Page 43 of Remington’s Mate

Fernandez again. He must be the new guy; he kept drawing the short straw.

As soon as Jaeda opened her door, Remy was poleaxed all over again by how gorgeous she was. The eyes. The hair. The curves. The attitude.

“Well. Pretend-Colt doesn’t waste much time, does he?”

Remy shook his head. “Pretend-Colt is a horny bastard.” She had no idea how true that was.

Jaeda ushered him inside. He’d brought a duffel bag full of security equipment, and he went right to work. Because otherwise, he was going to keep saying stupid shit until she kicked him out.

He used to think he was so smooth. He had no idea what had happened to that guy.

Doing something he was good at made him feel more in control, and he managed some decent small talk after a while. Jaeda was fun to talk to, and they had more in common than he would have thought. They liked the same music and movies and TV shows—even food.

After a while, talk inevitably circled around to the case. “It makes me crazy I have no way to crack his computer,” Remy said. “I know it’s the portal to all the dirty laundry.”

“And dirty money,” Jaeda said. “What about a keylogger?”

A keylogger was a piece of software or hardware installed on a computer that made a record of every key that was hit on its keyboard. You could re-create entire documents, as well as grabbing any access codes and passwords.

“I’m working on one now,” Remy said. “He’s paranoid and his security is stellar, so it’s going to have to be a primo one to escape detection.” He turned to look at her. “The only reservation Brandon and I have about that, is that you’re the one who’s going to have to upload it on his computer. If he catches you…”

She’d end up like Olivia Nardone.

He could tell by her face she knew what he was thinking, but being Jaeda, she said, “I can do it. I’d give a lot to bring this dickhead down.”

“It’s dangerous.”

“I’m not Olivia,” Jaeda said. “I have weapons and I’m Enforcer trained. I can protect myself.”

Remy nodded. “I know. It’s just…”

“You’re an overprotective predator shifter.”

Who might be your mate. “Something like that.”

When he was done with the installation, Remy offered to buy Jaeda dinner. She ordered a ridiculous amount of Italian takeout.

“You may not have a shifter animal, but you sure have a shifter appetite,” he said.

“It’s not all for us,” Jaeda told him. While they were waiting for the delivery, she got out crayons and started decorating a brown paper bag with flowers and butterflies, like a kid’s school lunch bag.

Oh, crap. This was going to be funny. She finished by writing on the bag in crayon, ‘Fernandez.’

When the food arrived, Jaeda asked the delivery person to wait while she transferred an order of pasta, some bread and a soda into the lunch bag, topping it off with a Pop-Tart and a note that said, ‘Have a super day. Don’t let the bullies get to you. Make good decisions.’ She signed it, ‘Mom,’ with a heart.

Remy was already laughing his ass off.

Jaeda gave the bag to the delivery kid with an extra tip. “Would you please deliver this to the man in the black Lincoln down the block? Here’s the license number.” She handed him a slip of paper.

They watched out the window as Fernandez received his food, shaking his head resignedly. He looked up and Jaeda waved.

Remy couldn’t stand it. He was in love.

He blurted out, “Look, I know you don’t date shifters, but… would you ever go out with me? Like, on a date?”

Chapter 17

Remy watched Jaeda’s face and hoped he hadn’t fucked this up.