“No,” Kyou assured him dryly. “It wouldn’t even take four days if we had explosives on hand. That’s what’s adding a day on to this.”
That gave him some relief. “Good. Uhh…not sure how to bring this up, but I feel that I should be paying for some of this? As it is my mess you’re cleaning up. Your time and expertise alone is invaluable—”
Ari put up a hand before he could trot the full sentence out. “Your money is no good here, Genovese. Frankly, you’re too precious to Kyou. He’d be devastated if anything happened to you. For that reason alone, we’ll do this.”
“But if you want to pay for the explosives and some of the gear we’ll need, that’s fine,” Carter offered. Carter struck him as the peacekeeper of the group. “It’s not going to be cheap.”
Brannigan did feel better at this offer. “Yes, let’s do that. Hell, Kyou has access to all of my accounts, have him just transfer over what you’ll need.”
“We’ll do that.” Carter rapped his knuckles on the table. “And that’s enough for one day. Let’s all relax, get some sleep. We need to be up and moving early in the morning to get all of this done. Ivan, Aiden, you want this side?”
“Sure,” Aiden agreed easily. “You three taking the other?”
“Makes the most sense to me.”
“Beds are made up!” Remi reported, still tapping away at the laptop. “Brannigan and I did that earlier.”
“All the better.” Ari went and scooped her out of the chair. “Come on, my little hacker.”
Remi squirmed in his grip, still reaching for the computer. “No, wait, I’m not finished!”
“Uncle Kyou will finish for you. And then promptly go back to bed.”
“I had a nap,” Kyou pointed out righteously.
Carter gave him a look that did not convey warm and fuzzy feelings. “Which means, what? That you’ve slept six hours in the past eighty? Go back to bed, you crazy man.”
Kyou frowned at him and then ignored Carter entirely as he went to the computer. He settled in with the air of a man who did not intend to move again for a long time.
Oh boy. Brannigan had no doubt Kyou would work all night unless someone intervened. Was the man just a workaholic? Was that the issue?
Ari dumped Remi into Carter’s arms, which her other father accepted without even a blink. This exchange seemed to happen often. While Carter carried her out of this side of the duplex and into the other, Ari snagged Brannigan’s elbow and drew him to the far side of the kitchen. “Scusa, parli italiano?”
“Si.” Brannigan was a bit surprised at the fluent Italian pouring out of the man’s mouth. Was Ari of Italian heritage?
A little relieved, Ari switched entirely to Italian. “Can I entrust Kyou to you? He really needs a proper REM cycle.”
“Yes, of course,” Brannigan assured him. “I know his habits by now. I’ll give him about three hours and then drag him up to bed. Again. Why is he like a toddler?”
“We’ve questioned it for years. Really, I think it’s because he has anxiety. His way of coping with it is to focus on fixing the problem. When it’s fixed, the anxiety goes away. Sounds good in theory, right?”
“It would even work if life wasn’t one problem after the next.” Well, that definitely explained a few things. “It’s fine. I think I have a good way to convince him to sleep tonight.”
Ari’s expression politely said doubt in capital letters. But he shrugged as if he agreed. “Fine. I’ll leave it to you. And this goes without saying, but please don’t leave this house until we give you the all clear.”
“I have no intention of it. I’ll work from here.”
“Okay.” Ari gave him a slight smile before ducking out and through to the other side of the duplex.
Brannigan eyed the man sitting at the computer for a long moment. Funny, how all of the others trusted him with Kyou. Just how much had the hacker told his family about Brannigan? Enough, apparently.
Because he really did know better than to force Kyou’s hand at anything, he went and took a relaxing shower. Ivan had kindly brought everything Brannigan requested, so he had his own pajama pants to sleep in. He almost put on the sloppy, oversized Henley he normally wore to bed too, but a bit of mischief struck him and he left that in the bag. He had a few text messages and emails, mostly family worried about him, and he answered them as honestly as he could. He also sent some preemptive emails to people, nipping trouble in the bud so that he didn’t get panicked employees making stupid decisions. There, that should do it for the night. It had been a little over two hours, which was close enough.
Plugging both devices in to charge, he wandered downstairs again.
Kyou was hunched in his computer chair like a golem sorting through various bits, seeking for treasure. He grunted as Brannigan came up to stand at his side.
What was on the screen didn’t make much sense to Brannigan. He didn’t expect it to, either. “Hacking their bank already?”
“No. Setting up to hack and transfer everything. I don’t want to do it now, it’s the wrong timing for it. It’ll tip our hand.”
“Ah. So actually, this is something you can do in the morning.”
“Or I can get it done now and not have to worry about it later,” Kyou fired back, eyes still locked on the screens.
Ari was right. Kyou really didn’t like to leave anything until later. Well, Brannigan had a way to distract him tonight.
Without compunction, Brannigan seized the back of the chair and pulled it sharply backward from the desk. Kyou’s hands flailed in front of him as his balance was upset, and he growled in aggravation.
“Bran, quit it!”
Grabbing those hands, Brannigan pulled him up, then turned him so that his back was against the edge of the makeshift desk, caging him in neatly. Kyou’s hands flattened against his chest, as if to push him away, but the hacker didn’t move beyond that. He seemed frozen as Brannigan closed the little remaining distance, putting their bodies flush together.
“Wha—” Kyou swallowed hard, a blush heating his cheeks as he looked up. He seemed to be having difficulty meeting Brannigan’s eyes. “What are you doing?”
“We,” Brannigan said with weighty significance, “have a little unfinished thing between us, Kyou. For years we’ve been flirting with each other. For years you’ve been teasing me. We’ve got some privacy now. How about we settle that?”
“S-settle?”
“Sure. I, for one, would love to see what kind of chemistry we’ve got.” Brannigan smoothed a hand around Kyou’s hip and up his back, the touch just firm enough to be sensual.
Kyou’s breath shook as Brannigan closed in that last remaining few inches, putting them within kissing distance. Kyou seemed honestly torn between giving into the moment or wriggling free. Brannigan’s own blood heated up quickly at the idea of finally getting a taste of the man who had been driving him crazy for years. But he could tell from Kyou’s expression and body language that he wasn’t ready for this encounter. That it unnerved him.
He’d half-expected this reaction. Flirting over a phone, or text, that was harmless fun. Nothing could possibly happen with a safe distance between the two. But he’d lay odds that Kyou was not accustomed to having a lover, and it would take a while for the man to wrap his head around the idea.