Page 85 of My Vigilante Valentine

She’d been right back at Chris’s apartment. This really was thebest day ever.

“What was that for?” she breathed, finally making her way out of that kiss-induced stupor.

Happy beyond belief, I pressed quick kisses across her jaw before whispering in her ear, “Because I can.”

Her responding shiver was worth every single thing it had taken to get here.

“And just... thank you,” I told her.

She jolted slightly. “For what?”

“For being you.” I tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “For what you’re doing.”

“And… what am I doing other than totally melting on a public sidewalk like a discarded ice cream cone?”

I laughed at the visual, way too pleased that she’d found her sass again. “You’re making me better.”

Her smile was soft, intimate in a way that couldn’t have been more unfamiliar to me. “Well, Mr. Thorne, you were already pretty great. But I’ll take the praise, and you’re welcome.”

I kissed her again, gentler this time, before pulling back with a sigh. “We should get you home so you can rest before tomorrow.”

She nodded, but her eyes were sparkling with excitement. “Our first field mission as a team.”

“Asmallfield mission,” I reminded her as I held her door before letting myself in on the other side.“From the van.”

“A side quest—and van or no van, it still counts as the field.” She poked my chest from across the center console. “And don’t think I’ve forgotten about the code names.”

20

vigilante-adjacent

Chris’s van smelled like energy drinks, melted wires, and just a hint of Doritos dust.

I studied the bank of monitors he’d set up, each one showing a different angle of the creepy warehouse where Jax was about to do his thing.

The screens cast an eerie blue glow over everything, making the cramped space feel even more like the covert mobile command center Chris had designed it to be.

“Doing all right over there?” Chris asked, not looking up from his laptop where lines of code scrolled past faster than I could track.

My leg bounced so hard the van shook, but Chris didn’t even look up. “Totally. Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Because your boyfriend is about to take down a money laundering operation, and you’re stuck in a smelly surveillance van with me?”

“First of all, it’s not that smelly. It’s just…snacky. Doritos are the best.” I wrinkled my nose, not even fooling myself with this I’m-totally-fine act. “And second... he’s done this a milliontimes before, all of which occurred before we came along. He’ll be fine.”

Chris’s fingers flew over the keyboard. “Uh-huh. That’s why you keep checking the time like you’re waiting for cookies to come out of the oven.”

I shoved my hands under my thighs, hoping it would keep me from checking my phone again. “I just want to make sure everything goes according to plan.”

“The plan where you stay in the van and don’t do anything crazy?”

“Totally. Yep.”

Static crackled in my earpiece, followed by a classicallyJaxsnort. “Yeah, Menace. Because following orders is totally your thing.”

His dig had zero effect on me because— “Blade,” I hissed, my heart-eyes on full blast as I brought a hand to my chest, “did you justcode nameme?”

Chris tried and failed to muffle his laughter, but there was silence from my earpiece.

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