As I settled, fatigue pulled at me, and I had no intention of fighting it. I was just as pleased with tonight’s results. It had been great fun, even if I didn’t see anything with my naked eyes. The crew had rolled back the footage in a couple of places so I could see it on the small digital screens, and that alone was amazing stuff. I was pleased all around that not only had we captured some good evidence, but I’d successfully wrangled both men. Mack hadn’t walked into any walls or tripped down any stairs. Jon hadn’t fried anything. It’d been a good night.
I made a mental note as sleep overtook me to dig into Mack’s ability a little more. I needed to know his limits. But for now, I could enjoy the warm body curled trustingly up against me.
12
We went to Beau and Hannah’s for lunch, in part because Beau wanted to do all the paperwork. That, and I think he wanted to properly meet Brandon and talk to him. I did warn Hannah to cook lots, which she’d taken to heart. She had a spread of seven-layer burrito fixings out on the table. It was a safe recipe for me, as I could pick and choose what to put on my own plate, and I had safe chips to use with it.
I loaded up my plate and settled at the table. It was nice to eat something I hadn’t cooked. Brandon bit enthusiastically into his food and sighed in pleasure as he chewed.
“Your mother called me this morning,” Beau informed me with a look meaning potential trouble brewed.
I almost lost my appetite. “Let me guess. She wanted you to somehow wrangle me getting stationed near Opelousas.”
“Look at you, going all psychic.”
I rolled my eyes. That didn’t take much psychic power. My mother was lamentably predictable.
“Don’t worry. Told her it wasn’t up to me, and it wasn’t up to her. That you’d go where the FBI needed you to. She wasn’t too happy with my answer. But I’m not happy with her for delaying your training, so I didn’t have many fucks to give.”
“Beau, I love you,” I told him seriously.
He snorted. “I mentioned you found a guy you liked, someone you might anchor with, and that got her going on a whole other tangent. Might want to call her and get that straightened out. I don’t think she was clear on what I said.”
My mother routinely misunderstood things, so that didn’t surprise me. For all that the woman loved to talk, she wasn’t actually a good communicator. “I’ll call her later. Assuming she doesn’t call me first.”
Something buzzed, and Brandon pulled his phone out of his pocket. “Speaking of mothers. Excuse me for a second.” He stepped away from the table and into the living room, answering, “Hi, Mom.”
We could clearly hear him from the living room, and the open doorways allowed me to see him. Brandon turned, caught me watching him, and a flash of mischief crossed his face. He stopped speaking English abruptly, and his next words were a sing-song language heavy on the vowels and Ls and Ks. It had a rhythm to it I’d not heard before. I found myself fascinated listening to him, my food forgotten in my hands.
Hannah craned her neck around, too, trying to see him. “What is he speaking? I’ve never heard it before.”
“Tongan,” I answered, still watching him. Damn, that was sexy. Why was it sexy? Did I have some intellectual kink I wasn’t aware of?
Brandon’s head dropped back for a second, and I could tell he was growing frustrated. His next words held a growly undertone. “‘Oku ikai te u ilo. Why don’t we just ask him? Mack?”
I left the table to answer his summons. “What’s up?”
“My mother wants to know where you’re going to stay when you come down,” he explained. “She doesn’t like the idea of you being in a hotel. I’ve been staying in Jon and Donovan’s guest room. She doesn’t want you on their couch, so she’s offering her guest bedroom for your use.”
While it was flattering a woman who’d never met me would open up her home for her son’s sake, I wasn’t following this conversation. “And is there a reason why I can’t sleep with you?”
Mama Havili clearly heard me fine, and her Tongan was fast and furious.
Brandon pulled the phone away from his ear with a wince. “Mom. Mom, chill. Why do you jump to that conclusion?! Excuse you, I am not my brother. It’s Don who seduces men, not me.”
I found this byplay fascinating and amusing in turns. He must have a good relationship with her to argue like this. I also found it amusing Brandon thought his brother so much better at dating men than he was. I’d have to find the right moment to assure him I had no complaints with our relationship. He’d been lovely so far.
She simmered down a little—from volcanic anger to a mild thunderstorm—and said something else I had no prayer of understanding. Did they make Tongan phrase books? I felt the need to invest in one.
“’Io. ’Io. U mahino. Mack, she wants to talk to you. My mother’s name is Alani.”
I appreciated the heads-up and took the phone from him. “Hi, Mrs. Havili.”
“Hello, Mack. I apologize for my son. I thought I raised him to not jump someone on the first date.”
I was curious how she knew it’d been the first date but decided to dig into that later. “You have nothing to apologize for or be upset about. Your son’s been exceptional to me since the moment I met him. And I take the blame for seduction. I kinda jumped him.”
She spluttered on a laugh, and the sound was warm and infectious. “Did you? Well, I suppose I shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions. Brandon’s just now figured himself out, after all. But each phone call I get from him, he tells me something earth-shattering. It was like a rapid-fire series of punches. I got dizzy just listening. My sons, you know, they have no patience when they find someone they like. They steamroll them. You should hear what Donovan was like with Jon.”
Ah. So she thought he was moving things along too fast. This made more sense. “I promise you I’m keeping pace with him, not getting dragged along.”
“I do feel better hearing it. Mack, whether or not you stay at my house, I want you to come over regularly for dinner. I want a chance to really know you.”
I’d never been so frankly invited over to a boyfriend’s parents’ house before. It thrilled me as much as alarmed me, because what if she decided I wasn’t good enough for her son? Southern mothers had definite opinions about who their children dated. I should know, since I had one. Were Tongan mothers the same? “I anticipate we’ll be in Nashville in about four days or so. Should we plan to have dinner with you when we come in?”
“That will be good. Let’s do that.”
It took a bit longer for Brandon to wrap up the call, and I retreated to the table to finish my lunch. I thought about what it would be like to stay with his family while he finished up training. It had the potential to be awkward, no doubt on that. But I still strangely looked forward to it. I’d never been welcomed into another’s family home before. I’d never even slept over at someone else’s place prior to coming to stay with Hannah and Beau. I was nervous about things not going well, but I still really wanted to give it the chance to go right.
We finished lunch, then Beau walked us through the paperwork. I was glad, as it wasn’t easy to navigate. What was it about government forms that made them so needlessly complicated? Still, I didn’t utter a single word of complaint. If this was what it took to keep Brandon with me, then it was all well worth it.