Page 27 of Killer Clone

Hagen hunched his shoulders. Anja had emphasized his name just a little more than Stella’s.

Once outside, they drove out of the parking garage.

The resident agency receded in the rearview mirror. Their first day at work after their leave was fading behind them, and dinner lay ahead. He’d cook Korean again. He always had time for Korean.

Stella stretched her legs in the passenger seat. “So…anything you want to tell me about the newest member of our team?”

Hagen stiffened. He adjusted his grip on the steering wheel but kept his eyes on the road.

He knew what she was asking. There was no way anyone as observant as Stella would have missed the awkwardness of him seeing Anja this morning. “Anja?”

“Yes. Anja.”

Hagen considered how to answer.

“Do you want to tell me about her?” Stella pressed.

The only way out was through. “We dated for a couple months when we were stationed in San Francisco. We worked a drug-trafficking case together and got…close. The relationship lasted two or three months and ended when I transferred here.”

Out of the corner of his eye, he realized Stella was trying not to smile. His tension eased. She knew. And she knew, too, thatAnja Farrow from San Francisco was no threat to her. “You had athingwith her, huh?”

He relaxed into his seat. “Yeah, yeah. We had a thing. Briefly. Very briefly. Really not my type.”

“But enough of your type to…” She huffed. “Have athing.”

“Well, I…”

Damn, he loved the sound of Stella’s laughter.

He relaxed. “You know, one day, one of your old mistakes will come bubbling into our life, and I’m going to roast the heck out of you. Consider yourself warned.”

Stella laughed louder. “I don’t make mistakes.”

“Is that right?”

She linked her fingers through his. “You better hope so.”

Hagen did hope so. The twist in his gut told him he hoped so very much.

They pulled up outside the town house. From the other side of the door, Bubs barked, welcoming them home. Hagen watched as his dog jumped on Stella, bouncing on his remaining back leg to lick her face. This was home.

Stella pushed Bubs down. “What do you think about ordering pizza tonight?”

Managing not to groan, but barely, Hagen shut the door behind him.

Bubs ran back to his spot on the sofa with no more than a sniff in his general direction.

Hagen had meant to maketteokbokki. He had the black bean sauce all planned out. He could almost taste the kimchi he’d have on the side.

Stella flopped onto the sofa and brought out her phone. “Yeah, pizza. I’m hungry, I’m tired, and I don’t want to wait.” The screen already displayed the website of a local pizza chain. “And I definitely don’t want to spend the night washing dishes after you’ve cooked. I want to order pizza and eat from the box.”

“But I could just?—”

“Order pizza.” Stella lifted her phone and added mushrooms to the toppings. “Do anything, and you just might be making a mistake. Another one.”

“Right.”

Everything had a price. For the return of an old flame, mushroom-topped pizza instead of Korean rice cakes was pretty cheap.

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