a text alert and when I saw Desmond’s name on the screen my heart leapt.
Working? he asked.
Always. Busy day?
Always. What are you wearing?
Ziiiing. The words shot a spear of excitement right to my lady parts. Unfair.
My sexiest black tactical gear, I replied.
Hot. I can’t wait to see that this weekend.
For the first time in a long time, he was making his way out to see me, rather than me coming to him. It was also part of a planned trip to visit the local king and hopefully argue a case that would allow me to keep working here if and when I let Des bite me.
Baby steps, but I was thrilled to see him working with me rather than against me on this.
Love you lots, I wrote back.
More than bagels?
More than bagels.
Good.
As the sun dipped out of sight, the passenger door opened, and a handsome young redheaded man with a smattering of freckles across his nose and cheeks climbed in beside me and handed me a fresh cup of coffee. He placed a box of donuts on the armrest between us and quietly shut the door behind him.
“Thanks.”
“I miss anything?”
“What do you think?”
He sipped his own coffee and brushed his thick hair back from his forehead. He’d been trying different styles with it lately, and while this new cut suited his face, he spent entirely too much time preening for my taste.
“Who are you trying to impress?” I asked, slipping the coffee into the empty holder.
The floor in the backseat was already littered with cups and takeout boxes from the hours we’d been sitting here.
“You never know, maybe there’ll be a cute girl somewhere who I need to look good for.”
I snorted. “On a stakeout?”
“Maybe I’m secretly in love with you and hoping you’ll come to your senses one day and realize you love me too,” he suggested.
“That’s about as likely as us ending this job before dawn.”
Harry chuckled, but thankfully also stopped playing with his damn hair. His new body had taken a little getting used to, but I preferred it to the look of the first cult leader he’d been in. This guy—who had also been an evil douche in his lifetime—had the soft features and warm brown eyes of a nice guy. He didn’t look evil, which was pretty remarkable considering there was now a demon living inside him full-time.
Tyler hadn’t loved the idea of me continuing to let Harry roam freely, but since he’d more than proven himself in New York, he had been acting as my protégé since we’d gotten back to Los Angeles.
The team here was going to need someone they could rely on if I decided to move back to New York permanently.
Which was still a big if, but I was inching closer and closer to it every day. Desmond and Holden were right, it was time for me to go home, and the past month had shown me there was plenty of bad to be fought no matter where I went.
Harry’s knee jostled anxiously.
“Stop that.”