Page 93 of Fierce-Hyde

He shrugged. “Maybe. It’s not like I’m getting much information on anything with them.”

“Which is the way it should be,” Drake said. “They are dating and you know it. There don’t seem to be any problems either.”

“I’m not so sure of that when it looked as if she didn’t know which one she wanted to talk to.”

Drake laughed. “Not your problem, is it?”

“No,” he said, frowning. “Don’t suppose Hyde ever talks about Tori with you?”

“Nope,” Drake said. “I don’t ask either. He has enough people bugging him about his personal life in this office. If he needs a shoulder to lean on, he’s got Ryder or he can come to me or Raina and he knows it. I don’t need to hound him like you and Uncle Grant.”

He all but sputtered. “We don’t hound.”

“Yep, you do,” Drake said. “You’re champions at it. You’ve been doing it for years.”

“You don’t seem too upset over it with those beautiful grandkids of mine. Though I wish I’d get some more.”

“Oh no,” he said. “Don’t turn this around on me. Or that. Kara and I are done. Owen and Olivia are more than enough for us.”

“But they are going into kindergarten next year. The perfect time to try for another.”

“Don’t you start again,” Kara said, moving into the office.

“I didn’t know you were here,” he said all but jumping out of his skin.

He knew enough not to speak to his daughter-in-law about that. He’d done it for a few years here and there and stopped. His wife got her licks in enough.

“I’m always here,” Kara said, laughing. “The same as Drake. And we love we can go home and get a good night’s sleep with the kids. A baby takes that all away. Maybe if your genesdidn’t get me multiples the first time, I wouldn’t be fearful of it happening again. But there you go, blame yourself if anyone.”

“Oh,” Drake said. “She got you, Dad. Let’s go, honey. I love it when you make my parents speechless.”

Garrett watched his son leave with Kara and smiled.

Yeah, he liked it when Kara did that too. They’d done well with their kids.

28

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“What’s going on?” Hyde asked when they were in the stairwell. “You don’t normally come up to visit without one of us knowing.”

“I needed to stretch my legs,” she said. “And I don’t like to get in the habit of just stopping in. I mean we are working and need our space.”

“True,” he said. “But that didn’t answer my question either. It’s written all over your face that you’re bothered by something.”

They got out of the stairwell and then walked out to the patio. It was close to seventy even towards the end of October.

“You’re probably hungry,” she said. “You should have grabbed something to eat. I already ate.”

“I’m not going to fade away,” he said. “I didn’t bring anything and was going to get something in the cafe on the first floor anyway. I’ll grab it on the way back.”

“Go get it now,” she said. “I’ll just stay here and hold the table.”

“You’re avoiding,” he said. “You follow your lunch rules to the letter so you don’t go over a minute and have little time leftnow. You came to see one of us without telling us so that means there is something going on, but you’re hoping you can use the excuse you need to return to your desk. Not happening. Tell me.”

“I don’t want to vent to you,” she said. “That makes me no different than my mother.”

“From everything you’ve said in the past, you’re nothing like your mother, but I’m going to guess you had some conversation with her?”

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