Della fell asleep staring at the Smurfette. She thought about Chase. Then she heard Miranda’s question: Don’t you feel at least a little bit guilty? You cared about Steve, and then bam, you just moved on to Chase.

She shouldn’t feel guilty, she told herself. Steve had known he was probably going to be leaving when he’d pushed his way into her heart. That was wrong.

Just wrong.

*   *   *

At six thirty the next morning, Della woke up to her phone ringing. Lordy, had she rolled over during the night? She didn’t think so. She really must have needed the rest.

As she reached for her phone, she spotted the silly Smurf and smiled. When she saw the call was from Chase, her smiled widened.

“Hello,” she said.

“Were you still sleeping?” he asked and his voice sounded raspy as if he’d just woken up, too.

“Yes,” she said.

“Sorry, I just woke up and … I missed you. You want to meet me at seven instead of nine?”

She grinned. “No. I’ve gotta visit with Natasha and Liam, and then go tell Burnett and Holiday I’m going to meet you.” And she wanted to call Marla, too. Just to make sure things at home hadn’t gotten crazier.

He must have picked up on something in her voice. “Do you think they’ll have a problem with it?”

“I’m not asking them, I’m telling them,” she said.

“Because you don’t think they’ll let you come?” he asked.

“Let’s talk about that later,” she said. But they were going to have to. She closed her eyes. Would Chase decide to come work for the FRU? Dread spilled over her and her early morning good mood faded.

“Okay. Then nine,” he said. “What do you want to do?” he asked.

She felt a tiny little tremble run through her. What did she want to do? Was she ready to let this thing between them go to the next level?

“Why don’t we just play it by ear?”

“Sounds good.” He got quiet. “I do miss you,” he said.

She looked at the Smurfette. “Me, too.”

*   *   *

Della got up to shower. She washed her hair, shaved her legs, and even put on a little makeup. Towel wrapped around her chest, she hurried through the living area to her room. Kylie and Miranda were still asleep and she preferred to leave before they woke up. Face it, she didn’t want to fill them in on her plans, because she didn’t know what those plans were.

Opening her underwear drawer, she found a black bra beneath her everyday white ones.

She pulled it out. The lacy piece of fabric dangled from her finger and she exhaled. Was she planning on Chase seeing that bra? Was she planning on Chase taking off that bra?

Oh, hell! She didn’t know. But just because she wore it, didn’t mean she would get naked. She slipped the bra on and then found a matching pair of black panties.

Out the door in fifteen minutes, she turned the corner in the path toward Natasha’s cabin when her phone rang.

Thinking it would be Chase again, she eagerly grabbed the phone, but a quick check showed Burnett’s number. “What now?” she muttered and prayed it wasn’t bad news. Prayed it wasn’t him reminding her that her time with Chase had ended.

“You up?” Burnett asked.

“On my way to see Natasha and Liam. Why?”

“Can you come to the office instead?”

“Why?” she asked.

“See you in a minute,” he said, not answering her question.

Damn, damn, damn! Her gut said this wasn’t going to be good.

*   *   *

Burnett waited inside Holiday’s office. Holiday wasn’t here, so maybe that meant it wasn’t too bad. She’d noticed when things were gonna be bad, he had Holiday around to magically make bad news more tolerable.

Della had no more stepped into the room when she got Holiday’s scent and she came stepping out of the bathroom. And she didn’t look happy.

Della inhaled and sat on the sofa before they insisted she do just that. Holiday came and sat beside her.

“What is it?” Della asked.

Burnett picked up a big brown envelope and came and sat on the arm of the sofa.

“I told you I had my concerns about Chase.”

So this was about her and Chase not seeing each other. But damn they weren’t wasting any time.

“I know.” Della looked from Burnett to Holiday and back to Burnett. “But we did this job and it went great. And I think … at least, I hope, I can talk him into maybe considering coming to work for the FRU.”

Burnett stared at the envelope in his hands. “I had Hayden go invisible and hide out at Chase’s cabin to see if he was up to anything.”

Della frowned. “That wasn’t nice.”

“Be mad at me if you want. But I did it because I knew you weren’t going to stop seeing him. And if I was going to let you continue this relationship, I had to be sure.”

Della got a bad feeling. Why was Burnett telling her this? Did he think he’d caught Chase up to no good?

She looked at the envelope he held and knew it contained something bad. Something Burnett was going to try and use to keep her away from Chase. She wasn’t sure what was in there, and she wasn’t sure it would work.

“So what do you have?” she asked.

“Honestly,” Burnett said, “I don’t know, but it puzzles me.”