Johan's Joy (Heroes for Hire #22) - Dale Mayer Page 0,33

shock and then squealed as she wrapped her arms around her friend. “Oh, Kai, I’m so happy for you,” she said.

“I am too,” Kai said. “It seems like now that Levi and Ice are married, the engagements are popping up all over the place.”

“I’m not surprised,” Joy said. “I’ve learned enough about them from you to see how everybody was waiting for them to get there first.”

“We’re not having a big wedding,” she said. “In fact, we might even slip off in the dark of night and get married, then come back and have it all over with,” Kai said.

“And yet maybe those you work with wouldn’t appreciate that. What about those who work with Tyson?”

“I think they all would understand,” she said with a laugh. “My company is doing really well, but my employees’ focus is definitely not on the same stage of life as mine.”

“Well, I’m glad to hear your company is doing well,” she said. “There’s got to be some good things in life.”

“There are lots of good things,” she said firmly. “Just bad circumstances resulted in you ending up in a difficult place.”

“Maybe,” she said. “But, now that I’m here, it’s pretty hard to get out of it.”

“I hear you,” Kai said, “but we’re here to help.”

“Is it a habit that you automatically launch a full-blown investigation when a friend calls for help?”

Laughing, the two women discussed Kai’s wedding plans, as Johan and Galen walked over to the table to join them. Soon Tyson was in sight, carrying two large picnic baskets. The guys grinned.

“Alfred and Bailey by any chance?” Johan asked.

“Absolutely, and we picked up coffee on the way,” Tyson said. “If you guys will grab these, I’ll go get the coffee.”

Johan snatched one out of his hand and Galen reached for the other. They returned, placing the baskets on the picnic table.

*

Johan looked down at the heavy baskets. “How many people were you planning on feeding?” he joked with Kai.

“Well, I know for a fact that Joy can eat a lot,” she said in a teasing manner. “And, with you guys around, there’s never enough food.”

Johan took things out of the baskets, and Kai walked around the wooden picnic table and helped. Plates, cutlery, and cups were included. Then Johan brought out a dish wrapped in a heatproof bag. He pulled the dish free, and the fresh aroma of a warm bacon and spinach quiche filled the air. Also homemade buns had been wrapped up in towels, with sliced roast beef and cheese to go with them.

Joy sat down with a huge smile. “I can’t believe how lucky you are to get fed like this all the time,” she said.

By that time they had everything unloaded, including not only a fruit salad but a big Caesar salad to go with it all as well. After they had it all served up on plates before them, still some was left for seconds. Johan nodded in appreciation.

Joy immediately got to work on her quiche. “Gosh,” she murmured around a mouthful, “it’s perfect.”

“It is good, isn’t it?” Johan said and picked up his piece and ate it like pizza. He noted two quiches were here, which was great because Joy was already through her first serving.

He watched as she ate, loving the appetite she had and the enjoyment so evident as she devoured her food. She had no qualms about eating carbs or fat—or too much or too little of this or that. She was just comfortably enjoying her meal. Which was good too because most people would be freaking out over being a real target, as in dead from a hit-and-run at worst or just canned from their job for something they didn’t even do at the very least. He admired her for her gumption.

He looked over to see Galen studying them. Johan frowned, and Galen just grinned.

Kai turned and looked around the table at her friends. “Well, obvious undercurrents are going on here,” she said. “So, what’s going on?”

“He kissed me,” Joy snapped. There was silence at the table.

“Who kissed you?” Kai asked cautiously.

“Johan,” Joy said. Then she picked up another bite of her quiche and bit hard. She chewed furiously, her gaze locked on Kai.

Johan’s grin was hard to keep back. The other men just looked at him with raised eyebrows. He shrugged and said, “Hey, it seemed like the thing to do at the time.”

Maybe that wasn’t the right thing to say because immediately Joy turned on him and said, “What?” Her voice