She rubbed her face and checked her phone. No major work emails indicating they’d been discovered by their customers, and no messages from the CIA. Of course, they slept well in the knowledge they were making progress. They also possessed more patience than she did. She began mentally reviewing the past few weeks, certain she must have missed something critical but feeling helpless to do anything about it. Eventually, she flipped the covers off and padded into the kitchen for some coffee. The faint sound of snoring came from her guest bedroom and she bit back a chuckle. Good to know he snored – although she still liked him anyway. She attempted to push the thought out of her head. It didn’t work. Her thoughts switched over to how they could make it work while he worked in D.C. and she was running a development team in the Bay Area. But, considering that the guy who hired her was increasingly looking like one of Dmitri’s spies, she could need a new job anyway. She smacked herself in the forehead. She was absolutely not moving across the country because she’d known this guy for all of a week.
Stefanie started the coffee pot and noticed a message from Ree on her phone. I don’t want to distract you. Quinn says you guys are doing awesome. Parker and I are safe, and we love you. Be careful. This baby needs their aunt.
Stefanie smiled at the message, sent at the beginning of Ree’s day. She typed a quick reply. For the first time in a long time, she intentionally lied to her sister. Don’t worry about us. We’ve got this thing handled. Just in case, she added, Love you.
Stefanie punched a few buttons on the coffee pot, wincing at how loud the beep sounded in her quiet kitchen. She was the sort of person who slept in until she heard the noise of the first person in the house waking up, then snapped to instant alertness. Ah, the joys of being an extrovert. Growing up, Ree would always wake up early and be nose-first into a book. In high school, it was coffee and a magazine. Then, in the advent of smartphones, it became eBooks and the news online.
Her thoughts turned to Joey. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt that comfortable with anyone outside of her family. And surely, that was a good sign. If she was at a business meeting, trying to figure out if she should invest in the two of them, she wouldn’t think twice. She smiled at her own realization.
Joey padded into the kitchen in gym shorts and a plain T-shirt, still a little rumpled from sleep, a few moments after the coffee had finished brewing. She poured him a mug, which he gratefully accepted, and leaned against the kitchen counter. “Good morning. Thank you.” He took a sip and leaned against the counter next to her. “Penny for your thoughts?”
“You’re going to need a lot of pennies. An express train just went through.” Stefanie took a sip of her own coffee.
He smiled. “Yeah?”
Stefanie nodded, slowly. “I feel…amped up? I ran track in high school. It feels like right before a track meet. I wasn’t exceptional, but I won the occasional medal. One time I’m pretty sure I placed because my competitor looked at me and told me I was going to lose. I mean, after that, I had to win just to prove her wrong.”
“That’s hard to imagine.” He shot her a wry look.
She gave him a hip check and he caught her, wrapping an arm around her waist. “You always this friendly with witnesses?”
He looked her square in the eyes. “Never, actually. I prefer to work with a small team from the CIA or alone, if possible. I had some misgivings about including you.”
“You don’t say.” She took another sip of her coffee, maintaining eye contact. She didn’t move away and he didn’t move his hand.
“It came from a place of not wanting you to get hurt if that helps.”
“I kind of figured that out.” She looked up at him. “That’s why I didn’t kick you out of my house.”
Joey snorted. “Giving me a hard time usually makes you feel better. Why isn’t it helping this time?”
“We’re missing something.” Stefanie shook her head. “I don’t know what and I don’t know how bad it’s going to be. It’s a terrible feeling.”
Joey placed their coffees on the kitchen counter and pulled her close. She rested her head on his chest. “I don’t like it either, but if someone doesn’t run into the burning building and put out the fire, people could die.”
Stefanie looked up and considered his face, his unshaven jaw, and the crinkles at the corners of his eyes. She kissed him on the cheek. “Yes, I would definitely invest in you.”
“Thank you?” He raised an eyebrow.
Stefanie picked up her coffee mug with two hands and stared into it. “Well, the feelings I have for you are, objectively, irrational. They are too soon, too fast, and too intense. But in my previous job, I spent a lot of time researching the potential of various technologies. Every now and again, I’d find one where the team was awesome, detail-oriented, and creative. They’d have something that was impossible to fully quantify in a spreadsheet. We’d do the math and make sure it made sense financially, but at the end of the day, it just felt right. Every time my company placed a bet on those teams, we’d win. Usually big. So, I’d bet on you.”
“That is, without question, the nerdiest way anyone has ever come on to me. I could get used to this.” Joey sighed. “So, let’s tackle this morning, then we’ll figure out how we invest in each other.”
Stefanie got ready for the day, the
