Page 6 of Angel's Share

“I do.” The earth shifted with the truth, but rather than sinking, the sense of flying propelled Aidan up. He stretched and claimed the lips of the man who gave him courage this day and every day. “Maybe it’s time we did something more than just talk.”

Jamie’s smile tasted like flying too.

Aidan would have liked to enjoy more of it, but a familiar knock on the hotel room door had him drawing back.

Jamie recognized it too. “Danny?”

“Sounded like it.” Aidan unwound from Jamie and the sheets, flipped on the bedside light, and stood. He crossed to the dresser and checked his phone. “Yep, Daniel.” His brother had texted twenty minutes ago asking if he was awake, and again five minutes ago to say he was headed over from the next-door luxury hotel where he and Mel were staying. “Just a second, baby bro,” he called toward the door, then grabbed one of Jamie’s tees from the drawer before snatching his jeans and boxers off the floor. When he turned back around, Jamie had also swung his legs off the bed and was halfway to standing. Hand to his shoulder, Aidan urged him back down. “I’ll slip out and you can go back to sleep. Or keep running plays in your head. I can handle whatever this is.”

“If he’s here and it’s still dark out, it’s all hands on deck.” Using his heft and extra inches, Jamie stood and forced Aidan back a step. “I’m gonna grab clothes and hit the bathroom right quick.”

“Your top priority has to be the team, Jamie. You’ve got a game today.”

“My top priority is you, always.” Hand around his neck, Jamie swallowed any further objection with a kiss that made Aidan wobble on his feet. His next words only worsened the swooning. “And we’re not done with this convo. When the dust settles, we’re gonna talk about more than maybes.” Another quick kiss, then he slipped out from between Aidan and the bed, grabbed last night’s no doubt crusty sweatshirt off the floor, and headed for the bathroom.

Following in his wake, Aidan flipped on more lights, grabbed Jamie the clean clothes he’d forgotten, and, once he’d handed them through the bathroom door to his husband, shut that door and opened the main one to the room.

In the hallway, his typically stylish brother looked uncharacteristically rumpled. “At least you knocked this time,” Aidan said, referencing that early morning when Danny had used his lock-picking skills to break into the condo Aidan and Jamie had stayed at on their first assignment.

“At least you put on your own pants this time,” Danny countered, reminding Aidan too of the state he and Mel had found them in, having hastily dressed in the dark to defend themselves against would-be intruders.

One of those “intruders,” however, was missing this morning. “Where’s Mel?”

“Got a call about a bounty,” Danny said as he bustled into the room. “Sometime around two.” Mel had recently gone full-time with Redemption Inc., the bounty hunter enterprise she ran with another of their family friends.

“Have you slept at all?” Aidan asked his brother, who was rolling his head around on his neck like a bobblehead doll.

Righting his gaze, he spread his arms wide. “Do I look like it?”

Jamie appeared out the bathroom and, clearly having heard the exchange, made a beeline to the in-room beverage nook. “I’ll get the coffee going.”

Aidan leaned against the nearest wall and kept his attention on Danny. “Given the hour, I assume you’re not here out of boredom or loneliness or to bring us a holiday surprise.”

“Not the good kind. Owner of the stolen cargo had a tracker on it, but something or someone is blocking the signal.”

Ah, now Aidan knew why Daniel was here. And so did Jamie, who stepped around Aidan and lightly squeezed his hip. “You finish the coffee. I’ll wake the laptop.”

Aidan lined up three cups as the cheap in-room coffeemaker gurgled to life. “You said the owner had shipped the diamonds with other luxury goods. Is he a collector or a reseller?”

“Bit of both.”

“Since when is Talley Enterprises shipping for individuals?”

“We do it for Rafael Parsons, whose business also ships a quarter million tons of cargo with us per year.”

A significant client whose trust Danny had to gain back.

“Anything else of his been stolen before?” Jamie asked.

“No, their cargo tends to be high-end luxury goods.” Danny lowered himself on one end of the couch and rubbed a hand over his way-past-five-o’clock scruff, as visible a sign as any of the hours he’d been awake. He graciously accepted the mug of caffeine Aidan handed him. “Cargo theft is skyrocketing, especially as the holidays approach, but it’s usually items the average person can afford. Handheld electronics and basic commodities like food and drinks.”

“The price of everything’s skyrocketing,” Aidan said as he finished fixing his and Jamie’s coffees.

“And everyone’s willing to look the other way for a deal. This is the first one on us, at least partially.”

“All right,” Jamie said from where he’d set up at the table with his laptop. “I need specs on the tracking.”

Danny pulled his phone out of his pocket and handed it to Jamie. Two sips of coffee later, he was deep into whatever it was hackers did. Aidan settled between them and turned his attention back to his brother.

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