Page 15 of Shattered Secrets

“Ease up, boss,” she said as an image popped up on the conference room’s wall-sized Smartboard. “Unlike you jokers, I’m capable of multitasking. Now, back to my facial recognition program...”

CHAPTER FIVE

They spent four solid hours going over Hudson Security’s current cases, with Matt giving his initial assessments of the information Gavin and Bean presented. He’d asked many questions and even questioned some of the intel that had been gathered. The time had flown by, and frankly, it had been amazing. Fucking exhilarating. His body was still buzzing with a level of excitement and energy that he’d forgotten existed.

God, he’d missed this—collaborating with a fierce team to put the various puzzle pieces together—and he was so damn grateful to have another opportunity.

Nodding along to the radio, Matt pulled into Cade and Poppy’s driveway and parked. He was looking forward to decompressing with his friends over steaks and beers after an already fulfilling afternoon. As he shut his truck’s door, he noticed a familiar car parked off to the side. An older-model white Corolla.

Scarlet was here.

Just like that, nerves sparked in his gut. What was it about this pixie that had him on edge? Shaking his head, he took the steps of the front porch two at a time and let himself in. The laughter and heckling of Poppy’s twins reached his ears. Nodoubt they were giving Cade shit about something. Following the noise, he entered the kitchen.

“Hey, Matt!” Carter said. “You’ve known Cade for forever, right? Is it true that in college he tried to memorize all the dance moves inDirty Dancingso he could pick up chicks?”

Matt grinned at his friend. These kids had his buddy’s number. That was for damn sure. “Well, boys, I’m not at liberty to confirm or deny.” But he nodded at the twins, who howled with laughter.

“Asshole,” Cade muttered with a chuckle, knocking into Matt’s shoulder. “Glad you could make it, man. Grab a beer.”

Not needing a second invitation, he grabbed an IPA from the fridge, then scanned the full kitchen island. “Bottle opener?”

“Drawer behind you,” Cade replied, gesturing with his beer bottle.

It took a few seconds of rummaging through the obvious junk drawer before he found a Seattle Seahawks bottle opener.

“Was that Scarlet’s car out front?” he asked, turning back to Cade. He knew damn well it was, and by the look his friend was giving him, Cade wasn’t buying the bullshit he was spewing.

Cade smirked and gestured toward the hallway. “They’re in the TV room setting up Daisy with some movies. Do me a favor.” He grabbed a tray of steaks. “Poppy wrote up a list of the cat stuff, but I think she left it in the front room. Grab that and meet us out by the grill?”

“Sure thing.”

“Boys!” Cade called as he headed out the back door. “Grab the corn and start shucking. Your mom’s got a table all set up for you guys.”

Matt chuckled at the good-natured complaining the twins dished out. Beer in hand, he made his way to the front of the house—and then detoured to the TV room, which was basically a mini movie theater with kick-ass recliners and amazingsurround sound. After all, it would be rude to not stop in and say hello to the ladies, right?

He grimaced. Yeah... that was too much bullshit, even for him.

Peeking inside, he frowned. A Disney cartoon was playing with the volume on low, but the room was empty. How had he missed them?

Turning toward the front room, he came to an abrupt halt. Daisy was kneeling on the sofa by the front window, with her back to him, playing quietly with Mr. Slothy and a stuffed unicorn. Mr. Slothy was in her good hand, and he appeared to be racing across the back of the couch. The bright-pink cast covered part of her right hand and ended just below her elbow, but that didn’t prevent her from holding the unicorn firmly by the scruff. Or was it a mane? Regardless, the way the animals crashed into each other looked like some kind of stuffed animal demolition derby.

“Hey, Daisy,” he said quietly, not wanting to startle her. “You didn’t want to watch the movie?”

She peered over her shoulder and stared at him for a few moments, her doe eyes wide, before shaking her head. “Mr. Slothy’s tired ofFrozen.”

“Oh yeah?” Walking deeper into the room, he lowered himself onto the love seat across from Daisy, careful to give her plenty of space. While he’d been around the little girl countless times, he’d only interacted with her on a handful of occasions. He knew she was shy. Besides, he was a big guy, and she was a teeny-tiny little thing. He didn’t want to crowd her or make her uncomfortable. “What are Mr. Slothy and Mr. Unicorn up to?”

She held up the unicorn. “She isn’t a boy, silly. She’s a girl.”

“Sorry,” he said, holding up his hands. “My bad. I hope I didn’t hurt her feelings.”

Daisy giggled, and warmth bloomed in his chest. He wasn’t the best with kids—not because he didn’t like them, but because he didn’t come across many in his daily life—so he was thankful Daisy wasn’t scared of him.

“What’s her name?” he asked.

“Baby Unicorn.”

He grinned. Of course it was. “Are they pretending to be race cars?”

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