Guarding Valentina [Paladin Protection Agency 3] (Siren Publishing Classic) Read Free Page B

of yours is a serious pain in the ass, you know that, Jase?” Val had forgotten about her team leader’s new abilities. As a recently turned werewolf, he had developed an interesting array of talents, including an enhanced sense of smell. He’d only been back at work for a week after taking a long tropical vacation, and she hadn’t had time yet to adjust to his new abilities, or the fact he had gone from unrepentant playboy to eagerly expectant father in only a few months.
    “Just wait until it gets closer to the full moon. I’ll be able to tell you what brand of shampoo you’re using from across the room.”
    “Charming,” Val retorted and went to get a cup of coffee. Now she’d been spotted, there was no sense in trying to hide any longer.
    “You had a rough night.” Jase joined her to top up his own mug. “You really sure you want to be back here already?”
    “I don’t want to be anywhere else.” It was the truth. Paladin was her real home, and these people were her family. As much as she loved her parents and her noisy rabble of siblings, none of them understood her the way her teammates did. This was the one place she felt she truly belonged.
    “You know Sin’s going to blow a gasket when he sees you’re back at work. Why don’t you hang out with Jake for a bit? You can see if you can help him track down your mystery man. He’s using traffic-cam footage to try to pull an image of whomever it was that dropped in to help you last night.” Jase chuckled. “Poor kid was already looking for images of Christoph when I got here this morning. No one told him vampires don’t show up on film.”
    “And since Jake’s desk is over in the corner, there’s less chance Sin will spot me right away.” Val bumped her fist to Jase’s bicep. “Good thinking. Jazz must be rubbing off on you. I’m sure you didn’t used to be this smart.”
    “Wise ass. Go help Jake before I remember I’m supposed to be the responsible leader-type and report you to the doc.”
    “Yes, sir!” She tossed Jase a flippant salute and made her way over to where Jake was working behind a collection of oversized computer monitors.
    “How the hell do you keep track of all this?” she asked as she dropped into a chair just behind Paladin’s resident computer wizard.
    “Years of practice and a steady diet of Red Bull.” Jake turned around to greet Val, his blue eyes dancing behind his overgrown bangs. “I’ve been trying to find a camera that was trained on the area where Nick…fell.”
    “Hey, it’s okay. You can say it. It’s where he died. I know, Jake. I was there.”
    “I just…” Jake suddenly looked like a lost little boy instead of the brilliant and cocky twenty-six-year-old he was. “This is the first time I’ve known the person who didn’t come back. I don’t know how you guys do this.”
    “Do what?”
    “Keep going and act like nothing happened last night.”
    Val lowered her voice to a whisper. “I’ll let you in on a secret, Jake. That’s all this is, an act. You work here long enough, you’ll figure out how to do it, too. We carry on because that’s the job. And finding the bastard who did this to Nick is the best way to honor his memory.”
    Val took a deep breath and let Jake see past the wall she’d put up around her feelings. She felt the sting of tears and blinked them away before anyone else could notice. “You tell anyone you saw me cry, I’ll kick your ass up one side of this building and down the other.”
    Some of the sparkle returned to Jake’s eyes as he nodded. “I didn’t see a thing. And, Val, thanks. It’s nice to know I’m not the only one feeling badly. I was starting to wonder if I’d signed on to work with a bunch of Borg.”
    “Your geek is showing.”
    “If you got that Star Trek reference, then so is yours.”
    “Shh! If you give me away to the others, I will tell that little blonde down in payroll you have a thing for her.”
    Jake paled. “Ingrid? You