Page 61 of Amethyst Flame
And later yet: where are yoooou???!
From Jacob:hey babe how you doing?
And later:Call Me.
Capitalized and punctuated. Ooh, Dane must be going out of his mind, and it made up for the years off my life his little mission had cost me. They could wait a little longer.
Nothing from Mom. She knew I was doing something dangerous, and she didn’t even call? Ouch.
I checked in with Swann first. “Hey.”
Dane and Jacob were listening in, of course. Probably cursing me and my priorities.
“Never mind,” she said again. “We’re watching old runway shows on YouTube. She has a pretty good eye and a pretty awful mouth. It’s like you’re related or something.”
“Speaking of awful…” I winced preemptively. “Can you keep her for tonight? Something came up at work.” Danglethatbait for them.
She was silent for a moment. “Something came up?”
“Nothing bad.” Okay, I was still sucking at secret agenting, but I didn’t know whoelsemight be listening, and I didn’t want to get Swann or Bri caught up in my bullshit.
“Mm-hmm.” At first I thought the noncommittal noise was doubt, but then she smacked her lips.
“Are you snacking without me?”
“Whose fault is that?”
Ruskin had said none of this was my doing. But I was caught now. “I owe you big time.”
“As always. I can’t keep her forever.”
I banged my forehead on the steering wheel. “I’ll be there as soon as I can. Thank you thank you thank you.”
“Just…watch yourself, yeah?”
“Yeah. Love ya.” I scrolled over to Jacob’s message and texted back:On my way
My phone pinged but I was already backing out. My erstwhile intern buddies were just leaving the building, and William was in the middle of the group. He put on sunglasses, hiding his brown eyes, but his head swiveled to follow the Fiesta.
When I checked my rearview, he was still watching. I’d avoided him after the impromptu fire drill, and I wondered how long I could hold him off. Had Dane figured out what Teller was up to yet? Seemed like I was the only one getting anything done.
When I got to Dane’s secret suburban lair, he and Jacob were both waiting outside, their expressions hotter than the slant of the Arizona sun.
“Hey, honeys, I’m home.” I slammed the car door.
“You used that joke before,” Dane informed me. “And it wasn’t funny then.”
I glanced at Jacob. “He been like this all day?”
Jacob glared back. “I’vebeen like this all day. What happened to you? Why’d you go dark after your all-clear text?”
“It was a trap. And Ruskin caught me.”
As they both froze—so much for the Arizona sun—I pushed past them into the house. The murky dark felt good after my commute. I headed straight for the fridge and began excavating.
Dane strode up behind me. “Ms. Taylor—”
I straightened to point a threatening finger at him. “No words. Food now.”
