The front door opened. “Hello?” Nonna Albertini called out, bustling through the living room to the kitchen and spotting us, setting a tray of Christmas cookies down. “Anna. So good to see you.” She leaned over and placed a kiss on my head before moving toward the kettle. Nonna was all Italian and looked a bit like Sophia Loren but maybe taller, and I thought she was just as beautiful.
“Hello?” My Nana O’Shea then appeared, having more quietly opened the front door. She slid a platter of candy cane cookies across the table. She looked like an older version of my mom, more like Maureen O’Hara in her later days. Still stunning. “Anna. How wonderful.” She accepted the cup of tea from Nonna.
My mouth gaped open. My grandmothers had a sort of détente because they loved the same people, but they weren’t close and rarely did anything together. Then everything inside me went warm and gooey. “You’re worried about me.”
Nonna waved a hand dismissingly in the air. “Don’t be silly. We heard you were here and figured you’d like some sweets.”
They both sat, blowing on their tea.
I shared a smile with my mom. It was almost time to receive the Christmas card from Jareth Davey, and I was struggling with what to do with Aiden. Apparently my grandmothers had noticed. They were here to help—even just to offer quiet support.
The female power in my family was strong, and right now, it was focused on me.
I reached for the treats, making sure to take one of each. While I might be a little confused currently, I was no dummy.
Chapter 30
It was midnight by the time I trudged up my snowy steps, bathed in twinkling Christmas lights, and nudged open the door to my cottage. Aiden sat at my round kitchen table, case files, notepads, and coffee mugs in front of him. He looked up, and his blue eyes were veiled and his aura a pissed off hue.
I forced a smile and crossed to the kitchen counter, placing several tight-lock containers down. “We had a taco bar, Christmas cookies, candy cane cookies, and huckleberry pie,” I said as cheerfully as I could.
“Thanks.” He glanced at the screen on his phone. “Not hungry right now, but it smells delicious.”
Dread clicked through me. He wasn’t hungry? Well, it was midnight. “All right.” I shifted it all to the fridge before removing my coat and boots, taking them toward the door. It was late, I was tired, and I couldn’t deal with emotion right now. “Any luck with the case?”
“No,” he said shortly.
I looked at him. Even at my table, he looked dangerous in a ripped T-shirt, worn jeans, and a vibe that was hard to quantify. “That sucks.”
“Yeah,” he said softly. “Jareth Davey somehow followed me from here down to Portland. We’ve caught him on different CCTV cameras all the way. That means he was watching us, stalking you, maybe for months.”
“Oh.” My arms chilled, and I rubbed them.
Aiden’s voice roughened. “That means that he’s been watching us, and I had no clue. Not a one. Iknowwhen somebody is following me, and I have a sense when something is up with you. Yet I didn’t feel him.” He scrubbed both hands down his face, ending at that shadow on his jaw that had gone way beyond five o’clock. “There’s always something up, and I feel the tension, but I didn’t realize it was Davey. There’s just too much to separate all the crazy.”
I wished he were joking about that, but crazy seemed to follow me. “Your life would be a lot easier with a girlfriend who taught kindergarten or was an accountant or something like that,” I said quietly, my anxiety ratcheting up to the bubbling level.
His grin was quick and unexpected. “Honey, if you were a kindergarten teacher, you’d end up with miniature hitmen throwing homemade clay bombs at me that somehow were poisoned with something I’m allergic to. Or as an accountant, one of your clients would end up working for the mob, and then they’d want to hire you, and I’d have to take them all out.”
“Hey,” I protested. “Besides this last week, I haven’t been shot at for months.” Even as I said the words, I realized the ridiculousness of them.
He sighed.
I tugged on my ear, feeling chilled. “The only constant in the crazy is me.”
“Amen to that.”
I shuffled my feet, scrunching my toes in my thick socks. “What now, Aiden?”
“Now I find him and end him,” Aiden said quietly. “He’s got a plan, he’s probably here, and now I know it.” He reached for a mug and tipped back the contents. “He’s smarter than I thought with trying to get a drug runner to take me out during an op. I won’t make that mistake again.”
“I meant with us,” I said quietly.
He studied me. “I’d like to put you somewhere safe until I handle this, but I know that’s not an option for you. I’ll take a leave of absence if needed to cover you, but right now, I’m working seven cases, and I’d hate to do that to my team.”
My body slowly released the tension, head to toe. So he wasn’t breaking up with me. At least not right now. We needed to have that talk, but it was late, my head now hurt, and I wasn’t up to it. From the look of him, neither was he. “I’ll be careful,” I said. “I’m armed and trained.”
“If you point a gun, you shoot that gun,” he said softly. “Tell me you get me.”
