“I don’t like it either.” Adam pulled to a stop in the church parking lot beside Tessa’s car. “I’ll keep an ear out. And if it’s okay with you, I’ll share with our investigators.”
“We’ll take all the help we can get.” Tessa climbed from the car. “Thanks for the assist.”
“Anytime. Let us know if you need us for anything else. We’ll be keeping a close eye on Craig, and we’ll contact you if we notice any suspicious behavior.”
“Appreciate it.” Zane shook Adam’s hand and waited as Adam gave Tessa a gentle hug and whispered something in her ear that had her smiling softly.
When they were headed back to Raleigh, Zane couldn’t contain his curiosity any longer. “What did Adam say to you?”
Tessa tapped her fingers on the steering wheel. “It was nothing. Adam’s not as overtly protective as some people.” She emphasized that with a quick glance in his direction that left no confusion as to who she was referring to. “He said he had my back. And access to a private plane if I need to make a quick getaway.”
Zane snorted. “As if you’d ever have enough sense to get on the plane.”
“I’m confident the offer was made with the full knowledge that I would share it with you, and thatyouwould put me on a plane in a heartbeat if it became necessary.”
“True. But I wouldn’t trust you not to jump out.” Tessa’s entire body went rigid. “If I ever put you on a plane, I’ll be staying on it with you.”
“I’m not dumb enough to jump out.” Tessa’s low mumble sounded genuinely frustrated.
“Okay, but if you really wanted to be on the ground, you might overpower the pilot and fly the plane back, right into the middle of whatever we were escaping from.”
“I don’t have a death wish, Zane.”
Her tone was harsh, and it was then that he realized he’d hit a nerve, and he hadn’t meant to. “I was messing with you, Tess.”
She didn’t say anything for five miles. Zane was prepared to let it go another five when she said, “Isn’t Adam adorable? About the baby?”
Where had that come from? “Um. Sure?”
“Oh, come on. He’s precious.”
“Yeah, see, guys don’t use words likeadorableandpreciouswhen they talk about other guys.”
“What words would you use?”
“We wouldn’t.”
Tessa gave him a quick glare. “You didn’t notice how excited he was?”
“Yes. But what is there to discuss? He’s excited, as he should be. If he wasn’t excited, that would be disturbing. As it is? I’m happy for him and Sabrina.”
Tessa mumbled something unintelligible.
“Let’s get back to your lack of a death wish.”
Her hands flexed on the steering wheel. “I’m not sure if you noticed, but I changed the subject.”
“Oh, I noticed. I’m still recovering from the conversational whiplash.”
“I don’t want to discuss it.” Tessa’s words were clipped.
“I figured that out all on my own.”
“Then why did you bring it up?” Her exasperation bled through every word.
Was she being intentionally difficult, or did she truly not understand? “Your reaction didn’t make sense to me. We’ve been through a lot together. Some of it was bad. Some of it was horrible. Some of it was tragic. But I’ve never entertained the notion that you might have a death wish. It should have been a safe thing to tease you about because I thought it was obvious that it was ridiculous. But you went porcupine on me, and I want to know why.”
“Went porcupine?”
