After helping get Frankie squared away that morning, Bull spent the rest of the day making phone calls and doing paperwork. Damned paperwork. There was no end. Talk about frustrating. All he wanted to do was go home and be there for his woman.

Finally, he called it quits and returned to the Hermitage only to discover he’d been drafted to grill for everyone, including Lillian and Dante.

Normally, he loved cooking for the family, but fuck, he was tired. He’d hoped to spend a quiet evening with Frankie.

Instead… Eh, maybe it wouldn’t be quiet, but at least, she was here.

It seemed his cooking wouldn’t require much effort. While catching him up on her day—between kisses—Frankie said she’d marinated the chicken and made a dessert. All he had to do was the actual grilling.

Yeah, he loved her.

An hour later, after piling a platter high with lemon-garlic grilled chicken, Bull set it on the table. Already seated, Caz and JJ, Gabe and Audrey, Dante and Lillian had all brought side dishes and served up drinks. Hawk came out of his cabin with a stack of baked potatoes and fixings.

Gryff and Sirius were strategically placed between the humans easiest to con out of tidbits—Regan and Frankie.

As Bull sat beside Frankie, he realized cooking and then listening to the women’s shopping trip tales had eased his frustration and anger.

At least until Lillian spoke to him. “My boy, was there a problem at the roadhouse? Is that why you got home so late?”

“No,” he growled. “It was because I was trying to wade through everything for SIG and—”

“What’s SIG?” Frankie asked.

“Stands for Sarge’s Investment Group. A corporation to handle all the properties Mako bought up around Rescue.”

She frowned. “I thought he was a retired military officer.”

“Yeah, but one who didn’t spend much when serving, then as a twenty-plus year man, he had a decent pension and lived off the land in a cabin with no utilities for years afterward. Once we were grown, we all sent him money, thinking he was using it to live on.” Bull found his throat getting tight.

After a glance at Bull, Caz stepped in. “When Mako moved to Rescue, the town was dying, and he bought properties from the residents who needed to leave. To help them. But before he died, McNally’s ski resort opened, and he realized the town might come back to life.”

Gabe cleared his throat. “He left us instructions with his will. Gave us a mission—to restore the town.”

“He… Seriously?” Frankie gave Bull an incredulous stare. “Is that why you’re all here after living everywhere else?”

“That’s why. It’s a worthwhile goal.” There was a satisfaction in seeing the town come back to life. Become a community.

Lillian frowned. “He bought a lot of properties.”

No shit. “I can’t keep up with all of the work: renting and selling the properties, managing the rentals, bringing older buildings up to code, taxes, and contractors and all that.” Just like that, Bull’s mood went sour again. No, past sour into pissed-the-fuck-off. He growled under his breath.