Nightingale: A Reed Security Romance

by Giulia Lagomarsino

  “Calm down, momma bear,” I said, wrapping my arms around her waist. “I talked to him. He’s just a little freaked out after what happened with Kayla.”

  “But Reid is just a kid, and he would never hurt a fly.”

  “We know that, but Coop is still fucked up over what happened. He’s not thinking clearly.”

  She rolled her eyes and pushed back from me, but I wrapped my arms tighter around her. “You can let me go. I’m not going to beat his ass.”

  “I know you’re not, because I’m not fucking letting you go.”

  “Do I have to kick your ass?”

  I smirked at her, holding her tighter to me. “You could try.”

  “I would succeed.”

  “We’ll just have to see about that.”

  Her hands moved up my arms, running over my muscles as her breathing picked up. I knew what she was doing. She wanted to seduce me so that she could get the upper hand, but the problem was, she was turned on. I bent forward and nipped at her neck as she wrapped her arms around my neck. I sucked at the soft skin just below her ear and chuckled when she moaned in my ear.

  “I bet if I slipped my hand inside your pants right now, you’d be soaked for me,” I rumbled.

  “God, I hate you sometimes,” she panted.

  “No, you love me, and you want to fuck me right now.”

  “I want to kick your ass,” she said, bringing her knee up, but I was on to her and shifted so she got my leg. She grunted in frustration and tried to maneuver out of my arms, but every time she wiggled, I kissed another part of her neck. She was frustrated as hell, but she would never admit defeat. It just wasn’t in her.

  “Maybe you should just give up,” I suggested.

  “Maybe you should kiss my ass.”

  I slid my tongue down her neck to her breasts, licking at the sweat from her workout. I couldn’t help it, I was a sucker for tasting her after she got all sweaty. “Don’t tempt me,” I growled. “I have no problem laying you out on the floor right now and fucking you in front of everyone.”

  “You’re such a neanderthal.”

  “Only for you, baby.”

  “While this is seriously entertaining,” Sinner said, “I wonder if you might move this somewhere other than the kids’ training area.”

  I chuckled and shifted away from Florrie. Her eyes were glazed over and her breathing was harsh, but she quickly shook it off and plastered a scowl on her face.

  “I hate it when you do that,” she said, shoving away from me.

  “You love it.”

  “I would love it if you learned some boundaries.”

  “You know that’s not going to happen.”

  “Kids, kids,” Sinner cut in. “You’re both right. Alec, you know that Florrie will kick your ass if you maul her in public. And Florrie, you know that Alec really doesn’t give a shit and will maul you anyway.”

  “Shut up,” Florrie snapped.

  “Hey, I’m just telling it like it is. And by the way, that whole scene you just played out? Totally hot. I think you guys are turning me into Gabe, because I was seriously wanting to see how that all turned out. I mean, if it wasn’t for the impressionable kids that were watching.”

  “Sinner, one of these days, someone’s going to nut punch you,” Florrie said as she walked away.

  “That already happened!” he shouted after her.

  ✯✯✯✯✯

  “How’s it going?” I asked Reid. He was hanging out in one of the many living areas in the panic room, reading a comic book.

  He shrugged. “Fine, I guess.”

  “So, I wanted to talk to you about what happened earlier.”

  “It’s not a big deal.”

  “Which part?” He shrugged. “You know, Coop wouldn’t have hurt you.”

  “I know that,” he said defensively.

  “Well, I just wanted to be sure you knew. He’s just protective of Kayla. Something happened earlier this year and he just wants to make sure no one hurts her.”

  “How?”

  “Uh…” Shit. I hadn’t thought this part through. “You know, that’s not important right now. What’s important is that we give her some space.”

  He seemed to think about that for a minute. “I really like her.”

  “Yeah?” I grinned, because it was kind of cool to be around for the kid’s first crush.

  “She’s pretty cool, and she has a really pretty smile.”

  “Yeah, she does, but you know that she’s way too old for you.”

  “You think?”

  I huffed out a laugh. “Yeah, just a little, kid. I mean, I remember being your age. There was this chick, Christina Simpkins.” I shook my head and grinned. “Talk about a knockout. Blonde hair and bright blue eyes. She was basically every guy’s wet dream.”

  “What’s a wet dream?”

  “Uh…” I cleared my throat, not sure how to respond. “Every guy’s fantasy. That’s what I meant. Anyway, I was like, five years younger than her, and she played volleyball. I went to every single game to watch her play and run around in those tight shorts. My friends all knew that I had this massive crush on her, and they convinced me to go talk to her.”

  “What happened?” he asked curiously.

  “After a game one day, I walked up to her, tapped her on the shoulder and told her that I thought she was the most beautiful chick I’d ever seen.”

  Reid stared at me with wide eyes. “What did she say?”

  “Well, she just blushed, but then I grabbed her and kissed her, and then she punched me in the face.”

  “Oh man, that must have been a really bad kiss.”

  “Well, that and I pinched her ass when I kissed her. I don’t think she liked that too much.”

  “So, you’re saying that I shouldn’t pinch Kayla’s ass.”

  “Have you ever kissed a girl?” I asked. He turned red and shook his head. “Hey, no shame in that. You gotta start somewhere, but you don’t want your first kiss to be bad.”

  “Well, how do you get to be a good kisser?”

  “Practice.”

  “With Kayla?”

  “No,” I shook my head. “You can’t just walk up to the girl you like and ask to practice on her. That’ll make her think that you don’t really like her. Besides, Kayla’s a little old for you.”

  I could tell he was thinking it over, but I hoped that I was getting through to him. The last thing I needed was for Coop to get pissed at me, but I also didn’t want to discourage Reid too much. The kid had it hard enough as it was.

  “Is there anything else you want to ask me?” He shook his head. I wanted so bad for him to open up to me, tell me what was going on in his head, but without knowing what the kid had been through, I was hesitant to push too much about anything. He was already a closed book. I didn’t want him to completely shut down on me.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Florrie

  I watched from the hallway as Alec talked to Reid about his first crush. I couldn’t help but smile at this whole thing. Alec and I had assumed that this just wasn’t in the cards for us, but here we were, parenting this kid. I tried to treat him more like a friend, worried that I would scare him off, but I desperately wanted him to be mine. It felt like he was mine. I already loved him like he was my own son. I knew that I would do anything for him, to make sure that he was always safe and happy. That was what parents did for their kids. Biology could say differently, but I knew deep down that I was his mother.

  My phone rang and I pulled it out, grinning as Alec told Reid about how he kissed his crush. “Hello?”

  “Ms. Younge?”

  “Yes, this is she.”

  “Ms. Younge, this is Rachel DeWitt, Reid’s case worker with social services.”

  “Yes?”

  “We’ve had a phone call from a couple in Utah claiming to be Reid’s aunt and uncle. They’re interested in meeting Reid.”

  I shook my head, my heart pounded out of control. “Meet Reid? What does
that mean?”

  “Well, in all honesty, they’ve expressed interest in Reid going to stay with them.”

  “But we have custody,” I said, panicking that this woman was about to take my son away.

  “You do, but I need to remind you that it’s only temporary custody. The judge granted you custody unless a family member came forward. Now, that doesn’t mean that Reid will be transferred to their care. They have to be evaluated first and we need to verify that they are in fact related to him.”

  “How did they even hear about him? And why didn’t they come forward sooner? It’s been six months since we were granted custody.”

  “Sometimes these things just get lost in the shuffle.”

  I highly doubted that was what happened in this situation. “So, where do we go from here?”

  “Well, first I will verify that they are in fact related to Reid. If they are, the court will send a social worker out to evaluate them and make sure that they are suitable for gaining custody of Reid.”

  “Can’t I take them to court on this?”

  “Yes, you can, but I have to warn you, a judge will most likely side with a family member if they are suitable. If I were you, I’d talk with your lawyer immediately and find out anything you can do to strengthen your case.”

  “How long will this take? I mean, how long until we know something?”

  “I should be able to verify their relationship within a week. After that, it depends on how fast they get on the judge’s docket. It could be a matter of weeks or months. I’ll keep you informed of any new information I get. In the meantime, just try to relax and remember to take things one step at a time.”

  “Okay.”

  I barely heard her say goodbye. All I could see was Reid talking with Alec, and I couldn’t help but think about how that could all go away. He was supposed to be with us. We were the ones that found him, and we were the ones that were keeping him safe. And who were these people out in Utah? And why did they suddenly want custody?

  “Hey,” Alec smiled from across the room.

  I forced a smile, but he noticed and got up from where he was sitting. I walked down the hall to our suite, knowing that Alec would follow me, and headed to our room. I paced around the space, trying to figure out what we were going to do.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Reid’s social worker just called.”

  His face hardened and he crossed his arms over his chest. “What did she say?”

  “There’s someone in Utah that’s claiming to be Reid’s relative. She said that she has to verify that, but if they are, Reid’s case would go to the judge to consider a change in custody.”

  “They can’t do that. We were granted custody.”

  “Temporary custody. She said it should only take a week to verify the relationship, but after that, it could take weeks or months to get on the judge’s docket.”

  “So, we’re just supposed to sit around and wait?” he asked angrily.

  “We have to call the lawyer,” I said, moving for the door. I needed to get to work. I couldn’t just sit around and talk about this. The faster I got to work, the more prepared I would be. “We need to get ahead of this and find out what we can do to strengthen our case.”

  “Wait,” he said, snatching at my arm. “Do we know who these people are?”

  “Does it matter?” I asked, not bothering to spare him a glance.

  “Of course it matters. We need to know who we’re up against.”

  I shook my head, jerking my arm out of his grasp. “She didn’t say, and I doubt she can until she verifies who they are.”

  “There has to be some way we can find out.”

  I walked through the panic room doors and into the tunnel. I had to get to the IT room. Surely Rob could find something on these people. I kept walking, not worried if Alec followed me or not. I had to get out in front of this.

  “Would you stop and fucking talk to me?” Alec shouted.

  I sighed in irritation and turned to him. “She said they were claiming to be his aunt and uncle.”

  “Then we start searching the senator’s relatives.”

  “It could be his mother’s relatives too,” I reminded him as we headed down the hallway. “But I thought we already covered all this the last time we went to court.”

  “Maybe we missed something. We can have Rob do a more in-depth search for family members. Maybe it’s like a great aunt or something.”

  “That’s what I was thinking.”

  “Do we tell Reid?”

  I stopped walking and turned to look at him. I couldn’t stand the thought of telling Reid right now. I didn’t want to see the look on his face, not until we knew more. “I think we should wait. He’s really settling in here and he’s happy. I think telling him would only freak him out right now.”

  I felt like I was unraveling right now. Everything was changing so fast. One minute we were becoming this family, and now we had no clue what would change in the next few days. Alec wrapped his arms around me and pulled me in close. I could feel his heart pounding against my cheek and I took comfort in that for the moment.

  “I know this sucks, but we just have to take this one step at a time. If we freak out about this, Reid’s gonna know something is wrong.”

  “I won’t let them take him,” I said, pulling back to look at him. “I can’t. He’s mine, Alec.”

  “We might not have a choice.”

  “That’s bullshit. We have the resources-”

  “What do you want to do, Florrie? You want to take the kid and run? We can’t do that. Besides, there’s no guarantee that it’ll even come to that. For all we know, these people aren’t related to him in any way.”

  “And what if they are?” I snapped. “The case worker told me that judges tend to side with relatives of the child. We’re not relatives. Are you going to let them take him from us?”

  “Florrie, I don’t know what’s going to happen, but we’ve been his guardians for the past eight months. That has to count for something. Let’s just go find out anything we can on who’s petitioning for rights.”

  I nodded, even though I felt like throat-punching him for being so naive. If these people were in fact his guardians, there was no way a judge was going to grant us custody.

  ✯✯✯✯✯

  “What do you have for me?” I asked Rob as I stormed into the IT room.

  “You know, just once it would be nice if someone said hello first. Ya know, Hey, Rob. How’s it going? Are you having a good day? Want some coffee?”

  “You don’t drink coffee.”

  “Still, it would be nice if someone fucking asked,” he grumbled, spinning around in his chair to stare at his computer screen. Rob was just like the guys. He had the same build and most of the same skills, but he was a computer geek at heart, which meant that he would always be on this side of the action.

  I plastered a smile on my face and cleared my throat. “Rob, how’s it going? Want some coffee?”

  “You forgot to ask if I was having a good day,” he said as his fingers flew over the keyboard.

  “Fine,” I bit out. “Are you having a good day?”

  He shrugged. “Eh. It’s okay. My sciatica is flaring up again.”

  “You don’t have sciatica.”

  He spun around and glared at me. “I could have sciatica. How the fuck would you know? This is the first time that you’ve asked me how I was doing.”

  “I know because I pay attention when you talk, and you’ve never once mentioned sciatica to anyone.”

  “Maybe I didn’t want anyone to know about my condition.”

  “Right, because men are so good at keeping their pain a secret.”

  “Hey, I’m not like those baboons you work with. I’m a real man that has feelings and shit.”

  “Feelings and shit, is that right?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Alright, so where is this sciatica that you’re talking about?”

  “In…m
y sciatic nerve,” he said, obviously not really knowing what sciatica was.

  “Well, I sure as hell hope it’s not in your optic nerve, or we’d all be screwed.”

  He huffed out a laugh and shook his head. “My optic nerve. Right. Anyway, aside from that, I’m good today. And yes, I would like something to drink. I’ll take an Earl Grey, please, with milk and two lumps of sugar.”

  “Are you fucking with me?”

  Rob was a jokester at times, but the thing that made Rob so awesome was you were never quite sure when he was fucking with you. He could fool anyone into doing anything for him because he had a seriously dangerous poker face. He leaned back in his seat and stared me down. It wasn’t like he made me nervous or anything, but I was relying on him for all the help he could give me, so I didn’t want to piss him off either.

  “Why would I fuck with you on this?”

  “Well, it’s just that tea isn’t really very manly.”

  “Oh, so I guess any man that works at Reed Security could only drink coffee that’s so strong it’ll put hair on your chest.”

  “Well-”

  “I’ll have you know that some teas are even stronger than coffee.”

  “I didn’t-”

  “And there’s nothing wrong with having sugar and milk in your tea. British men drink it that way all the time and no one judges their manhood.”

  “That’s debatable.”

  “Now the British, they knew how to do shit. No matter what they’re doing, they have this gentlemanly air about them. A duel at dawn? Have a spot of tea first. Battle of the Somme? Tea always comes first.”

  “Except for the poor bastards that didn’t have the luxury of drinking tea because they were on the front lines.”

  “Well, yeah, except for that.”

  “So, do you want the tea or not?”

  “Gatorade,” he said before spinning back around.

  “So, all this bullshit-”

  “Yeah, I was just fucking with you. But I will take that Gatorade.”

  I did my best not to punch him in the face before I left the room. After all, I needed him to help me and beating him up wouldn’t get me very far. I walked down to the kitchen and grabbed his Gatorade, then made my way back to the IT room, slamming the bottle down on his desk.