Once the trivet was down, she placed the pie upon it and looked over at the open drawer. A small grin touched her lips as she continued to tap into what she normally saw as a curse. The drawer shut with ease, seemingly on its own.
“Okay, sometimes it’s not totally horrible,” she said to herself as she surveyed the fruits of her labor.
The newest pie brought the total to four, the cupcake total to two dozen, the cookie total to around three dozen, and the hours of overthinking her day to around five and counting. None of the baking had taken the edge off her built-up nervous energy over the day she’d had with Rurik.
She wasn’t entirely sure if she was nervous baking because of how embarrassed she was at her behavior around Rurik all day, or if it had been born out of sexual frustration. The only solutions she could see was to transfer colleges and relocate to never see Rurik again, or give in and jump his bones.
Jump him!
She groaned at the realization her hormones were complete hussies and if they were left in charge of the decision-making, she’d be pregnant before the week was up.
“No thanks,” she muttered, glancing at the stuffed bear on the counter, not far from where the pies were cooling. There it sat, mocking her, reminding her of how she’d basically stolen it from Rurik. To top it off, she’d not even thought to offer it to him after their time at the diner together.
Her new plan was to sneak baked goods and the bear across the street, put them on the porch, ring the doorbell, and run away like the coward she was. If she dared put herself in a position to kiss him again, clothes would fall off. She was sure of it.
Liberty wiped her hands on the apron she wore whenever she baked. It had been a gift from Isobel and Daisy a few Christmases back. It was basically a giant American flag made into an apron. They thought it was an amusing play on her name. It had matching potholders as well.
There was a hard rap on the front door that sounded almost frantic.
“Geesh,” said Liberty, hurrying toward the living room. “Isobel, give me a—”
As she tossed open the door, her words died on her lips.
It wasn’t Isobel.
Rurik was standing there, facing her but glancing over his shoulder at a guilty-looking Bill.
“I wasn’t allowed to break the door down, but you could pound on it like that?” asked Rurik, his focus still on Bill, his voice coming out in a harsh whisper.
Break down the door?
When Bill saw her, he smiled wide. “Yes, because my way scared the crap out of her a lot less and clearly worked. The whole bit with you wanting to charge in like you were invading the country was a shit plan and you know it.”
“Invading the what?” asked Liberty.
Rurik’s head turned slowly back in her direction. When his gaze collided with hers, Liberty froze like a caught rabbit. Suddenly, the five-plus hours she’d spent trying to alleviate her anxiety over wanting to toss her legs open for the guy seemed to have been in vain. She was right back to feeling like she should beg him to make love to her. For the briefest of moments, she entertained doing just that.
“You’re in danger,” Rurik sputtered. “Maybe. Maybe not. Probably not. I should go. Forget I was here.”
Bill shook his head and lowered it, bringing his hand to his forehead. “Tell me when it’s over. It’s like watching two virgins about to have a make-out session.”
Rurik cleared his throat. “Um, danger?”
“You already said that,” Bill stated evenly.
“The mole knows the plan,” blurted Rurik, making even less sense than before.
Liberty nodded slowly as if she was completely following along in the conversation. Then she cocked her head to one side, narrowing her gaze on Bill. “The who knows the what? I have no clue what he’s talking about.”
An amused smirk washed over Bill’s face. He waggled his brows at her. “Some super spy he is, huh?”
“Uh, right. A spy,” said Liberty, giving up on trying to understand what was happening. “Is this in addition to him being second-in-command to that team of badasses you mentioned?”
“Yep.” Bill leaned in a bit. “Would knowing he’s a super soldier make you want to do him faster? I’m only asking because my boy here seems a little tongue-tied when it comes to you, and if you could have seen what he was about to do when he was staring over here—”
“Stop helping,” barked Rurik.
Liberty used that moment to get her brain to do something other than its version of salivating at the sight of Rurik. “Danger? Go back to that. Why would I be in danger?”
He took a deep breath. “I saw movement in the windows—all the front-facing ones—at the same time. You are home alone. It couldn’t be you in all the rooms at one time.”
“It’s true. I seen it too, but he’s leaving out the part about Frenchie calling,” said Bill. “Sent the boy right into a dither. For a split second I thought the damn fool was going to go charging through your front door like a bear on spinach.”
“A bear on spinach?” she echoed.
“Liberty Bell, I like you and you seem smart enough,” said Bill. “But if you keep repeating everything I say, I’m gonna start to think otherwise.”
Rurik growled and twisted partially, rattling something off in Russian at Bill.
The older man smirked. “I’m not going to shut my mouth and I will keep helping. Clearly, you need all the help you can get. Gus has more sway with the ladies, and he hardly ever speaks out loud and isn’t one for eye
