Apple of My Eye (Tiger's Eye Mystery #7) - Alyssa Day Page 0,54

not answered a text in her life. This stupid cold is knocking everybody out."

"Hey, Tess," Lucky said. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. This time, the attack was focused on Jack. I'll let him explain. I'm headed out to see my aunt and uncle. See you at the festival?"

They nodded.

I started down off the porch, but Jack caught my hand and walked to my car with me.

"Be careful," he said, his green eyes still sparking with flashes of amber. "I don't want anything to happen to you. It should be safe enough in broad daylight, but we don't know if or when this guy will escalate."

"I'll be fine. Just get this all cleaned up and then come find me. I'll be at Aunt Ruby and Uncle Mike's."

He kissed me right there in front of his friends and then stood there while I got in the car.

"Text me when you get there."

I rolled my eyes. "So, is this the overprotective part you warned me about?"

He laughed. "Get used to it."

Oddly enough, I didn't mind.

Because I felt the same way about him.

I called Aunt Ruby to see if she was home, found out she was work, and filled her in, since Susan would have to report to her anyway. She was, predictably, very worried and said lots of things about staying safe and being careful. She also told me Uncle Mike was out of town running errands and she'd be busy at her office all day. So I decided to go home and do all the things I usually did on Sundays. After I texted Jack about the change of plans, I called Molly for a long talk about the date, and she agreed that Jack had lived up to even her very high standards. Then we talked about what I could possibly wear to the next date. Before we hung up, she promised to come home for the festival.

Which gave me an idea.

"So, Molly. You're short enough to fit in the swamp cabbage costume just perfectly—"

"Never gonna happen."

Three or four hours of scrubbing, dusting, vacuuming, and napping later, I wandered into the kitchen looking for something to eat. The sandwich I'd had for lunch hadn't lasted long, and I wasn't in the mood for leftover pizza. I decided to roast a chicken with potatoes and carrots. I started a pie crust, too, because all this fall decorating was putting me in the mood for pumpkin pie.

I was wrist-deep in pie dough when my phone buzzed. It was Jack, so I answered the call with a knuckle, put the phone on speaker, and went back to working the dough.

"The office is back to normal, and we installed security cameras, which we should have done a long time ago."

"Not a bad idea. Weird things may still happen, but at least we'll have video of the bad guys. Did you put one on the back of the building, too?" Two dead bodies had been left at the shop's back door, after all.

"Front, back, and sides. Are you still at home? Still up for going out?"

"Yes, I'm still home, but I don't feel like going out. I've been cleaning and cooking all day." I figured he didn't need to know about the napping.

"Cooking?" His voice was so hopeful it made me smile.

"Yes. And yes, before you ask, my doors are locked. Roast chicken with carrots and potatoes."

"I love roast chicken," he hinted.

"You love all food."

"Not Brussels sprouts."

I laughed. "Nobody likes Brussels sprouts. They smell like feet."

"Soooo."

"And pumpkin pie," I teased him.

"I love pumpkin pie."

"Any chance you're not tired of my company yet? You're welcome to come to dinner."

There was a silence. When he came back on the line, his voice sounded a little bit odd. "Tess. I don't think I could ever get tired of your company."

A wave of warmth swept through me. "Same right back at you. Will you stop and pick up whipped cream on your way?"

His low chuckle was positively wicked. "You might be my dream woman."

I blinked, and then I realized what he meant and heat washed over my face. "For the pie! Whipped cream for the pie!"

"See you in twenty minutes," he said, still laughing, and hung up, leaving me to finish my pie and think very interesting thoughts.

After we ate chicken and pie and cleaned up, we decided to go downtown and have a look at how the festival decorations were coming along. It was such a small town thing to do, though, that I started to worry that Jack would