Page 39 of Rescuing Baylee
Landon grinned at the bull-headed look on her face, and he couldn’t resist dropping a kiss to her lips. “You’re cute when you get tenacious like that.”
Snorting, she pulled away and reached for the eggs again. “Whatever,” she said.
Landon paused her movements with his hand on her own. He waited until she looked at him. “I’m serious, Baylee. I know you don’t want to think someone could overlook your scars to think you’re cute, but I guarantee you, I do.”
Her lips clamped tight, but she nodded. “Thank you. It may take a while to sink into my brain, but I appreciate you telling me that.”
Landon moved back a little to give her space to move around, but he stayed in the kitchen while they talked about inconsequential things. She fried up some sausage patties, sending the scent through the house. Even Siggy stalked in to see what smelled so good.
“So, what’s his story,” Landon asked, looking at the beat-up old cat.
Baylee giggled, and his gaze snapped up. Okay, that was the cutest fucking sound. It made him want to laugh with her. It made him want to make her laugh more.
“He’s at least twelve, the shelter said. But Siamese and Siamese mixes can live into their twenties. They pulled him off the street and thought he would be adopted quickly, because of his coloring. He’s a dick, though, and he’d been returned three times by the time I got him. I think he recognized a kindred spirit.”
She made a vague motion with her hand to her face, and Landon almost growled at her not to do that. He needed to quit with the gut-reaction shit. It would take a while to build up her self-confidence.
And he didn’t think she meant it in a denigrating way. She was scarred. It was just the way she was, and she’d resigned herself to it. “Can I ask an indelicate question?”
“Yes,” she said slowly, like she regretted giving him permission.
“Have you thought about plastic surgery? I’m not saying you should, at all. I think you’re beautiful. But for your sake, and the way people deal with you?”
Her mouth quirked, and she turned to face him, leaning back against the counter again. “I’ve thought about it. A lot. But thepeople that matter to me don’t care what I look like. And the scars… they’re part of me, now. I’m not averse to having them minimized, but down the road maybe.”
Landon nodded, taking in her words. He wondered if she didn’t keep them as a reflection of how she felt inside.
“Thank you for answering.”
“I don’t mind curiosity. That’s why I like working with the kids so much. They just ask, rather than whispering and being snide.”
Turning, she went back to scrambling the eggs.
The phone rang, and Landon turned to pick it up from the table. “Yeah, Morgan?”
He listened for a moment, and his eyes flicked to Baylee. “Well, isn’t that interesting. Okay. Right. Yes, definitely.”
He pushed the button to end the call and slipped the phone into his pocket.
“Hector is missing. They found the car abandoned a few blocks away from his mother’s house. The keys are in it, as well as his phone.”
Baylee’s eyes went wide. “That seems suspicious.”
“I know,” he said, voice calm. “Morgan is canvassing the area.”
His phone rang again less than a minute later, and he pulled it from his pocket. “Yeah, Morgan?” His brows shot into his hairline. “You’re joking?”
He listened to him talk for a few seconds. “Okay, keep me posted.”
Baylee’s hands were clutched in front of her. “What’s going on?”
Landon cocked his head, obviously thinking. “They found Hector’s body in the dumpster behind his mother’s house. Killed Mexican Mafia style. Stabbed to death.”
Her mouth dropped open. “No way.”
Landon shook his head, more than a little shocked at the direction the case had just taken. “He’s sending me a note that was attached to the body.” His phone beeped with an incoming message, and he pulled it up. “Tell the pretty nurse she did us a favor, and now we did her one. Don’t worry about Luis.”
Baylee blinked, her brows almost to her hairline. Landon was feeling the same shock.