Brady frowned as she headed up the stairs. Her hands had been shaking and she looked frazzled. “What’s going on with Jen?”
“Little Finn?” Tasha responded lightly. “She just spilled soup on her pants. Oh, and I think she has a test coming up. She’s fine, Brady.”
He narrowed his eyes on Stephen’s wife. Leave it alone. That’s what she was really saying. Which meant something was definitely up.
Was her ex-fiancé back? Someone from the club bothering her? Or was this about Trick?
Seamus distracted him by grabbing the back of Noah’s collar and fast-walking with him to the kitchen. “I think something’s burning in your oven, Firefighter.”
Solomon flinched and then he was right behind them, shouting for Rory, who’d apparently forgotten to set a timer for the rolls.
It took forty minutes to air out the kitchen, get the table set, sit the four kids in front of the flat screen and settle everyone else around the card tables Wyatt and Noah had pushed together and covered with a brand new tablecloth. When Brady pointed out the price tag still attached to the fabric, Wyatt shrugged. “We don’t like to cook. I’m just glad we didn’t have to buy silverware.”
Noah lifted his beer bottle in agreement. “We do, however, have enough takeout menus to live like kings. And now, thanks to this becoming a regular thing, we have something to bring back to the firehouse besides stories of debauchery and our own charming selves.”
Wyatt clinked his beer bottle to Noah’s. “To leftovers.”
“Amen.”
Solomon—seated at the head of the table—looked around the room at the others and nodded. “Let’s eat.”
During the few minutes that everyone was occupied with filling their plates, Brady leaned close to Ken and whispered, “Sorry you came?”
“Hardly,” he replied quietly. “I’m surrounded by gorgeous blue-eyed Irishmen who can make an ordinary dinner into an adventure. I can’t remember the last time I enjoyed myself so much.”
“Really, Tanaka? I can. It was only a few hours ago.”
Ken paused with a spoon full of mashed potatoes hovering over his plate and Brady looked around uncomfortably. “Sorry.” Had he actually been flirting with Ken in front of his family? Brady didn’t flirt, and he didn’t want Ken to feel awkward if he didn’t want them to know. “Sorry,” he mumbled again.
“Don’t be.” Ken passed him the bowl and their fingers touched. “I’m not.”
At the other end of the table Rory noticed. “Hey now. What’s going on with you two?”
Brady wanted to kiss his cousin when Seamus answered before he could. “They’re on another job, I think. Like the Burke thing.”
“Is that what’s happening?” Stephen stood up to reach for a casserole dish of green beans before continuing, “Thank God. I was trying to come up with a subtle way of asking Brady if he’d lost his mind.”
Brady felt his mouth open in surprise. “Me? What are you talking about?”
“Cal Grimes is what I’m talking about. My assistant. Well, he used to be until a month ago. He’s still got a desk and comes in once a week to help my new assistant get acclimated.” Stephen paused. “And on that desk there is now a framed photo of you in uniform.”
Ken laughed as Brady covered his face with his hands and groaned, “Kill me now.”
“Why thank God?” Wyatt asked before shoving a piece of roast in his mouth.
“He was always very ambitious. A few months ago he started to express his dissatisfaction and last month we agreed he’d outgrown his current position.”
Tasha smirked. “Let me translate for the senator. Cal went crazy. Not only did he start doing opposition research for other people and spend his free time elbow-rubbing the kind of lobbyists and politicians Stephen usually avoids, but he started acting so strangely, I thought he might be on drugs. Stephen quietly asked for his resignation and the man actually laughed.”
“No comment,” Stephen said, ruining his faux-severity by winking at his wife. “Anyway, now I feel bad if his behavior is connected to this sting of Tanaka’s. Is it another federal case?”
“No,” Ken answered. “And don’t feel bad. If you wanted a second opinion, all I can tell you is that I agree. He’s crazy.”
“I see.” Stephen lowered his brows in concern. “If my office can do anything to help, you know I’m in. I have some experience.”
Tasha leaned over to kiss her husband. “One undercover operation and you’re going to milk it for the rest of our lives, aren’t you, 007?”
“With the bad guy behind bars and the girl in my arms? Damn right.”
Jen nudged Brady and gestured toward the salt, then looked across the table at Seamus. “Not to change the subject, especially one that interesting, but I thought Jeremy and Owen would be here.”
Seamus looked surprised. “You didn’t get the text?”
She shook her head.
“I could have sworn I sent everyone a text.” He raised his voice to include the rest of the table. “Did anyone get my message about Owen and Jeremy?”