Page 74 of Dancing in the Dark

He snorts. Pulling back a few inches, his honeycomb eyes scan my face with a slow sweep that feels almost as good as a caress. “I love how you look in the mornings. At work, you have this professional sheen that is ridiculously intimidating and sexy. But this? Just woken up?” He smirks. “You look all squishy and sweet and like you’re dying to ask for a cuddle. Maybe later, when you’re freaking out less, if you stay over on a weekend when no one is working, and Mia doesn’t have school, we can hang in the fort for half the morning and watch cartoons while we snuggle.” He drops a kiss on my lips. “In fact, that’s what I’m putting on my birthday list.”

“It’s your birthday in July.” Stop being nervous! “You already missed this year.”

“Shame,” he sighs. “I would’ve snuggled on my last birthday, too, if you’d let me. Come on.” He grabs my hands and pulls me up until we’re both standing and my blanket falls away. “As much as I wanna snuggle with you right now, I worry if we do, I might start touching. If I start touching, I’ll wanna make you come. And if we get started on that, but Mia finishes in the shower and makes us stop halfway, I might explode in all the worst ways.” He turns and leads me over the scattered cushions, around a set of kitchen stools that made up one structural wall of our fort, and across to the counter. Backing me up and forcing me to sit on a stool, he leans in and presses a gentle kiss to the side of my neck. “I’ll make you coffee and something to eat. Then it’s time for us all to go.”

Circling away, he heads to the coffee pot first and fills a mug he already had waiting there. “How are you feeling after last night?” He sets the mug in front of me and searches my eyes. “I mean, besides the obvious overthinking and stressing.”

“I’m fine.” I look down into my lap and shrug. “A little embarrassed, I guess, but overall⁠—”

“What are you embarrassed about?”

I scoff. Where do I even start? “The stuff with Anderson. The stuff I told you. The… Everything.”

“Anderson Markum is lucky I didn’t shoot him last night. I walked in on him grabbing you, which means I could’ve unloaded my clip and defended my actions as reasonable. Are you pressing charges?”

“Against Anderson?” My pulse skitters at the mere thought. “No.”

“Why not? He touched. He was angry and out of control. That’s actionable.”

“He’s not…” I shake my head. “No. He’s a weasel with an overinflated ego and a metric load of daddy issues. Once this current stuff with the Chinese is done, he’ll slink back into his little hole and leave me alone. But you…” God. It’s all so messy. “You still have to work with him. How will you handle that?”

“By unloading my clip in his ass and having Arch testify it was self-defense.” He picks up his coffee and hides his unkind scowl behind the mug. “How do you want me to handle it?”

“Me? I… Well…” I frown. “I want everyone to pretend last night didn’t happen. I want you to be able to do your job without this turning into more than it needs to be, and I want him to do his job and not make yours harder than it already is.”

“How could he⁠—”

“He’s with the Port Authority, and your current case centers on the bay. That means every step of your investigation will go through his office.” I sigh. “I don’t want him to make it more difficult for you than it needs to be.”

His eyes fire with that temper I know he keeps locked up nice and tight. Most of the time. “Don’t worry about us. I deal with sniveling asswipes like him daily. And now that I’m saying the I love you parts out loud, I really should get used to every fucker with a functioning pair of eyes having a thing for my girl.”

“His ego is fragile,” I groan. “Before, he would’ve wanted to be your best friend. Guys like him always want to be ‘in’ with the cool crowd. But after last night? He’ll make it his personal mission to be as annoying as humanly possible. He’ll irritate you until you want to snap back, and when you do, he’ll document it and push his complaints up the chain of command until you want to scream.”

“So then I won’t snap.” He forces his lips into a smile and leans across the counter. “Trust me, Sera. I have a lifetime of experience bottling this shit up and exploding over the people I love instead of the people who deserve it.”

“Charlie! This isn’t fu⁠—”

“I promise not to snap.” He plops a kiss onto my cheek and pulls back in the same moment as the shower stops.

“Is she still here, Daddy?” The towel rail squeaks. “Is Fifi still here?”

“I think my daughter’s obsessed with you.”

28

SERAPHINA

I stride off the elevator on the eleventh floor of City Hall an hour and a half after breakfast. Like knights wielded their shields and swords to bolster their confidence back in… I don’t even know. Four-hundred-ish years ago, I’ve come to work in my favorite navy, knee-length skirt and a blouse specifically Mia-approved. I’ve redone my hair and applied a fresh coat of makeup. Add in the piping hot to-go cup of coffee warming my hand, and I’m ready to face an all-new day.

“Good morning.” Reese glances up from her desk. “Mayor Lawrence arrived a few minutes ago. He said to send you in when you get here.”

“Alright, thanks.” I unlock my phone and scan my emails, since it’s never a good look heading into Justin’s office with outdated information. Discovering three separate emails from Minka, I forward them to her actual assistant, since that’s no longer my job anymore, then opening a fresh email with a grin teasing my lips, I type ‘I RESIGNED IN OCTOBER LAST YEAR!’ in the subject line.

In the body of the email, I add: I’ll start marking your correspondence as spam if you don’t stop. Callen is your Fifi. Callen is cool. Callen is capable. Talk to Callen!

Hitting send, I navigate across to my texts and roll my eyes at the very first.

Minka: