Undercover Heat Read Free Page B

“Go back to reading the funny pages. Come on, Miss Sanders. Mr. Daniels will help us.”
    “Mr. ... who?” She stopped short, her arm slipping out of the priest’s grasp, just as Quinn stepped into view.
    “Quinn,” she blurted. “What are you doing here?”
    “Volunteering,” the priest answered for him. “He does it just about every week.” His voice was full of pride. Quinn winced. Volunteering weekly to help the local church distribute food to the poor did not mesh with the I-don’t-care-about-anything persona he worked so hard to portray to his co-workers.
    “What are
you
doing here?” he counteracted.
    Her cheeks tinged pink, and she averted her gaze to stare at the cracked sidewalk. “My parents taught me the importance of giving back to the community,” she said with a touch of defensiveness.
    “Why
here
?” he asked, even as his hackles rose. Giving back to the community. He’d bet one of the warm meals Father Benedict used to feed him that she’d never had need of a place like this in her entire life. Instead of appreciating her desire to help those less fortunate, it pissed him off. He’d been one of those less fortunate, when he’d been a kid. He had every right to volunteer at the church’s community center. Kyra’s parents probably did it to assuage the guilt they felt because they couldn’t even imagine what life must be like for those who were aided by their contributions.
    “After I’d lived here a few weeks, I felt guilty, I guess. I was so used to, I don’t know ...
doing
. So I asked Nico for recommendations of where I could possibly make a difference, locally. He suggested this place.” She waved her arm to encompass the church, with its weathered brick walls and sparkling, stained glass windows.
    “Miss Sanders brings donations every Tuesday,” Father Benedict added helpfully.
    “I’ve never seen you here before,” she commented.
    “I usually volunteer on Saturdays.” Why the hell had he told her anything at all? He could have lied, said this was his first time, that he was just doing it because he lost a bet, or some shit like that. Something far more emasculating than admitting he was a regular here.
    “But today’s Tuesday.”
    Again, Father Benedict answered for him. “He’s going undercover tomorrow. He’s one of those government types, just like you are, Miss Sanders. Anyway, he’s worried he won’t be able to get back here to help for the next few weeks, so he showed up today instead. Such a giving individual. Mr. Daniels has been involved with the community hall for most of his life. Isn’t that right, Mr. Daniels?” He gave Quinn an expectant look. Kyra arched her brows again, and he scowled.
    There went his masculinity. “Something wrong with volunteering?” he demanded, glaring at her. Challenging her.
    “Not in the least,” she replied so starkly that he was tempted to let his facade slip. Just for her.
    “I told him he would spoil me, if he was to start showing up on Tuesdays instead of Saturdays, since Tuesday’s our delivery day,” the priest said, oblivious to the strange interaction occurring between them.
    She broke eye contact first, glancing back at her car. “I’ll just, ah, go get the donations I brought. I’m actually going undercover, too, but I don’t think it’ll be a problem to continue to volunteer,” she said, and to Quinn, it sounded as if she was giving him permission. But what she didn’t understand was that he didn’t even want her to know he volunteered like this. No one, besides the priest and Nico, knew. And now, Kyra.
    He followed her to her car, then elbowed her out of the way so he could lift out the box of canned goods sitting in the passenger seat. “Nice ride.”
    “Thanks.”
    They walked side by side toward the community center. “Look, Sanders, this isn’t what it looks like.”
    “It looks like you regularly help out a church located in the middle of a community that desperately needs