Chapter 10

TEN

"Areyou sure these are the skips you want, honey?" The pudgy, fuchsia-nailed Sylvie kept her hand on the short stack of files and nodded to a much larger pile. "Those are more suited to your considerable talents."

I didn't like the up-and-down look she gave my man, but Nero had told me there was nothing to worry about. She wasn't his type. Then he'd kissed me stupid in his SUV in front of anyone who happened to be passing by before we headed into the building.

If I were being honest, I was looking forward to being stuck in the car with Nero for hours while we did surveillance. The last two days had been a whirlwind, and while I liked all my mate's brothers, it didn't feel like we'd gotten to spend any real time together getting to know one another.

Finding your fated mate was weird as hell. I knew without a doubt that I never wanted to be separated from Nero, but I also knew next to nothing about him, not his favorite food, or his favorite color, or his favorite movie.

"We're sure, Sylvie."

She sighed heavily, her ample bosom heaving. "Okay. If you say so." She shoved the stack of folders across the chipped Formica. Nero picked them up, then handed them to me.

"Good luck." Sarcasm dripped from Sylvie's words. "Not that you're going to need it with those guys."

I finally understood what she meant when I cracked open the first folder after we got back in the car.

"What have we got?" Nero asked when I started giggling.

I cleared my throat and tried to pull it together, but I honestly couldn't believe stuff like what I was reading actually happened. "Norris Baker. Eighty-six. Arrested for public intoxication and resisting arrest." Another laugh escaped. "He had a few too many cocktails that didn't mix well with his medications at the local horticulturist's guild fundraiser and went off about how he was robbed of the award for best roses because the winner, a Ms. Chantal Cudahy, was sleeping with the judges."

Nero chuckled. "How did that lead to resisting arrest?"

"Apparently, he thought the officers who were there to take him in were sent from an assisted-living facility. He told them, and I quote, ‘I'm not going anywhere with you fuckers. I can still wipe my own ass and take care of my roses,' end quote. He called Jimmy to post bail because there is a bench advertising his bail-bond business across the street from his house, and he quote, ‘memorized it just in case.'"

Nero tried to stifle a snort. "Address?"

I read it off, and he punched it into the GPS. Thirty minutes later, we pulled up in front of a small house in the Broadview neighborhood northwest of downtown. Sure enough, there were several lovely full rosebushes out front and a bus stop with a bench advertising the bail bonds office across the street.

I peered out the window. "This has gotta be the place."

"Looks like it. Let's go see if Mr. Baker is home and feels like taking a trip downtown."

"Are you sure I shouldn't stay in the car?"

Nero shook his head. "No. You're coming with me."

I nodded and unbuckled my seat belt, following my mate up the short walk to the front door. Nero rang the doorbell, and we heard the chime inside, followed by some rustling, then, "I'm coming. I'm coming."

After several locks clicked, the door swung open to reveal a short old man with a tuft of white hair and Coke-bottle glasses that made his pale blue eyes look huge behind the black frames. I had to bite my cheek to keep from laughing at the thought of this guy resisting arrest.

"Norris Baker?" Nero asked.

"Depends on who wants to know?" He crossed his arms over his chest, the edge of a tissue sticking out from the end of one of his cardigan sleeves.

"My name is Nero Hunter, and this is my associate Felix White. I'm a bond enforcement agent. It seems you missed your court date."

The old man's face wrinkled up. "No, my court date is on the twenty-third."

"Yes, sir. The twenty-third of last month."

"Well, shit." He uncrossed his thin arms, and the tissue slipped from his sleeve, landing on the floor at his feet. "What do I need to do now?"

"If you agree to come with me, we'll take you downtown, get you rebooked, and you'll likely have to stay in jail until your rescheduled court date."

Mr. Baker's eyes went wide. "Let me get my things. I'll just be a second." He turned away from the door and shuffled deeper into the house.

Nero shook his head. "He's going to run."

"No way. Look at him. There's no way he's going to run."

"I've been doing this for a long time. I promise you he's going to run."

"I bet you he's not."

"What are the terms?"

I gave my mate my best coy smile. "Blow jobs. Winner receives. Loser gives."

Nero's eyes widened, but he nodded. "Deal." We shook hands. Nero pulled me in close and whispered in my ear, "Though if you wanted me to suck your dick, all you had to do was ask." He pushed away and winked just as Mr. Baker shuffled back into view.

"All right. Let's go."

Nero's eyes went wide. "Really?"

"Of course. I'm running out of time. This will be one hell of a story to go out on. Let's hit it." Mr. Baker pushed past Nero and shuffled down the stairs.

"Told ya so." A smug smirk stretched my lips.

My mate shook his head. "In all the years I've been doing this, no one has ever been excited about going back to jail."

"Wanna bet he comes out with a tattoo?"

"No way. I one hundred percent think that's going to happen."

I laughed. "Me too. Bet it's a rose he shows off at the next horticulturist's guild fundraiser."

We both dissolved into undignified giggles. "For sure. If he hasn't already been banned for life."

Mr. Baker was already buckled into the back seat by the time we got back into the car.

"Is it always this easy?" I asked under my breath.

Nero shook his head. "Never."

The drive to SPD headquarters was uneventful, and Mr. Baker walked into the building like he owned the damn place after we parked outside. The desk sergeant looked confused when he told her he was there to turn himself in.

She immediately looked at Nero and me, and Nero explained the situation. The desk sergeant clearly thought the whole thing was ridiculous, but she did a good job of hiding her laugh behind her hand. After Mr. Baker had been taken back to a holding cell, she handed Nero a small slip of paper, and we returned to the car.

My smile was genuine as we left the building. "That was fun. You were right. This is a good way to pass the time."

"I swear that"—he waved at the doors—"never happens that way. I almost always have to run. I hate running."

"I would have liked to see that." I had a feeling my mate would look hot as fuck dripping with sweat after chasing down a perp. I gave him a come-hither look from my side of the SUV's center console, and he smiled.

"Behave." He nodded to the other folders I'd stuffed between the seats. "Want to see who else we've got?"

"Sure."

The next skip didn't answer when we knocked on the door, and after a quick walk around the property, it didn't look like he was at home.

"What do we do now?"

Nero pushed a button on the side of his seat, and it slid back. "Now we wait."

"Oh, okay."

He held his hand out over the cup holders between us, and I took it, my heart rate picking up at the simple touch. Since we'd met, with the exception of the time I'd spent with Julius in the basement, Nero was always touching me, even if the contact was subtle, like our legs brushing while we ate breakfast or standing with our shoulders touching while we brushed our teeth. Every tiny contact made my blood heat, bubbles of desire popping and fizzing through my veins. I loved it. The contact made me feel wanted and special, and the desire that constantly hummed through me made me want to spend every minute tangled up in Nero.

"This is the worst part. It's nice to have company." He smiled at me, and I melted a little more.

I let his words hang between us in the silent car as I soaked up his presence and the feel of his fingers tangled with mine. With every breath I took that was laced with Nero's scent, I relaxed a little more until I felt more chill than I had since I'd started digging into Amanda Vanderkaamp.

Breaking the comfortable silence between us, I asked Nero something I'd been thinking about since the night I'd hacked into Julius's files. "Tell me about your grandmother."

"What do you want to know about her?"

"Where is she? You live in her house, right?"

"She lives in Alaska. She's a classics professor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. It's her ‘retirement' job. She used to work at the University of Puget Sound. She was head of the department."

I laughed. "You're kidding?"

Nero cocked his head. "No. Why?"

"I've seen Julius's files, remember? I know her specialty was stealing Greek and Roman artifacts and antiquities."

"Yeah. She has the best cover ever. And the University of Alaska has one of the largest Roman art collections held by an academic institution."

"That's not a coincidence."

"No, definitely not."

"What was it like growing up with her?"

Nero shrugged. "She recognized our strengths early on and helped cultivate them."

"So you were born to be an art thief?"

"Sort of. I always had a choice, but I love her—she's one of my favorite people on the planet—and I jumped at the chance to join her crew when she asked if I wanted to."

I couldn't imagine what that must have been like. My parents had always expected me to do something legal and productive with my computer engineering and programming degrees. They definitely hadn't been impressed when I'd gotten arrested for hacking.

Nero's hand tightened around mine. "Where'd you go?"

I smiled at him. "Just thinking about how different our childhoods must have been."

"We didn't know any better. I'm not even sure we really understood that our grandmother's job wasn't exactly legal until we were older. We just knew she took things from bad people who stole them first when she wasn't teaching classes about really old shit. I swear Quin thought she was a spy or something until he was ten, even though she'd been training him to forge paintings since he was practically old enough to hold a paintbrush and had shown promise with a crayon."

"Can I be honest about something?"

Nero squeezed my fingers again. "Yes. Always."

"I'm having a hard time picturing Quin covered in paint."

My mate laughed, the sound echoing through the car and wrapping around me. I loved his deep rumble of a laugh. "I can see that." Then his expression turned thoughtful. "When they were younger, Cal and Quin were inseparable. They were more alike than they were different, and they were always up to something or getting into trouble. At some point, I think Quin felt like he needed to be different, so he stopped going along with Cal's half-thought-out plans and started trying to be the responsible one. I wonder if the time he spends in his studio is the only time he feels like he doesn't have to put on a show."

"I understand that. At least kind of."

Nero adjusted in his seat so he was looking at me. "What do you mean?"

"My parents were both really smart, and I always felt like I was trying to prove myself. Maybe it's not exactly the same as Quin, but I know what it's like to pretend to be something you aren't and then let that go behind closed doors. My parents were always trotting me out in front of their friends. ‘Look at Felix—he just graduated from high school. Valedictorian at only thirteen.' ‘Felix just got into CIT early decision.' And on and on and on. I was just a kid who had an affinity for computers, but my parents pushed me to excel at everything. Was I successful? Yeah, I guess. But I was also lonely AF. It's tough to make friends when the people in your classes are old enough to drive and buy cigarettes, but you've barely hit puberty."

"I'm sorry you dealt with that kind of pressure. I can make you a promise, though."

"Yeah, what's that?"

"You'll never be lonely again. In fact, this might be some of the only alone time we get."

I kind of loved that. I was an only child, and my immediate family was small. My cousins were either a lot older or a lot younger than me, so I'd never really had a lot of people around. Even though I'd only known Nero and his family for a couple of days, I liked his brothers. They were quirky and interesting, and Julius and I got along really well. "Are you always going to live with your brothers?"

Nero nodded. "And their mates and kids should they choose to start families of their own."

"Guess it's a good thing your house is huge."

He laughed. "Yeah, it's an orca shifter thing. I told you before we usually live in matrilineal, multigenerational homes. Some of the larger pods have real multibuilding estates. My family is one of the largest in the Seattle area, but up near Vancouver and in Alaska, you can tell where the orcas live because the houses are huge and usually near the water. I'll take you up there to visit someday."

"Really?"

"Yeah. My grandmother will want to meet you."

"Why doesn't she live here?"

"She met my grandfather in Alaska. I think she feels closer to him there. He died not long after my father was born, so I never met him, but she used to talk about him all the time, and she would talk to him like he was still around." I raised my eyebrows, and Nero gave me a sort of sad half-smile. "It's another orca thing. We believe the spirits of our fated mates stay with us even if our mates die. My grandparents were fated, and I know it sounds crazy, but she would have conversations with him. I used to listen outside her door every night as she told him about her day and the stupid things we'd done. After she retired from the University of Puget Sound, she moved north. We were all grown, so it made sense. She comes back for a month or two in the winter, and when she retires from teaching altogether, she'll probably come back full-time."

"Sea otter shifters are kind of the same, though we don't live with our extended families, just near them."

"I didn't know that."

"Yeah, both sets of my grandparents lived down the street, and lots of my aunts and uncles lived within a five-mile radius."

"Do you still see them often?" Nero asked.

"No. My grandparents died when I was younger, and my aunts and uncles moved away after their children found mates and started families."

"Interesting."

We talked for a while longer, hitting on some of our favorite things. I learned we both liked ice cream more than cake, Nero's favorite color was—unsurprisingly—black, and his favorite food was anything Cal didn't cook.

"Is it really that bad?" I asked.

"Worse."

There was movement outside near our skip's house, and Nero turned to check it out. He let go of my hand, and I hated losing the contact. A lady was walking her dog, and the pup had wandered up the driveway. "Not our guy."

We'd been staking out his house for almost two hours, and there had been no sign of him, though he should have gotten home from work already. "Do you want me to check and see if he's even in town?"

"How?"

I reached down and picked up the matte-black laptop Julius had given me, my fingers itching to do something productive. "A few quick keystrokes and I'll be able to tell you the last place he used a credit card."

My mate's eyes widened. "Yeah, okay, give it a try."

Flipping open the laptop, I entered the password and encryption key Julius had given me and started digging in. Ten minutes later, we had learned our guy, who had originally been arrested for carrying a concealed weapon—a real samurai sword he'd bought at a comic convention—in his car after getting pulled over for speeding, had been in Japan, presumably on business because his flights had been booked through the company he worked for, for the last two weeks.

"Well, that explains why he missed his court date."

"Yep. He's going to have a mess to sort out when he gets back."

"No doubt." We still had a few files, and I nodded to the pile I'd set on the dash. "Should we try another one?"

Nero shook his head. "I know I should probably take you back to the house, but can I take you out instead?"

I closed the laptop and slid it back between the seats. "I'd love that. What did you have in mind?"

"I want to take you to my favorite spot."

"Okay. Where's that?"

"Is it weird if I say it's a surprise?"

I shook my head. "I happen to like surprises." In fact, Nero had been the biggest and best surprise of my life, so if he wanted to take me to his favorite spot, I completely trusted him.

"Good." He grabbed my arm and tugged me as far across the console as he could, slamming our lips together in a tangle of teeth and tongues. The kiss was definitely a pleasant surprise, and I shifted in my seat to improve the angle. The second I thought about climbing over the console and into Nero's lap, he pulled away, breaking the kiss and leaving me panting, breathless, and hopelessly turned on.

"That's just unfair." I gave him a mock pout.

He pecked a quick kiss to my stuck-out bottom lip. "That's payback for that look earlier. I'll make it up to you later. I promise. Hopefully, that will hold you over until after dinner."

I readjusted in my seat, trying to ignore the fact that I was rock hard behind my zipper. "Are you calling that the appetizer?"

"I am." He winked, then buckled his seat belt and put the car in drive. "After all, I have a bet to make good on for dessert."