Page 95 of Maneater

It’s not that I’m worried about whether Rory is going to be mad at me: she’s made it clear that she’s fine with my getting involved with Rowan, and Gabriel has confirmed that. She was also completely fine with my telling him everything.

I am well aware that there is no way Rowan is going to be okay with watching from the sidelines while Rory and I solve thismission, and she is not going to be okay with adding someone from outside the organization.

“Is she your boss?” he asks. I shake my head before explaining.

“My partner. We do assignments together a lot.”

“So you go around the country and what…? Solve crimes?”

“I mean, kind of. We do a lot of smaller assignments in the tri-state area—that’s where we are most of the time. But occasionally we get something big, and we’ll be shipped out somewhere. I live in Windale, right outside Hudson City.” He nods like he’s digesting this new information.

“Good. That’s great news.” My brows furrow, not understanding before he expands. “I’m in Hudson City,” he says low, brushing his lips along my temple, and I smile wide, understanding what he’s saying without actually saying it: it’s good because once this is all done and over with, we’ll still be close to one another.

Just like me, he isn’t looking for this to end as soon as this case is solved.

“And your boss?—”

I shrug. “I don’t know him, but I get my checks on time every other week, so I can’t complain much.”

He lets out a laugh and shakes his head like that sounds insane to him, which, I suppose, for regular people, it would be.

“I’ve never even seen him. He calls us or does faceless video calls. Kind of weird, but you get used to it.”

“I couldn’t do it, not knowing who I work for, not knowing where I’ll be next, not knowing what I’ll be doing next…” He shakes his head, like the idea alone is sending him into a tizzy, and I smile.

“That’s because you’re a boring paper pusher.”

“Boring, huh?” he asks, with a wide smile, and my god, I don’t think I’ve ever seen him look so loose, so relaxed, and so unbothered. I like the idea that I brought him that peace, no matter how short-lived it may be.

“Oh yeah. Super boring,” I say, stepping over to him. For a moment, I think we can delay the inevitable with one more roll in hisbed. He must see my intention poorly hidden on my face because he grins, shakes his head, and shifts until he’s sitting on the edge of the bed.

“Why do you seem so stressed about telling Rory?”

“Because I am.” He chuckles, and despite my roiling nerves, I can’t help but smile as well. I’m all smiles, a giant weight lifted now that there’s nothing between us.

Okay, and probably that I’ve finally gotten some.

“Why?”

“Are you going to let Rory and me do our job without your input?”

He looks at me with a bit of a shy look. “I was kind of thinking that I could help,” he says.

I let out a deep sigh.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought. And while I’m fine with that, Rory is going to see it as a bump in her carefully crafted plan. Where I am Type Q and essentially a human tornado, she is Type A plus. She will not be fond of a random man coming into our mission.”

“But I have access to—” he starts, but I shake my head, sitting up and pulling the blankets up with me.

“That won’t matter to Rory, not at first. What will matter to Rory is that we had a plan and then you and I fucked and?—”

“Does she know that?” he asks, staring at me, not annoyed but…intrigued.

“We’re girls, we talk. Just another thing you’ll have to get used to, my man.” I expect a glare, but instead, his arm wraps around my waist, tightening and pulling me close before pressing his lips to my hair like he likes my calling him my man. “She’s happy I found you again, happy that I seem to be happy with you, but she also knows that this”—I wave my hand between us—“is a distraction. We have a job to do here, and technically, we only have five more days to do it.”

“Five days?” he asks, and if I’m not mistaken, his tone is one of disappointment.

I smile.