Always a Thief - Kay Hooper [13]
“I just wanted to fix this glitch before Monday. Now tell me why you're still pissed at Jared.”
Jared had left the room only moments before, and though a security problem had been ironed out successfully, neither man had been happy with the other.
“He nearly got you killed,” Wolfe muttered, reaching up to absently scratch Bear under his chin. “Besides that, I don't like being lied to.”
Eyeing him shrewdly, Storm said, “You haven't been snapping at Max—or me. Neither of us was especially truthful there for a while. Give Jared a break, will you, please?”
“I am giving him a break. I'm still speaking to him.”
Storm laughed softly, shaking her head. If she had learned anything since meeting him, she had learned that Wolfe's stubbornness equaled her own. “Well, just try to remember that he is on our side, after all. He's not the enemy.”
“All right.”
She sat back in her chair as the computer digested her commands, and smiled up at him. “Besides, there are better ways to focus your energy. Do you realize you haven't thrown me to the floor and had your way with me even once today?”
He frowned. “Wasn't that you this morning? Among all the boxes in the living room?”
“Yes, but that was before breakfast.”
He leaned across the desk, meeting her halfway as she straightened in her chair, and kissed her. “And wasn't that you I had lunch with today?” he murmured.
“Yes, but that was in a bed.”
Wolfe glanced aside at the minuscule floor space of the computer room, then eyed her rather cluttered desk. “Well, there's no room in here.”
Storm sighed mournfully. “I knew it. Engaged just a few weeks, and already you're getting bored with me.”
“If I get any more bored with you, they're going to have to put me in traction.”
She laughed. “Complaining?”
“Hell, no.” He smiled, and his eyes were like the glowing blue at the base of a flame. “In fact, I'm a bit anxious to get back to that new house of ours and have another go at christening the bed.”
They had found and rented a terrific house with an enclosed garden, where Bear could sun himself and chase bugs, and had moved their things there days ago. But with their working hours—and tendency to forget practical matters whenever they were alone—they were still in the process of settling in.
Though they hadn't yet decided where “home” would be in the future, the Mysteries Past exhibit would demand that both of them remain in San Francisco for at least the coming months.
“We need to finish unpacking,” she pointed out mildly.
“A minute ago you were hot for my body,” he said in a wounded tone.
“I still am, but when it comes to love among the boxes—once is enough.” Storm grinned at him and began typing in the commands that would get her out of the computer system for the day. “By the way—even though neither of you has said much about it, it's pretty obvious you and Jared have known each other a long time. Not so surprising, I suppose, given your jobs. Him with Interpol and you with Lloyd's.”
“Our paths have crossed in the last ten years,” Wolfe admitted.
“So you've learned to respect each other's authority.”
Her voice had been placid, but Wolfe realized she wasn't yet prepared to drop the subject.
“Yes,” he said, “we respect each other's authority—and ability to do our jobs. That hasn't changed. But Jared crossed a line, Storm. He might not have hung you out like bait on a hook, but he didn't give you information you had every right to know, information that would at least have put you on guard. You deserved better. You know it, I know it, and he knows it.”
“I'm an Interpol agent. Risk comes with the job.”
“You're a technical specialist for Interpol, not a field agent. It was your own sense and savvy that kept you alive, not any training from Interpol. And Jared had no right to put you in that position without so much as a warning to watch your back.”
“What's done is done.”
Wolfe drew a breath and released it slowly. “Look, I know he's your boss.