Page 84 of Untamed Sinner

They're both right, and we can't take a chance with her life.

Fortunately, there's another option. They just don't know about it yet.

I glance over at the man as he drives us home. He has that tightly controlled look about him again. Both hands on the wheel. Shoulders rigid. Jaw ticking.

I always thought the ticking-jaw thing was something romance authors made up. It’s not—and it’s fucking hot.

Unfortunately, the rest of him looks like he’s mentally running through every possible way Monday could go wrong and assigning each one a body count.

I hide my smile by looking out the window. “You’re brooding.”

“I’m thinking.”

“Your jaw is thinking very aggressively.”

His eyes stay on the road. “Mandy.”

There it is: the warning.

I settle deeper into my seat, watching the Montana countryside slide past the window. He’ll spend the entire drive doing this if I let him—planning, replanning, looking for every variable he can control because the one variable he can’t control is sitting beside him.

Me.

That should probably bother me. Instead, warmth unfurls in my chest.

Jesus. Feelings are inconvenient.

I glance at Hendricks again. The clenched hands. The rigid shoulders. That ticking jaw.

That’s okay—I know how to relax him.

A slow grin spreads across my face.

When we get home.

60

HENDRICKS

Mandy thinks I'm pissed about the plan.

I am, just not for the reason she thinks.

I glance over. She's relaxed against the passenger seat, staring out the window with the faintest smile on her lips.

She has a plan for Clara. I know she does.

She also has a plan for me. I know that too.

Her gaze slides my way. That smile gets bigger.

Fuck. Definitely a plan for me. My grip tightens on the wheel. "Whatever you're thinking, don't."

"I'm not thinking anything.”

"Bullshit."

She shifts toward me, all innocence.