told the animal, then threw the ball away from me hard.

The dog's speed was impressive, first down the twelve stairs, I'd counted, and then flying across the grass. Such a big dog, probably with some wolf in there; a hybrid, no question. I hated backyard breeders, and there had been so many when I was growing up. I was thrilled with Chicago's fuck-around-and-find-out, animal-cruelty laws. That did not fly in the land of Lincoln. I was guessing that the mutant was a rescue, Miro struck me as the type to save a life.

When the ball was returned, it wasn't even as gross as I thought it would be. I did need to descend the steps, because it was spit out in the grass at the base of the stairs, and the look I got, like, Are you coming? made me smile.

I heard the door open behind me, and when I turned to look, the woman from earlier, married to Thor, was smiling down at me.

"I see you found Chickie, or he found you."

"Chickie?"

She nodded, descending the stairs. "He's Ian and Miro's dog. Started out just as Ian's, then Miro's too and now he's mine as well."

"He's awful pretty."

"I suspect he knows," she said, offering me her hand. "Aruna Duffy."

"Delroy McCabe," I replied, taking her hand in mine.

"Are you a marshal as well?"

"I am. How do you know Miro and Ian?"

"Miro and I have been friends since college."

"Oh, that's great. I have good college friends I still see once or twice a year unless somebody's gettin' married, has a kid, or loses someone. I like goin' to see new babies the best. I wish some of them lived here."

"It's been good to have Miro close," she said as Chickie came charging up to us, whimpering and whining at Aruna's feet.

She crouched down to pet the wolf, and he howled his happiness, licked her, shoved his muzzle in her hand, his nose in her eye, and generally made a nuisance of himself before she threw the ball and he was gone in a blaze.

"Oh, watch this," she said, laughing, then went suddenly still and gasped loudly. " What is that? "

Chickie was back in seconds, standing in front of her, ears up, nose sniffing the air, the picture of alertness.

She pointed at the closest oak tree. "Squirrel!"

And the dog went up the tree. Like straight up the tree, as if running on the ground.

"Holy shit," I said, in absolute awe.

She was cackling.

"Aruna Duffy," I heard Miro yell behind me. "Get that dog down from that tree right this second!"

"Oooh, you're in trouble," I whispered.

She cackled. "That'll be the day."

"Will he kill the squirrels?"

"As if the moose dog could catch a squirrel," she scoffed, then turned and yelled, "Ohmygod, a stranger!"

Instantly, Chickie ran right down the tree, leaping from ten feet off the ground, and immediately ran the perimeter of the fence, checking that nothing was awry.

"Aruna!"

We both turned to Miro, who was standing on the porch.

"You need to get in here. The rest of the food finally arrived, and I don't know what's what. Ian said you told him what to order, so he's claiming ignorance."

"Oh, he's a filthy liar," she told him, starting toward the stairs.

"Thank you again for the pizza, Del," Miro called over to me. "You and your partner saved my life."

"Your partner is a beautiful man," she said, climbing the stairs, but then stopped and turned to look at me. "As are you."

I grinned at her. "Please, we all know what he looks like. His sister will be here later, and she's stunnin' as well."

"Sounds like a good gene pool, but you're not lacking either, Delroy McCabe. I love blond men with golden tans. Big fan."

"You're gonna make me blush."

"I would love to see that," she teased, then stopped again before going inside with Miro. "Don't leave without saying goodbye. I won't either."

"Deal."

I threw the ball for Chickie some more, but eventually he had to go inside. It was too hot outside for a dog with such a heavy coat.

When I went in, Lang was talking to Kohn. Talia and Sharpe were in the kitchen, talking to Callahan and Celso. I noted Talia and Celso holding hands. I was glad they'd hit it off.

Grabbing a bottle of water, I was on my way back out when I bumped into Sen Yamane.

"Hey," he greeted me, taking hold of my shoulder. "Thanks for being nice to my partner earlier. I know he can be a lot sometimes, but all that anxiety comes from a good place."

"He told you about that?"

"He tells me about everything, and I do the same. That's how it works, right?"

With partners he meant. "It does," I agreed. "And Lang was nice too, so ya know."

"And I appreciate him as well."

I nodded. "We've all got things. We can only do the best we can."

His smile was warm.

Back outside, I took a seat on the last step, drinking my water, thinking I should go back inside where it was cool, but I needed the people to thin out. I was getting hungry, though.

"Hey."

And there was Lang.

"Don't come out here. It's hot."

"But you're out here," he said, coming down to where I was, stopping one step above me. "And I have to be with my boy."

I was going to get on him about the "boy" comment, but he put his hands in my hair and tipped my head back to kiss me. I didn't care after that.

"I saw Talia. She looked happy to see Celso."

"She was. Very. She'll probably start looking for you soon."

"No, Sharpe will need to introduce her around."

He grunted.

"Hey, do you think we need to tell Kage that we're more than work partners, or is that none of his business?"

"It's none of his business," Kohn said from above us, and when we looked up at him, he was pacing the tiny porch, texting on his phone.

"You all right?"

"Yes," he said quickly, which meant he didn't want to say. "But truly, our boss has no interest in your relationship status. He only needs to know if it becomes an issue on the job."

"Thank you for clearing that up," Lang said, smiling. "We both appreciate it."

"You're welcome," Kohn said, not looking at us, still pacing.

After watching him for a moment, I realized I had to know. "Can you say what's wrong, or no?"

He looked up then and I noted how tense he appeared. "Nothing is—I have to make a comment on the apprehension of Tobias Mosbach and the fact that he is now cooperating with the FBI and is currently answering questions. I also have to comment about the gang members who were wounded during their arrest in the raid in the Loop early this morning, and, of course, on the derogatory comments some members of the marshals service made about the DEA to a documentary film crew."

This was new. "There was a film crew there?" Lang asked.

"Apparently so. The DEA didn't read us in on that, which they didn't have to, but I'm always upfront when we have civilians along."

"So what happened?"

Long-suffering sigh. "It's par for the course with this group, and honestly, I've been guilty of being less than complimentary of the DEA in the past myself. And between us, within the confines of our office, that's fine. The trouble comes because we get used to saying things, because let's face it, if the ball is dropped, it's usually them, they're cowboys who do whatever the hell they want, but when we share our opinions loosely in public, that's when we have to pay the piper."

"So someone mouthed off about the DEA last night durin' that sweep of the apartment house and the film crew got it on tape," I summed up.

"Exactly."

"Yeah, but was whoever said it wrong?"

"The problem is, they weren't talking about a specific incident but generally."

"Like they're cowboys who play loose and fast with the rules," I said, chuckling.

He nodded.

"And now you have to smooth it over."

"It's my job to try, so I need to be ready with an answer when I'm asked about the documentary film crew and their sound bite, which I will be."

Lang cleared his throat. "Is Kage going to get heat for that? For what whoever said?"

"Yes," Kohn answered honestly. "And I'm sure the mayor will want to have some meetings to determine how to resolve this constant tension."

I was worried. "They won't use this to remove Kage, will they?"

Kohn smiled. "Our boss has the best working relationship with the mayor's office of all the law enforcement agencies here in Chicago. Don't worry about him."

"That's good."

He took a breath then, reading something on his phone, then placed it in his back pocket. "Okay, I'm going in. You guys should too, or you'll melt out here."

"We will," Lang told him. "Hey, do you need us to stand with you at the press conference? Maybe divert attention from the stupid sound bite by answering questions?"

"No, no. That's tomorrow. Miro and Ian will both be there with me. But it's kind of you to offer. And I'm sorry I can't mention either of you by name in relation to Mosbach's capture. That's not how the marshals service works."

"We know," Lang said with a grin. "And that's actually something we both appreciate. Having things appear only on our records, not on the news."

Kohn nodded. "I agree. Justice. Integrity. Service."

"That's the way we roll," I concurred.

He squinted at me, and when I turned to Lang, he looked like he ate a lemon as well.

"What?"

"I think he needs to sleep," Kohn told Lang, then went into the house.

"Really, Del? That's how we roll?"

"I might be tired," I deadpanned.

Lang's groan made me smile.

We stayed to watch the poker game begin, and Redeker was not kidding. The second the large round card table came out, people started to bail. Like put their drinks down on whatever surface they were closest to and bolt out the door.

"That's a little scary," I commented to Lang.

"Yeah, it is."

Talia took a seat across from Ian, and when she beat him at the first hand, instead of being a jerk—like I thought he would be—he was really pleased and gave her a fist bump. Apparently, he liked playing with people who were good, not donkeys—whatever that meant—who got lucky on the river. As I was not a gambler, I stayed away and instead took my turn at Tekken, since I had number eight at home.

"What the hell was that?" Cherry asked me when I beat her in three moves.

"That's Jin. He's my favorite."

"You don't just push buttons?" Bon asked me.

"No. You hafta learn all the moves."

"Oh, dear God, no." Cherry was horrified.

"You have to practice."

No one wanted to play with me after that, so I surrendered my controller to Lopez. Sharpe met me in the kitchen as I was looking for some dessert.

"Aren't you playin' cards?" I asked him.

"Uh, no. The woman I'm enamored of put me all in and took my money."

I snickered.

"It's not funny. She didn't even care when she did it."

"There's no friends in poker," I reminded him.

"Hey, babe?" Talia called over to Sharpe. "Can you get me a glass of chianti?"

He looked at me and threw up his hands.

"C'mon now, do you want her or not? Because she's already takin' for granted that you're a grown-up and don't care about cards, which is pretty good."

"You're saying she's thinking I'm a man, and not a boy who cares about losing to a girl."

"Yessir, that's what I'm sayin'."

"That's exactly what I want her thinking, because that's how it is," he said, nodding. "Excuse me while I pour her some wine."

I was quite hopeful for the two of them.

As promised, when Aruna and her husband, Liam, who she introduced me to, were about to leave, she came to say goodbye. We ended up trading numbers. I got a hug from her, a handshake from him, and that was nice. I loved expanding my circle with nice people. But who didn't?

Watching Lang play from where I was in the kitchen was fun. He did well, even won a few hands, but I could tell he was distracted. Normally he had much more of a killer instinct. Even Talia noticed and shot him a look of concern. He announced he was done a couple minutes later and had Dorsey cash him out.

"What's with you?" I asked when he came into the kitchen with me.

"I want to go home and be alone with you."

"You want to go home so I can ride you in your bed," I said flatly.

"Yes, please."

I smiled at him.

"But honestly, even more than that, I have the overwhelming urge to just lie on my back and have you on top of me, sleeping, while I flip channels on my TV."

"That sounds borin', and we don't want that."

"It sounds like all I want, and I promise, I can't get bored with you. I'm too excited to be starting everything."

"I'm gonna get spoiled with you talkin' this way," I murmured, kissing along his jaw.

"Yeah, I want you good and spoiled so you never give anyone else the time of day."

"You don't ever have to worry."

Lang and I were out of there minutes later. We both waved at Talia, who blew kisses back, Ian gave us a dismissive wave, but Miro hugged us both. I liked that.

Once we were back at my place, I was ready to start packing up my clothes, but something happened when we got there. Instead of helping me, Lang collapsed on one end of my very uncomfortable, scratchy burlap couch, which was, without a doubt, not going to his place, unlike my very sturdy, sex-approved kitchen table.

After sitting in companionable silence for several minutes, he finally turned to look at me.

"Yes?" I teased him.

"I announce things without asking. I've been doing that all my life."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, I say you're moving in with me , and I tell my family that yes, we're an us, so you can keep him , but I get ahead of myself and don't consider what you want."

"But you know what I want."

"Tell me," he rasped, seemingly overwhelmed.

"What's this about?" I asked him gently. "Are you havin' second thoughts?"

"No, not at all. It just seems like I made the decision for you, like I feel I do a lot of things, and then there was so much going on, keeping us from talking more."

"Darlin', we've talked."

"But not enough, and also, I make these statements, and I don't want you to go along. I want you to want…me. To want this, with us."

I chuckled.

"I hate you," he grumbled.

"The problem with you is that you love your words so much, you think that's all that matters. You think if I don't say everythin' right back to you like you said it to me, that somehow, I don't want the same things, but that's not true at all."

"No, I?—"

"Stop talkin' now. Come here."

He crawled down the couch to me, and I put a throw pillow in my lap so he could rest his head there.

"You have a lot to say."

"Yes."

"And you make plans, and I know why," I assured him.

He turned his head so he could look up at me.

"If you make plans," I continued, "if there's always somethin' to do, to follow, then you—or we, in this case—will stay on track."

"I don't want to fail you. I've failed a lot of people."

"You mean the women you've dated."

He nodded.

I smiled down at him. "You haven't failed anyone. We all tease you, but your datin' life is only amusin' because your heart was never in it."

"No, it wasn't," he agreed, staring up into my eyes.

"But now it is."

"Yes," he husked. "Now it is."

"I don't go along because you've beaten me into submission." I lifted my knees so he had to get up and face me. "I agree and go along because I'm in love with you."

He nodded quickly.

I moved then, into his lap, straddling his thighs, smiling before I took his face in my hands, leaned in and claimed the man's mouth in a ravenous kiss. All day long, all I'd wanted was to stay in bed with him and kiss him, and yes, I wanted a lot more, but the idea of simply holding him, and lying with him, and talking to him about nothing remotely important…this was what I really wanted. I had figured it out when I kissed him the first time, and I realized I needed to tell him now.

"Hey," I said, easing back, breaking the kiss. "I need to say somethin'."

"Now?" he croaked out. "Right this second?"

"Yeah."

"You kissed me like—do you know how you kissed me?"

I grinned at him. "Like I want you, which I do."

He took a deep breath. "I'm in love with you too, just so we're clear."

"Well, I wanted to tell you that when I kiss you, I can feel it in my chest, how happy I am. And havin' you here, with me, to hug and hold…that's a gift. Bein' your person, the one you call when you need to talk, or when you want to listen, or for no other reason than to check in…I'm here for all that."

His smile made his eyes warm, and that, accompanied by his soft sigh—if I hadn't been in love before, that right there would have tied me up with a bow. I was all the way gone for Langston Ross.

"I feel the same. Tell me you trust that."

"I do. And I've been yours since that first day when you held me in the rain, but even more, I dreamed of this right here, us bein' together."

"So have I."

"And knowin' that the hard part is over because I've got you, and you've got me, and really…how amazin' is that?"

"So very amazing," he said, taking my face in his hands. "And this is only the beginning."

I kissed him in agreement.