Taste (Take It Off #9)(19)
Author: Cambria Hebert

“Yep. I’m good,” he replied. “Can I help with anything?”

I handed him a banana and a knife. “Here, feed some of this to Jack. Cut it up small so he doesn’t choke.”

I waited for him to protest.

He didn’t.

Instead, he settled beside Jack with his coffee, propping his bare feet up on the chair across from him, and began to feed my son.

When I failed to do anything but stand there and smile, I earned a lazy grin. “You want a bite?” Spencer said, lifting his eyebrow.

For some reason, I didn’t think he meant of the banana.

I spun swiftly and worked quickly. In no time, I had eggs scrambling, bread toasting, and bacon sizzling.

Once it was all heaped onto a plate, I sat it in front of Spencer and handed him a fork. “I- I’m not used to seeing a man here. Or with Jack.”

I started back to the island, but he caught my wrist. I looked at him.

“How long you been single, Elle?” he asked quietly.

“Since he left us.”

“You haven’t dated at all?” Why did he seem surprised?

“Of course not,” I said, going back to make myself a much smaller plate. My stomach revolted at the idea of food, but I was going to eat it. I needed fuel to get through the day. “I don’t have time to date. And as soon as most guys figure out I’m not exactly alone, they don’t hang around.”

“What the hell kind of men are you meeting?” Spencer muttered as he shoved an epically large bite into his mouth.

“I’m not meeting any,” I retorted, watching him chew. “I don’t have time for a man. My son and my career are all I have room for.”

He looked up. His amber eyes focused on mine. “What if the right guy came along?”

Was he saying he was the right guy?

My heart screamed, Yes, yes, yes!

I reminded it that this was not some weird commercial for shampoo.

I was saved from answering when Spencer’s cell went off.

“Yeah?” he said into the line.

He listened for a moment and then glanced at me. “I’m doing it now.”

Another pause.

“Yeah, I know. It wasn’t a good time.”

I couldn’t help but wonder who he was talking to.

“Yeah, I did,” Spencer said, an underlying threat to his words. “It was necessary.”

A few minutes and a few grunts later, he hung up.

“Is something wrong?” I asked when he started eating again.

“Nope.”

Jack reached for the remaining half of the banana, and Spencer snatched it up before I could and cut it swiftly into small chunks. Jack started shoveling it into his mouth with gusto.

“I need to get the poison from you, Elle,” he said quietly.

I nodded. “Yeah, I said I’d bring it in today.”

He shook his head. “I’d like to take it now. I’m going to drop it off at a private lab before I go in to work. They’re going to rush the results.”

I felt like an idiot.

It never occurred to me that Spencer came here last night because he wanted something. I was stupid. I blindly thought he had come because he wanted to check on me. I thought he came because he cared.

I pushed away from the table and stood under the high cabinet I put it in. “It’s up there.” I pointed. “You can reach it better than me.”

He nodded. “I’ll get it.”

I felt awkward suddenly. The little moment I’d been living in at the breakfast table was popped.

It was for the better.

“Oh, um,” I said, drawing his attention. “I put some of the poison on my plant,” I pointed to the dead, brittle thing. “As you can see, they didn’t lie about what it is.”

His mouth flattened into a grim line. His plate was empty when he stood and strode over to the cabinet and pulled down the vial of poison.

“Sick bastards,” he muttered.

Jack, who had clearly eaten his fill, started launching cereal around the kitchen.

I pulled out the evidence bag Mr. Walsh gave me and handed it to Spencer. “You can put it in here.”

“Elle,” he said, taking the bag, “about last night…”

“I get it,” I said. “They wanted you to bring in the sample. Walsh doesn’t trust me.”

“Walsh is all about the job.”

“Aren’t you?”

“Usually,” he said cryptically.

“Well, I hope you didn’t get in too much trouble for not bringing it in right away.”

“It’s all good,” he said. “They understand.”

Well, at least someone does, I thought.

Figuring that Jack made enough of a mess for one morning, I lifted him out of his seat and held him out. “You are a messy boy,” I told him, laughing.

He grinned and laughed. Then he started kicking his feet around, wanting me to put him down. “Don’t go far,” I told him, setting him down. “You need to get dressed.”

He toddled over to where Spencer was and stared up at him. Spencer gave him a lopsided grin.

My heart turned over.

“You should probably get that to the lab,” I said, motioning toward the bag. It made me slightly uncomfortable that Jack seemed to like Spencer so much. It was one of the reasons I didn’t date. I didn’t want Jack getting attached to someone who wasn’t going to stick around.

“I need to wait until after you leave before I can clear out,” he replied. “Whoever is watching the house and you will likely stay with you. Once you’re gone, they won’t notice me leave.”

I nodded. It was something I hadn’t even thought about. “Okay. Well, we’re going to go get dressed.”

“Need some help?” he asked, wagging his eyebrows at me.

I laughed. “No.”

“Can’t blame a guy for trying,” he called out as Jack and I left the room.

I smiled.

I definitely couldn’t.

10

I wasn’t allowed in the kitchen. Once inside the walls of the White House, I was ushered into another part of the house, where I was questioned all over again about everything. Most of my morning was spent replaying what I did after work the night before and if I was paid a visit again. I knew they only wanted to trip me up, or for me to recall a detail I’d forgotten, but damn¸ how many times could I say the same thing?

“You have someone watching my son?” I probed, interrupting whatever he wanted to ask next. If they could ask questions twenty times, then so could I.