“At this point, I’ll try anything.” Lennox jumped off the treadmill, ran to the nearest trash bin, and heaved.
“I’ve changed my mind,” Shannon said with a grimace. “Ace and I aren’t having kids.”
“I haven’t had any morning sickness,” Elen called out, grinning at us from across the room. “I feel great.”
“My friend Nicola had a baby earlier this year and she felt good most of her pregnancy too,” I added.
“Thanks for reminding me I’m the anomaly,” Lennox muttered.
We chuckled as she got back on the treadmill.
“You’re a beast,” Shannon told her. “I’d be in bed, making Ace wait on me hand and foot.”
“Oh, believe me.” Lennox glanced in Sandor’s direction. “He will be. But after work. Sick or not, we’re shorthanded and I don’t have a choice but to power through. So let’s talk about something else. How’s it going getting the computer network set up at the school?” She turned to me.
“It’s ready to go. I’ve been inputting all the information and if I finish tonight, tomorrow Jonas will try to hack the system from an internet café in town. We’ll see how tight security is.”
“I really hope things go smoothly,” Shannon said, “because school starts in two weeks and the last thing I need is for there to be a security breach.”
“What about physical security at the school?” I asked. “With Prince Luke in attendance, won’t he and his sisters have bodyguards?”
“There will be a rotation,” Lennox said. “We don’t want anyone to be able to pinpoint a routine, if they are watching. So a different Royal Protector will be there every day. I believe Sandor will be there the first day of school—it’s something he and Luke have always done. After that, the guys will take turns. There will be regular security guards, of course, but we’re still figuring out how it’s all going to work.”
“Seems like we need some of the staff to be trained in defense as well, no?” I asked.
Lennox gave me an amused smile. “You’re going to fit in well around here.”
I heard from Axel late that night and he sounded tired. It was more emotional than physical, though, and I sensed something was bothering him.
“What’s wrong?” I asked. “It’s more than being tired.”
“It’s been a long-ass week, I’ve had to kick more asses than even I’m comfortable with, and my dick is so hard, I need three cold showers a day because I miss my girl so much.”
“I don’t have a dick,” I mused, “but I can relate to the concept of needing a cold shower. Although I don’t think that works with women…”
“Probably not.” He let out a sigh and I wished he would tell me what was really wrong.
“Why do you sound out of sorts?” I asked. “Can’t you talk to me?”
“I can,” he said quietly, “but I’m not used to vocalizing shit that’s bothering me. Especially not this kind of stuff.”
“What kind of stuff?”
“Stuff where I’ve been beating the snot out of people, shooting people…” His voice trailed off.
“Did you have to shoot someone?” I asked in surprise.
“I did.”
“Did he…die?”
“No.”
“This isn’t the first time you’ve shot someone, right?”
“Not even close.”
“Does it bother you beyond the generic humanity of potentially taking someone’s life?”
He seemed to hesitate a long time. “The short answer is no. It doesn’t bother me. And that’s what bothers me.”
“Why does that bother you now?”
“It’s hard to explain,” he admitted. “I had a job to do as a Marine and those were faceless bodies that were shooting at us. It was a kill-or-be-killed situation. As a Royal Protector, my job is to do whatever is necessary to keep the family safe. Sometimes that means killing, and these aren’t nice people. I’m sure it would be different if there was collateral damage, innocent people getting caught in the crossfire, but that’s not the case with what I’m doing so I don’t think about it.”
“You’re doing your job,” I said gently. “I don’t think it’s a bad thing that you can do it without regret. What kind of life would that be if you were emotionally impacted by what you’re literally trained and paid to do?”
“But what does that say about me as a man?” he asked, his voice low. “And is that the kind of man you want in your life? Someone who can compartmentalize everything, including death?”
“I don’t know about other men who can do that, but if you’re the man who can compartmentalize, then yes, you are exactly the kind of man I want in my life.”
“You’re a special woman, Solange,” he said. “You bring light to my soul in a way I didn’t think was possible after everything I’ve seen.”
“And you’ve literally made me alive for the first time ever. I think we make a good team.”
“I think so too.”
Friday was a lot slower than the rest of the week had been. I’d finished inputting all the information the night before and now Princess Elen, Shannon and I sat in the main office about to eat lunch. Jonas had started the process of trying to hack the system about fifteen minutes ago, so all we could do now was wait and see what happened. Though he’d set up the mainframe, I’d done the details and chosen the rotating password protocol. He knew enough about the system to be able to get to a certain point, but we were hoping the parts of it I’d done on this end would be enough to keep him out. If not, we’d need to assess the level of the breach and probably would work all weekend to fix it and try again on Monday.
“I really hope this works,” I murmured. “School starts soon and we need to make sure the information is protected.”
“Jonas is one of the top computer guys in the world,” Shannon said gently. “He’ll get it sorted out.”
“I guess it’s a good thing Axel is away,” I said, “because if he breaks into the system, I’ll be here all weekend.”
“I’ll come too,” Shannon said, “since Ace is gone anyway and I’ll just be at home moping.”
“Don’t worry,” Princess Elen said. “Xander is here in town and I’ll still barely see him except at night.”
“So… Sex. Yay or nay now that you’re showing?” Shannon asked her.
“Oh, hell yes to sex.” Elen laughed. “As much as, if not more, than before. We’re at it constantly.”
Shannon grinned. “I hear that. I waited a long time for him to find his way back to me—we have all kinds of time to make up for.”
“Okay, we’ve given you ample time to feel comfortable with us,” Elen said to me. “It’s time to spill the beans about Axel. Thumbs-up in the bedroom?”
I turned bright red, but nodded. “Absolutely. Although…we don’t seem to make it to the bedroom most of the time. There are a lot of floors, showers and chairs in our sex life. The first time we made love in a bed was when we went away last weekend.”