22. Ryan

Ipulled up outside the bar, and I could see how busy the place was. Mai froze, and it hit me that she would have to face all these people. There would be people she'd known her whole life in there, watching us, trying to work out where she'd been, why she was back now, how our date was going.

Great fucking plan, Ryan.

We couldn't eat here without our history being shoved in our faces all night.

I pulled a U-turn and set off in the direction of the compound.

"It was a bad idea. Sorry. But I have a Plan B," I said, glancing over at Mai.

She nodded, her scent full of relief, but I caught her frown when I turned into the compound. "You're taking me back?"

Dinner with Jem and Hayley around? No fucking way.

"I'm taking you to my home. Mason and Sam are working on a case out of town, and Derek told me he'd be at the office all night. We'll have the place to ourselves."

"Oh." She swallowed nervously. "Okay."

"Relax, I'm not that bad of a cook."

"You still cook?" She looked so surprised that it made me laugh.

"Of course. What? You think there is a Sylvie at all the compound houses?"

She shook her head. "Well, yes. Either that or you order in."

"I like cooking. I liked cooking for you and my brothers, and I still like cooking now. It relaxes me. It always has."

From the way she fell silent, I knew I'd messed up by bringing up the past. She'd been clear that she wanted tonight to be just us getting to know each other now, with no mention or reminders of our history.

"I've been living with my brothers for over three years now," I said softly. "We're all busy, but I realized pretty soon that we couldn't live off takeaways. We all cook. We take it in turns now, but I make a mean steak with hollandaise potatoes."

She turned, her beautiful eyes staring right at me, and fuck me if I didn't want to pull over and claim her right here.

"Alright, I'll risk it," she said, her tone light and joking, and for a moment, I thought she had read my thoughts. "I haven't had steak in years."

My wolf growled. Mai should have all the steak she wanted whenever she wanted. What had that fuckhead been doing? The sooner we tracked him down, the better. All my brothers were on it. Derek had hacked Mai's phone and laptop, and we'd been able to trace her life back to a town out west called Cocrane. Mason and Sam were headed there now.

We pulled up at the house. I'd never really thought about how it looked; it was just home. But I saw Mai studying it. The outside was clad in dark, weathered wood siding, which blended in with the surrounding trees. A large porch wrapped around the front and one side of the house, offering a spot for us to relax in the evenings and keep an eye on the compound.

I led Mai up the steps and opened the door. "You want a quick tour?"

"Inside the Shaw brothers' secret den? I bet most of the people in town gossip about what's inside here, so, yeah, I do!"

As I showed her around, I realized my wolf was nervous about her reaction. I didn't know why, but it was important that she liked it. The house was a modest two-story building with a spacious living room and an open kitchen. The living room had a large stone fireplace that was always lit during the winter and a huge leather couch that could fit all four of us comfortably. The kitchen was my favorite place. Modern and sleek, with stainless steel appliances and a long, marble-topped island where my brothers and I could catch up with each other while we were cooking. Finally, I showed her our office. We did a lot of our work here or at Jem's house. Mason and Sam had their own offices at their firm, but they had desks here, too.

I could see Mai taking it all in, her eyes darting around the room as she smiled.

"It's nice," she said, her voice soft and warm. "I'm guessing this is your desk?"

I narrowed my eyes and looked at the four desks.

"I'm right, aren't I?" she teased.

I nodded. "How?"

"It was easy. This one is Derek's. It's empty. There is nothing personal on it at all. He was in the military, and habits are hard to shake. I'm guessing he locks everything away whenever he's finished working. Mason and Sam work as enforcers, but they also run a PI firm. I doubt they meet clients here, so they must do that in their other office in town. Here they can have some personal things. Sam always loved Star Wars," she pointed to the R2D2 on his desk, "and Mason always needs to have something in his hands to fiddle with when he is thinking." She swung her finger around to point at the tennis ball, the exercise hand grip, and the kid's fidget toy on his desk. "That leaves this desk; it has a computer and a laptop, but there is nothing neat about it." She looked pointedly at the scatter of pens and paper that covered one end of my desk.

"I have a system," I said, my voice flat.

She looked at my face and laughed. "Sure, you do."

I watched as she walked toward it and ran her fingers along the edge of the sleek, polished wood. Her eyes traced the curves of the chair, and for a moment, I wondered if she was imagining me sitting there, typing away on my computer. The thought sent a shiver down my spine, and I had to remind myself to stay focused. This was just dinner, nothing more.

As we walked back through the house, Mai's eyes drifted to the huge TV that took up most of one wall in the living room.

"Sam's a big gamer," I explained. "He bought that last year so he could hook it up to his console."

"Do you play?"

"Me? I don't have much time for it, but yeah, we sometimes have family tournaments. Sam kicks everyone's ass, but I can hold my own."

"Maybe after dinner, you could show me?" She smiled, a glint in her eyes. I remembered how good she used to be, especially with the fighting games, and I had the feeling she was setting me up. I didn't care. Anything to have her smile at me like that.

"I'd like that. You hungry?"

"Starving," she replied. "Thomas said I need to eat twice what I usually do for the next couple of weeks to replace the weight I lost when… Well, you know."

I nodded. Keeping our history out of tonight wasn't going to be as easy as I thought it would.