Page 175 of The Defiant Curse

“You’re about to enjoy the best pasta and chicken cutlets ever made,” Michael told his husband. “Trust me when I say you’re going to want to eat it naked in bed at three in the morning.”

At his words, Ethan began laughing.

“I remember those days,” he admitted. “When Elizabeth and I first got married, we came back to DC, and we had that as our first meal there. Right after, we moved to Damascus to open FBI West for Gabe. We’ve eaten a lot of chicken at three in the morning.”

She smiled.

“When I was pregnant with CJ, I liked a cold cutlet sandwich with pickles at three in the morning. I ate that a lot. By some miracle, I didn’t get fat, and the kid didn’t come out looking like a cutlet.”

He slapped her on the ass.

“You got fat right where it needed to be,” he said, winking at her.

It made her blush.

As Graham and Michael watched, it was nice to see them back in this groove together. Michael hadn’t seen this in a long time—even before he left the US to come here.

It was sweet.

As Ethan got down to making the sauce, and Elizabeth was pounding chicken breasts, they all heard the alarm notify them that the gate just opened.

Both Ethan and Elizabeth paused. It was clear they were not accustomed to people not reacting to that.

“It’s coded,” Michael admitted. “That’s going to be Finn and Gabby. My phone chimed with a set sound to tell us who it is. It’s okay.”

Yeah, they’d been locked down hard if a chime made them both go on alert.

When no one went running, both Ethan and Elizabeth glanced at each other.

Pavlov’s dogs had been trained.

Now, they both relaxed.

It appeared dinner was going to be an event, and they were here for it.

Going off to let them in and to move the car into the garage, Graham grabbed the keys and left them there to continue without him.

“Snow is coming,” Michael stated. “Apparently, it’s going to be a mess tomorrow. Thank goodness we bought you guys heavy gear.”

Ethan was appreciative.

The last thing he wanted was to freeze his balls off if they went horseback riding.

He needed them.

As he made his famous sauce, he was chopping fresh herbs for his wife and himself for each of their parts of the recipe.

“Thanks for getting everything for me,” he stated.

Elizabeth lifted a brow.

“Funny how you don’t seem shocked that Ethan just showed up here,” she said, accusingly. “And you magically knew to buy him clothing—clothing I thought was for you and Graham,” she added.

He laughed.

“He knows the codes to the house, so when he arrived, and I saw the gate being opened, and the house being accessed, I got the alert.”

She listened.