Free Leena's Men by Tessie Bradford Page A

all had common, and they would work through it together. Leena whistled and hummed through the rest of the journey home.
    Assuming they hadn’t spent the last hours sitting in the house doing nothing, she went directly to the work building. She wanted to surprise them, so she used the side entrance instead of walking around to the service door, which she assumed would already be open.
    “Hi, I’m home,” she called out cheerily.
    Adam and Craig were nowhere to be seen. Leena went outside to Elsie and called out again. When silence was the answer, she turned to head over to the house. Leena’s breath hitched when she noticed her hover car was gone.
    “Oh come on now, this is just mean.” Leena stared up at the heavens, hoping the Gods were listening. “I’m sorry I doubted you, and I’m sorry I put off explaining things to them, but was this really necessary?”
    Unless they were merely taking a drive through the countryside, she knew they would run into someone, somewhere. The communal nature of the district was both a blessing and a curse, depending on the circumstances. Everyone looked out for each other, were there to support in a crisis and celebrate life’s good fortunes, but that led to a gross lack of privacy at times. If Han hadn’t issued his do not disturb edict, they would have already been inundated with curious, well-meaning visitors, and her over-protective relatives.
    Leena reached for her communicator then stopped. Despite their short tenure together, she had learned a great deal about her mates, and Adam and Craig would definitely not appreciate her checking up on them. It was her fault they’d had to take matters into their own hands to seek the information she’d withheld; further behaving as if she didn’t trust them would not be an intelligent course of action.
    “See? I’m figuring out this mate thing,” she muttered, walking leisurely to the house.
    She stood in the middle of the living area, trying to decide what she should do to pass the time until they returned when she noticed two chairs and empty dishes at the computer desk.
    Leena activated the console and read the screen.
    “Okay, so they already know the basics, maybe that’s a good thing.”
    The front door swung open. Adam and Craig strolled in, dirt-streaked and sweaty.
    “Hey, sweetness,” Craig said.
    “You’re home early,” Adam remarked. “The delivery went well?”
    “Um, yes,” she replied, completely taken aback by their appearance and casual greeting.
    “Ah, where have you, I mean what have you…”
    “Don’t forget ‘with who have you’,” Craig helped.
    His humor went a long way to easing her discomfort. She glanced briefly to the computer. “Should I begin by begging for forgiveness or leap right into giving a very logical explanation regarding my omission of key details?”
    “That’s up to you, angel, but either approach is going to wait until we’ve showered.”
    Adam gave her a fast kiss and proceeded down the hallway.
    Craig didn’t say anything. He simply smiled at her as he walked by.
    Barely fifteen minutes had gone by when Leena heard them coming back down the hall.
    She took a healthy swig from her goblet of cushingberry wine. Two others were filled and waiting next to the bottle she’d set on the table.
    “Needed some liquid courage, huh?” Craig picked up a glass. He swirled the bright yellow liquid around and sniffed before taking a drink. “Just to let you know, it takes a lot to get us drunk.”
    “That’s not my desired end result.” Leena emptied her glass in one more swallow. “I prefer this wine because it has relatively low alcohol content; I’m quickly affected by spirits.”
    “And you just chugged an impressive serving,” Adam said.
    “I’m angry at myself, embarrassed and nervous; so far it’s not even taking the edge off.”
    She smiled when Adam partially refilled her glass.
    “We met Megan today, along with some other friends of yours,” he said,