Awakening Kiss (Watcher's Kiss Book 4) (26 page)

“A few.” Meena bunched her thick dark hair in one hand, then pulled it throught the opening in the back of her Java Genie cap. “How’s Mr. Sexy?”

Enza’s whole body warmed at the question. She stopped mixing her ingredients, wooden spoon in hand, and met Meena’s curious gaze. “Sexy.”

Meena’s brows shot up. “Oh my god. Did you sleep with him?” Her voice rose to an excited squeak.

Enza pressed her lips together, trying unsuccessfully to hold in a grin that couldn’t possibly convey all the things Rhys made her feel.

“Oh my god!” Meena fist pumped the air. “You did it! How long has it been for you? Wait, was he amazing? I bet he was amazing. He’s so tall, I bet all of him is in proportion, ya know…”

“Stop.” Enza’s cheeks heated. “He’s perfect.”

“Oh you gotta give me more than that.” Meena folded her arms.

“He’s sweet and…” Enza sighed. “His whole body is ripped. His muscles have muscles.”

Meena squeaked again, this time drawing the attention of Josie, who peeked into the kitchen. “What’s going on?” she asked, eyes huge.

“Enza can tell you,” Meena crooned, a delighted smirk on her face.

“What?” Josie turned and glanced over her shoulder. “Darn, we have a customer. I’ll be back.”

“I’m headed up front too.” Meena gave a quick check of her phone before slipping it in her pocket. “Hope you can still concentrate after a night of hot sex.”

“Meena!” Enza gritted, but Meena stepped out.

Concentration wouldn’t be a problem. Baking always put her in a zone, a rhythm of moving items into stages: mixing dry ingredients, mixing wet ingredients, folding, scooping, baking. Then cooling and storing, or presenting.

She hummed to herself, wondering if Rhys was having any success at tracking the man who had chased them. How long did these things take? She shook her head at her own technical challenges. If she did manage to hack a credit card site, she’d probably crash it.

Hours passed and the kitchen warmed. The scent of baking dough and cinnamon rolls filled the cheery space. Enza made progress on the day’s items and was about to check the front case to see what was low, when Josie popped her head in.

“Enza!”
Stunned
didn’t begin to describe her face. “Where are you meeting these guys and why haven’t you introduced me to any of them yet? Oh my god!”

“What are you talking about?” Enza wiped the back of one hand across her forehead.

Josie’s eyes were huge. “There is a guy here who looks like Thor. Freaking
Thor.
From the latest movie. And he knows you! What is going on with you?”

“Oh.”
Brenin.
“Um, he’s a friend of Rhys’s. They um, work together. He was going to stop by sometime today.”

“Well, he’s here. And, oh my god. Can you introduce me?”

“Let me come out. One second.” Luckily there was no chocolate to melt this morning, just chocolate chips to add to her double chocolate cookies. She turned off the one burner that was on, and stepped through the doorway.

Brenin towered over the counter, staring at the selection of rolls and pastries. “Hey, Enza.” He grinned when she came out.

“Hi, Brenin. Thanks for coming.”

“No problem. Did you make all of this?”

“Yeah. There’s blueberry muff—”

“I’ll take one of everything. An extra-large coffee too.”

One of everything?
Enza blinked.

“Sure, you got it.” Meena chirped as she rang up the order. “What kind of coffee?”

“Whatever dark roast you have brewing.” He winked at Meena, who pressed a wrong button and the register let out a shrill beep.

“Ooops, hang on, my mistake.” She cleared her throat. “We’ll bring everything out to you.”

Enza grabbed the first item from the case, a slice of iced pound cake. “You can start with this.” She set it on a plate and rounded the counter. “Where would you like to sit? I have a minute.”

He glanced around, then chose a table near the barista station, and sat with his back to Josie. Enza realized that this way, he could see the door and windows. She set the cake down as Josie hurried over with the coffee.

“I’m Josie.” She extended her hand.

“Brenin.” He shook her hand. “Nice to meet you.”

Josie batted her eyes and smiled. “Let me know if you need anything else.”

Brenin nodded and sat, while Enza took the chair across from him. “Sorry you got stuck babysitting me today.”

“Hell, Enza.” He chomped a huge bite of cake. “If this is work,” he pointed to the plate and the additional two that Meena set down, loaded with goodies, “sign me up. I get to eat food that you made, on the job.” He chased the cake with a gulp of coffee. “No complaints here.”

She sat back in her chair. “That’s a positive way to think of it.”

He picked up a banana nut muffin next. “Seriously. I’ve never had work this enjoyable.”

Enza paused, remembering what Rhys had said about someone skewering him on the job. And how he’d been stabbed before going through the portal the night they met. And the stash of exotic weapons in their home. The magnitude of what these guys did weighed on her. They really did take care of the whole city, no matter how much they downplayed it.

Pop music played from the speakers overhead, filtering into her musings, and she realized the shop was quiet. Yet she knew she’d seen the usual yoga mom crowd in here today…she peeked over her shoulder.

A group of ten women, some with babies or toddlers, clustered around two tables pushed together. And they were doing a terrible job of not staring at Brenin. One was even taking a picture.

“Oh my gosh, that’s crazy,” Enza whispered.

Brenin shrugged his massive shoulders. “Ignore it. I do.”

“You’re handling this better than I would,” she murmured.

“This is all so damn good.” He finished the muffin and picked up a raspberry cream cheese tart. “You ever think about expanding?”

“Um, maybe. First we need to show a profit for three years straight. Meena has a whole business plan set u—”

“Tor.” A tiny voice chimed near her elbow.

Enza turned to see a boy, maybe two or three years old, staring at Brenin and brandishing an action figure with familiar long blond hair. Her jaw dropped and she flicked her eyes back to Brenin.

He gave the boy a half-smile. “No, kiddo. Wrong guy.”

“Tor,” the child insisted, holding the figure higher.

“Hey, that’s a neat toy,” Enza said, hoping to distract the youngster. “What can he do?”

“He gots a hammer,” the boy said.

“Ohhh.” Enza nodded, glancing to the group of women, willing one of them to claim their kid. “Is this his hammer here?”

“Yeah. He can wing it hard. Bam!”

A woman in a tight-fitting pink and black workout ensemble sauntered over and leaned down to her child’s height, giving a clear view of cleavage exposed by her V-neck top. “I’m so sorry. He just really loves comic book characters.”

“That’s okay.” Enza smiled widely and a little fake, wondering if the woman sent her kid over on purpose.

The woman ignored Enza and ogled Brenin like she’d never seen a man before. “Yup, this is one of his favorites.”

Brenin gave a one-second acknowledgment of the woman, then turned to the kid. “Good choice. You take care of that guy, now. Don’t break him.”

“I like Tor,” the boy said, hugging the figure.

“Me too,” said the mom.

Oh my god.
Enza didn’t know if Brenin cared, but she didn’t want this pushy woman around, drooling over him while he was stuck making sure no evil Deseratis barged into the store. “Well, thanks for showing us your toy,” she said to the child.

“Okay,” he said.

“So nice seeing you. Bye.” The mom picked up her son and walked back to her friends.

“Oh my gosh. I’m so sorry,” Enza whispered.

Brenin leaned across the table. “Enza, I don’t care. Truly. I’m on the job, and even though this day kicks ass so far, I’m the first line of defense if those assholes walk in the door. There’s no room for distraction, and I don’t let that shit get to me.” He devoured a croissant filled with almond paste. “Like I said, I ignore it.”

“Thank you.” She studied the stack of nowempty plates on the table, wondering how he managed to pack away all that bakery. “I really do feel better since you’re here.”

He gave her chin lift. “I got you. We take care of our own. And this is damn good.” The croissant disappeared into his mouth.

We take care of our own.
Rhys had said something like that last night. They were like heroes. Like a tightly knit, special operations military team, who did what was asked and didn’t seek attention. Gratitude mixed with relief coursed through her body. What if she had encountered the other guys first? “I need to get back to the kitchen. More pastries to bake.”

“I won’t complain about that. I’m here as long as you are.” He took a drink of coffee.

“See you in a bit.” She headed back into the kitchen where Meena was waiting, arms folded.

“You need to tell me where you’re meeting these guys. And then, we need to try to get them in here on a regular basis. We’re selling more today, and sales were up the other times Rhys was here.”

Enza shook her head. “What are we now, coffee, sweets, and man candy?”

“Hey, whatever works.”

“You’re terrible.”

Meena shrugged. “It’s a business.”

Enza pulled a tray of cinnamon rolls out of the oven to cool. “I’m going to make more of these and the blueberry muffins, then call it a day. I’m beat.”

“A late night with a hot guy will do that.” Meena smirked.

“Meena, we have a line! I need help out here.” Josie stuck her head into the kitchen. “Enza, you owe me introductions with every single friend Rhys has. Or I’ll hunt you down.”

“Okay, bossy.” Enza rolled her eyes. “Some of them might be taken. I don’t even know.”

“Don’t care. Just do it.” She ducked back to the register.

Meena studied Enza for an extra second. “Is there something you’re not telling me?” Perceptive dark eyes flared.

“What?” Enza shook her head. “I just happened to meet a hot guy, who happens to have some hot friends.”

“Who are all built like football players.” Meena leaned against the doorframe. “I just want to make sure everything’s cool. That they’re good guys. Not involved in anything illegal.”

“Oh my gosh, of course not. They’re sweet. Honest. Yes, they’re good guys.” She smiled at her friend, and guilt twisted through her veins just like the ribbons of cinnamon winding their way through the dough she’d mixed earlier. Enza was the one who needed to make sure Meena was going to be safe. Enza was the one who might bring danger to everyone else. She crossed the room to give Meena a hug. “You’re an amazing friend.”

Meena squeezed her tightly. “Yes, I am.”

“Love you.” Enza laughed and released her. “Now go sell to that mom crowd. Run a flash sale on skinny lattes or something.”

C
HAPTER
27

A
T HOME AFTER DROPPING
E
NZA
off, Rhys had all three of his computers running searches on Soren Adamson. The other dude too, if he could find his assumed name. It didn’t matter what those two chose to call themselves in the human world—they had to pick something, and that choice would create a digital trail somewhere.

He started with gold dealers. The precious metal was Torth’s main form of currency, and when coming to Earth, it was easy to find dealers for it. Some were more reputable than others. As his fingers flew through firewalls, pieces fell into place.

Several sales of gold bars and coins had gone through on Adamson’s name, with the money being deposited at a large nation-wide investment company. An account with a Chicago bank popped up, as well as a few credit cards.

On a hunch, Rhys pulled up all the transactions in the same general time period with the dealers who’d traded in Adamson’s gold. He scanned for names, for another man who may have traded the stuff at the same time. After all, gold was a popular asset to purchase but not many people were selling what they’d bought.

There.
Antonio Grasso. Every day that Adamson had traded in gold, so had he. His name also linked to a large Chicago bank. Rhys delved into the Illinois Department of Motor Vehicles to pull up both men’s driver’s license photos, and in seconds was looking at the two demons he’d wanted to pound into a pulp since yesterday.

Adamson and Grasso. Mother fuckers. Rhys started up a program he’d written, to search databases around the world for photographic matches. It was facial recognition software taken to the next level. He didn’t have to ask permission from state, federal, or foreign databases—his program just snaked around their firewalls. Wherever these two had been in the world—airports, government complexes, police mug shots, banks—he was about to find out. Running a series of commands, he linked the DMV pictures and executed his search.

The only hitch was that the thing could take one to two days to complete, depending on other countries’ networks. But Rhys had other sites to check while he waited.

Rhys opened city real estate records next, discovering the owner of the crappy apartment building that he and Brenin had visited. The landlord was named Jose Garza, and he also owned two other buildings in the city. Garza’s bank account showed many deposits on the first of every month. The check images Rhys pulled up were from dozens of different names, but no Soren Adamson.

He drummed his fingers on the desktop. Dude probably paid in cash. That’s what Rhys would do.

Rhys delved into the Chicago police department files, and Adamson’s name yielded nothing. Not that he expected it to, figuring the dude would know how to avoid drawing human attention—but it was worth a shot. He started his regular scroll through the missing person’s reports next, pausing at a face that struck him as familiar.

Cara Sandstone. Where had he seen her? She was blond and pretty in the crap cell-phone photo in the CPD database. Rhys enlarged the picture, drawn to her ear, which he could almost see clearly. The hint of a point formed at the tip.

Hmm. Her description read five feet tall, ninety-five pounds…Shit! A memory slammed into place.
Cara.
She and her friend were the nymphs who interrupted his first kiss with Enza, after the street festival.