Page 132 of Tapped

Chase is stomach down on an office chair spinning in circles. Evie is on the phone, but her gaze shoots to me where I stand in the doorway.

This entire scene brings me back to the day we met.

“Mom, it’s all good. I’ll see you in the morning when you come to the house to stay with Chase. We’re safe to go home.”

Chase drags the toes of his sneakers on the carpet and stops himself but trips to the side when he runs to me. “Can we go now?”

I lean down to toss him into my arms. “Yeah. We can go home.”

He coughs in my face. “Are you coming with us?”

I do my best to wipe the germs away, but it’s Evie who answers that question, and she announces it to the room. “Yes, Mom. He’s coming home with us.”

31

EVIE FAN

Evie

Iroll and look toward my bathroom. The door is cracked and the light is set to low.

I grab his pillow and pull it to my face.

It smells like him.

Like sex.

Like us.

I hear the water turn on and off before the light clicks and he moves through the dark.

“Are you sneaking out on me without saying goodbye?”

His large, shadowed frame stops. When he bends to flip on the lamp, I see alert blue eyes and messy damp hair kissing his forehead.

He sits on the side of the bed next to me and brushes the hair from my face. “Why are you awake?”

I roll to my back and look up at him. “This getting up in the middle of the night for one of us to leave needs to stop.”

“It does,” he agrees.

“I have a feeling you downplayed what it is you’re doing this morning.”

He shakes his head. “We’re going to arrest some people. If they’re where they’re supposed to be, it’ll be a lot of people.”

My eyes travel down his body through the dark room. “Your pants have a lot of pockets. I’ve never seen you wear anything like that before.”

“It’s not a big deal, baby. The whole thing will be done before you can fire up your fancy coffee maker.”

I take his hand in mine, pull it to my chest, and hold it over my heart. “Is this similar to you lying about not being worried to return with Braim on the loose?”

He narrows his eyes and pulls in a deep breath. “This is different. When we didn’t know where Braim was, we were on defense. I’m on offense today. Good guys always win.”

I pull his hand to my lips and kiss his palm. “Be careful, Micah. If I have to dig a bullet out of you, I won’t be happy.”

He smiles and leans down to kiss me way better than I’ve ever kissed him. “You being happy is the best reason for me not to get shot. I’ll do my best.”

I catch him behind the neck before he has a chance to sit up, or worse, leave me. “You saved us. Chase and I are attached. You can’t leave.”

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