Bourne to Love Emma (RED-Stone Operatives Book 1) by MacKenzie K. Paxton

down to kiss her on the
cheek.  She giggled and reached for her teddy bear as she snuggled back into
the seat.
    “I’ll walk you ladies back to your
place.  I’ve got to get moving anyway.” 
    Emma smiled as we started walking
toward the street.  “It was nice running into you again today.  Maybe I’ll
start scheduling our trips to the park so we can catch you at the end of your
run.  It’s a nice way to end our day.”
    I smiled back at her at the same time
that I hear alarm bells ringing in my head.  Warning!  Danger!  This is
becoming too much like dating.  I’m supposed to be backing off from Emma, not
getting closer, dammit.
    As I’m trying to find a way to
discourage her without being an asshole, I noticed a dark sedan parked down the
street from our building.  The same dark sedan I saw last week.  And there’s
someone sitting in it today, too.
    I glanced at the plates as we crossed
the street to go inside.  I needed to report this in case it’s tied to the
Patzkowsky case.  John has too many of us in this building to risk someone
hanging out down here.
    As we walked into the lobby, Mrs.
Martinez was talking to Frank at the front desk.  I nodded and said hello, but
Emma stopped beside them.  I touched her shoulder to get her attention.
    “I’ve gotta run.  I’ll see you later,
okay?”
    She smiled up at me, “Okay.  Bye,
Jason.”
    I took the stairs at a run.  Tex will
keep all the good toys for himself if I don’t hurry up and I still had to put
the make, model and plate number into the database on that suspicious vehicle
outside.  I needed to get my mind on something other than Emma, too.  Maybe I
just needed to get laid.  Tex had been a good wingman in the past – maybe we
needed to hit a bar when we’re done tonight….
     
    ~Emma~
     
    As I was pulling everything out of
the diaper bag I took to the park, I noticed I had Jason’s arm band he uses for
his phone when he’s running.  I vaguely remember grabbing everything that was
on the park bench while trying not to focus too much on how sweet he was being
with Mia when we were leaving.  Running into him again had been fun.  More fun
that I’d had in a while, which probably said a lot about my social life.  He
was funny and smart and easy to talk to most of the time.  He was a friendly
guy. 
    Friendly.  Looking back at our
interactions, he was very… friendly.  Like, ‘you are the girl next door and I
am playing nice because living next to someone you can’t stand sucks’ type of
friendly?  Dammit.  Since when did I start to care about how he sees me?
    Mia was playing with her blocks while
PAW Patrol was playing on the television, so I grabbed the strap and jogged the
few steps down the hallway to Jason’s apartment and knocked on the door.  My
heart was pounding and I could feel my cheeks turning red while I stood there. 
Oh man, I have it bad for my hot neighbor! 
    After waiting a minute, I figured he
hadn’t made it back from meeting up with his friend and walked back down the
hall.  I glanced back at his door, wondering if I can slide it under the door
itself, but it looked like it would be a tight fit and I don’t want to end up
messing it up trying to give it back.
    Since I didn’t want him to come home
tomorrow and not have what he needs to go running, I’ll leave him a note that
I’m going to drop it at the front desk so that he can get it when he gets back.
    I darted back into my own apartment,
scribbled the note about the arm band and signed it with my big loopy E.  I
paused for just a second and then I wrote my phone number beneath my initial.  Just
in case he ever needed it….  You know.  If another package of mine is delivered
to him or… whatever.  Meh.
    “Mia, wanna go see Frank for a
minute?”
    “Fank? Yeh.” Mia toddled over to me
and we made a slow trip downstairs to drop the arm band off at the desk.  Frank
had always been super sweet to us and went out of his way to make