Page 28 of Baking and Angels

Helena hovered over his shoulder, wrinkling her nose at the picture. “Yeah, I think so. That address looks familiar. That bastard went under, huh? Can’t say I’m sorry. Couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy,” she said dryly, still clearly bitter from the experience.

“I don’t know,” Rafferty said, a grin sneaking onto his face. “It gave me the opportunity to be your knight in shining armor.”

That reminder allowed his grin to infect her, and she even blushed a bit before slipping her arms aroundhis neck.

“I love you,” she whispered into his neck. “You know that right? I meant what I said at the Winter Rose Ball.”

He didn’t say it back. He couldn’t. Instead, he made himself wrap his arms around her smaller body and pull her against him, shielding her with his whole being from the world, and himself. “I believe you.” Somehow, that meant more to him than the other words at that moment. “I believeinyou.”

They squeezed each other harder, and while they did, everything felt right.

“I know everything is weird and complicated right now, but we will figure this out. Right?” Helena asked.

“Yeah,” he agreed. Because he had to agree. He had to have faith.

Breaking the hug at last, he looked down at his… girlfriend, delighted to call her such, even if just in his own mind. “Do you think the agents will allow us to just leave?”he asked.

“Well, we’re not prisoners. I think. They encouraged us to stay put, but I don’t think they can make us. And besides, I’m less worried about Vassago now than I was before.” She stepped back from their shared embrace, grinning mischievously. “I betcha I can takehim now.”

When he didn’t smile back, she sobered a little, cupping his cheek withher hand.

“I need to tell you something,” he breathed. “It’s aboutVassago.”

Worry quirked her eyebrows. “What about him?”

He rubbed his fingers at the lines her worry made. “We don’t have to fear him anymore. I wanted to tell you sooner, but… I guess I’m telling you now. I made a dealwith him.”

Helena shifted away so she could look him full in the face, her eyes alarmingly wide. “What do you mean you made a dealwith him?”

“He came to see me at the agent’s office.”

“Yes, you told me that. I sawhim, too.”

Rafferty continued. “Well, we made a deal. He won’t harm us or anyone.” He hoped his words would reassure her, but those lines between her eyebrows only deepened, her eyes reflecting more alarm.

He thought she would ask a million questions, demand answers, but she didn’t. Instead, she wrapped her arms around him tighter, hugging him hard, and buried her face into his shoulder. “You are such agood man.”

“It wasn’t that kind of deal,” he whispered into her hair, answering the question she didn’t ask. “I promised him I would not reveal any information about him to the authorities, and he promised he would leave us alone. You, me, your friends, even Scarlet. It’s demonbound; he’s obligated to keep it as long as I don’t speak of the deal with anyonebut you.”

She remained silent for a thinking moment.

“And if I tell anyone, then it voids your dealas well?”

He swallowed. “Yes. The language of the deal covers that, but I couldn’t not tell you, so I made it a stipulation. I don’t want to keep secrets like thatfrom you.”

She pulled away again. “So instead of demanding your mind, body, or soul, he bargained for your silence,” she said, working it out on her own. “But what about anyone else he might hurt in themeantime?”

Of course, her mind would go toward that. After all, she was a good person.

“That sort of thing would have too high a cost. I protected what I could. We’re all safe.” He thought about it a moment longer, seeing the situation through her eyes. “I… I didn’t want to risk my soul or my life again. That may be terrib—”

She grabbed his head and pulled it down to kiss him firmly. “Thank you,” she said when she broke it, gratitude floodingher eyes.

“For what?” he asked, startled by her gesture. She clearly didn’t understand what a piece of shit he was to bind her to a promise like that without asking her.

“For saving my friends. Trusting me to keep your promise and protect you,” she said, then she kissed him again, a soft, chaste kiss filled with blessed tenderness. This he didn’t pull away from; ease washed through him. “Okay, so we’re safe, but specifically which friends, besides Scarlet? What about Cindy? AndCharlie?”

“Yes, and Chris.”

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