Dalton’s lips quirked in a wry smile. “There’s two more trucks waiting to be unloaded. I let T.A. pick the furnishings and I think she bought the store.”
“I brought the warranty for the roof that Viper said you wanted.”
Dalton reached out taking the folder from Shade, not surprised that he didn’t want to chit-chat. Shade liked to get to the point and then wanted to be left the hell alone. Dalton didn’t hold it against him, his son-in-law had the same attitude.
“Thank you, I appreciate it. I like to keep things in order so when an emergency happens, I’m prepared.”
Seeing that T.A. had come up for air again, he focused on the man standing silently beside him. The reflective sun glasses hadn’t been removed even though they stood in the doorway.
“I have a question before you leave. I was going to replace the surveillance cameras but the security firm I use took a look at it and they said that the ones in place are state of the art and aren’t out on the market yet.”
The face behind the sunglasses remained impassive. Dalton thought that talking to Shade was like talking to a stone wall. At least with Ice he could tell when he was hitting a nerve.
Returning his eyes to the pool, he saw T.A. was trying to dunk Fat Louise but Killyama was stopping her.
“It’s funny how fate can turn your life upside down. When Oceane died, I never believed I could love another woman as much I did her. I survived losing Oceane, but I wouldn’t make the effort if I lost T.A.” Dalton gripped his glass of juice tighter at the thought of losing T.A. “She talked me in to buying ten hospital chairs for a children’s hospital in Lexington. Children are her weakness, she’s even trying to talk me into having another one, and I thought I was done with that part of my life.”
Lowering his gaze from imperturbable expression, he looked down at his ringless left hand. In a few days it would have a new silver band that he and T.A. had picked out together. Raising his eyes, he saw that Shade had caught his action.
“Anyway, sorry. We got off track,” he lied. “Since he is the one that I bought the house from, I am hoping that he could answer a question for me. I don’t want to replace the security system if it’s that good, but the security team said there’s a signal leaving the house and they can’t determine where it goes. I wanted to ask Viper if I should remove it or leave the current system in place?”
Both of them watched as a king-sized mattress was shoved through the door. One of the workers was so large he easily slid it through the doorway like a hot knife through butter.
“Max, that goes to the bedroom at the end of the hall,” Dalton called out, taking another drink of his juice. As the other end of the mattress came through the door, the man that had been pushing the mattress was exposed. The man paused before continuing up the steps.
“Shade.”
“Jackal.” Shade returned the greeting of his brother-in-law.
The two remained silent as Max and Jackal shoved the mattress out of sight.
Dalton returned to continue watching T.A. as she heaved herself out of the water and grabbed a towel to dry herself before tucking it around her body. Picking up the yapping puppy that followed her from the pool she padded barefoot to the doorway where he and Shade were standing.
“Hi, Shade! You want to come in?”
“No.”
“You could borrow a pair of Dalton’s trunks.”
“No.”
Dalton peered down at his fiancée, not missing the open speculation in T.A.’s gaze. Giving her a retaliatory gaze, T.A. back down with a pout of disappointment.
“Isn’t he adorable, Shade?” She raised the wiggling puppy higher to show him. “Dalton talked Ice into giving him to me.”
When he remained silent, Dalton figured that yes, and cute wasn’t in Shade’s vocabulary.
“Everyone’s thirsty, you want me to refill yours while I’m in the kitchen?”
“There isn’t any juice left. I could use some water,” he said, giving her the glass.
T.A. frowned at him. “I just bought that pitcher last night. I’ll run out after a while and get you another one.”
“Buy two.”
“I’ll buy one, and water it down,” she said inanely. “I can’t have you getting fat, I’m only marrying you for your body.” Blithely she sat the puppy down. Shade scored another point with him when he didn’t lower his eyes to the amount of cleavage that T.A. inadvertently exposed. Promising himself to smack her ass after everyone left brought him back to the subject he had been discussing with Shade before T.A. diverted his attention.
“Anyway, I would appreciate it if you’d pass my question along to Viper. I wouldn’t be happy to find out anyone was watching without the best of intentions.”