Page 40 of My Vigilante Valentine

He’d told me when he arrived this morning that he hadn’t been able to find anything useful on the dumpster phone, so he must be digging into the virtual streets of Slate Harbor for another way.

And he needed to hurry, too. Dots were connecting around the city—dots that suggested being in love was deadly right now.

I hated that creepy monster for being so hard to catch, and that couples all around my shop were nervous to showanykind of PDA lest the madman added them to his list of future victims.

If I had a boyfriend, I would?—

Wait.

The idea hit me like a bolt of lightning, and my entire body hummed with the brilliance of my own strategic mind.

Okay, granted, for every genius idea I had, there was a moment where I lost my shoes or acted like laundry was a boss fight.

But still.

When I was good? I wasreallygood.

So, without pausing to think anything through before approaching Jax with my amazing idea, I grabbed a plate of freshly baked Valentine’s Day cookies and made a beeline right for him.

“Feeling snacky?” I asked, sliding into the seat across from him like I owned the place.

As I should, considering that I did.

Jax glanced up, his dark eyes traveling from the cookies to me, his expression unreadable. Then, deadpan: “You do realize you’re the reason I have to work out three times a day instead of just twice.”

I blinked.Twice?

So, that explained why it was impossible to miss the hard ridges of his abs when he’d had me trapped in that alley.

And then, to my horror, many ill-advised words happened. Like drunk ducklings in a row. “You won’t hear me complaining. Work those muscles all you want. Not that I’veseenyour muscles or anything. You always wear the hoodie. But I’vefelt— Um, never mind, I’ve just noticed them. I mean, obviously, I’ve noticed a lot of things, because I have eyes. But not in a creepy way. More like an observational way. Which also sounds creepy, but you like my observational— Okay, I’m gonna stop now.”

I wanted to delete myself from existence.

Jax didn’t say anything. He just sat there, watching me spiral, the faintest curve of amusement tugging at the corner of his mouth.

It was the kind of almost-smile that felt like winning the lottery when you hadn’t even bought a scratcher.

I cleared my throat, grabbing a cookie to shove into my mouth, because as tolerant as he was just now, chewing would be safer than talking.

His eyes tracked the movement, and the air between us grew charged.

I was halfway through demolishing a cookie—because nothing says damage control like stuffing your face—when it hit me.

“Wait!” I blurted, crumbs flying. “That’s not why I sat down.”

Jax arched one of his perfectly judgmental eyebrows. “The cookies or the muscle talk?”

“Neither.” I waved my hands dramatically, nearly smacking the plate of cookies. “I have a brilliant idea.”

He leaned back as if bracing for impact. “Does it involve heart-shaped sprinkles?”

“No. Well,maybe. But not in a bad way.”

He gave me a look. Part of it suggested heart-shaped sprinkles were always a bad idea, but the rest of it was just intrigued enough that it encouraged me to keep going.

“Okay, so, this is a two-part plan. First, you couldn’t get anything off the phone, right?” I asked, lowering my voice. He nodded once, so I pressed on. “What if we looped Chris in? He’s a tech wizard. If Harry Potter had a laptop instead of a wand, he’d be Chris.”

Jax didn’t even blink. “You want me to loop in the Harry Potter of hacking even though I don’t even know the guy?”

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