for adults?
Hmm.
Maybe that explained why his scent often carried an undertone of juicy green apples.
“I don’t mind.” He returned to his work then checked his phone. “They’re here to tow the SUV.”
“Do they need us for that?” I was busy ordering us a late lunch/early dinner online. “I can go down.”
“I tossed the keys on the front seat.” Clay kept pecking away. “They’ll text if there’s a problem.”
A chime on my phone had me searching through my pockets for it and frowning at the notification.
“Everything okay?” Clay glanced up then. “You don’t look happy.”
“It’s probably nothing.” I opened the security app to be sure. “There was movement near the house.”
Slowly, so as not to miss anything, I flipped through the various cameras.
“I don’t see anything.” I switched screens to check for missed calls. “The wards must be holding steady.”
“Colby would call if there was an issue.” Asa allowed himself a small grin. “She’s already proven that.”
“Yeah.” I forced myself to breathe. “You’re right.”
The day had been spent on travel, mostly our snail crawl back to the hotel, but it wasn’t full dark yet.
A knock on the door brought my head up, but Clay just smiled and said, “Why don’t you get that?”
One eyebrow quirking high, I answered the door to find the promised grocery delivery. A whole lot of it. Somewhere was a store without butter, sugar, flour, eggs, milk, or Clay-approved mix-ins. He also bought a muffin tin, a cookie sheet, and two cake pans with several bottles of nonstick spray.
As the nice young man loaded me down with bags, Clay scooched up behind me then nudged me aside.
Asa met me in the kitchenette, accepted the bags, and began putting away the cold items.
When he caught me staring, again, I was forced to play it off by whipping out my phone. “Smile!”
Caught off guard, Asa did not smile but raised his eyebrows in a questioning look that was now captured forever on my phone. His hair lent him a just rolled out of bed appearance while his expression threw off I haven’t had my coffee yet vibes.
Before he questioned my motives, I spun and snapped a quick pic of Clay loaded down with bags.
“I’m going to send Colby these pics of my two baking assistants.”
I did it too, to cover my butt, which wouldn’t have been an issue if Asa hadn’t looked so adorable.
Yep.
This was definitely his fault. Or his hair’s fault. One or the other. Both?
While I helped Clay put away his perishables, Asa returned to the table to resume his work.
There was really only room for one, but two could squish in there thanks to the open floorplan.
“We have preliminary results on the remains found at the processor.” Asa scrolled through the email. “They have been positively identified as the fourth missing girl.”
“Dammit.” A carton of eggs exploded in Clay’s fist. “What kind of sicko dreams up something like that?”
“We met a lady who bakes people cookies earlier,” I reminded him. “Black Hat exists for a reason.”
Look at me, spouting rhetoric I had been force-fed most of my life in the hopes I would one day believe it.
Asa studied me. “Do you think we’ll be paying the Malones a visit in the future?”
“If not us, then someone.” Of that I had no doubt. “Rose’s powers are on lockdown for a reason.”
“File a mental note,” Clay warned, “and then forget it.”
Black Hat had a zero tolerance for cowboying. Rogue agents got dead. It was how a lot of old-timers who wanted out but couldn’t quit made their grand exits. They chose their own targets, picked them off, then waited for the kill squad to arrive. That was the worst. No one wanted to terminate a contract.
And yes, that was how the director classified the sanctioned murder of one of his agents.
A contract.
Was it any wonder I had wanted out bad enough to risk a kill squad on my doorstep?
Except that wasn’t what happened, and I must have been banking on it. I was too valuable to terminate. Or I had been. Maybe I thought going white witch would turn the Bureau off me. If so, I had been wrong.
Otherwise, I wouldn’t be standing here, debating what sweet treat I craved the most.
“I’ll bake.” I was relieved to work out some of my aggression in the kitchen. “You guys keep working.”
By the time dessert was done, the food ought to be here. The cookies I had in mind could cool while we ate dinner.
“Do we get to pick the