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“Convenient.”
“Could be intentional, could be he was an idiot.”
“He’d have to be an idiot to attack you. Young and stupid.” Or maybe not. “Do wolves show their age?”
Devlin drove like he did everything else—with complete competence. He changed lanes easily, not bothered by the heavy traffic. She’d never learned. A car was an unnecessary expense with public transit readily available. “How long have you been driving?”
“Seventy years or so.”
“Seventy years.” It was hard to remember he was a century old. He certainly wasn’t stuck in the past. Had adapted easily to the modern world. “So, wolves don’t show age. Or is that just the lone wolves?”
“Wolves age, but it’s slower. They might start to get some gray hair at around a hundred but won’t start to really decline until the last couple decades of life. According to his driver’s license, Ryan O’Reilly is twenty-five. Both his name and age could be fabricated if he’s lived long enough.”
“Makes sense.” Living that long came with problems in a modern world where the government kept track of everyone.
“It does give us a starting point.”
They’d left the city behind and were heading upstate. A pang of grief pierced her. Would she come back or was her home lost to her forever?Focus on what you can control.It was a coping mechanism that had served her well during her turbulent childhood. “You mean to find someone to dig into his life.”
“We don’t need to find someone. I’ll do it.”
“You’re a hacker?” The man’s skills were endless.
He shot her a quick grin. “I get by.”
“You get by,” she mumbled. She’d bet anything he was underplaying his skills. Her stomach chose that moment to growl. It was early evening. Brunch had been hours ago, but it seemed like days, maybe weeks. So much had happened in such a short time.
The indicator came on and he turned into a fast-food restaurant. “Why are we stopping here?” She had a good idea.
“You’re hungry.” The man never missed a trick. “And I could eat.” It bothered her that he was paying for everything. He seemed to have money, but that wasn’t the point.
“I don’t suppose you’d let me pay.”
“You suppose right.”
Rather than make a fuss, she gave in. She’d already racked up more debt than she could repay. What price could she put on her life? He’d saved that twice. Nope, she’d be indebted to him forever. All she could do was not become a liability. Or at least not more of one than she already was.
After they’d gone through the drive-thru and had their food, they parked in the corner of the lot. She dug into her chicken sandwich, enjoying the spicy goodness. “You think this O’Reilly guy knew Pietro?”
“Maybe, maybe not.” He bit into the first of four double cheeseburgers he’d ordered. “O’Reilly didn’t come upon us by happenstance. Wolves who are allied with the mage are hunting us. If we can find a connection between the two men, maybe we can find more.”
She licked a blob of mayonnaise from her lip. “And that will hopefully lead us to whoever is behind this.” When he didn’t answer, she glanced at him. His eyes were on her mouth, and they were glowing. “What?” She scrubbed her hand across it, wondering if she’d missed some of the condiment.
“When you lick your lips, it makes me hungry.” The low growl was sexy. Her sex clenched and her nipples jumped to attention.
“Don’t say things like that.” Grabbing a napkin, she waved it in front of her. The pitiful breeze it stirred didn’t come close to cooling her down.
“Why not?” The sensual promise in his eyes made every cell in her body hum. Sex with him was super hot and perfect, and this was totally not the place for it.
“I’m trying to be sensible.” She grabbed her drink and sucked hard on the straw.
Groaning, he reached down and adjusted the front of his jeans. “That didn’t help.”
All she’d done was…suck on a straw. Okay, not a smart way to help him cool down. And from the bulge in the front of his jeans, he was as turned on as she was. She set the drink back into the holder.
“Dead guy in the back,” she blurted. Burying her face in her hands, she moaned. “I can’t believe I just said that. This is like a bad romantic comedy movie.” Except there was no script, no laughter, and certainly no director yelling cut. “Or maybe a horror flick. I refuse to be one of those crazy heroines who gets axed because she’s too busy jumping a guy.”
“In my defense, you started it.”
