"What's this?" she asked when he put it in her hands. "It's a telephone number of a private investigator."
When he didn't continue, she asked, "And I need it for...?"
"You said you were trying to find your real grandparents. This guy is good at finding people. If anyone can find them, he can."
Kylie looked up from the paper. "Do you really think he could find them after all this time? I mean, I've been trying to just find Daniel's adoptive parents, but I can't even find them."
"He's that good," Derek said.
Her heart started to sink. "And probably that expensive. I can't afford him." She started to give him back the paper.
He caught her hand. "He's not charging you, Kylie. Call him." "Why wouldn't he charge me? You said he was a PI."
"Because he's a friend of mine. And I used to do some work for him on the side."
"You worked for a PI?"
"Yeah. I went to him to see if ... if he could help me locate my dad." That piece of news also surprised her. She didn't think Derek wanted anything to do with his dad. "Did he find him?"
"Yeah," Derek said. "You missed a great pizza tonight," he added, making it clear he didn't really want to talk about his dad.
But Kylie couldn't stop herself from asking. "And did you see him?" "No. I just wanted to know where the bastard was."
Kylie sensed Derek's pain. "So how did you end up working for the PI?"
"He found my skill of reading emotions very helpful."
Still wanting to soothe away the look of hurt from Derek's eyes, she reached up and planted another kiss on his lips. A good one. She pulled him close, so close that her one-cup-size-larger breasts were pressed against his chest. Derek's hands came down to hold her around her waist.
One of his palms slid up under her shirt and slowly shifted upward. He caressed her upper back, stopping right below her bra strap as if not wanting to cross a line. A line she almost wanted him to cross.
When she pulled away, her breathing came faster. "Thank you, for this." She held up the paper.
"Wow," he said, smiling, and touched her lips. "If he actually finds them, what do I get?"
She elbowed him in the ribs. He laughed and then wrapped his arm around her shoulders as they started back to her cabin.
At eight a.m. sharp the next morning, Kylie had one roommate out of the cabin-Della had left for her vampire rituals-and Kylie was working on getting rid of the other. She told Miranda to go on to breakfast without her. Kylie would catch up later. Miranda had stepped out the door but she'd stayed there for five minutes or so performing some kind of ritual.
Kylie finally poked her head out the door to ask, "What are you doing?"
"I told you earlier, I'm just trying to protect our cabin."
Kylie remembered her roommate claiming that an unwelcome presence lurked nearby, although Kylie hadn't really felt anything. Other than when she'd been alone in the woods or paths.
"Protect it from what ... exactly?"
Miranda tossed up some kind of herbs in the air. They crackled and popped on their downward descent, telling Kylie they weren't just regular herbs. "I don't know ... exactly."
"Didn't you already do something to get rid of it?"
"Yup, but the bad boy is still here. Just won't go away."
Kylie didn't want to ask, but she figured she had to. "Could it be a ghost?" Because if it was, Kylie wasn't so sure Miranda should attempt to keep it away. Like it or not, dealing with ghosts was sort of Kylie's job. Not that so far Miranda's rituals had prevented the ghosts from visiting.
However, if Miranda's herbs were in any way keeping Daniel away, well, Kylie couldn't have that. She really needed to talk to Daniel. "No, it's not like one of your spirits," Miranda said.
"Then what is it like?" Kylie felt a tad apprehensive and remembering the unwelcomed vampire visitor from the other night. "I mean, wouldn't Della know if it was like something rogue?"
"Yeah, but this isn't ... normal. It's involving magic. I can't put my finger on it yet, but I'm working on it," she said.
Working on it like she was working on changing Socks back to feline form? Kylie didn't say it, because that would have hurt Miranda, but Kylie couldn't help thinking it.
"Have you mentioned it to Holiday?" Kylie asked.
"Not yet. Let me try to deal with it first."
Kylie nodded, but she wasn't too sure.
"You ready to go yet?" Miranda asked after tossing up one more sprinkling of herbs.
"No." Kylie brushed a few of the tiny crackling herbs from her hair.
"I ... got a few phone calls to make."
"Okay, but don't be too late. After Campmate Hour, we've got cooking together, and today we're supposed to bake brownies, and you're supposed to decorate them. And they won't let us eat them until after you've done your thing. And I love, love brownies. And don't want to have to wait."
"I won't be that late." Kylie was actually enjoying the food art lessons she'd signed up for last week. Who knew she'd get off on decorating cupcakes and such? Drawing with pen and paper had never been her thing, but working with icing was kind of cool. Then again, she'd always kind of enjoyed watching those cake-decorating shows on cable.
Miranda started to walk away and then turned back. "Who are you calling?"
Holding the phone number of the private detective in her hand, she almost told Miranda the truth, but decided she wasn't ready to share. "I'll explain later."
"Trey?" Miranda asked.
"No way," Kylie answered.
"Sara?" Miranda asked.
"I'll explain later." Kylie frowned, remembering Sara still hadn't tried to call her back.
"A secret admirer," Miranda continued as if were a game. "A hot stud muffin who kisses like no tomorrow that you haven't told us about? Oh, I want to meet him."
Kylie groaned. "I don't have a stud muffin."
"Really? The way you blushed when you talked about Derek naked, I thought he was your stud muffin."
"Go to breakfast." Kylie waved her off.
"Oookay," Miranda said, and started off.
Kylie shut the door and looked at the scrap of paper she held in her hand. She finally felt as if she might be closer to finding answers. She hadn't had any luck finding Daniel's adoptive parents, or even knew if they were still alive, and she didn't have a clue how to go about looking for his real ones. But if Derek was right ... if this guy was that good, then maybe he could find them. And because they were supernaturals, or at least one of them had to be, and considering they had a longer life expectancy, then there was a good chance they could be alive.