I took the time to examine the rest of them.
Corbin and Jace, the two with the most mischievous personalities, had their heads together in discussion. I’d pulled off quite a few embarrassing tricks on the pair, and despite the retaliatory nature of my actions, I doubted they’d hesitate to return the favor.
Jace’s twin, CJ, stood just behind his brother, his identical blond curls hiding him from view as he did something on his phone. His hands froze, hovering over his phone’s screen before his head whipped up. “Hey, guys, she’s—” He stopped. His caramel golden gaze searched the hallway until they landed on me. “She’s here.”
Those who hadn’t noticed our approach turned their heads.
Bryce glanced over, his shiny black hair chopped short into a more professional style compared to his typical punk-rock vibe. The shorter length showed off the missing brow piercing as well. It seemed his socialite, southern belle mom had been hard at work on helping her son mature his look. It’d only been two weeks since I’d seen him specifically, but the small changes had made a huge impact. And Mrs. Rost hadn’t stopped at just his piercing and hair length. A custom-tailored tux that probably cost more than the going rate of most smartphones these days had replaced his layered band shirts and ripped skinny jeans.
The differences were significant with Bryce, but the last two members, Emerson and Duane, hadn’t changed at all.
Correction, Emerson had a little in that he’d healed and finally gotten out of wearing the arm sling. He’d been ecstatic over that because his team had found a shockingly wide array of embarrassing, fluorescent-colored slings to trick the color-blind man into wearing throughout his recuperation. And it hadn’t been only Jace and Corbin, the joking duo, to get in on the scheme.
His disability served as the primary reason behind his neutral-toned wardrobe. It made it easier for him to mix and match his ensembles when he could switch out the dress shirts, pants, and vests with other combinations.
Duane stood next to him, looking nothing like a typical veterinarian and everything like the tough motorcyclist that he technically was, wearing dark, fitted jeans, aggressive boots, and a leather jacket over his fitted V-neck that showed off his defined pecs below. He winked at me when he caught my lingering stare. His mocha skin shone with a healthy glow that’d flustered me more than once with the sinfully seductive man.
“Babygirl,” he rasped in his honey-toned voice. His crooked smile popped up between the frame of his goatee as he flashed his bright, perfect teeth. “Fancy meeting you here.”
We’d gotten close enough that I could reach out and touch them if I wanted to, and I did want to. I held back, knowing it would only complicate things. I reciprocated the grin, loving how his smile always evened out from bad boy smirk to genuine warmth in those obsidian depths of his.
I broke contact with reluctance. “CJ, tsk, tsk. Were you hacking into Delta’s security cameras to look for us?”
CJ ducked his head, hiding behind his curls, even as Jace slung an arm around his brother and laughed.
Corbin pushed through and gripped me in a hug. His amber mop of messy hair brushed my ears as he perched his chin on my shoulder. “I thought you changed your mind or something. I’m glad you came.”
He pulled away, holding me at arm’s length while his sky blue orbs ran over me, looking for injuries. Satisfied, he returned to my face. Corbin’s eyes weren’t as light as Aleks’s or even Natasia’s, but with his perpetually tan skin only a shade lighter than his tawny hair, the contrast startled many a female heart into palpitations. I was no exception.
The conference room door opened.
Karl, one of the leaders of Delta and a senior member of the CIA, poked his head out. “Are we doing this or what?”
I felt eyes land on me, so I squared my shoulders and made my way inside.
Chapter 3
The conference room table stretched long and wide, able to seat at least thirty people. Its surface gleamed under the lights, interspersing the dark cherry with undertones of bronze.
I paused halfway in, turning around to stare at the Cardinals. Despite my promise not to, I twisted Kaz’s bracelet on my wrist and bit my lip. They stood there, nearly arm in arm, watching.
Tears prickled while I tried to commit each face to memory. I sniffed.
Yolo rolled her eyes. “Mon dieu, ma petite, you act like you will never see us again.”
I swiped at my face with the back of my hand. “I know, I know. I’m sorry. You’re right. I’ll see you guys… it just won’t…” I paused, looking up to meet her gaze. “Won’t it be different?”
Yolo arched an eyebrow. “Of course it will not! I’m sure I will find you just as irritating even when you are not on our team.” Before I could even begin to process her statement—let alone take offense—she held her arms out in open invitation. “Now, are you going to say goodbye to us or what?”
I shook my head at her antics, knowing she’d done that on purpose. It didn’t matter to me. With three steps, I folded myself into her embrace, hugging her close.
She squeezed me back briefly before pulling away. “Okay, okay, that is enough.”
“Oh, Callie!” Triz wailed and tackled me from the side, breaking our embrace to form a suffocating one with her. She sobbed Portuguese in my ear. Unfortunately, though I spoke Portuguese, understanding her seemed unlikely since it all came out as garbled nonsense.
I patted her back, tamping down my own emotions to keep things on track.
She pulled back, letting out one more small wail.
Darcy comforted her, transferring the upset Brazilian right into her arms. “There, there, lassie. Don’t cha worry yer pretty head about it too much. Callie will come visit us often.” Her grass green eyes met mine. “Won’t ya?”
Anytime Darcy took on that threatening tone, the smartest plan was to nod and agree, so I did.
She beamed at my acquiescence. “Grand! See there, Triz? She’ll come over to spend the night every weekend. Won’t ya, a chara?”
“Uh…”
“Hey, hey now, holy cannoli! You can’t just coerce her like that!” Corbin exclaimed, stepping forward.
Darcy’s hair seemed to ignite as Corbin roused her temper, her fiery curls springing into action as she tilted her head. “Oh, yeah? You ‘n what army?”
Corbin didn’t seem deterred in the least until he looked around to see that none of the other seven guys on his newly expanded team had stepped forward with him. In fact, a noticeable gap of five feet had grown between his team and him. “Wow, thanks, guys. Scared of a bunch of girls.”
“We’re not scared,” CJ denied. “We’re just letting them know where we stand on this.”
“Yeah, cowering against the wall with your tails between your legs like a bunch of overgrown puppies.” He shook his head and turned back around to see the smile on Darcy’s face.
“You were sayin’?” She grinned.
Corbin gulped, his Adam’s apple visibly bobbing before he squared his shoulders and stood his ground. It surprised me. Corbin was the most submissive guy I knew. “I said that Callie can visit as much as she wants to visit. No more, and no less. And that’s that.”