Chapter Fourteen
Dinner proceeded mostly in silence, not due to mutual contentment, but because everyone seemed focused on a tension-filled internal dialogue. Millie could almost see the brain waves spurting around.
Aunt Mae had gone to her weekly bridge game, apparently feeling just fine with her new stent securely in place.
Millie’s head ached, and even her bones felt weary. While JT normally kept silent, tonight he ate the spaghetti she’d quickly whipped up, and she could see the tension in his jaw and through his shoulders. Even Scott seemed edgier than ever before. Normally, he brought calm to all the chaos around them, but not tonight. His energy zinged around the room and added to the tension brewing behind her eyes.
Finally, JT stood. “I’m going for a run.”
Excellent plan. “I’ll clean up,” Millie offered.
Roscoe leaped to his feet from his position beneath the table.
“You want to go?” JT asked.
In answer, Roscoe padded over to the door and waited. JT looked back at Scott. “Is it okay?”
“Absolutely.” Scott jolted, as if he had been deep inside his own head. “He loves to run and he could burn off some energy.”
JT opened the door and the two disappeared into the stormy night. Though the rain had stopped, the wind howled mercilessly through the trees, and thunder bellowed deep and loud in the distance. Every once in a while, the windows lit up from a jagged strike of lightning.
Millie shivered. “I’ll clean up, Scott, if you want to go for a run, too.”
He looked up, his eyes unfocused, then zeroed in on her. “I appreciate the offer. I don’t require a run. I want to get organized.” He stood and paused, looking around. “You wouldn’t have an old corkboard around here, would you?” He carried his dishes to the sink.
“Kind of. I might sort of have a corkboard.” She moved to the sink and looked over her shoulder. “I have a large digital touchscreen attached to a base with wheels so I can roll it around. I use it for planning more inventions, to be honest. Sometimes it’s in my room, but when we had the wooden floors updated and polished, I put it in the garage and haven’t taken it out.”
“So you have a TV on top of a stand?”
She chewed her lip. “Not really. It was a touchscreen and now it has haptic feedback technology, so you can move or pin items. In addition, I equipped it with facial and voice recognition.”
His lips ticked up. “I see. So, if I touch this thing, is it going to shock me? What kind of protection do you have on it?”
She had considered creating a shock-type response to protect the device but then decided against it. “No, just bring the screen inside. The board has voice and fingertip security. I had to take some cybersecurity precautions, and I’ll tweak those so you can use all of the bells and whistles.”
He studied her and her cheeks grew warm. “All right, thanks.” He moved past the fridge into the garage.
She reached for the remaining plates on the table and dumped them in the sink. He returned in no time, easily hefting the large screen. She moved toward it and flattened her palm across the bottom right area. Lights instantly flashed, and she typed in what she needed. “Put your hand here,” she said. He did so. “Say your name.”
“Scott Terentson.” His low voice carried through the quiet kitchen.
Lightning zapped outside, and she jumped. “You’re good to go,” she said.
“I’m taking this up to my room. Are you sure you don’t need help with the dishes?”
“No, I’m fine.”
“Good.” He picked the screen up easily and quickly ascended the stairs on the other side of the living room.
“It’ll automatically connect to Wi-Fi,” she called out, “in case you need to access the internet.”
“Thanks,” he called back, the sound of his heavy footsteps a direct contrast to how silently he’d moved that morning to take out those three men. It was fascinating really, how much danger lurked in his scarred body.
She thought fleetingly about calling one of her friends from the team to help her make sense of her contradictory feelings. Nari was out of the country. Serena was still on a mission somewhere. But Pippa, Dana, and Brigid were in town, as was Gemma. While she didn’t know Gemma all that well, the women were all dating very dangerous men, and she could use a friend right now.
Yet the second she called one of them, she ran the risk of the team heading to River City. She had enough to worry about right now without the unpredictable Deep Ops team descending on her.
Confusion didn’t sit well with her. She was someone who deciphered puzzles and solved mysteries, and Scott Terentson was one she couldn’t quite put into a box or handle with a gadget. His brilliant mind and his hard body had intrigued her from the beginning, but the easy way he maneuvered in her small town made him even more appealing. And then, of course, having witnessed how dangerous he could be, how freaking deadly, she was entirely enthralled.
