"You're hovering."
"I'm not." Kate didn't look up from her book, not that she had really been reading it in the first place. She was curled up in a chair in her father's office. Sunshine fell through the window and pooled on the carpet where East was sleeping on his back. Occasionally, Kate would stick out her bare foot and rub his belly.
"Go find something to do, Katie Cat."
Kate flipped the page. She had no idea what that handsome blond-haired, mask-faced fae guy was doing with his captured human woman. Everyone at the last place she had worked had read this book, though apparently she wasn't supposed to be rooting for Blondy. He didn't seem so awful, but then again, she wasn't paying much attention to him. Or Human Hunter Lady. Kate wished she had the patience right now to focus on the story. Or maybe it wasn't patience she needed. "I'm reading."
"That's a flat out lie."
Kate sighed and closed the book, dropping it into her lap. She glanced over at her dad, who was working at his computer and typing at her. "We could go sit outside. Enjoy the afternoon."
"I'm busy. You go on." He coughed into his sleeve.
Tension pushed at her skin. "I'm busy, too, then."
Her dad frowned at her. She frowned right back and flopped her book back open. He might be in charge of the United States Pacific Fleet, but she was his youngest and most willful child.
"Get out of my office, little girl."
"No."
"Kate," he said out loud, his voice rough and overworked. It was definitely back. "I don't need…a babysitter."
The letters on the page swam for a moment as her frown morphed into a scowl. She glanced up at the ceiling and closed her eyes, calming herself. And she wasn't going to let him see her cry. The question she wanted to ask burned on her tongue, but she swallowed it, letting it lodge in her throat like a hot coal. "You know that's not why I'm here."
"I'm not going anywhere."
Yet. The word he didn't say hung there between them. Her heart rammed against her ribcage. Outside, Perry and Mason were yelling at each other while some of the neighbor kids played badminton. The sounds of cartoons playing in the living room seeped under the door. Between Kate and her father, the question and the answer went unspoken.
Her phone buzzed. Kate fished it from where it had slid into the side of the chair. There was a text from Bradley. She started to reply then multiple texts from him flooded in, too fast for her to respond.
😏 Bradley🐓✈️: whatare you doning
😏 Bradley🐓✈️: can you
😏 Bradley🐓✈️: Where ar
😏 Bradley🐓✈️: i'm going t kill hagnman
😏 Bradley🐓✈️: SHIT
😏 Bradley🐓✈️: Where are you?
Her eyebrows lifted. Man, Bradley just couldn't catch a break.
Kate: I'm at home right now, where are you? What's wrong?
😏 Bradley🐓✈️: I cant even think right now I'm so mad
Kate: What'd Mav do?
😏 Bradley🐓✈️: NOT MAV HANGAMN
😏 Bradley🐓✈️: SHTI FLUFK
😏 Bradley🐓✈️: ANDMAVRICK
Kate sighed, her thumb hovering over her phone. What had Jake done now? Big blond butt-chin moron. And Maverick…geez… "Dad, are you really sure you know what you're doing with this whole Mav and Rooster thing?"
The expression on his face said that he was very sure.
She pressed her shoulders against the back of the chair. "You're going to drive Bradley nuts."
Her dad shrugged. If reconciliation was his aim, he was going about it in a way that she wasn't sure was going to work. Then again, he knew Mav better than she did. But she felt she knew Bradley better than he did. And Bradley's grudge against Maverick was something to behold…
"Go cool the kid down," her dad said through his text-to-speech software on the computer. "I'll work on Maverick."
"You gave me the feisty one," she said, pretending to be upset as she unfolded from the chair. East lifted his head and then dropped it back down as she walked over to her dad. She kissed his cheek. "How bad was his day, before you send me off to war?" There was no way he hadn't already gotten some kind of report from Top Gun already.
Tom glanced at his phone and then gave a definitive thumbs down.
Yeah, she had known he would already have the info. She was half-sure that Warlock texted him every time he got a chance. Vice Admiral Simpson hated texting. Kate actually needed to let his daughter Ruby know she was in town. Kate and Ruby Simpson, who was a year younger than her, had become friends years back on some naval base or another when they were still kids.
When you moved around as much as they did, you made friends wherever and however you could and hoped that you might wind up together again. It was either that, or you were fine being off on your own, which some people were. As an adult, Kate wasn't much different. Her position as a traveling nurse, taking up temp positions in whatever hospital needed her, meant she was frequently moving. Being of the extrovert variety, Kate made friends.
Before she left the study, she clung to the doorway for a second, planning to go upstairs and change clothes. "Dad, I'm taking the Stingray."
He waved a hand at her, and she smiled, pushing down her worries. She would take them back out again later and dwell on them, and they were never completely gone. But that's how it was, wasn't it?
Kate: Meet me at Mission Bay ASAP, regular place. Wear swim trunks.
😏 Bradley🐓✈️: ?
😏 Bradley🐓✈️: why
Kate: BIRD come on we're doing water sports therapy no more questions
😏 Bradley🐓✈️: fine
After fighting traffic to the bay and working with the rental people, Kate sat backwards on the seat of the family waverunner as it bobbed in the water. Over her bikini, she had on water shorts and a loose blue tank top. She rolled over ideas of what to do about her dad as she waited. She was going to confront him soon…
As she spotted Bradley crossing the docks, she waved at him and then popped her phone into the waterproof bag in the steering storage container. Her fear got pushed aside again, where it lurked, shadowy and waiting.
"We couldn't just talk?" he grumbled, but his eyes were eager as he looked down at the waverunner. Or her? Nah, that look had to be reserved for the waverunner. He had on Hawaiian print swim trunks and the chain of his dog tags slipped under a white tank.
"No, let's ride first." Kate grabbed one of the lifejackets from where it had been slung over the handlebar. "Don't act like you're not excited. Here."
He took it, exchanging it for his keys and wallet so she could put them in dry storage. Bradley adjusted the straps of the lifejacket before putting it on. "Who's driving? I'm driving?"
"I'll fight you for it."
"I think I won a lot of our wrestling matches," he said, almost smiling. The anger that was lingering in his eyes hadn't fully disappeared. Whatever had happened must have been bad.
After she snapped on her own lifejacket, Bradley climbed on behind her, the waverunner tilting in the water. It was big, a three person, but it was the smallest water vessel of the Kazansky fleet. They also had a pontoon and a couple other boats, most of them stored at Mission Bay in long term storage.
"First riding, then talking," Kate said, starting the motor. It popped to life. Bradley shoved them away from the dock, and they took off, slow at first out of respect for the no wake zone and then roaring up to speed once they were good to go.
Bradley could have sat back in the third spot and braced on the middle section, but he sat behind her instead. At first, his hands were on his knees, but Kate took a fast turn, and he grabbed her waist. She expected him to let go once they were heading straight again, but he kept his hands where they were.
For a good twenty minutes, Kate raced them around the bay, letting the wind and water and speed do their job until Bradley finally let out a laugh. His hands tightened on her as she pressed them into a tight curve, sending a wave up and over their feet on the left side.
He leaned forward, his chest pressed against her back. "You're going to flip us."
"You wanna get flipped?"
"That's not what I said. Word twister."
"I can't hear you." Kate whipped the waverunner around, nearly tossing them both off.
He squeezed her sides as she sped up and gave her a quick jerk, pulling her tight against him for a moment, as much as the lifejackets would allow. "Kate."
"Rooster."
His hands loosened on her waist. The fingers of his hand spread out against her side and his thumb gently pressed into her back, running in a circle. Warmth seemed to move out from wherever he touched. "I'm still getting used to you calling me that."
"I can stop, if you want." She leaned her head back so they could look at each other. His eyes were soft. What was he doing? And why did she like it… For a moment, she was tossed back to a year earlier, on a beach in Virginia, the way his lips moved against hers— She quickly looked ahead again.
"No. I like it," he said.
"Do you crow?"
He laughed and leaned back. "Sometimes…"
Kate smirked, punched the gas, and spun the waverunner toward the openness of the bay. "If you crow, I'll let you drive."
"Aw, come on, Katie," he said, "Not today."
"Today's a great day to do it," she said. The waverunner balanced in the water like a duck as she slid the red emergency stop bracelet off her wrist, still holding onto it. "You know you want to drive."
She glanced back at him. His cheeks were red, and she would bet it was more from a blush than sunburn, especially since he was the tannest she had seen him in a long time. "There are people—"
"They have no idea who you are—"
He let out an embarrassingly loud crow, making her put her hands out over her ears even as she grinned. A nearby pontoon boat full of college age people crowed right back.
Taking advantage of her shock, Bradley stole the emergency bracelet from her fingers and tickled her side. "Switch, switch, my turn."
"You jerk," she said as she gasped out a laugh and slid off the seat.
For a moment, they were both in tandem, balancing and moving around, and she noticed that he was way more attentive to where she was than when they had been younger. When she settled behind him, she stayed in the second seat, looping her fingers through his lifejacket.
As he took off, going from zero to forty in seconds, she grabbed him around the waist and held on. He wouldn't flip them. Rooster was fast but he was careful, especially of the people who were with him. Something to love about him.
