Hobbs mumbled something about leaving us alone and then left the room.
“How did you know where I lived?” It was my turn to act suspicious. When, really, I was thrilled she was here.
She winced. “I had my friend run your license plate number.”
I digested that. So the car was registered to me and not to Mr. Burns. He must be pretty confident I would finish the job.
I grinned, ignoring the queasiness once again building in my stomach. “You must have really wanted to see me again,” I said, enjoying the way her face flushed.
“Actually, I wanted to ask you about something.”
I adjusted the glasses on my nose as a wave of dizziness passed over me. My eyes darted around the room, looking for something, but I didn’t know what.
“Are you okay?” she asked and came closer, her eyes wandering toward my computer screen.
I reached out and slammed the lid of the laptop closed, not wanting her to see what I’d been looking at, and then turned back to her. “Yeah, I’m fine.” I lied.
Why was I feeling sick again all of a sudden?
“You don’t look too good. Have you been sick?”
“Me? No. I’m just hungry. Hobbs is cooking dinner. Would you like to stay and join me?” I glanced into the empty kitchen where Hobbs had been. “Hobbs!” I yelled.
“I really just came to ask you something.”
“You can ask me while we eat,” I said as Hobbs came into the room.
“You bellowed, sir?”
“Piper is going to be joining me for dinner,” I told him.
“Certainly. It will be ready shortly.” He went back into the kitchen to finish frying some chicken. My eyes zeroed in on the bottle of peanut oil by the big pot on the stove. I could hardly believe my good luck. It was almost too easy.
Here I was trying to come up with ways to catch my prey when my prey came right to me. And to top it off, my butler just happened to be cooking with something that she was allergic to. With any luck, this job would be completed by tonight.
“Come, sit down,” I told Piper and headed toward the living room. “We can talk while Hobbs finishes dinner.”
Piper followed as I plopped down on the couch. She stood beside it and lifted her eyebrow. “You have a butler?”
I shrugged. “A guy’s gotta eat.”
“You seem kind of young to be able to afford that car and a butler.”
I liked the way she crossed her arms over her chest, like she’d somehow caught me in a lie.
“Trust fund,” I said with a shrug and picked up the remote control to the flat screen.
“Figures,” she muttered.
I suppressed a grin. “Have a seat.” I motioned to the couch with the remote.
She sat down on the end and I channel surfed. Really, I wasn’t paying any attention at all to the TV. I was too busy wondering about the way my hand shook and trying not to stare at her when everything in me was demanding I look at only her.
I finally gave in and shifted my gaze. Her dark hair was long and framed her face; her brown eyes seemed to take in everything around the room. When they settled on me, the twisting of my stomach seemed to quiet.
“So what do you want to ask me?” I said.
She nodded. “I just got this feeling the other night that you maybe knew more about the accident I was telling you about.”
