Page 55 of Misadventures with a Duke

I don’t hear anything but breathing. And the back-up beeps from an early morning delivery truck.

But then, in a cautious mutter, “Agent…Degas?”

I can’t help a small giggle. “Present and accounted for, Agent Lautrec.”

“Oh, thank God,” Drue spurts. “I honestly didn’t know whether…” She huffs, and I hear the frantic clack of her window blinds. “Actually, I’m still not sure if he isn’t…” She exhales, underlining the sound with relief. “Okay, he seems to have finally gone home.”

“Who?” I charge. “Ohhh, wait. Don’t tell me you finally got Cy the Security Guy to notice your sweet-sweet girl parts?”

“You’re kidding, right?” she retorts entirely too quickly. “Because I’m fairly sure Cy stands for Cyborg by now. But that’s digressing, and we seriously can’t afford that.”

“Are you telling me something I don’t want to hear, missy?” My teasing tone hardly masks my rising tension. The truth my own instinct is confirming, deep in the pit of my gut. “About our friend Dick Gorgeous?”

“Who, I must say, is just as pretty in his stake-out civvies as his just-the-facts-ma’am suit.”

“Oh, no.” I twist the phone cord around a finger and jiggle my leg until I’ve burned off triple-digit calories. “So…he knows you’re you?”

D pops her lips with definition. “It would definitely seem that way.”

I groan softly. “Does that mean he’s got someone casing my place too? And what about Max and Allie’s apartment?”

“They’re good so far,” she supplies. “And you too, girlie.”

“Which you’re so sure of…why?”

“I went and looked.”

“Excuse the hell out of me? And what’d you do on the way out of your building? Toss a flash bomb at Mr. Sexy In His Civvies?”

My stunned glower invades my words. A diabolical chuckle peppers hers.

“Remember that horror movie I worked on a few months back? With that kid director who’s going to be the next Kurosawa?”

“Oh, shit.” I trade out the glower for a shudder. “The one with the zombie babies who morph into cats at night?”

“Baby Kitty,” she fills in. “Well, they let me sneak out with one of the props. I’ve been keeping it up in my closet for a special occasion. I got it out and put it into a sling that I made out of an old bedsheet. I got into one of my boho dresses and some huge shades. Our dickster friend was none the wiser.”

I give up a soft snort. “I seriously can’t decide whether to be really impressed or really scared.”

“Come on, girl. You know I always have a plan and even a plan B.”

“Oh yeah, I do. But right now, it’s just good to hear it out loud.”

“Why?”

“Because…funny that you mention being handy with plan Bs…”

I’m done with the not-so-subtle hint, but her silence stretches on. Thankfully, not for too long.

“Ermmm…little Tigger, are you trying to say you boinged on something other than your bouncy flouncy tail last night?”

I duck my head. “More like…something else boinged on me.”

“And you need a morning-after kit for it now?” she punches in a perplexed huff. “What about the other night? Weren’t there naughty shenanigans after the Duke of Deliciousness first touched down?”

“Shenanigans, yes. But boinging, no.”

“But there was boinging last night. And things got out of hand.”