Page 86 of Once a Killer

As much as she hated the thought of some other woman in bed with Jameson, he deserved far more than her damaged self.

She rolled over and burrowed into Jameson’s side. Inhaled his spicy, sexy, outdoorsy scent. As she dropped into a deep sleep, she felt his lips brush over her head. Heard him whisper ‘you’re everything to me, Bree’ into her ear.

Instead of reacting, she pretended she was already asleep. But it was a long time before her eyelids fluttered closed.

* * *

They got to work earlier than usual the next morning, and Jameson nodded at Bree. She’d predicted that none of the engineers would be in the lab yet -- nothing had happened that would signal he was on the verge of getting his patent. Over breakfast, they’d scripted everything out, until both of them were comfortable with the timeline.

Jameson would put an appointment with his patent attorney on his calendar for tomorrow, as he usually did with his meetings and other lab-related business. They’d work normally today, but Bree would keep a close eye on the four engineers. Try to judge their reactions to the attorney appointment on Jameson’s calendar.

When they opened their calendars, Brewster, Hayley and Joe glanced toward Jameson, then went back to work. Stu appeared oblivious as he studied his computer. No one seemed upset or surprised.

Jameson’s gaze flicked to hers, but Bree was careful not to react. At noon, she stood up and said, “I’m going to order lunch from that Mexican place and have Uber Eats deliver it. You want anything?”

He pretended to think about it for a moment, then said, “Yeah. Can you get me a chicken burrito?”

“Sure,” she said easily.

Twenty minutes later, as she headed out the door, he pressed some bills into her hand. “Thanks, Bree. While you’re fetching lunch, I need to get some paperwork together. I have a meeting with my patent attorney tomorrow.”

“Progress on that patent?” she asked.

“I think so,” he said. “My attorney said she has some good news.”

She wanted to turn and look at the four engineers, but knew they were probably watching.. “Fingers crossed,” she said.

“Yeah.” He smiled, but she could see the tension in the lines of his face. “I’m hungry. Hope the guy’s on time.”

“Yeah, me too,” she said. She was used to doing everything by herself. But since she’d met Jameson, she couldn’t think of anything that wasn’t more fun with Jameson involved.

As she stepped out of his office, she said, “Be right back.” On their way to the lab that morning, they’d talked about him being alone for a short time. Bree had pressed a cannister of pepper spray into his hand and told him to keep it within easy reach while she was gone.

Now, as she walked out the door, Jameson gave her a wave but didn’t look up from his work.

She rode the elevator downstairs, then took a bag from the waiting Uber Eats guy in the lobby. She handed him the tip Jameson had given her, then watched as he drove away.

Instead of waiting for the elevator, she bounded up the three flights of stairs and was back in the lab in under five minutes. As she stepped into Jameson’s office, she said, “My lucky day,” as she handed him his burrito. “The Uber Eats guy was right on time.”

“Thanks, Bree,” he said as he accepted one bag without looking at her. “We’ll go together to lunch next time.”

“I’ll hold you to that,” she said as she sat down at her desk and opened her own burrito.

For the rest of the day, Jameson pretended to be working on his program. Bree knew he was actually working on possible scenarios for tomorrow night, trying to identify all the variables and possible outcomes. She could have told him the thing most likely to happen was something he hadn’t thought of but knew it didn’t matter. This was his process, and he needed to work through it.

Bree pretended to be working on her e-zine project about his lab. What she was really doing was watching the four engineers, looking for any tells that might give her a clue about who would show up tomorrow night.

But either none of them was guilty, or their target was really good at hiding his or her reactions. She was betting that it was the latter.

She’d find out which was the case tomorrow night.

Chapter 30

On the drive to work in Bree’s rental car the following morning, Jameson called the patent attorney he’d been using. Her receptionist answered with a chirpy, “Good morning. Ellis and Anders.”

“Hi, Abby,” he said, recognizing the receptionist’s voice. “Jameson Ford here. Is Valerie available? I need to speak to her urgently.”

“Let me check and see if Ms. Ellis is free,” the receptionist replied, then put him on hold.

---