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Alma snorted, wondering how he had dealt with that situation.
“The people at IKEA were amused and pleased to see so much of us that week.” Finn smiled.
Alma chuckled, imagining the embarrassment of the situation. It made the events of a few moments ago seem slightly less mortifying.
“Didn’t we tell them we had started a B&B?” Finn asked Dylan.
Alma laughed harder, picturing the two men sheepishly standing in an IKEA and lamely asserting that they needed another new bed because they would run a small hotel out of their home.
Dylan poured coffee, taking the milk out of the fridge, and passing Alma the sugar. “I think we did! I don’t think they believed us, but they couldn’t really question us too hard about it.”
Alma doctored her cup of coffee, shaking her head. “Probably thought that one or the other of you was having energetic sex and just didn’t want to admit it.”
Finn dropped the spoon in his hand, spilling sugar everywhere and staring at her. “Why didn’t I think of that?!”
Dylan took the milk carton from his brother’s lax grip and poured some into his coffee, rolling his eyes. “Because no one would have believed that story either.”
Alma almost choked on the sip of coffee she had taken, avoiding breathing it in only barely. She swallowed and gave Dylan an approving look.
“You know, it’s a good thing for Finn you’re a water elemental, you can help heal that burn you just gave him.”
Dylan chuckled. “What should we have for breakfast? It’s my turn to cook anyway.”
Alma relaxed, realizing that neither brother would bring up her nudity. Dylan made bacon, eggs, and toast, and the three of them ate companionably, chatting and drinking coffee until the sun came up.
Alma went about her normal routine, working on her assignments while Dylan and Finn amused themselves playing music and watching television. “You know,” Alma said, glancing up at the two brothers playing guitar a few yards away, “I’m entirely in the wrong line of business. I should become a bodyguard and lounge about all day.”
Finn grinned and winked at her unknowingly.
Dylan put his guitar down. “One of us could go grocery shopping for you, or run some other errand,” he suggested.
Alma sighed. It wasn’t that she minded their presence in her home—not anymore, anyway—as much as it was that she was still waiting for the other shoe to drop. Dylan and Finn had accompanied her on her meetings with clients, one waiting in the car while the other went in with her, pretending to be her assistant. She conducted a good bit of her business from home, but before their entrance into her life, she’d had a thriving social circle. While they hadn’t forbidden her to go out, having two men with her at all times would be conspicuous. She considered it a bright side that she wasn’t spending as much money and she was earning plenty, staying up late to work extra assignments from sheer boredom.
“You can go out, you know,” Finn said, divining her restlessness in one of the odd moments of rapport that existed between them.
Alma smiled slightly. “I know. It’s just I can’t think of a good way to explain two guys hanging around me all the time with neither of you being my boyfriend.”
Dylan chuckled. “You could say you’re working for the CIA and we’re your shadows, to make sure you don’t reveal state secrets.”
Alma rolled her eyes. “And then I’ll be plagued with questions—and at least one of my friends will distract Finn from the important task of guarding me with his life.”
“Oh really?” Finn perked up.
Alma shrugged. “I don’t have ugly friends,” she said, closing her laptop. She wanted to leave the house; she wanted to go out and get drunk and take a cab home. Alma realized that part of the cause of her tension was not just that she didn’t see her friends anymore—it was that she wasn’t seeing any men, or at least not romantically. While she hadn’t entertained any serious relationships in years, Alma had enough charm that, combined with striking looks, she convinced most any man she was interested in that he should come home with her—or take her back to his place. It wasn’t the most emotionally fulfilling way to live, but Alma enjoyed the challenge, and the light touch of an attractive man who was no more interested in happily ever after than she was.
“I won’t get distracted,” Finn protested. “It’s not like I haven’t ever seen beautiful women before.”
Dylan snorted at his brother. “I’ve seen you go through condoms. You’d get distracted.”
Finn scowled at his brother. “I take my job seriously. Have you ever seen me neglect my responsibilities because of a woman before?”
Dylan considered the question. “No. No you have not.”
Alma got up to get herself another cup of coffee. The predawn wakeup call was making it difficult for her to get through the day, on top of being restless. She had always been an active person, a trait that had intensified as she had developed into her elemental abilities. Being cooped up in her house, leaving only to run basic errands or to visit clients, was taking a toll.
A few days after the kidnapping that had finally given Alma a good sense of just how much danger she was in, Finn had suggested that she look around the message boards that elementals participated in, to see if she could find potential partners that way. The suggestion was sound, but Alma had balked at it. She knew such boards existed. She wasn’t even surprised to find there was a matchmaking site for elementals, but the thought of going on blind dates expressly for the purpose of finding her mate was irritating. It reminded Alma too much of old-fashioned methods like arranged marriages—one of the tactics her grandmother had suggested when Alma had first balked at the suggestion she needed a mate.
In light of the power surge she had experienced in the early morning hours, however, and after a couple of weeks of curtailed social activity, Alma was considering the idea with a more open mind. Finn and Dylan were discussing something as she sat down at her desk and sipped her coffee, opening her laptop once more and using the cover of their chatter to navigate to one of the elemental forums. She filled in the form to join, knowing that tech savvy elementals had put systems in place to make sure that only elementals could enter the site. There were family tree verification requirements that would keep the “normals” out. Alma sighed as she received the message she would be notified within twenty-four hours as to whether or not she was accepted into the forum.
