Page 3 of Forged in Secrets

“Oh, be nice,” she said, shaking her head and giving them what she hoped was a stern expression. “He just wants to keep the family together. I know first-hand how hard it is to get all of you Forge boys in one place at the same time.”

“Like herding cats?” Asher joked.

Grace laughed, resting against the back of the seat asBen passed a slow-moving truck on the highway. She always liked to watch him as he drove, the solemn way he always kept both hands on the wheel and checked his mirrors, as though he was bearing precious cargo.

She didn’t want him to catch her looking, however, so she turned to Asher in an attempt to distract herself.

Despite being Ben’s twin, the two men could hardly look more different. The only feature they seemed to share was their choice of slightly-scruffy facial hair. Both of them were tall, but Asher was compact, bordering on skinny. While Ben had dark red hair and green eyes, Asher was blonde, with blue eyes a little paler than Grace’s own.

Her plan to stop staring at Ben worked. Within a few minutes, Asher had managed to draw them both into a spirited debate about which breed of dog Forge Brothers Security should adopt to serve as their company mascot.

By the time Ben pulled into the parking lot at the Trinity Medical Center in San Antonio, they had narrowed the contenders down to German Shepherd, Chocolate Labrador, or–Grace’s suggestion–a King Charles Spaniel.

“You know Gabe is never going to go for having a dog in the office, right?” Ben said, waiting for the car in front of him to make its turn.

“Let the women handle this,” Grace said. The fact that Ben didn’t seem to oppose the idea was half the battle won already. Gabe, the oldest Forge brother and unofficial leader of FBS, was a softy at his core. Usually.

“You owe me five bucks,” Asher said as Ben pulled into a parking space and turned off the car.

“No way,” Ben said. “It’s been seven and a half minutes, I checked.”

Grace rolled her eyes.

She’d already forgotten about their little bet, but sheshould have known better than to assume that her friends would have. The Forge boys excelled at turning anything and everything into a competition.

Still, if she was a gambling woman, her money would have been with Ben. Gabe did have a bit of an obsession with punctuality.

“But we’re at the hospital already and he never called!”

“Doesn’t matter, it still counts,” Ben said with a chuckle. “You lose.”

“I think I have to side with Ben on this one,” Grace chimed in.

She climbed out of the passenger seat and adjusted the hem of her dress as she waited for the others. The sunlight felt warmer now than it had even a few minutes before, back at her house. She looked forward to what was sure to be a gorgeous day.

“How shocking,” Asher said. “Grace, taking Ben’s side, whyever might that be…”

Grace stole a glance at Ben, trying to read his reaction to his twin’s little comment, but he wouldn't meet her eyes. Instead, he began walking faster, striding toward the hospital’s sliding front doors. She tottered after him on her heels, deciding that, for the moment, she wasn’t going to think about her feelings.

Or his. Especially considering that she had no real reason to get her hopes up.

Today was about Ben and Asher’s cousin Reilly, his wife Lauren, and their twin girls. Lauren had delivered them early, and they’d had to spend a week in the NICU. Finally, they were healthy enough to meet the family.

Grace smiled at the thought as she followed Ben and Asher. Despite the fact that she wasn’t related to the Forgefamily, her role as FBS office manager had grown into something almost as deep as their bond of blood.

“Let’s get going,” Ben said gruffly, pausing as they caught up to him.

Just then, a phone began to ring.

“Ha!” Asher crowed.

“Hold on,” Grace said, following him into the hospital’s reception area as she shoved a hand into her large purse in search of her phone. As always, it managed to elude her for several seconds before she finally got hold of it.

“It’s not Gabe, actually,” she said, glancing at the screen. “Sorry, Asher. Hey, Dad, what’s up?”

She tucked the phone into the crook of her neck as she ushered Asher and Ben forward. Whether or not Gabe called to yell at them, she didn’t want to be late.

“Baby, I have some news,” her father said in her ear.

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