Page 103 of Mike

“Of course.” Dilly had taken over again. “Just don’t make any gross noises where we can hear you, and we’ll be fine.”

Mike had almost choked. Gross noises?

Well… Joe was kind of a vocal sex partner, and she’d somehow wrung a lot of interesting verbal reactions from him. That was for sure. But as far as Mike was concerned, there’d still be no sex while the kids were in the house. Having Joe in his bed, warm up against him, draping herself over him while they slept? Maybe a little hand-play… That would be enough for now.

More than enough.

“Thanks, you guys,” he’d responded sincerely.

Dilly had waved that off like it was inconsequential, which was good, since Mike had to talk about the serious situation regarding Mellie.

“Now, here’s what’s on my mind,” he’d started. “Tomorrow, Joe and I are going on the hike we told your mother about.”

They’d both nodded.

“What are you going to do?” Tim had questioned. “Arrest her?”

It hadn’t been said confrontationally, but there had been some trepidation in his son’s voice.

“No. I’m not. Joe and I have decided that scaring her will have to do. From the intel we’ve been able to gather, she and Cameron will be attempting some kind of sabotage on my truck.” Again, he’d decided not to tell them of the previous attempt where the pair had cut his brake lines. “We’ll let them proceed, then we’ll appear and tell them we have it all on video. They’ll be warned that if anything happens to me or Joe in the future, my SWAT Chief and my BPD Chief have permission to open the file and prosecute.”

Dilly had rolled her eyes. “Mom’s not scared of you, Dad,” she’d responded skeptically. “Or Mase. You think that will stop her?”

Mike nodded. “Joe’s already set up a couple cameras to catch the action, and we’ll make sure to point them out.”

“Cameras…” Tim had pondered, then stabbed him with a knowing look. “You told us Mason had put up the ones here at the house, but it was Joe, wasn’t it?”

“Smart,” Mike had praised, grinning. “Yeah. Once she overheard the plot between your mother and Cameron, she took it upon herself to install surveillance to keep an eye on them. Which I didn’t know about at the time.” He hadn’t lied about that part.

“I like her for you,” Dilly had said, playing with her spoon in the remnants of her ice cream. “And even though I think you ought to do a little more to scare Mom, I understand you just want to get it over with and move on with Joe.”

“Did I say smart?” Mike had added, tearing up a little. Damn, he had great kids.

When Joe had come back in, the duo had given her matching grins, told her she was golden for Mike’s king-sized bed, then they’d all settled in to flex their competitive gaming muscles.

He and Joe had spent the night in each other’s arms.

Mike had enjoyed the best sleep he’d had in over a year.

That was last night, but now…

Mike needed to prod Joe a little, having had time to think about her fierce joy of rivalry.

He cleared his throat. “You didn’t, by any chance, have anything to do with those gum wrappers I kicked away, did you?” he asked as they sat companionably, side by side.

“Me? Why would you think that?” she replied, swiping a bit of raspberry jelly off her upper lip with her tongue.

God, her lips were so lush and…

Don’t get sidetracked, Mike.

He focused in again and watched her face for any kind of tell, but didn’t see any. Which could mean her innocence was real, or it could mean that after years of undercover work, she was just that good. And she hadn’t exactly answered his question, had she? She’d prevaricated, asking one of her own.

Mike nodded at her, then reached for the donut bag. He’d bide his time to get the truth out of her. Due to her occupation, she was good at keeping a straight face, but Mike, by virtue of his job, was skilled in playing the waiting game.

The sound of a car’s tires crunching over gravel hit Mike’s ears.

A well-timed distraction.

---