Page 85 of Wicked Deeds

“He’s very smart, isn’t he?” she said. “And hot, if you like older guys.”

Older guys? I tried not to splutter, telling myself she was only twenty-two. To her, Damon was ancient. Like me. “I do,” I gurgled eventually.

“I can tell. And he likes you right back, that’s obvious,” she grinned and held up a hand for a high five. “Go, big sis.”

I laughed and slapped her hand. “I’m no slouch in the brain department myself, and I’m guessing neither are you, if you’ve got the marks to get into one of these programs.”

“We’ll see,” she said. “I’ve been trying to study up on some things Yoshi told me about. Things move quickly in the tech world. Everything I learned before is out of date.”

“You’ll catch up soon enough.” The sun was starting to lower slightly. It would be less fun navigating our way back down in darkness. Besides, after the exercise, my stomach was growling.

“We should get back,” I said and started the descent.

Damon was sitting on the bed when I came out of the bathroom wrapped in a towel, once again blessing the luxury of high-tech showers. The steam and hot water had revived me after such a long hike.

“You’re home early,” I said, suddenly feeling even better.

“Wanted to see how you were doing.” He leaned back on the bed, studying me appreciatively. “How did it go?”

“Yeah, it was good, I think. It’s becoming easier for both of us.”

“Great.” He nodded his head toward the door. “There was some mail for you. A messenger brought it to the gate. I left it on your desk.”

“Package?” I asked. I did get the odd delivery. Packages from clients and office supplies and that kind of thing. I’m sure if I asked, Damon would get Amy to magically restock my office as she did his, but this was my business still. I paid the bills.

“No, an envelope. Are you expecting any documents?”

Not many people sent actual mail these days. There were a few who stuck to traditions like cards on birthdays and celebrations. Cassandra sent Christmas cards, but she didn’t do it for all the other holidays. It was probably an invite to a charity lunch or something. I got them regularly since Damon and Ihad gone public. So far, I always declined and Damon made a donation instead. Which is probably what they wanted, more than dealing with little old me who didn’t have the kind of wealth they were interested in.

“Thanks, I’m going to go work for a bit before dinner, unless you want me for something.”

“Always.” His eyes went hot. “But you have to work. And so do I.”

Darn. I should have dropped the towel when I first spotted him. But now I’d have to wait. “Any news?” I asked, wandering into the walk-in closet to grab clean clothes.

“Cassandra rang earlier. They’ve confirmed the Wheatley on the database isn’t a real person.”

“So that’s another point for Team Jack then,” I said, emerging with the clothes. I dropped them onto the bed and sat next to Damon.

He slid an arm around my shoulders. “Seems like it.”

I sighed. “Fine, I’ll see you for dinner.”

I dressed and marched down to my office, trying to recapture the happy buzz of hiking endorphins to chase away the small ribbon of ick the confirmation had given me. It was silly. I knew it was Jack. Had known it since I’d first seen the photo.

The envelope was on my desk, as Damon had said. Nothing special about it. Bigger than the usual invite and the paper was office supply yellow not fancy white or cream. Maybe a formal notification from the DNA database or something? I didn’t know if they sent a confirmation by mail. There was no return address. Just a printed address label with my name and the address.

I tore the edge and pulled out the contents without thinking and found myself staring at a photograph of Gwen and me on the hike.

What the fuck?

I nearly dropped the photo. But instead, I made myself turn it over.

You did not tell me you had a guest. U.

This time I did drop the photo. Or flung it away from me.Usurielwas sending me photos?

Oh, crap. Usuriel knew about Gwen.

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