Cullen caught him and swung him up to ride on his shoulders. “You’ve grown again. Just keep doing that, don’t you?”
Toby grinned. “It’s my habit. I like growing. Maybe I’ll be taller than you when I’m finished. Did you bring Cynna?” He peered around, as if Cullen might have stashed Cynna someplace close by. “Where’s Cynna?”
“In San Diego by now, if her flight wasn’t delayed.”
Toby twisted to say seriously to his grandmother, “Cynna’s cool. She’s having Cullen’s baby in a couple or three months—I forget when, exactly. She an’ Cullen went to Edge, then when they came back they got married, only I couldn’t go to the wedding, so I missed seeing the dragon. Some people in the clans are mad about him getting married, but I’m not. Dad’s not, either, but Cullen says Dad’s jealous ’cause he’d like to get married to Lily, too, only he can’t because he’s Lu Nuncio and all, but I don’t—hey!”
Cullen had turned Toby upside down and was holding him by the ankles, shaking him gently. “Way too much information, short stuff.”
Toby giggled and tried to climb up his own body to right himself.
“I see.” Louise’s response, delivered in a faint voice, said she didn’t see at all. “Well, it’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Seabourne. Rule told me you were coming, but in all the confusion I’d quite forgotten. Do come in.”
“Take off those shoes first,” Lily said. “Did you walk here in the rain or something?”
Cullen glanced down at his shoes as if he’d forgotten he was wearing them. “Hmm. No, I made a stop along the way. Down, sport,” he said, depositing Toby on the porch. He bent to untie his shoes.
“We’re gonna go run, then kick the ball around some,” Toby said excitedly. “Maybe Justin and Talia can come, too. They’re my friends. Maybe you can come with us.”
Cullen glanced up from wet, knotted shoestrings, smiling. “Not right away, I’m afraid. I need to talk to your father about some clan business, and I suspect Lily means to snag me for some assistance with her case.”
“Now?” Toby’s face fell. He looked at his father. “Do you have to do clan business now?”
Rule hesitated only a second. “It can wait until after lunch,” he said as easily as if he weren’t desperate to hear what Cullen had flown here to tell him. “But I don’t think Lily can postpone her business as easily as I can. We’d better let her have first shot at him.”
“Hey,” Cullen said. “No shooting.”
That made Toby giggle.
“Go,” Rule said. “Call your friends, see if they can join us. Whether they can or not, we’re headed for the park. Oh, and bring me my shoes, please.”
“Okay.” Toby took off for the stairs.
Cullen gave Rule a thoughtful glance. “You don’t mind waiting on our business?”
There was a longish pause, and Lily saw Rule’s lips quiver once, ever so slightly, before he said, “He needs to run.”
That telltale quiver meant he’d been subvocalizing. It was the way lupi communicated when they didn’t want others to hear, speaking softer than a whisper without moving their lips. For a brief period several months ago, Lily had been able to hear subvocalizations, too, but it hadn’t lasted. The mate bond giveth and the mate bond taketh away. Capriciously.
Rule smiled at Louise. “I’ll order pizza for lunch. If Toby’s friends wish to join us—”
“By all means,” Louise said. “Justin and Talia are always welcome.”
Cullen had finally gotten his shoes off. He set them neatly beside the door and padded inside barefoot. “Mrs. Asteglio.” He gave her the kind of smile guaranteed to melt anyone equipped with a double-X set of chromosomes. “I’m glad to have this chance to meet you.”
Louise pinked up again. “It’s my pleasure. You’re quite a favorite of Toby’s, you know. Do come sit down and let me know what I can get you. There’s some carrot cake left, and I can put on some coffee. Or would you prefer iced tea? It will take a few minutes to brew, but I refuse to use that nasty instant.”
“I never turn down cake, with or without tea. However . . .” He sent Lily a glance. “I’m afraid I have to be terribly rude and speak privately with Lily about her case first.”
“Of course. I’ll get the tea started.”
“In here,” Lily said to Cullen, gesturing at the living room. Louise wouldn’t intentionally eavesdrop, but the open arrangement of den and kitchen would make it hard not to overhear.
Rule put a hand on her arm and spoke quietly. “Cullen called me from the airport. I told him about the situation with Alicia and about Talia’s ghosts.”
She glanced at Cullen. “Did you—”
She was stopped by the herd of elephants on the stairs combined with Toby hollering out the great news that his friends would join them at the park, and here were his dad’s shoes, and could they go now?
Rule thanked him, slipped on the shoes and tied them, and looked at Lily. “You can have Cullen until lunch. I need him back then.” He said that lightly enough, but she had some idea of what it cost him to wait.
Lily put her hand on his cheek, rubbing the freshly shaved skin with her thumb. “Until lunch.”
He bent and gave her a quick, hard kiss. A moment later the door closed behind him and Toby, and Lily clicked back into cop mode. She looked at Cullen, who was no longer smiling. Somehow that confirmed what she’d suspected. “You have something for me.”
“I think so. I’ll need to see the last man who was possessed—he’s in the hospital, right?—and his house.”
“Hodge is getting his pacemaker replaced this morning, so that’ll have to wait, but I can get you into his house. It’s on the corner.” She pulled out her phone. “Go eat cake and flirt with Louise. I’m going to rearrange my morning.” She’d take Brown’s advice and delegate.
FOR once Cullen did as he was told. They left Louise smiling and telling him to be sure to join the rest of them for dinner that night. “Come at six thirty. We’ll eat around seven.”
Cullen thanked her and accepted before Lily could find a subtle way to warn him about the undertow he’d be wading into. Not that Cullen minded a little conflict, armed or otherwise.
Stepping outside was like walking into the bathroom after someone had taken a hot shower. The brief spat of rain hadn’t done much to clear the air of either heat or humidity. “That invitation you just accepted,” she said quietly to Cullen. “Alicia and her new husband are coming to dinner. He’s vegan, so it will be meatless.”
“I’d better eat well earlier, then,” he said. “Wouldn’t miss this chance to meet the new hubby. Alicia’s never shown an interest in day-to-day parenting—swooping in for the occasional weekend suited her fine, I’d say. I’m wondering if this sudden uptick in motherliness is due to him. Perhaps it’s his idea entirely.”
That seemed possible. “Did you bring any real clothes? Louise will be insulted if you show up in that T-shirt.”
He glanced down at her, amused. “Really, Lily, you don’t have to explain women’s expectations to me. I could demonstrate, if you wish, what I know about female . . . expectations.” He lingered on the last word with just the right hint of lasciviousness.
She knew he did that to annoy her. And dammit, it worked. “Tacky, Cullen.”
“No, it would be tacky if I groped you. I can’t flirt with most women anymore. They have a lamentable tendency to hope I mean it. And since I’m fast enough to dodge if you decide to belt me, I . . . Hold on a minute.” He interrupted himself as they reached his rental car. “I need to get something.”