Relief flickered across her features. “Then please don’t.” She scraped her even front teeth over her bottom lip. “If you saw inside me, you wouldn’t like what you found half as much.”

“I doubt that.” The vote of confidence made her twitchy, so I shifted gears. With thirty-six hours’ worth of sleep purring in my tank, I was itching for news. “You look good. Their medic does excellent work.” I didn’t see a mark on her. “How did everyone else fare?”

“Seven injured at the scene.” Her voice came out tinny. “One fatality.”

The urge to rest my hand on hers and offer comfort twitched in my fingers, but I honored her wishes. “Is Thierry okay?” The last time I saw her, Shaw had been carrying her toward a truck.

“She’s fine.”

“I’m glad to hear it.” That meant I wouldn’t have dreams of incubus assassins dancing through my head tonight. “She’s the one who did all the heavy lifting.”

“That’s not how I remember it.” Harlow ducked her head and pressed her index finger to my wrist. No. I got no buzz off her skin, no feedback from her magic. She was touching something on my wrist. “Thanks, Cam. I mean it. For having my back.”

Cam. No one had called me that in years. In that moment I realized how much I had missed the intimacy of it.

I studied her, curious why she would grant me a boon and even curiouser about the warm weight pressing against my pulse. I raised my arm. A simple bracelet strung with luminous peach-toned pearls hung from my wrist. Intricate designs were carved into the surface of each one. How had I missed it? Had we bumped heads that hard? “What’s this?”

“I dive for raw materials.” She worried one of the holes in her top with her index finger. “I make things sometimes.”

I ran my finger over the bumpy grooves. “You made this?”

Another shrug.

“It’s beautiful.”

Harlow scooted her chair back and stood. “You should eat something. I can hear your stomach growling from here. Menus are there, and my number’s on the pad by the phone if you want some company.” She pointed at a dusty frame housing a bland flower mural on the wall beside the door. “I’m right across the hall. If you need anything, holler.”

I was pawing through the top drawer of my nightstand before she reached the door, and mulling over my options before she shut it behind her.