“No. That was earlier today?” Joey’s voice was light.
Stefanie glared at him. “Too soon.”
Joey sighed. “Look, we don’t usually engage civilians if we can help it. I’m not sure you understand how big of a deal this could be.”
“I know what I signed up for.” Stefanie narrowed her eyes.
Joey frowned. “You don’t, though. Have you read the files? All of them?”
“They didn’t give me any files to keep, but I know enough.” Stefanie grabbed a rag and began scrubbing some invisible dirt on the countertop.
“You know that a fully-trained CIA operations officer was killed by this guy? In her house. By herself.”
Stefanie cleared her throat. “I didn’t ask for specifics.”
“Did you ask for a natural gas detector?”
Stefanie rolled her eyes. “I already had one. Alexis asked me if I had it. It’s handled.”
“You armed?”
Stefanie walked over to a cabinet, put in a series of numbers, and an electronic lock clicked. She pulled a small Glock out, keeping it pointed at the floor. “Do you want to test fire it too?”
“Yeah. We’ll take it to the range.” Joey reached for the weapon and checked it thoroughly. “You shoot okay?”
Stefanie nearly growled. “Yeah. Probably as well as you, cowboy. I nearly kicked your butt at the gym. I was taking it easy on you, but I won’t make the same mistake at the range.”
Joey’s mouth twitched. “Not a cowboy. A firefighter.”
“You mentioned that.” Stefanie kept her voice flat, deliberately trying to sound unimpressed. She wanted to see how he reacted under stress too. She didn’t need him elbowing his way through her lab, wrecking an opportunity she’d spent years building.
Joey looked up from studying her weapon, and carefully slid it back to her. “I’m not sure if you’re trying to get a rise out of me or if you’re just stressed.”
Stefanie crossed her arms in a silent standoff. “You tell me when you decide. Too bad, when Ree was talking about me working with the FBI, I thought I was going to get a cute dog out of the deal. Not a grumpy agent with a stick so far up his backside that he can’t even trust me with the basics. For the record, my dad was Army and you don’t scare me.”
“Operations officer.”
Stefanie leaned forward. “Sorry, what?”
Joey grinned. “A grumpy operations officer with a stick up his butt. And I’m glad I don’t scare you. I was trying to be friendly.” He stood. “Welp, you’ve got things under control here, so I’m going to get settled. Work on that stick. Call me if you run into trouble.” He slid a card with a phone number on it across her kitchen counter.
Stefanie gave him a little salute. “See you at work tomorrow. Gonna need you to act like you know what you’re doing.”
“I do that every day. Night, Miss Ryland.”
Once Joey left, Stefanie’s pulse slowed from thunderous to just racing. What had that been? It was an odd mix of awkward initial meeting and something else entirely.
Stefanie huffed out a breath and sent a text to her sister. Joey is a handful.
Her phone dinged. How come?
She considered how to explain their interaction. Not a complaint but find out what you can about him. Seems like a pro but he’s stressed about this. I want to know why.
Ree’s response was instantaneous. Probably smart to be stressed. But I’ll check around. Got your back, Sis. What else has you rattled?
Stefanie rummaged through her cabinets for a bottle of wine. She tapped a finger on her phone, then landed on honesty. She already had way too many lies to keep straight at the moment. He showed up at the gym and I hit on him.
Bahahahahahaha.
Stefanie shook her head. I WALKED IT BACK. DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW HARD IT IS TO MEET AN AVAILABLE GUY WHO ISN’T A TOTAL WEIRDO?
Ree’s message was quick. It’ll be okay Sis. Deep breaths. Make sure he doesn’t notice that you’re still checking him out.
I AM A PROFESSIONAL.
Her phone dinged again. Clearly. Deep breaths. It’ll be okay. You’re just thrown off balance. You’ll adjust. Call me if you have any problems. I love you.
Stefanie sighed. Love you too.
Just as she’d poured a glass of Pinot Noir, proudly made in nearby Sonoma, her secure tablet rang. Quinn’s name popped up and she answered in short order, deciding to keep the wine in hand versus put it out of frame.
Quinn appeared with Cam sitting next to her. “Hey, Stef! How are you holding up? Joey still there?”
“Great. Joey left. Our meeting was fine once I figured out who he was. We did fine. It’ll be fine.” Stefanie held up her wine glass.
Quinn frowned. “Uh oh. He’s normally great. What happened?”
“He came to the gym to see if I could handle myself. Did not introduce himself, which is why I’m glad you called to verify his information.” She closed her eyes and put her hand on her forehead. “Then, when I asked him if he wanted to know if I could shoot, he had the gall to say yes. Totally over the top, considering I’ve known about this for less than a week. I mean, he did apologize for scaring me. But still.”
“Okay. So, you two are good now or I need to call him and tell him to tone it down?”
Stefanie’s heart began to
