Page 14 of Hawkeye
Mom pointed at the Black Crown at the door. “You’re coming too, Smoke.”
“Yes ma'am.”
The apartment kitchen sat over the stockroom. Calder took the chair that put his back to a wall and the alley window in reach. Smoke took the one nearest the door but angled it so he had a better view.
Mom dished up bowls of turkey chili from the crock pot and set them in front of everyone, along with a basket of corn bread. It was quiet as we ate…until my mom started peppering Calder with questions.
He answered all of them while Smoke grinned. When she ran out of questions, Calder set his spoon down. “I’ll take first watch.”
“Not surprised,” Smoke murmured.
Calder brushed a quick kiss against my temple before he left, earning him another smirk from Smoke and a knowing look from my mom.
She stood to put the leftovers away while I did the dishes. When we were done, she announced, “I’m going to take a long, hot bath. Today was a doozy.”
After her bedroom door closed, I poured two cups of coffee and found Smoke at the bottom of the stairs.
“I’ll take you to him.”
Calder was set up in a room across the alley, sitting at a long folding table in front of a row of monitors.
I set a cup at his elbow and took the other chair.
“Between her boutique occupying the front rooms, the family apartment above it, and my grandfather’s old workshop behind the rear stockroom, Mom’s building has a lot of history for my family.” I wrapped my hands around my own cup. “They kept adding on instead of starting over.”
“That where he repaired clocks?” Calder asked without looking away from the monitors.
“Yeah.” I smiled at all the happy memories. “A lot of his tools are still in there, but I haven’t used the room in a long time because there are a lot of issues.”
“What kind?”
“Wiring that should have been replaced twenty years ago. No real ventilation. Shelves that lean. That rear door you’re about to fix.” I shook my head. “The list is lengthy enough to be daunting.”
“But there’s stuff worth keeping?”
“Yeah.” I took a sip of my coffee. “I learned so much with those tools while sitting on the scarred workbench he’d had forever. They mean a lot to me.”
He asked more questions, then walked me back across the alley around midnight. Under the rear light, he wrapped his fingers around my wrist, tugging me close enough to kiss me. It was a slow exploration of my mouth, but I wasn’t ready for it to end. So when he started to lift his head, I leaned into him for more, but he nudged me toward the stairs.
“Go inside, baby doll.”
“Fine.” I puffed out my bottom lip. “But I’m going to think about that kiss all night.”
“Same.”
6
HAWKEYE
By late morning, one of the rooms Black Castle used for tactical briefings was filled with padded work surfaces, bright task lights, and archival supplies instead of maps and weapons. Two employees from Wynnock Auctioneers moved between open cases while a Black Castle Security specialist installed a locking cabinet against the interior wall. Josie stood in the center of it all wearing the heavy canvas apron she had carried in with her, her thick chestnut waves held away from her face by one of the vintage clips she collected.
Nobody mistook her softness for uncertainty once she started directing the setup. Her warm brown eyes moved rapidly over each table, outlet, and light source while her hands punctuated her requests. I stayed near the door and watched her take command of the room as naturally as she spoke to damaged objects, my attention dividing between the hallway and the full curves that made the plain apron look indecently good.
“What was this room actually used for?” Josie asked, glancing toward the wall-mounted screens and reinforced door.
“Tactical briefings,” I answered, watching her eyebrows climb. “The last team in here was planning how to extract a client from a fortified property outside Tijuana.”
Her lips curved into the sweet smile that had been fucking with my concentration since the night we met. “And now it has a humidity monitor and several hundred dollars’ worth of archival tissue.”
