Page 36 of Burning for Him

She studied the rest of them, and only Jake wouldn’t look her in the eye. “Uncle Jake?”

“It wasn’t me, Jenn.” He still wouldn’t meet her gaze.

Her eyes narrowed. “It was Nick, wasn’t it?” When no one answered, she knew she had her culprit. Technically, Nick wasn’t a snitch. If she figured out he knew before he told anyone and asked him not to say anything, he would’ve kept quiet, but the man could spill the tea more than the women behind her combined. It looked like his current punishment wouldn’t be enough. She’d have to think of another way to get back at him. “How did he find out?”

Jake sighed. “He was at the marina the other day on a case and saw you and Doug get off his boat and kiss.”

“And of course, he couldn’t keep his mouth shut or come to me first. Even though I love him like a brother, he’s the worst gossip I know.” She shrugged. “Making him babysit all the kids in the she-shed right now isn’t enough punishment for him.”

Marco’s, Brody’s, and Devon’s eyes widened before they jumped up, cursing, and ran from the room. With confusion on his face, Boomer looked at Jake and Ian. “What’s wrong with that?”

“He’s probably teaching them to give the middle finger and feeding them all something with lots of sugar,” Ian responded, getting to his feet. “So they’ll be bouncing off the walls soon.”

Boomer barked out a laugh while Jake grinned and rolled his eyes.

Turning to the women she considered both aunts and friends, Jenn gestured toward the door with her cast. “Ladies,it’s time for our spa appointments. I need a massage, a facial, and a strong mimosa, and not necessarily in that order.”

She strode toward the door where Ian stood. The sadness at the loss of his “Baby-girl” was written all over his face, making her stomach drop. But she had to be firm and stand her ground. “I’m sorry that I don’t want the nickname anymore, Uncle Ian, but it’s time for me to be the woman you and my parents raised me to be.”

His stormy blue eyes brightened, and he nodded. “I know. And I couldn’t be prouder.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Doug sighed as he stared at the text message.

Ian

My office now!

“Here we go again,” he muttered under his breath before he tapped Stefan on the shoulder. “Boss-man wants me. You got this?”

He’d been helping Stefan with a class of police officers. Trident offered training sessions to teach them tricks of the trade that the military and black ops teams used. Many small-town police departments lacked SWAT or HRT teams and often had to wait for backup from larger agencies, which could sometimes arrive too late to save everyone during high-risk incidents. The training the officers received at Trident could give them the chance to reduce the number of victims, even with limited resources. Stefan was offered and accepted the position to oversee the new TS program after he was forced to retire from the Coast Guard for medical reasons.

Not taking his eyes off the cop shooting targets in the Hogan’s Alley setup on the vast property, Stefan nodded. “Yeah. All good.”

Doug jogged back to the main office. After leaving the conference room yesterday, he’d taken the rest of the day off and gone to talk to Jenn. His schedule was already free of any appointments and meetings, so he left a message on Colleen's desk, instructing her to call him if an emergency arose. His team would contact him on his cell phone if they needed anything. Despite his bosses’ threat of dismissal, he still considered himself employed until he heard otherwise, so he’d arrived on time that morning, prepared to work.

Leaving Jenn to confront her uncles as she requested, he avoided going into the office and joined Stefan’s training session at the south end of the compound instead. She’d already called him on her way to the spa to let him know she thought things had gone well with her uncles, but Doug might want to give them time to chill out after the dressing down she gave them. With a smile on his face, he agreed, but damn, he wished he’d been a fly on the wall of the conference room when she went off on them. It had taken a lot of convincing yesterday to keep her from reacting and going after her uncles immediately. He hadn’t wanted her to say anything to them that she might regret. Sleeping on it gave her a chance to calm down, regain control of her emotions, and consider how she wanted to approach them. Thankfully, she’d heeded his advice before spending the night at his condo, letting him make sweet love to her.

When he strode into the reception area, wiping the sweat from his forehead, Colleen was at her desk. She glanced up, grinned at him, and gestured toward Ian’s office. “He said to send you in as soon as you got here. By the way, I’m happy for you and Jenn. I always hoped you’d end up together. You’re good for each other.”

“Thanks. Too bad her uncles don’t see it that way.”

“Mmm. I wouldn’t worry. They’ll come around soon.”

Doug wasn’t sure of that but hoped she was right.

He knocked on the closed door and opened it after Ian barked, “Get your ass in here!”

Surprisingly, the man was alone in his office. Doug half-expected the rest of Jenn’s uncles to be there too.

From behind his desk, Ian glared at him. “Sit down, tinsel-twat.”

Suppressing a grin, he sat in one of the guest chairs across from his boss. It appeared Ian had given Doug a nickname off his infamous twat-roster, which likely meant death or loss of employment weren’t imminent. Rumor had it that you were only blessed with an insulting moniker if the man cared for you and you screwed up, or if you required a swift kick in the ass. Doug figured, in his case, it was a little of both.

“You need Jenn fighting your battles for you?”

Doug shook his head. “Nope. But it was never my battle. It was hers. You and the rest of them needed to hear from her that she’s an adult and can make her own decisions. I could’ve talked until I was blue in the face, and it wouldn’t have made a difference to any of you. But hearing it from her seems to have gotten the resultsheneeded. I love her, Boss-man. That’s not going to change because of an order or threat from you.”

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