Page 34 of A Soldier's Destiny
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It took another hour before they were all finished, and the bakery was locked up tight. It was crazy that she did this all by herself. It had to be sheer force of will. Rori was the definition of dynamo. The woman didn’t know how to take a break. But it was catching up to her now. Or maybe it was all the stress of the stalker.
Thankfully there weren’t any surprises greeting them outside. He’d been concerned when he remembered the weird guy who’d been casing the bakery earlier. It could have been to make sure they were both inside. He wished he’d had a chance to grab a picture of the guy before he’d ducked out.
“Why don’t you shower first, or I might be tempted to lick all that sugar off of you.”
“Yeah, I had a little fun with the confectioners’ sugar when I was making the royal icing for the decorations.”
Leaning down, he kissed her gently on the lips. “Yup, definitely good enough to eat.” Her giggle was the response he’d hoped for. She was strung way too tight after the phone call on top of the long day.
“Are you sure you don’t want to go first? I can start something for dinner.”
“Don’t worry about dinner. How about pizza? Then you can just relax tonight.”
“Are you sure you don’t mind? I know you don’t get a lot of real food.”
“Pizza is real food.”
“Umm, not according to theCordon Bleu. But sure, go for it. I can’t remember the last time I had a slice.”
“What do you like?”
“I’m easy, anything but pineapple and anchovies.”
“No Hawaiian pizza then. Check. Okay. Go hop in the shower and I’ll make sure you’re not disturbed.”
“Do you want money?”
“No, it’s my treat. Besides, I know you brought something for dessert so I’m sure we’ll be even. Now go. Before I drag you in there and help you.”
Pink flooded her cheeks as she took off down the hallway. He heard the bathroom door shut and then called Chase.
“Brennan.”
“Hey, Boss.”
“How’s it going, Raptor?”
“Well, Rori got a phone call this afternoon from the stalker. I couldn’t tell if they’re male or female, but they know way more information than they should.”
“What do you mean?”
“They knew I was ex-Delta and that’s classified intel. How the fuck did they find that out? It is also obvious they’re watching her every move. They told her I couldn’t keep her safe.”
“How is she holding up?”
“She’s tough, a fighter, but it’s wearing on her. Honesty, I don’t know how she’s been handling everything on her own. It’s a shit ton of work. Then with all stress of being stalked, I don’t know how she’s keeping it together.”
“It’s good you’re there.”
“Apparently. I haven’t had a chance to read through all the info you and Alex sent yet, I’ll check it out after dinner. Did he turn up anything on the boyfriend’s family?”
“He’s still digging, but he said there’s something off about them. It looks like they might be connected to organized crime. Their financials are whacked.”
“Okay, I’ll go through what Alex sent and see if anything jumps out at me. There was a guy who came into the bakery this afternoon. He didn’t buy a thing and when I was busy with other customers he slipped out. But he was definitely casing the place.”
“Did you get a photo?”
