“Any luck?” I asked after he’d killed the engine and glanced up at me.
Drew’s small yet confident smile was his answer as he swung his leg off the bike and slowly closed the distance between us. When we met in the middle, with only a few inches between us, Drew glanced over my head at The Hut before he focused back on me.
“I need to keep that father of mine on a leash.”
I grabbed the front edges of his cut and pushed to my toes, pressing a kiss to his chin. “Wouldn’t that be like keeping an alligator on a leash?”
Drew’s hands slid around the lower part of my back. “He’s too controlled to be an alligator. Despite it hurting to admit this again, he’s a quiet genius, and I’ve been stupid to underestimate him since he came back to Babylon.”
“I think it’s safe to say that weallunderestimated him.”
Metaphorically speaking, Eric was the lone wolf. Being pack animals at heart, they all understood that they had to look after one another, but having imposed himself to isolation after being ingrained with that pack mentality for most of his life, it had forced Eric to become smarter. This wasn’tsomething you thought much about in terms of humans and their interactions, but Autumn had alluded to that little fact when she’d talked about Deeks and Eric in the past, and it made sense now.
“People tend to do that when your last name is Tucker. You sure you want to marry into that?”
I couldn’t help the grin that flashed at the thought of marrying this man. It had been one of the first thoughts every morning since he’d put the ring on my finger. “It can’t happen soon enough.”
“Let’s get you inside. It’s getting late. I need a shower, and we need to talk.”
Rocking back onto my heels, I nodded in agreement. The thought of seeing Drew in the shower never hurt. Sweeping his hand up in mine, I backtracked toward the porch and through the bar, where Kenny was no longer alone.
“You want me to grab a bottle and meet you in the room?” I asked, already knowing the answer.
“Sure thing, darlin’.”
I watched him saunter away for a moment before heading to the bar where Kenny already had a bottle and two glasses waiting. The crazy eyebrows of his were high on his forehead as he smirked at me.
“You want me to tell Libby you were looking for her?”
“Nah, I’ll find her later.”
“She won’t be difficult to find.”
I sent Kenny a glare. His tone had filled in the blanks. I hadn’t needed the mental image of my brother and his girlfriend, but Kenny lived to torture me.
“Kind of like Sloane and you then?”
“Ouch. Was that supposed to hurt?” He chuckled and shook his head.
“You know I could be much meaner, but it’s not in my nature.”
There was a cough at the other end of the bar that I ignored as I picked up the bottle and glasses. With a dramatic roll of my eyes, I headed back to my room and followed the sound of running water to the bathroom, where Drew was already under the steaming flow of water.
I admired him for a moment.
It was hard not to.
Drew had one of those bodies that demanded your attention. His skin was scarred, inked, and stretched over muscles that always rippled under the surface as he ran his hands through his hair. I never got used to seeing him like this, and I didn’t think I would ever lose appreciation for my good fortune. I knew what that body felt like under the palms of my hands, knew the heat that bled from his flesh when he wrapped himself around me. I had memorized that iron grip of his and the feeling of safety it always afforded me. When he turned to grab the soap, and I got a glance at his ass, my decision to join him was made.
Sliding the bottle of whiskey onto the vanity, I stripped out of the clothes I was wearing and into the shower behind him, my hand covering his as he worked the soap over his chest, the other rested against his shoulder, absorbing his body heat.
“You talk, I’ll scrub,” I whispered, brushing my lips over his back.
Drew filled me in on everything Eric had alluded to, his eyes closing as temporary peace drifted over him under my care. The bitter edge to his voice when he spoke about Eric had disappeared, and in its place was a slight air of admiration and surprise.
Eric had orchestrated the fires. All of them, including Pete’s tree and the warehouse. Misdirection, as Drew had suspected. Who he’d got to start those fires was still a mystery—one Drew didn’t like being in the dark about, but one Eric assured him he didn’t need to know about. Not yet, anyway.
Jedd was a part of the plan, occupying the ATF with promises of treachery so their time was wasted on him rather than Drew, Eric, and most importantly, Rubin.