Page 71 of Covert Affections (Shadow Agents/PSI-Ops #5)

Waverly eased up alongside her, her gaze locked on Jesse. “Damn,” she whispered.

“Damn is right,” added Lindy, biting her inner cheek.

Jesse arched a brow and stared between them.

Bill eyed them and then looked Jesse over slowly. He curled his lip, making an indignant sound. “You’re kidding. He ain’t nothing special. Here. Let me show you a real man’s chest.” With that, Bill removed the apron, tossing it on the water-soaked floor before going for his T-shirt next.

Lindy and Waverly shot forward, yanking on his shirt to keep it down.

“No!” Lindy let out a shaky laugh. “Uh, we can’t handle all your glorious manliness, Bill.”

Bill nodded, as if that explanation worked. “Yeah. I get it. Not many chicks can. No risk of that happening with Kitty-Scat though. He’s a total pussy .”

Waverly burped. It was dainty and cute. “Sorry. The chicken wing is coming back on me.”

Bill grinned. “They’ll do that. Watch out later. I farted once after eating a dozen of them—burned the hair off my asshole.”

Waverly’s eyes widened. “Is that something I need to worry about?”

Bill rubbed his scruffy chin and narrowed his gaze on her. “You got a hairy asshole?”

Waverly gasped. “No!”

He clucked his tongue in his mouth. “Then you should be fine.”

Waverly went to the area that they kept dry linens in. She returned with several hand towels. She tossed one at Bill. It hit him in the face. She gave two to Lindy and kept one for herself. “Never a dull moment around here.”

Lindy handed Jesse the extra towel. “Thank you for your help.”

He took the thing, their fingers brushing and lingering longer than need be. “Sure thing. What happened?”

The girls pointed at Bill.

Bill wiped his face with the hand towel and then blew his nose on it before handing it to Waverly. “What? Why is everyone pointing at me?”

Waverly took the hand towel, holding it out away from her like it might bite. “He made hot wings. I tried one.”

Jesse glanced back at the sink and then at the ceiling where the water had struck. “And that caused this?”

“Yes,” Lindy, Bill, and Waverly said together.

Gus turned to face them.

Jesse tipped his head, regarding the man with a strange expression on his face. No words were spoken, yet there was a heaviness in the air, as if a thousand words were being said despite the silence.

Bill chuckled. “Puss-N-Toots, how about you and Lindy go find a nice little storage closet or something to dry off in—together?”

It took Lindy a second to realize Bill was talking to Jesse. “Puss-N-Toots? How in the world did you come up with that nickname for him? Kitty-Scat is already bizarre enough.”

Jesse rubbed the back of his neck. “Inside joke.”

“I tried showing her the picture of you and your buddy rolling around the woods, naked, covered in my morning deposit. She didn’t wanna see them,” said Bill with a shrug as he went over to the now wet plate of wings on the center island.

Jesse let out a long, annoyed breath. “Delete the photos, Bill.”

“No. Can. Do.” Bill lifted a chicken wing and shoved the entire thing into his mouth. A second later, he pulled out the bones, minus any meat.

Jesse growled, sounding like a large animal.

“You don’t scare me.” Bill licked his fingertips and laughed. “Hey, Lindy-Lou. You really gotta invest in some things for your house now that Kitty-Scat will be living with you.”

Confused, Lindy stared at him. “Living with me? He’s not…we’re not…we barely…”

None of the words wanted to come.

Bill ate another chicken wing in record time.

He spit the bones into his hand before using his fingers as he began counting things off.

“You’re gonna need things like a scratching post. A litter box.

A cardboard box. Heard his kind are real big into them.

One of them mouse-on-a-string toys or a laser pointer.

Whichever. I don’t think he’ll care. Oh, and you should… ”

“Shut up,” said Jesse with another low growl.

Bill stuck his tongue out at the man. “Make me.”

Jesse made a move to go at Bill.

Lindy threw herself in Jesse’s path, which left her wet front pressed to his.

Jesse’s breath hitched, and his hands found their way to her hips.

Waverly fanned her face again. “Wow. I thought the wings were hot. The chemistry between the two of you is explosive. Tell me the sex is great.”

“It is,” said Jesse before clearing his throat. “I mean, um, there is no sex. None at all. And I’m…terrible in bed?” The last bit came out as a question. He closed his eyes and repeated the words softly, in something close to a whisper, as if he was shocked that he’d said them.

The entire thing was so adorable that Lindy couldn’t help but laugh.

“Somehow, I really, really doubt that. Thanks for fixing the water issue. I don’t suppose you know how to fix the sink so we can use it tonight?

It’s bad enough I’m running this place on a skeleton crew and minus a cook.

I don’t want to try to run it without water.

” She lifted a hand and pointed at Bill, already knowing what he’d do.

“And no, you cannot be the bar’s official cook. ”

Bill grunted and shoved another wet wing in his mouth, de-boning it with an expertise that was slightly off-putting.

Waverly’s attention was on Gus, who was turning the mannequin head as if giving it a better view of the kitchen. Waverly clasped her hands together. “How are you doing tonight, Gus?”

Gus froze, and the mannequin head was left staring directly at Waverly.

She beamed. “Mona looks lovely.”

Lindy’s brow knit. She couldn’t remember telling Waverly about Mona. Maybe Bill had. He spent enough time at the bar. It made sense.

Gus turned to face the empty wall near the stove once more.

Waverly smiled at Lindy. “How about Bill, Gus, Mona, and I clean the kitchen up and get started on a new batch of chicken wings that aren’t as hot for opening tonight?

The chili has a lid on it and was thankfully out of the range of the water, so it will be fine.

You can take your strappin’ young plumber there to the hardware store to get what is needed to fix the sink? ”

As much as Lindy wanted to be alone with Jesse, she didn’t trust her darkness. “I’ll go to the store on my own. Jesse has already invested enough of his time here. I’m sure he’s tired after working at the rescue all day. He doesn’t need to worry about…”

“I’d be happy to go to the hardware store with you,” Jesse said, cutting her off.

Waverly’s smile widened to the point Lindy thought the woman’s face might crack. “Great. Take Lindy’s car. Crap. Never mind. I forgot you had a breakdown and got a ride from the bakery owner dude.”

“Your car broke down?” asked Jesse, concern in his voice. “Where? When? Why didn’t call me?”

Lindy simply stared at him for what felt like forever. “Well, it broke down about three miles from here on the highway, on my way here today. And why would I have called you? I don’t even have your number.”

Bill snorted. “Yeah, Kitty-Scat. Why would she have called you? It ain’t like you’re her husband or something, right?”

Jesse flipped the man off in a not-so-subtle way by rubbing the bridge of his nose with his middle finger.

Bill laughed.

Waverly smiled. “You can take my car then.”

“Kitty-Scat can take her where she needs to go,” said Bill smugly.

Lindy started to protest.

“We don’t need to go to the hardware store,” said Jesse as he checked the sink area. “I’m pretty sure Lindy has everything needed to fix this in her garage.”

Lindy’s breath caught. How in the hell did he know what she did and didn’t have in her garage.

He glanced at her and tensed. “Uh, if you’re wondering how I know that, he told me.” He pointed at Bill.

Lindy stared at the small man. “And how would you know what I have in my garage?”

Bill pointed at Waverly. “She told me!”

Waverly’s eyes widened a second before she glanced at Gus in a weird way. She grinned and then pointed at Gus. “And he told me!”

Gus stood there, breathing through the snorkel tube, his eyes wide behind the snorkel mask.

Lindy gave up and tossed her hands in the air. “Fine. Jesse can give me a ride to my place and try to find what he needs to fix this. I’ll warn you, the garage is packed full of junk. I’m not sure anyone is finding anything.”

“That may be so, but I bet the two of you will have a lot of fun looking,” said Waverly as she chuckled.

“And, when you’re done with the fun, you could always call Robert and ask where stuff is out there.

You mentioned he’s been fixing things around your place since you’re basically hopeless when it comes to home repairs. ”

At the mention of Robert fixing things, Jesse grunted.

Bill snorted. “Might want to leave a fur ball or something next time you’re working on her honey-do list.”

“Bite me,” added Jesse.

Bill gave him the finger without bothering to make the gesture look like it was anything other than what it was.

Jesse reached into his front jean pocket and withdrew his keys. He held them up and jingled them, giving Bill a side-eyed look as if knowing they were something the man had been looking for. “You coming, Lindy?”

Lindy shook her head and motioned to Waverly. “She’ll go with you. I’ll handle clean up here.”

Gus lifted an arm and waved it around in a dramatic fashion, moaning, the sound echoing through the snorkel mask.

“No can do,” said Waverly. “I’m needed here. Go on. We’ll be open before you know it, and we’ll need a working sink.”

“Pretty sure I’m in charge here,” said Lindy with a grin.

“Sure you are,” said Waverly, winking. “Have fun…lots and lots of fun.”

Lindy glanced at Jesse.

He winked. “I don’t bite.”

Bill cocked his head to the side. “Funny. I heard you biting is part of the issue here.”

Jesse groaned.