Page 35 of Date With Danger

“Why would I drop it?”

“I don’t know. Isn’t that a thing women do?”

Serena stops jabbing me and we both look at him. “Wow.”

“What?” Caleb raises a clueless brow.

I scratch my ear. “Nothing. You just might find a bug in your coffee later.”

Serena snickers and resumes stabbing me.

“What’s my code word?” I ask Caleb.

“You don’t need a code word. We are going to be listening to every word. If there’s a problem, we’ll be there.”

I screw up my nose. “I’d feel much safer with a code word.”

He drags a hand through his hair in frustration. But it doesn’t fool me. He likes me. I’m sure of it. His gruff exterior is simply a facade. At the very least, he finds me attractive. That was obvious from the many times he blushed while in my apartment. A man as tough as him would never admit to blushing, but I find it endearing.

“Fine,” he says. “What do you want the code word to be?”

“Pineapple.”

He crosses his arms over his chest. “Use that normally in a sentence.”

“I’m highly allergic to pineapple.”

“Are you?”

“Of course not.” I wave my hand in the air between us. “I’m a spy now and spies can’t have weaknesses.”

“You’re not a spy,” he says. “And all spies have weaknesses.”

“What’s yours?”

“Are you truly allergic to pineapple?” He ignores my question.

“I guess you’ll know if you fail to save me once I say our code word.” I’m not. But a woman has to keep a man guessing.

“Amelia—”

“Or I could tap Morse code on the table.”

His mouth hinges open. “You know Morse code?”

“Of course. One of my monthly hobbies, remember? One month knitting, the next Morse code.”

“Naturally.”

“I’m done,” Serena sighs. “Thank heavens.” She grabs an apron and fake name tag off the small shelf and hops out of the van like she can’t wait to be rid of me. We need to work on her people skills.

“Here’s your phone,” Caleb says. “I installed an app so I’ll be able to hear anything you say. And with that tiny camera on your jacket,” his eyes dart to my chest, then swiftly back up. “I’ll be able to see everything.”

“So you’ll tell me if Chad’s looking down there all night?”

He clears his throat. “Yup.”

“Well gee.” I flip my wrist. “It’s almost like you thought of everything, except for a code word.”