Chapter 6
Present Day “What are you doing here?”
Rowan stared at the gorgeous redhead in the robe a couple inches too short. Or maybe exactly short enough, from his perspective. She had her hands on her hips, long auburn hair wrapped up in a towel, and he was pretty sure she wasn’t wearing underwear. “Having a cup of coffee with your kind sister.”
Blinking, then turning that fury on the petite brunette who had the same nose and eyes as Adalyn, she tempered her glare. “The one thing I asked you to do was not let anyone inside.”
“I recognized him from that picture. I figured he was safe.” Fleur shrugged as she poured another mug of coffee, handed it to Adalyn. “And hold on, I’ve got the almond creamer we both like.”
“You have a picture of me?” Rowan’s eyebrows shot up.
“What? No. I have no pictures of you. My sister is mistaken and shouldn’t have answered the door.” Ignoring him for now, she shot a hard glance at her sister. “I said don’t answer the door for anyone,” she repeated as her sister poured creamer in her mug.
“He’s wearing a ‘Dolly for President’ T-shirt and gaudy beads. I was playing the odds that he wasn’t a serial killer or whatever.” Fleur shook her head at Adalyn, and to his surprise, Rowan watched as Adalyn’s expression softened.
She had two modes: kickass and, well, kickass. He’d never seen that particular expression on her face. Ever.
“First, my beads aren’t gaudy, but you’re correct. No self-respecting serial killer would wear a Dolly T-shirt. They’d probably burst into flames for daring to sully her good name.”
Adalyn stared at him in what he could only describe as horror. “You still haven’t told me what you’re doing here.”
“Pretty sure you know exactly why I’m here.”
“No, Skye said she was sending a team. Not the biggest asshole in the world.”
Fleur let out a little gasp, probably at Adalyn’s rudeness. Because it was definitely out of the realm of normal for her. “Addy,” she murmured, almost admonishing. Or maybe just stunned.
“No, it’s fine. I deserve her anger,” he said.
“You can’t just…accept my anger, you big jackass!”
“Well, I do.” And he deserved it. He’d put a lot on her for planning an op that went sideways, but with hindsight and some distance, he knew that shit happened. Especially in the military and with high octane situations. He’d simply been looking for an outlet for his anger and had taken it out on the wrong person.
She let out a short scream, also out of the realm of normal for her, which said a lot for how exhausted she must be. Normally she was ice-cool and calm. “I seriously hate you!”
“I don’t hate you.”
“Yeah, anymore.”
“The rest of the team is all here getting the safe house set up,” he said, diverting the conversation back to the discussion at hand. “Gage is ready to get down to business with you but he needed to set up all his tools. I offered to pick you up.”
“You offered?” She made a scoffing sound.
“Yep.” Watching her intently, he sort of loved that she was glaring at him. And yeah, he loved getting her worked up. Which was probably messed up, but it was what it was. The woman basically lived under his skin, had for a lot longer than he wanted to admit. Even when he’d thought he hated her, he’d still wanted her. Had still thought about her. Obsessed.
“I don’t want or need your help.”
“Now that’s the Adalyn I know, refusing to work as a team.”
“What? You’re crazy.” Now she was full-on indignant. “I work with a team just fine.”
“Do you really? Or are you always expecting everyone to let you down so you never really let anyone have your back?”
Adalyn glared at him, looking every inch the warrior even in the skimpy robe that didn’t leave much to the imagination. “You’re out of your mind.”
But he wasn’t. Even when she’d worked with him overseas, it had been clear that she’d only ever trusted herself. That she was just waiting for people to let her down. And…he hated that he’d assumed the worst of her, had been one of those people.
Fleur cleared her throat. “Why don’t you go get dressed and I’ll entertain the man who is clearly your mortal enemy?”
Startled, he glanced at her sister and burst out laughing. “Oh, I’m going to like you, darlin’.”
“Don’t call her darlin’!” At that, Adalyn turned, coffee in hand, and didn’t exactly stomp from the kitchen, but she didn’t not stomp either.
Once they were alone, Fleur gave him a speculative look. “So you worked with my sister before?”
“Yep.”
“And you work with her now? Because she seems really surprised—and mad seems like an understatement—to see you.”
“We work out of different offices.”
“Hmmm.”
Apparently that was all he was going to get out of her. “So what are you making?”
“Crepes.”
“Fancy.”
She gave him a look he couldn’t define, but she had that same sharpness as Adalyn. Just in a softer package. “My sister’s a good judge of character, so just for the record, if you screw with her, you screw with me. And you’ll never see me coming when I take you down.”
He blinked in surprise at the quiet fierceness from the artist who he’d pegged as soft and gentle. In loose linen pants, a flowery tunic and her dark hair piled on her head in a messy bun, she didn’t have the same style or vibe as Adalyn. But apparently both women had steel backbones. “Noted. And yes, she is rightfully angry at me. But I’m trying to make things right.”
She sniffed once, but then said, “Are you allergic to anything?”
“Not that I know of.”
“Okay. Good, then.”
Adalyn strode into the kitchen moments later—and he hadn’t even heard her coming down the stairs this time—in jeans, a plain blue T-shirt and a scowl. “Just tell me where the safe house is and we’ll head there.”
“No way. I’m not missing out on these crepes. And I’m sure Fleur needs to pack.”
Fleur lifted a shoulder. “I already put some clothes together so I’m basically good to go. Just need to toss some toiletries into a bag.”
Adalyn looked at him, then his T-shirt, then back up at him with definite annoyance.
He frowned at her. “You don’t like Dolly?”
“I love her,” she growled, before turning away from him, showing off the most perfect ass God ever created.
Yep, he was so screwed when it came to her. And he needed to keep his shit together as much as she did. They had a job to do. “So, any ideas who’s behind this?”
When she turned to face him this time, all her annoyance was gone. Or at least under control. “Maybe. I’ve started a list. Also…” She turned to look at her sister. “I didn’t call Aunt Collette because I know her stubborn ass won’t listen, but I’ve got security on her.”
“You need to call her, make up with her,” Fleur said.
Adalyn grunted.
“So tell me more about this aunt. And who do you have on her?” Rowan asked, because he hadn’t been informed of any extra people in need of security.
“My aunt is a stubborn lunatic who runs a bar in the Quarter. She’ll never go into hiding or shut it down since it’s Mardi Gras,” Adalyn said. “So I didn’t bother talking to her—”
“That’s not why you didn’t call her,” Fleur murmured.
Adalyn took a deep breath, but was clearly ignoring what her sister had said. “I called in a favor, hired someone from Red Stone Security. Actually two someones. A small team. I contacted an old friend before my flight even took off and she sent ‘two of her best.’ They’re not going to let my aunt out of their sight and they’re securing her apartment and bar as best they can.”
Red Stone was a solid outfit, worked all over the globe at this point. Rowan nodded his approval. “So what else have you done other than make a list of potential suspects?”
She lifted a shoulder, flicked a glance at her sister who wasn’t paying attention to them. Or not obviously anyway.
He was certain she’d reached out to old contacts. It was what he would have done.
“I keep thinking about what happened on our last job together, wondering if this is somehow related or if I’m just projecting my regrets. Or…” She trailed off, her eyes getting that faraway look as she turned away from him.
Iciness settled inside him as memories swelled. “You think someone related to Ali could be involved?”
She went still in that fascinating way that was almost preternatural, but didn’t respond.
“Who is Ali?” Fleur didn’t look up from the countertop as she chopped strawberries. Yeah, she was listening to everything they said.
And Adalyn cut him a hard look.
He held up his palms.
“No one to worry about,” she murmured, gently rubbing her sister’s back. “And I don’t know,” she said to him. “I’ve put out feelers. I…” She scrubbed a hand over her face and he could see the exhaustion creeping in, knew she wouldn’t have had much sleep, if any after the last op. He knew from Skye that she’d gotten home, then jumped on another flight to get to her sister. “I just don’t know who’s behind this yet.”
“We’ll figure it out and keep your sister safe.” And screw it, he wanted to pull Adalyn into his arms and comfort her. If he tried, she’d knee him in the balls, but the compulsion was still there. Always had been, if he was being brutally honest with himself. Almost from the moment he’d met the woman.
They both paused at a soft scratching sound at the front door and before he could pull out his pistol, Adalyn had hers drawn, motioned for him to stay back.
Yeah, right.
He moved with her, eased to one of the windows as she slid up to the one opposite the front door. They both looked out their respective windows—and sheathed their weapons at the same time.
Sighing, she headed back to the kitchen and he realized that she was going to ignore what was behind the door.
But he opened it, much to her annoyance if her little huff was an indication, to a little mutt sitting there wagging his or her tail.
“Hey buddy, or lady,” he added when he realized the scruffy brown and black dog was a girl. She had to be about thirty or thirty-five pounds, and whew, definitely needed a bath. But when she let her tongue hang out, he could see that she had good teeth and oh, she was so cute.
“What are you doing?” Adalyn demanded when he left the door partially open.
“I’m getting her some water,” he said dryly.
“Don’t look at me like I’m a monster. I’m not trying to bring another living thing into this mess right now, that’s all. And this is likely just a neighbor’s dog. We shouldn’t mess with her.” She wasn’t a huge fan of large animals in general—they were terrifying, especially horses. Cats she could deal with. But this… dog was fairly small and sort of cute.
“She’s not anyone’s,” Fleur said, looking up from the stove after pointing out where he could find a bowl. “I’ve tried to feed her and get her to come inside, but she never does. One of my neighbors feeds and waters her sometimes, and I think gave her flea control, but I don’t know more than that. She just stops by when she feels like it. Clearly she likes you, Addy.”
Adalyn looked down at the mutt, who’d pranced inside as if she owned the place and was now wagging her tail and looking up at Adalyn with big brown eyes. “It’s not personal, dog. I just prefer cats.”
The dog rolled on her back and started shaking all her paws at Adalyn like a total weirdo.
“Come on, Addy,” Rowan said, snickering. “She wants pets.”
Sighing, she crouched down and scratched the dog’s belly. “Probably has fleas.”
“No way, look at her. She’s kinda grungy but no fleas that I can see.” Rowan got down with her, ignoring how good Adalyn smelled. Or he tried to ignore her, but some things no mortal could do. “She just needs a bath and a vet check. They could tell us if she’s microchipped, has an owner. If not, we can take care of her.”
“We’re not going to take a dog in right now.” But there was no heat in Adalyn’s tone and he knew she was already softening because of this adorable doggo. So apparently animals were her kryptonite because she had that same soft look in her eyes as when she looked at her sister.
Rowan smothered a smile because it would just piss her off. Instead he decided to go with reverse psychology. “Yeah, you’re probably right. We’ll just leave her when we head out. She’ll be fine on her own. About how long do you think until breakfast is done, Fleur?”
“Five minutes, maybe. Then I’ll pack and we can head out.”
“Sorry, sweet girl, we’re leaving you behind,” he added, driving the guilt home.
“I hate you,” Adalyn muttered to him. “And I know what you’re doing.”
It was hard, but he bit back another grin. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
She looked down into those big brown eyes and Rowan could see the instant she made the decision. She sighed. “Fine. We’ll take the dog.”
Cat person, my ass.