The Reed Security Relationship Manual: A Reed Security Romance, Giulia Lagomarsino [acx book reading .txt] 📗

shit, that woman was insane. And then there was Isa. I loved my sister, but what she saw in Gabe, I would never know. Since she wasn’t too big on weapons either, she and Vanessa got along extremely well. My niece, however, was another story. I had tried to convince Knight to hold her back, but the girl was relentless, and Knight was all about making sure everyone was properly trained. I had no clue how Enzo would end up. As for my own children, Sofia was still young enough that she still liked to play with dolls. Thank God for that. I wasn’t going to push training on her the way the others did. As for Leo and Max, well, I still had another year or two before they really got into training.

I pulled in the driveway and rested my head back against my seat. Hell, I was tired. I was going to have to take a step back soon. These long hours and killer jobs were getting to be too much. I knew Vanessa would be happy about that, but part of me was sad. I didn’t like that I couldn’t move as fast as I used to, even if I was just a second or two slower. My body was telling me it was getting on time to hang up my hat.

Shoving the door open, I got out, my body creaking as it moved. God, I felt ancient. Cap had said something about Axel possibly retiring soon, but I wasn’t so sure. Once a SEAL, always a SEAL. Those guys didn’t get out until they were dead. However, he had a great team behind him, and if even half of them decided to come work for us, that would help a lot. The question was, how long would it be before they decided to leave that life behind?

“Hey,” I called out to Vanessa as I walked through the door.

“Hey,” she sighed tiredly. “How was work?”

“You know, another day of the relationship manual until some of the ladies decided to blow up a truck.”

She pulled back in surprise. “They what?”

“Yeah, almost killed Cole.”

“Oh my gosh. How?”

“He was following them for Knight. They thought someone was following them on purpose to get to Reed Security, so they launched a grenade right through his damn window.”

She frowned. “Well, did anyone bother to tell them that he would be following them?”

“Why would we do that? That would defeat the purpose of stealthily keeping an eye on them.”

“Oh, I don’t know, so they don’t try and kill someone with a grenade?” she snapped.

Sighing, I ran a hand down my face. This was not an argument I wanted to have. “Look, let’s just forget about it. What’s for dinner?”

“I warmed up chicken and potatoes from last night,” she said, turning toward the kitchen.

“Leftovers?”

She stopped in her tracks and slowly turned to me, tilting her head to the side. “Is that a problem?”

“Well, it’s just that, you’re a cook and I thought maybe there would be something homemade waiting for me. I’ve had a long day.”

“So have I,” she grumbled.

“Yeah, but baby, you cook food. I mean, if you mess up something you cook, you just make more. If I mess up, someone gets blown up.”

“You just said you were writing a relationship manual today. Are you saying that if you mess that up, someone will get killed?”

I snorted. “Have you met Maggie? Besides, I told you, the women blew up a truck. It’s not like your day of baking and shit.”

She crossed her arms over her chest and nodded knowingly. “I see.” I had a feeling she didn’t. “So, because you choose to be a cowboy and blow shit up all day, and I’m just a lowly cook, I should always have a homemade meal for you, so that you can replenish your fuel for the next day.”

I narrowed my eyes at her, wondering how to answer this. “Well, yeah,” I went with. “Baby, it’s just…those people you cook for, they’re strangers, but I’m your husband. And your cooking is so good. I just want some of it too.”

“I get paid to feed them.”

“Well, I’m pretty sure if I started paying you, that would be like prostitution.”

“Are you comparing my job to whoring myself out?”

My eyes went wide and I shook my head slightly. “N-no. I’m just saying, instead of you going to work, maybe you should stay home and take care of your family.”

“Because my job isn’t as important as yours,” she repeated.

“I did not say that.”

“You implied it.”

“No. I mean…”

“What exactly do you mean?”

My palms started sweating and my face was breaking out in hives. This was one of those moments that you really needed another person in your head, telling you exactly what to say. But that wasn’t going to happen, and I was coming up empty.

Just say something smart, about how amazing she is. Yeah, just play it cool. You’ve been doing this long enough, this should be a piece of cake.

I cleared my throat and tried again. “I just meant that you look so exhausted at the end of every day. You’re running yourself ragged, and with the kids, it’s like you really don’t have enough time in the day.”

Her face softened, and I took that as a good sign that things were going my way.

“So, what I’m saying is, maybe you should quit your job so you can take care of the kids and me. Then you could put your feet up during the day and eat some chocolate or something.”

The hopeful look on her face fell and morphed into anger. Wasn’t that what all women wanted? To be free to have their days open and clear? Sure, I knew she wanted purpose when we first got together, but times changed. We changed. After all the crap we’d been through, I thought suggesting she quit her job would be a good thing.

“Baby?” I asked as I watched her morph into a woman I barely knew.

The next day