Page 70 of Rekindling Desire

“Talking with Millie helped me prioritize some things.” She grinned. “I can’t tell you more.”

“What the hell?”

“Nope.” She shook her head. “I decided that Millie either trusts me to pull this off or she gave me enough rope to hang myself. If it’s the latter, I won’t give her the satisfaction.”

“She likes you.”

Ella nodded. “She does. I also got the feeling that without Julia’s call, things could have gone south fast. I want to make this work.”

“I have no doubt.” I turned her direction. “How about we spend tonight at our other place.”

“Since we’re only engaged, I think we can refer to our respective homes.”

“Houses,” I corrected. “A home is where we are together.”

A smile curled her lips. “You’re such a romantic.”

“On Tuesdays, I have meals delivered. Currently, only three a week. We’ll have to cook them, but all the ingredients are there.”

“Cooking in that kitchen,” she said, her words coming out singsong. “Yes.”

“What about Duchess?”

“Let’s stop by my place. I’ll pack clothes for tomorrow and cosmetics. For today we can just set the automatic feeder. Hey, did the company do inspections of our security systems today?”

“They were supposed to.” I shook my head. “I’m sorry, I have been crazy busy.” I tilted my head toward the phone holder in the console. “Check my messages and see if they sent me a text.”

Ella looked suspiciously at my phone. “You want me to look in your phone. That’s a little personal, don’t you think?”

“Last night, my tongue was in your cunt. I think we’ve passed the personal boundaries.”

She scoffed. “When you put it like that.” Ella picked up my phone. “What’s your code?”

“1216.” With a sly grin and a sideway glance, I watched for Ella’s reaction.

“That’s my birthday.”

“Easy to remember.”

“Oh,” she said, “there is a message. It just says to call a man named Anthony.”

“He’s my contact. I’ll call him in the morning.”

“It’s odd,” Ella said. “My cameras have been off since I got out of the meeting with Millie.”

“I’m sure it was them.”

“You’re probably right.”

I pulled the SUV up to the curb near Ella’s place. Although I’d shrugged it off, I didn’t like hearing about her cameras. Looking up at the townhouse, everything appeared normal. “Maybe I should go in first.”

“Why?”

“Your cameras,” I reminded her.

“Don’t do that, Damien. Stop adding worry where it doesn’t exist. Don’t you think we have enough shit going on?”

I lifted my hands. “Okay, guilty as charged. And besides, Darius was busy this afternoon in IMPD booking.”

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