He sighed. “I can understand that. So what’s the plan?”
“Nothing terribly interesting. I’m going to pose as her friend—”
He smiled. “You are her friend.”
Yes, she was. Chris Reordon rarely recruited anyone younger than twenty-five, wanting to ensure they were past the party-your-ass-off-now-that-you’re-no-longer-under-your-parents’-roof phase and could be counted on to perform their duties without getting drunk on weekends and spilling network secrets. But there were occasional exceptions. And Nicole had been one of them.
Nicole’s parents had been of the push-her-as-far-and-fast-as-she-can-go sort. Not because they wanted her to have the brightest future possible, but so they could brag about it to their friends. And boy, had they bragged. Nicole had graduated from Harvard, summa cum laude, with a doctoral degree at the age of seventeen. She now had almost no contact with her parents. Nicole had been nothing more than another token of achievement for them. Another bauble to dangle in front of their friends to show them up because little Harrison III of the same age was barely passing eleventh-grade English.
She couldn’t remember her parents ever hugging her, kissing her cheek, or offering any other gestures of affection. All they’d given her was stress, and who needed more of that? So she’d cut ties with them as soon as she legally could.
Chris Reordon had recruited her shortly thereafter. Consequently, even though Nicole was only six years Becca’s senior, she felt far older and was protective of her friend.
“I am,” she agreed belatedly. “That’s why I’m taking her out tonight. Nothing daring. I figured we’d go to my favorite restaurant and bar, hang out for a while…”
“And see if Reed will attack her?”
“Pretty much,” she admitted.
He was quiet for a moment, his expression inscrutable. “Nick and Kayla are on board with that?”
“They understand but aren’t thrilled about it. That’s why they want me with her.”
His lips quirked up in a smile. “Because they know you can kick ass.”
She loved the admiration that simple statement conveyed. “Yes, I can.”
Straightening, he strolled toward her. “How many weapons are you carrying?”
Nicole stood. Gripping the lapels of the hoodie, she opened it wide enough to expose the 9mm. She would’ve carried a tranq gun, too, but it was bulkier than the other and harder to hide.
“What else?”
She peeled back both sleeves and showed him the wrist blades.
“And?”
Turning away, she raised the back of the hoodie enough to display the extra mag she’d tucked in the back waistband of her jeans.
“Excellent.”
She grinned at him over her shoulder. “The weapons or my ass?”
He laughed. “Both.”
When she faced him once more, her stomach did a little flip. His eyes bore a faint amber glow. Nicole pointed at his face. “You’d better not look at Becca with that glow in your eyes, or Nick will wipe the floor with you. He might not have raised her, but he watched over Becca while she grew up and is now a very proud and protective papa.”
He grinned. “I won’t. Becca is just a friend.”
Confirmation that he wasn’t interested in Becca shouldn’t affect Nicole, so why did she feel relieved?
Wait. Did his mentioning that his eyes wouldn’t glow around Becca because she was just a friend mean he thought of Nicole as more than a friend?
She nearly growled with frustration. Why did her mind keep going in that direction?
Because of that damned talk they’d had a week ago when he’d mentioned needing sex and gotten turned on by her. Now she couldn’t stop thinking of him that way.
“I’m going with you,” he announced suddenly.
“What?”
“I’m going with you.”
“No way. The whole point of doing this is to see if Reed will attack again.”
“Exactly. That’s why I’m going.”
“No, you’re not.” She motioned to him. “Look at you. Even if Reed doesn’t recognize you from the other night, he’ll know you’re an Immortal Guardian and keep his distance. The whole point of this is to see if the attack was a fluke. If it wasn’t, two college girls will seem like easy targets and lure him into acting again, particularly if he thinks I’m drunk thanks to the beer I intend to accidentally spill on my shirt. If he sees you, he’ll keep his distance.”
Frowning, he glanced down. “I can change my clothes.”
“It isn’t just the clothes, Sean. It’s your face and hair and… everything else.” She shook her head. “Immortal Guardian males all look so much alike that you can pass for brothers.”
“Hey, the males aren’t the only ones. You and Becca could practically be twins.”
“Oh please. We don’t look that much alike.” Gifted ones and Immortal Guardians did tend to resemble each other. Whatever genes determined one’s physical characteristics must be more dominant in gifted ones than in humans because those traits had prevailed for millennia.
“But you look similar,” he insisted. “Same height. Same slender build. Same dark hair, dark eyes, and annoyingly cute nose.”
She laughed. “You are so weird. You think my nose is cute?”
“Yes, damn it. It’s freakishly appealing.”
Taking him by the shoulders, she turned him around and pushed him toward the door. “Go get laid, Sean.”
Laughing, he dug in his heels and faced her. “I didn’t say it turned me on.” Assuming a thoughtful expression, he tilted his head to one side, narrowed his eyes, and stroked his chin. “Although…”
Nicole shook her head with a grin and checked her watch. “Ooh. I have to go, or I’ll be late. Nick told me to pick Becca up at her dorm before sunset.”
Abandoning his pose, Sean followed her from the armory. “Seriously, Nicole, I don’t think you should go alone.”
“Don’t worry. I’m not one of those women you see in made-for-TV movies who receives death threats then—having no self-defense experience at all—refuses protection and goes for late-night walks alone. I have weapons. I know how to handle myself. And I have Richart on speed dial. If Nick and Kayla are okay with it, you should be, too.”
“I wish you had put that a different way.”
“Put what?”
“That you know how to handle yourself.”
Again she laughed. “Get your mind out of the gutter.”
“I’m trying,” he said with amusing bafflement. “It just isn’t cooperating.”
She halted before the front door. “Where do you plan to hunt tonight?”
“Duke.”
Nicole had already tucked her mini wallet in a back pocket, unwilling to carry a purse that might get in the way should Reed attack. So she grabbed her keys off the table by the door. “With Tessa?” she asked casually. The two had hunted together three or four times now.
“No. Alone.”
She stared up at him. Relief and worry warred within her. She still didn’t trust Tessa and would rather he not hunt with her. And yet, Nicole didn’t want him to hunt alone and couldn’t shadow him tonight. Not until after she returned Becca to her dorm, where Kayla would be waiting for her.