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“Yeah. I mean, she didn’t zero in on her the moment she arrived.” But she had, and that worried him. As he said, his mother wasn’t one to pry into his social life. She seemed to be very interested in Autumn.
“I think your mom wants babies, and she thinks Autumn would be a great candidate,” Kap said.
“What? No.” But now that Kap mentioned it, he could imagine having Autumn in his life as more than a work colleague.
“Yeah, Kap,” Nikki said. “It’s not like someone with her background would be a good fit for marriage and two point five kids.”
He was already irritated with his crew for speculating what his mother was doing. Still, it turned to agitation on Autumn’s behalf.
“What the hell do you mean by that?”
His crew stilled. He rarely lost his temper, and they had never seen it happen. They just hadn’t been working together that long.
“There’s always talk, Seth,” Ryan said quietly.
“Well, there shouldn’t be. Autumn might not be on our team, but she’s ontheteam. And as a woman, I would think you would know better than to speculate, Nikki.”
Again, silence greeted him. He knew he was making an ass out of himself, but Nikki should know better. Women in their business always had to deal with people equating their job to their sexuality. How many times did female law enforcement have to deal with handcuff jokes?
“Sorry, boss,” Nikki said. “You’re right.”
He nodded and stepped away from them. He could feel all of them watching him. He took off in the opposite direction to prove to them and himself that he wasn’t that infatuated with Autumn. He needed a moment to figure out why he got so pissed off at his crew. They had only been joking, although he did not like Nikki’s assumptions. Was it because what she said was inappropriate, or did he want to be untrue? Why would he care if she wanted more than casual hookups?
Before he could work all that out, Del called out to him. Great. He probably wanted to ream him for what had happened. Seth hadn’t raised his voice, but Del had a keen sense. As former special forces and now commander of TFH, he had to be aware.
“Hey, boss,” he said.
“Everything okay with Bravo?”
He nodded. “Yeah. They were speculating, and it irritated me.”
“Oh, okay. You mean about you and Autumn?”
He rolled his eyes. “Does everyone think there’s something going on?”
“No. I don’t actually give a fuck.”
He blinked, then chuckled. “Then why did you just ask about it?”
“Listen, as long as it doesn’t get in the way of work, I don’t care. She doesn’t directly work for you. And yeah, I know people, and I have seen how she reacts around you.”
“What way?”
Del shook his head. “I’m not in high school. You figure that shit out. Also, be careful around Autumn.”
“Are you warning me off her?”
“No. I know she has much more going on beneath the surface than most of us know.”
“Even you?”
“Especially me. Also, she’s…fragile.”
He cocked his head to the side and studied his boss. “You’re worried about her.”
It was not a question because there was no denying the concern in his boss’s voice.
“Yeah. She’s been more on edge lately, but with Sam getting a transplant last year, she’s been getting worse.”
