That was a relief. After what happened at Darby’s, Jake had been worried about her. While it’d be great if she’d learned something helpful from Darby’s computer, her well-being was more important right now.
While Harley and Forrest ate, the mission was put on the back burner and they all simply chatted about regular stuff. Like Forrest wanting to someday own his own Rolls-Royce SUV like the one he’d driven tonight, Jes’s fear of heights and addiction to cherry Dr Pepper, and Jake’s trials and tribulations of finding an affordable three-bedroom apartment in DC. Even Harley shared a little bit of herself, telling them about growing up in the mountains of Colorado.
It was almost like they were an actual team.
Before Jake knew it, two hours had passed and the sun was coming up. Forrest and Harley offered to help clean up, but Jake waved them off. It was obvious Forrest wanted to check on Misty, and Harley still looked a little tired, despite getting a few hours’ sleep when they’d gotten back last night. Jake was ready to fall into bed, too, but no way was he leaving the dishes for Jes.
Even though he’d already accepted the house was going to smell like her while they were staying there, the scent of jasmine and fresh laundry enveloped him as she went up on tiptoe to reach over his shoulder and put a glass in an upper cabinet. It was all he could do not to groan in appreciation.
As if sensing the effect she had on him, Jes paused only inches away, her gaze meeting his. If either of them leaned in a little closer, they’d be kissing.
He took a step back, clearing his throat. “Thanks for the sandwiches. And for coming up to the third floor when I got into trouble at Darby’s place.”
Jes stood there silently, gazing up at him for the longest time. Part of him wondered if a woman like her could ever kiss a werewolf.
Shoving her hands in the pockets of her long cardigan, she backed away, then turned and headed for the door without a word. Just before slipping out of the kitchen, she stopped and looked back at him, her brown eyes warmer than he’d ever seen them.
“Thanks for catching me when I let go of the railing,” she murmured. “That was a long fall.”
Then she disappeared, heading down the hallway and upstairs before Jake could tell her it wasn’t a big deal. That anyone would have done the same. But then he remembered what Jes felt like in his arms when he’d caught her. She was firm in all the right places and soft and curvy in others.
Maybe it was a bigger deal than he’d realized.
Chapter 7
Jes glanced covertly at Jake out the corner of her eye as they drove through the city. Since they were supposed to be playing the part of London Metro detectives today, he was dressed in a suit and tie again, with a crisp white shirt underneath. She’d come to the realization last night she was a sucker for him in clothes like that. Not that he didn’t look good in his usual jeans, T-shirt, and leather jacket, too, but as the song said: every girl’s crazy about a sharp-dressed man. Her included.
She realized abruptly that she also liked watching him drive. It sounded crazy, but she’d always thought you could tell a lot about a person from how they drove. In Jake’s case, it was obvious he was in total control of the vehicle even though they were driving on the opposite side of the road in traffic that rivaled New York City’s. She especially enjoyed watching the way his hand flexed as his fingers lightly gripped the wheel. She liked his hands. They were strong. Which made her suddenly wonder what it would feel like to have them caressing her body.
Her face flamed.
Okay, stop thinking stuff like that right now. You’re a federal agent, not a lovesick teenager.
“So, who’s the last person on our list again?” Jake asked, dragging her out of her daydream as he weaved the rental through the heavy traffic along this particular stretch of A206.
At least Jes was pretty sure they were still on the A206. Between the gathering gloom of evening, the absolutely crappy road signs, and her wandering mind, it was entirely possible they’d turned onto a completely different road at some point. She glanced at the map on her phone, relieved when it assured her they were still south of the Thames. That was the important part.
In the front passenger seat of the Audi four-door, Jes turned her attention to the collection of notes on her lap to check the name, but before she could reply, Forrest answered from the backseat.
“Evie and Henry Robinson,” he said, holding up a sheet of paper so the passing streetlights would illuminate it in the dusk. “Evie is the one on the list. They live right across the river in the Poplar neighborhood. She’s a concierge at the Lanesborough, an upscale, five-star hotel located at Hyde Park Corner. He’s a construction contractor who specializes in building restaurants. They have one kid, a four-year-old boy.”
Jake frowned. “Fifty bucks says Evie Robinson has no connection to Darby, just like everyone else on that damn list.”
Jes didn’t take that bet. Neither did Forrest. She understood Jake’s frustration, though. They’d spent the better part of the day driving back and forth across London, tracking down a collection of people who had no obvious connection to each other or Arran Darby. The only noteworthy thing about them—other than Misty had found their names on a list in Darby’s computer—was that they all seemed to be hiding the fact that someone in their family had been kidnapped. But what the hell any of the people had to do with Darby or why he might want to kidnap a member of their family was anyone’s guess.
Misty had woken up around nine that morning and immediately come downstairs asking for a pen and pad of paper. Forrest had pleaded with her to get some more rest or at least eat breakfast first, but Misty insisted she needed to write down everything she’d seen in Darby’s computer.
So while Forrest cooked Misty breakfast, Jes, Jake, Harley, and Caleb had crowded around the kitchen table, watching as Misty scribbled what seemed to be random numbers and letters on the page. As she continued, the randomness was replaced with peoples’ names, addresses, bank accounts, names of chemicals, and mathematical formulas.
In addition to being able to wander through electronic equipment, Misty also had a photographic memory. As that first page became two, then three, then a lot more, all Jes could do was shake her head. No wonder Misty had been slow to come out of the computer during the midst of the fighting. She’d been stealing the place blind.
Every time Jes or anyone else tried to ask Misty questions, she’d wave them off. “Don’t interrupt. I’m downloading.”
That was when Jes realized Misty’s eyes were completely white, which made her wonder if the technopath even realized what she was writing. It was amazing to see, but to be honest, it had also been kind of creepy.
By the time Misty was done writing, there was a mountainous stack of pages but one particular list of names that had attracted her attention the most.
“What’s so special about this one?” Jake had asked, looking at the page with nine names listed on it.
