Page 98 of Back in the Saddle

I nodded. “We fell asleep watching movies. Or I did. We were going to spend the day together. But not now.”

“So I take it, it was a good date.”

“I fear his ex might be a narcissistic stalker. But overall, it was fantastic.”

Her brows hit her hairline. “Narcissistic stalker?”

“It’s a long story. I don’t have it in me right now to explain. But Eric has it in hand, so whatever she does, it’ll be okay.”

“Okay. So, um, did you…do it?”

Do it.

Only Harlow could make me smile right now.

“No. But he’s an unbelievably good kisser.”

She sat back. “Wow. You guys act like you did it.”

That was a strange thing to say.

“What does acting like we did it entail?” I asked, curious.

She shrugged. “I don’t know. You’ve had, like, one official date, and you’re super comfortable with each other. Like you know each other, you know, as inknow each other. You know?”

I kinda did.

“Well, I’ve slept with him twice. We just didn’t have sex either time,” I noted.

“Maybe that’s it,” she said. “I mean, Raye and Cap were like you and Eric before Raye and Cap did it. But they slept together too, before they went all the way. So that makes sense.”

Only Harlow would be twenty-nine years old and refer to fucking as “going all the way.”

God, I loved my chick.

“They’ll find him or we’ll find him, Jessie,” she said softly. “I’m not going to tell you not to worry. But I think you’ll see him soon.”

Oh, I’d see him soon.

The NI&S team solved a nineteen-year-old mystery of a kidnapped girl in about two weeks.

After Jeff being missing six months, I’d see my brother soon.

The question now was, how was I going to keep my cool when I did?

Because Katelyn was right.

Jeff was a grown-ass man, and his life decisions should be his own.

But he was also my baby brother.

And what it seemed he was doing scared the living daylights out of me.

ELEVEN

KEEP UP APPEARANCES

I’d taken a quick shower, changed, and we’d hit the storage units to get the Sportage. We swung by Fry’s but took a detour on our way to the homeless camp because we got a text from Jinx, who told us to meet her at the diner.

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