Page 41 of My Vigilante Valentine

It was true. Case in point: he’d mistaken my cousin for a guy who liked me.

And since trust was hard-earned with Jax, I’d have to make my case while being sensitve to that.

“I still haven’t told him anything, but he’s a white hat hacker. Trust me, you can trust him. He has more secrets than the CIA—without the whistleblower problem.”

Jax’s jaw tensed, and then he shrugged one very large shoulder. “I’ll think about it.”

“Last time you said that, I got my way,” I pointed out with a wry smile.

His mouth twitched like he was fighting one of his own, and spoiler alert: he was losing that battle.

I leaned back, mentally drafting the text I’d send Chris. Unless it shouldn’t be in writing? Yeah. Better safe than sorry. We’d have to discuss this face-to-face.

Jax rubbed the back of his neck, and something told me he was two seconds from losing his patience with this interruption of his virtual street prowling. Then he leveled me with that broody stare—the one designed to make people back off.

Unfortunately for him, I was not people.

“You said you had a two-part plan,” he warily reminded me. “What was the second part?”

I clapped my hands together, sitting up straighter as I dropped my voice to a near-whisper. “Right. Here it is: we pretend to be a couple. Act like bait for The Valentine Villain. Then…boom, when he tries to attack us, you do your thing. Easy peasy.”

Silence.

Followed by an even more pronounced silence, which felt like an achievement. I didn’t realize there was a step below what he was already doing, but I felt it in the air as he stared at me like I’d just suggested we infiltrate the criminal underworld dressed as giant avocados.

I started to get nervous as he continued to stare.

Unmoving. Unblinking.

Like his entire system had gone into full reboot mode.

Then, without warning, he shoved back from the table. “Absolutely not.”

I wrinkled my nose as I blinked up at him. “Is that ahardno or asoftno?”

He didn’t answer, just jerked his head toward the back room and stalked off, leaving me to scramble after him like I had any choice in the matter.

The tension in his shoulders was clear as day as I followed him down the hallway, and the way his fists were clenched at his sides suggested he was trying to hold onto his last shred of sanity.

Which, if I had to guess, wasmyfault.

And honestly? I was fine with it.

He could definitely stand to loosen up a little.

The back room of Wilde Brew was nowhere near as cute as the front of house. Boxes of coffee beans were stacked against the walls, and there was only enough room for supplies of various kinds and the desk where I did all of my adult-business-owner things.

Still, Jax stalked in like it was a fully functioning interrogation room, and the mood he emptied into the small space had me feeling like I’d just been arrested for murder.

Ironic, considering who he was.

“You can’t seriously think using yourself as bait for a killer is a good idea,” he bit out, closing the door and turning to face me with eyes full of fire.

I crossed my arms and squared up with him.

Sure, he was tall and intimidating, but I was a stubborn, millennial, small-business owner with a caffeine addiction—basically invincible.

“You’re not the only one who cares about the people in this city,” I shot back. “Unless someone steps up, every lovey-dovey couple in Slate Harbor stays a target.”

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