Page 12 of Darcy
I hear her before I see her. Her domain echoes with the clatter of metal and the squeal of machinery as she leans over her workbench in a set of baggy coveralls.
Pierce is leaning over the hood of the car, but he’s not even pretending to look at the engine. His eyes are glued to her ass as she focuses on whatever she’s working on.
“How did the chocolates go?” I ask, sneaking up beside him.
He jerks, and I grin, delighting in being able to surprise the unflappable ex-cop.
“She had the box sent off to a lab to be examined for bugs,” he mutters under his breath.
I can’t help the giggle that escapes my throat. Pierce is so head-over-heels obsessed with Tabby it’s adorable, but she’s completely oblivious. On more than one occasion, she’s had me hack into his accounts, looking for proof that he’s a spy.
She’s convinced he’s here to arrest us all, even though he left the force ages ago.
“She’ll figure it out eventually,” I promise.
Tabby is one of the smartest women I know, but when it comes to dating, she’s almost as hopeless as I am, just in a different way.
“Tabby-cat!” I have to shout over the noise of whatever she’s doing.
She pauses, turning back to stare at us both with suspicious eyes. Oops, better step away before she decides I’m a co-conspirator in Pierce’s evil plans.
“I’ll leave you two,” the driver murmurs, picking up his suit jacket from the chair and heading for the door.
The moment he’s gone, Tabby is there, inspecting the car where he was working, looking for proof of sabotage or whatever she thinks he’s up to now.
“Nothing,” she mumbles to herself.
“Hello to you too,” I reply. “I came to pick up some stuff.”
She jolts, looking at me as if she’s just remembered I’m here. “New drone?” she assumes, heading back to the workbench.
“And a bot as well. I have no idea what I’ll need.”
“Well, this one has a laser cutter.” Tabby throws a collapsed hexapod robot at me, and I tuck it safely into the front pocket of my hoodie. “And I’ve added night vision and an infrared camera to this one.” She tosses me a drone, the four arms folded down for easier transport.
I add that to my pocket as well. “Awesome.” All the better to spy on my guys—I mean, marks—with.
Her eyes narrow. “You’re usually more excited when you’ve been given a new mission.”
I chew my lip but shake it off. “Boy troubles.”
“Need me to dismember Tod?” she asks. “I can rewire his toaster so it electrocutes him every time he turns it on.”
I grimace. “Tommy, and no. I’m good.” I go to hug her, then think better of it and settle for a nod. “Thanks, Tabby-cat. See you when I get back?”
She nods, drifting back to her worktable—me and my boy drama already forgotten.
I don’t take it personally as I weave my way back through the house. My absence has given Martha all the time she needs to get through my laundry, and my clothes are neatly folded in my closet by the time I return. I admire the piles before I mess them up by stuffing them into my case. Then I dig in the back of the closet for my favourite dress.
That invitation did say black tie, after all.
Five
Darcy
My first thought as I step into the gallery is that they’ve gone all out for this event. My second is that I should’ve worn black if I wanted to blend in. And my third is that if one more dude checks out my boobs, I’m going to have to battle my dress to get to my gun.
All of that falls away as I cross the threshold and have to evaluate whether I’ve tripped and fallen into an alternate dimension.
