Page 59 of The Story of Danny Rose

He was too adorable for words. How fucking love-sick was I if one smile from him could tune out an entire coffee shop in the middle of the morning caffeine rush?

“Focus.” He narrowed his eyes playfully.

Right. I could focus.

I crammed the last of my bagel into my mouth and draped an arm along the back of his chair. “It’s not that much less space if you think about it.” I pointed to the printout to the left and brushed some crumbs off my tee. “Thehouseis smaller, but the land is the same size as that one.”

We didn’t need a big house, was my point. We needed a good portion of land to build a safe haven for Danny’s rescue dogs. Or our rescue dogs. I was admittedly growing increasingly fond of the idea of taking in rescues that nobody else wanted.

I’d prepared sketches for a yard with individual houses for twelve dogs, including additional areas for dogs that didn’t go together.

“That’s true,” he conceded. He leaned closer to me and dropped a hand on my leg, and I kissed the side of his head. “We don’t need more than two bedrooms—at least if we have the home office and den downstairs.”

Exactly. A home office we didn’t even need. It could easily become a guest room. My nieces and nephews visited about once a year, but my mum was incredibly fond of Danny, so she wanted to fly out often.

“And itwouldbe nice to shorten the commute,” he reasoned.

“Definitely,” I agreed. “It’ll also be easier to find people who can work on short notice if we’re not completely out in the sticks.”

Because when we took a contract, we usually left within twenty-four hours, and we’d need someone on the farm full time while we were gone.

“Good point,” he said. “I think…” He trailed off when we heard a familiar Tenley voice in the coffee shop, and we looked up to see Reese heading toward our table, with his brother right behind. They removed their shades, and Reese handed River their pack of smokes. “Well, look who’s home!”

“Hey.” Reese grinned and sat down across from us. “You’re one to talk, travelin’ lovebirds.”

He actually was. Danny and I had just returned from a month in Libya. River and Reese had spent four damn months in Qatar. The two didn’t compare.

“It’s good to see you, boys.” I smiled and registered some minor changes in their features. They looked…sharper, in a way. Every training mission seemed to remove some of their innocence, of which I wasn’t sure they’d had much to begin with.“I hear I get to ride your asses in counterterrorism the next three months.”

I was looking forward to it. We’d get a semblance of what used to be normal for a while, even though they didn’t live with Danny and me anymore.

“Don’t be gentle with us. We’ve learned a fuck-ton,” Reese replied, cocky as ever.

I’d missed them. So had Danny, who didn’t waste time quizzing River about their latest adventure. In the meantime, Reese stood up and said he’d get them coffee.

“Get me a Danish too,” Danny said. “I had a tiny breakfast.”

Tiny? I lifted my brows at him. Pancakes, one bagel, and a muffin made a tiny breakfast?

“Ah, Danish. River and I shared one of those in London.” Judging by Reese’s expression, he wasn’t talking about the pastry.

If we were ever in Europe together, I’d have to take the twins to a kink club. I bet Danny would like that as well.

“Yeah, we can hear about your slutscapades later,” Danny said. “Training comes first. Hurry back with my Danish.”

I huffed a chuckle and finished my coffee.

Truth be told, I wanted to hear about their training too. Even though I got frequent updates and remained their CO on paper, they’d evolved so much while traveling that I felt I was missing out. All I knew was…they were practically operators at this point. TJ had already sent them on minor assignments on their own, and they’d passed every test that led up to the final selection. It was just a matter of finding the time.

Last I heard, Terrance was willing to move the November date to another month if it fit the boys’ schedule better—because I knew they had a seminar in Brussels and a guard duty gig in Mali coming up this fall. It’d been scheduled since January.

“Are you finding a balance between physical training and hitting the books?” I asked.

River smiled and nodded once. “Yessir. I realized it was better to just get the physical outta the way, ’cause the theoretical ain’t goin’ anywhere. I’m never gonna be done.”

A realization we all had to come to. I’d never be done either. We could never be too sharp or know too much.

“Just make sure you don’t lose the physical shit,” Danny advised. “We still gotta pass the annual evals.”

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