Page 79 of Smuggler's Beauty

“I feel fine. No jitters at all.” She placed the egg timer back on the table and stood up. “Sorry if I scared you.”

“You have nothing to apologize for,” he said, reaching out and grabbing her hand. Their fingers laced together as he led them toward the kitchen. Soup. Soup was soothing. They would have soup, and he would tell her about the latest developments.

“Aiden, I was a disaster. I feel so dense. My family may have not done me any favors encouraging me to completely cut off this line of psychic talent, but they did drill into my head that control of my abilities is not negotiable.”

He grunted. Going on a tirade about the multitude of ways her family had done her wrong would serve no purpose. Evelyn was not who he wanted to vent that anger to.

“Seems to me like you’ve got plenty of control,” he managed.

That was diplomatic.

“I have plenty of control when it comes tonotsiphoning. Now I need to learn how to control the action itself.”

"Speaking as a verified control freak, I think you’re going to be able to transfer that skillset just fine, dollface. It’s just practice now.”

Aiden’s thumb traced a lazy line back and forth against Evelyn’s finger as they entered the kitchen. He reluctantly released her hand so he could pull out a chair for her.

“I’m thinking soup,” he said and headed toward the freezer. “Lillian makes this incredible squash soup.”

“As long as there’s bread.” She sat down and rested her elbows on the table, cradling her face in her hands. “Soup is a bread conduit. I will not be taking questions at this time.”

He grinned and grabbed soup and crusty rolls from the freezer. Aiden popped them into their respective warming devices and brought out spoons and bowls for them. When he turned around, he found Evelyn digging in the refrigerator for the pitcher of iced tea. She was focused on the task at hand, maneuvering objects around inside the cool box, a scene of perfectly mundane domesticity. She squinted at the contents of the fridge, muttering about Tetris and efficient space management under her breath.

He realized he could listen to her rummaging around inside the refrigerator indefinitely with perfect happiness and almost dropped the bowls on the floor. He set them on the counter and placed the spoons inside, focusing on the menial task as his mind silently ran emotional equations.

Aiden knew he wanted Evelyn. He couldn’t be near her without reaching out to touch the softness of her skin, to tuck her golden waves behind her ear. He knew she was brave and beautiful. Wickedly smart, entirely too self-sacrificing for her own good. He knew that he wanted to know everything there was to know about the woman, unlock every slammed door in her psyche, and kiss better every wound. Catalogue every slight touch that made her shiver and use them to reduce her to a shaking, moaning mess. It had just taken him a minute to realize that he was falling in love with her.

Andshefelt dense.

He suddenly felt very hot. He loosened the tie at his throat and unbuttoned the top of his shirt. His pulse was racing.

“Aiden?”

“Hmm?”

Be cool.

“Who stocked this fridge? It makes no sense. There’s no semblance of order in here.”

“I think Veselko emptied the last load of groceries. It never makes much sense in there when he’s done with them.”

Aiden crossed to the fridge and extricated the jug of tea for Evelyn. She took the jug to the table and started opening cabinets, looking for glasses. Beeping alerted him that their lunch was ready. He decanted soup into bowls, a task made more difficult by the stiffness in his shoulders, and brought their meal to the table and sat down next to Evelyn.

“So, you ready to tell me what Tariel had to say that has you all freaked out?” She quirked an eyebrow. “What? You’re all tense.”

Aiden took a sip of tea to compose himself. He was grateful that she assumed the comm call was the reason he was acting like an evasive weirdo instead of his sudden revelation about his own feelings. “He received a comm call from a mercenary namedPearl Locke. She didn’t admit to it, but we suspect that Emil has hired her outfit to search for us.”

“I take it she’s very good at her job?” Evelyn blew on a spoonful of soup.

“She is. She and her partner are very . . . tenacious.” Aiden started ripping up chunks of a roll and dropping them into his bowl. Pearl and Ivan were some of the most efficient mercenaries theDawnhad ever encountered. The times they’d worked together had been as dangerous as they had been lucrative. The dread he was feeling at Pearl and Ivan being on their trail made more sense to him now that he realized the seriousness of his feelings for Evelyn.Great timing, Aiden.He stirred his soup around, crusty bread soaking up silky broth.

“Tenacious. That’s a word,” Veronique said as she entered the kitchen. “Bloodthirsty is one I like better. Cold-blooded, that works too. Disloyal. I could go on. The Twins are menaces.”

“You seem to know a lot about them,” Evelyn said. She took a mouthful of soup and made an appreciative noise that stirred Aiden in ways that were inappropriate for lunchtime intelligence sessions.

“We did a few jobs with them a few years back. The last one didn’t go well,” he said. “We had a difference of opinion.” Aiden didn’t like thinking about how far Pearl had been willing to go to complete the final contract that had severed their working relationship. The thought of her focus being on Evelyn chilled his blood.

“To say the absolute least,” Veronique said. “We have different philosophies governing our behavior.”