Page 56 of Serve ’N’ Protect

“No.” Kade shook his head adamantly. “Get the pink ones on the second row. They’re cool-looking. Exotic.” He waggled his brows.

Markus frowned. “What the hell are they?”

“Orchids, my man.” Matt clapped him on the shoulder. “Trista has a bunch of them on a windowsill in the kitchen.”

Markus grunted. He trusted Matt’s wife, so he clicked the box under the orchids. For the heck of it, he also clicked the box under the daffodils. Typing quickly, he entered Cassidy’s address then a quick note. Thanks for the cookies. Thanks for everything. Alex.

“Cookies?” Kade’s voice held a note of curiosity.

Markus shrugged. “She made me cookies.” He pulled his creds from his back pocket, slid out his personal credit card then thought better of it. In the event that Mansfield wasn’t their man, he didn’t want to leave a paper trail that would red flag his location. He shoved his credit card back in his creds and whipped out the one in the name Alex Adessio.

“Yeah? What kind?” Matt stretched even farther across the seats, searching.

“What’d you do to earn those cookies?” Kade gave Markus a knowing expression, one that said he didn’t believe nothing had happened between them.

Markus completed the transaction, paying extra so the flowers would be delivered immediately. What had he done to earn those cookies? Nothing. Other than telling her that his mother used to make them for him. “I’ve been helping to rehab her legs.” Although he had a feeling that she would have made him the cookies anyway. That was just her way. Thoughtful and caring to the core.

“What did happen to her legs?” Matt asked. “She was limping pretty badly when we were there.”

“Car accident.” As one, they all went silent, closely watching a solitary man with a backpack slung over his shoulder walking toward them.

“Not our guy,” Kade said when he was close enough to be ruled out.

“Back to the cookies.” Matt looked over the seat, searching. “Did you bring any?”

“Of course he didn’t.” Kade shook his head. “Markus doesn’t eat cookies. His body is a temple.”

Temple my ass. Not since he’d been sitting on it for the last month.

Markus reached across Kade’s legs to flip open the glove compartment and pull out a clear plastic bag crammed with Hersey’s Kisses cookies before handing it to his friend.

“Outstanding!” Kade fisted his hand triumphantly then took the bag and dug out a handful of cookies before handing the bag to Matt.

“Hoo. Rah.” Matt dug in next.

Ghost whined, stretching his neck as close as possible to the bag. When Matt handed the bag back to Markus, Ghost whined louder. “All right, all right.” He grabbed two cookies, plucking out the chocolate Kisses before offering the cookies to his dog.

Eagerly, Ghost hoovered them, chewing then licking his furry chops.

“You know,” Kade said between cookies, of which he’d eaten four already by Markus’s count, “there’s something different about you.”

He popped a cookie into his mouth. “There’s nothing different about me.” Other than the fact that he hadn’t stopped thinking about Cassidy since he and Ghost had driven away. Or the mind-blowing, gravity-impacting kiss they’d shared that had left him feeling grateful he’d been sitting down at the time. If he hadn’t been, his damn knees would have buckled.

“First,” Kade said, counting off with one finger, “you don’t eat cookies, yet here they are and here you are eating them and feeding them to the Secret Service’s finest canine officer.” Ghost woofed. “You’re welcome.” Kade tipped his head to the back seat where Ghost’s nostrils flared repeatedly in the hopes of more cookies. “Second.” He held up another finger. “We’re waiting on a murder suspect and you’re buying flowers. For your new and very pretty neighbor.”

“You have a point.” Matt clapped Markus on the shoulder. “Our boy’s smitten.”

Markus snorted, nearly choking on a cookie. “Smitten?”

“Yeah.” Kade nodded enthusiastically. “You know, all gooey-eyed. Doing mushy things for a woman, like buying her flowers.”

“For fuck’s sake,” he said, chewing around the cookie then swallowing. “I am not smitten.” He glared at both his friends but even as he said the words, the truth crystalized brighter than the muzzle flash from his Glock. They’re right. I’m smitten. “She’s nice,” he said, although nice barely scratched the surface of all the amazing things he’d say to describe Cassidy. “She’s been through a lot since her accident but always finds the time to do things for others, including me. She makes hundreds of cookies every Christmas for all the kids in her neighborhood. Two nights ago, her house was broken into and the goddamn burglar stole her laptop and punched her in the face for good measure. I just wanted to do something nice for her for a change. She was there for me when I needed it, and we’ve become…” Friends?

No. Not just friends. He’d never kissed a friend like that before, and if he stopped long enough to think about it, he wanted to be more than just friends. So much more.

“Burglarized?” Matt frowned. “She all right?”

“Yeah.” Keeping one eye on the sidewalk, he filled Kade and Matt in on what had happened, including his barefooted chase down the street. “At least she’s got a security system now.”