Page 23 of My Vigilante Valentine

I followed her gaze to the glittering shards on the floor. “Don’t you have an alarm system or something?”

She winced, her face scrunching up adorably.

“Take that as a no?” I ventured.

“She’s feeling a little… under the weather.”

“She?”

Luna shrugged. “I don’t know, the system has an eerily human-sounding voice. I named her Grace, and we were getting along just fine until she spazzed out one night, and I haven’t been able to get her to work again.”

I looked at the ceiling, trying not to care about her being alone in here every night, unprotected. “Thought about asking Chris to take a look at it?”

“Chris?”

“Yeah. Chris. He’s some kind of tech guy, right?” I’d deduced as much—and more—but I kept that to myself.

Did I like the idea of her seeking help from someone other than me?

Nope.

And that irrational surge of possessiveness was a sucker punch.

But I’d already guessed that Chris’s skills with computers were likely superior to mine, so as much as it pained me, he was the logical choice.

Luna nodded slowly. “Right. Yeah. I’ll ask him.”

“Good.” And since the word came out more curtly than I’d intended, I tossed the would-be-burglar another glare just to make sure his lights were still out.

Satisfied, I turned back to Luna, drinking in the sight of her.

Safe. Unharmed.

Sure, I was grateful that her security system hadn’t gone off. The last thing we needed was that level of attention right now. But it bothered me way more than it should how exposed she’d been tonight.

Or,would’vebeen, if I hadn’t stayed late.

“I’m gonna call the cops,” she said, then shook her head and laughed to herself. “Sorry, I didn’t mean that to sound like a threat, like I was gonna call them onyou. Whatever, you know what I mean. Have you decided what I’m supposed to tell them?”

That brought me up short. I’d never been in this situation before.

Normally, I came in with my blades, my mask, and my hood. I did my job, and then I bailed. I didn’t have to worry about whatthe victim said to the cops. The only thing they could say was that The Blade had shown up, kicked some butt with a side of names, and now he was gone.

No muss, no fuss.

But not this time—not with her.

This time, if I decided to bail… I’d have to trust her to lie. To keep my secrets from the world.

“I get it, Jax. Chill. I’m not even worried about it,” Luna said, and she sure didn’t sound worried. If anything, she sounded amused. “You should go.”

“I should?”

“Well,yeah. Unless you wanna explain to the cops why you just happened to have zip ties on you. Not exactly a standard accessory, last time I checked.”

I shot her a look. “You’re enjoying this way too much.”

“Can you blame me?” She tucked her lips between her teeth, as if that did anything to hide her smile. “I just unmasked The Blade. Sort of. You weren’t wearing a mask, so it’s not like I ripped it off you or anything. But still. It’s not every day a girl learns her favorite customer is secretly a superhero. You’re like my very own Clark Kent or Peter Parker—only hotter.”

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