Page 38 of My One and Only

“She’ll be doing it again before long,” Jo said, her voice easy. “I’m hoping we’ll be able to figure out pretty quickly who’s targeting you. We’ll start with that blue truck. The license plate number was obscured with mud, but we can use the details I caught to narrow it down.”

Cam tilted his head. “What did you notice?”

“The make, the model, the color. And it was fairly new, which should help.”

“How are you gonna use that information?”he asked.

“My boss Mel is an excellent hacker. And she also has contacts all over the country. She’ll be able to access the Illinois license plate database and get a list of all the trucks that match our description. Without a license plate number, it won’t tell us who the owner is, but it’ll narrow it down.”

“Okay,” he said slowly. “Yeah, that could be a start.”

Jo nodded. “Then I’ll call the local police departments and find out if anyone reported a stolen truck.” She shrugged. “Could be a rental, too. Or maybe stolen from someone on vacation who hasn’t realized it’s missing yet. But it’s worth a try. I’ll get Mel working on that today.”

Cam frowned. “I thought you were going to be with me?”

“I am. But I can work on that while you’re working on your own stuff.” She raised one eyebrow. “I assume you have Wi-Fi at your office?”

“Of course I do,” he said, his voice gruff.

“That’s all I need.” She studied him for a long moment. “You gonna shower this morning?”

“Yeah, if I’m going into the office.”

“Good. I’ll stand outside your bathroom in case you fall down.”

“I’m not going to fall, Jo.” He scowled at her. He hated that Jo was seeing him this way -- wobbly and pathetic. “I feel much better today.”

“Then why do you care that I’ll be standing outside your bathroom door?” She waited patiently for his answer.

He turned his back to her and struggled to move naturally. He didn’t want to seem weak around Jo. And that was stupid. Hewasweak, although not as bad as yesterday. But he didn’t want Jo to think he was helpless. And that was a damn problem.

“Sorry, Jo,” he finally said. “I don’t like being sick.”

She studied him for a long moment, then smiled. “You never did, Pierce. I could always tell when you had a cold. You were like a bear with a sore paw. Cranking at everyone.”

That was the problem with old friends. They remembered everything -- both the good and the bad. “Fine,” he huffed. “I’ll take a shower, then we’ll head into the office.”

And he’d put in a day’s work if it killed him.

Chapter 12

After Cam finished his shower and was safely back in his room, Jo took her own quick shower in the hall bathroom, then threw on fresh clothes. Cam was still in his bedroom, presumably getting dressed. Jo hurried into the kitchen and checked out his refrigerator. Pulled out a carton of eggs, a hunk of cheddar cheese, a package of English muffins and some butter. By the time Cam walked into the kitchen, looking much steadier than he had the day before, she almost had scrambled eggs and muffins ready.

“Have a seat,” she said, glancing at him over her shoulder. “Breakfast coming up.”

He studied her, standing in front of the stove, and scowled. “Cooking isn’t in your job description,” he said.“You didn’t have to make breakfast.”

“I did if I wanted to eat,” she shot back. She used a spatula to scoop the eggs onto two plates, then added a buttered muffin to each of them.

“I usually pick something up on the way to work,” he muttered, and her lips twitched at his grumpiness.

Clearly, he didn’t like being taken care of. Which was too damn bad. Her job was guarding him, and as far as she was concerned, that meant making sure he ate. “If you prefer fast food to homemade, you can do that tomorrow. But today we’re eating cheesy eggs and muffins.” She slid one of the plates of eggs and a muffin in front of him. “You want jam on your muffin?”she asked.

“Sounds good,” he said around a mouthful of eggs. Swallowing, he said, “Thank you, Jo. This was really nice of you. How did you know I’d be ravenous?”

She shrugged one shoulder. “Not hard to figure that out. You ate hardly anything the last three days.”

Grabbing her own plate, she slid into the same chair she’d used last night and began to eat. She didn’t speak, and neither did he. He was too busy eating.

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