Harmless Revenge: A Harmless World Novel (Harmless #11)

“Yeah. Not just off the grid but truly missing,” Sean said.

“Now, don’t get all mental on me,” Emma said. “I said the chances are high that he is missing. But, if I know anything about Royce Lassiter, it’s that he is always working the game. Just give me a few hours and I can make sure.”

“You need to do it at Cat’s though,” Del said. Del and Sean shared a look that told her there was a lot more going on.

Emma frowned. “I want to continue working here.”

“Too bad, Taylor,” Del said.

Emma didn’t spare him a glance. She turned to face the computer and started working again. Sean apparently knew how to handle her. He leaned down and whispered in her ear. She paused in what she was doing and closed her eyes. After a few seconds, she seemed to gather herself and opened her eyes.

“Okay.”

Del stepped in at that point. Jaime had only just met the man, but she didn’t think this was normal behavior for him. He seemed preoccupied with Emma, but then, the woman did break his nose. If Jaime had been in his position, she would keep a keen on Emma.

“Let’s go, Taylor.”

Emma slanted the man a dirty look. “I don’t like that you talk to me like I’m a recruit,” she said as she hit a few more keys, then shut the top to her laptop.

Del said nothing to that as he waited, he looked at Sean and nodded. Sean let loose a breath and Jaime realized that during all of this, Sean had had one worry, and that had been Emma.

Jaime didn’t exactly know how to feel about that, but she wanted to know more. Once they were alone, Randy and she could make sure they learned the whole story.

It took than less than ten minutes for Sean to get Emma out the door and on her way with Del. He hadn’t had enough time with her, and he was already regretting making her go off to hide. It was the best thing for both of them to get her out the door and off with Del. Still, he wanted her there where he could see her.

He sighed as he watched Del’s taillights disappear around the curve.

When he turned around, he found Randy and Jaime studying him with identical expressions. “What?”

Randy grinned. “It’s kind of cute seeing the way you act around her.”

“Yeah. If I didn’t know any better, I would say you had the makings of a great father in you,” Jaime said.

“Agreed,” Randy returned.

He felt his cheeks heat. “Stop.”

He walked past them and into the house. They followed him, shutting the door with a definite click. He heard the front door alarm being set. It was already getting late, and they had figured waiting until tomorrow night to go out would be best.

“No, really. You seem to handle her well,” Jaime said.

“You sound surprised.”

She shrugged. “Not really, but…yeah I am. You are often impatient.”

That was nothing short of the truth. He had always had a bad temper. But, Emma had changed him somehow. “I had a few months to learn how to deal with her. I knew she had issues, I just didn’t know how much she had been through. Plus, if you think Del looks bad, you should have seen me.”

“She wasn’t that easy to deal with.”

He made his way to the kitchen.

“What was it like?” Randy asked.

“What?”

“With her, when you first found her…what was it like?”

He thought back to that week. The rush to get them both to safety, then the discovery of who she was to him and it was a blow. The constant fear of her being hurt, of trying to figure out if Lassiter had sold them out…it had all taken a toll on him.