Page 67 of Fierce-Trent

“How about you, Trent?” Janine asked. “You and Jonah shared a room growing up you said. How bad was your room?”

“My side of the room was always neat,” he said. “Jonah, on the other hand. He was messy and stinky. That’s what happens when you work out all the time.”

“But you work out,” Janine said. “You run and lift weights.”

Yeah, he was catching on now. Janine was trying to make him look good in front of Roni. He’d have to fill her in and could use this as an example of him catching on.

Since the Fierces hadn’t said Roni’s name to him—no one had—it’s not like he knew for sure. Just that he was suspicious.

“I do,” he said. “But I shower right after. No reason to stink people out.”

Roni rolled her eyes and shook her head. Eli grabbed the candy, picking out what he liked the best, then the two of them left. He’d talk to her later tonight when she got back from trick or treating.

“She’s such a good mother, don’t you think?” Janine asked him.

“She seems it,” he said. “How much do you know about her?”

Might as well let Janine think she was getting somewhere with her dirty work for the Fierces. Probably his mother too. This wasn’t an angle he saw coming.

“Not much. She’s a single mother and young. She hasn’t been married and Eli is with his father half the time. That would be way too hard for me. I couldn’t have given my child up for days on end when they were that young.”

“She seems pretty strong,” he said. “Or she has a good handle on it. You know as well as I do that a father has just as much of a right to time with their child as their mother.”

“I know,” Janine said. “And Eli seems well adjusted so it’s all good. I just like her. I think I’ve got a soft spot for her. I’m surprised you don’t.”

“Why is that?” he asked.

“You know, fixing and saving people,” Janine said.

“Other than her car, I don’t know that she seems like she needs saving unless you know something I don’t.”

Janine frowned. “I guess you’re right. But you know everyone wants to see you settled down too.”

“Define everyone,” he said. “My mother?”

“Well, yes,” Janine said.

“And has she asked you to find a nice young woman for me?” He might as well put her on the spot.

“No,” Janine said. “She has not asked me to find you a woman.”

“Has anyone else?” he asked.

There was hesitation. Just enough for him to know he caught her. But she was good and she’d weigh her words. She was smart too.

“No one asked me to find you anyone,” she said.

“Good,” he said. “I can find my own woman.”

He was smiling when he said that and went back into his office.

* * *

The minute Trent’sdoor was shut and Janine heard him on the phone, she grabbed her cell phone and went to the other end of the office where Trent couldn’t hear her if he got off his call, but she’d be able to see him coming toward her.

“Did you get anywhere?” Carolyn asked when she answered.

“I don’t know. But I’m positive Trent is onto me. Or us. Or everyone.”

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