“Coupla cars I won the pinks on, few other toys. Things got cheaper when I copped a plea.”

My heart skipped another beat and my body went solid.

“You copped a plea?”

“Yeah. I copped a plea.”

I pressed closer to him and put a hand on his chest. “Why, when you were innocent, did you cop a plea?”

“’Cause I had no alibi, my fingerprints were found at the scene and a bunch of ass**les made statements and lied about my whereabouts. They wanted second degree and were muttering about bein’ aggressive and goin’ for first. That nightmare ended, I had things to do and I wanted to do them so I wanted out in five, not fifteen and definitely not f**kin’ twenty-five.”

My sunglasses looked into his sunglasses.

And I knew.

But I asked anyway and I did it on a whisper. “This is not about justice, it’s about payback.”

He looked over his shoulder and then back at me, his other arm sliding around so he could hold me loosely but his head dipped close.

“This isn’t where I wanna have this conversation but it has to be had. You’re right. This isn’t about justice. It’s about payback.”

I didn’t have a good feeling about that so I started, “Ty –” he shook his head and gave me a light squeeze so I stopped.

“I told you who Tate is and who he was. He pulled out all the stops when that shit started goin’ down. He got nowhere except on radar. I pulled him back from that so he didn’t get caught in the same shit storm as me. And this goes to what I told you earlier. You do not get on radar. They get you in their sights, they’ll chew you up, babe, spit you out and not f**kin’ blink. And, sucks for you, but you got shit in your past they will use to f**k you with. And make no mistake, baby, the instant you picked me up outside the penitentiary they started lookin’ into you. That means you gotta keep your mouth shut and a tight handle on it. At all times. Carnal PD is infested. The citizens of that town keep their heads down and go about their business. You do that too. You let me handle my business and I’ll let you know if I need you.”

“Aren’t there any good cops in that department?” I asked.

“Huddle with the boys first night I was home?” he asked back, I nodded and he went on. “Update. Nothin’s changed except Fuller is now Chief of Police rather than just the captain. Which is worse. There are three cops Tate trusts and all of them are in uniform. No rank, no power.”

“Isn’t there some other authority –?” I began.

“Babe, they are the authority.”

I pressed my hand into his chest to get him to listen to me and I said, “Some other authority.”

He shook his head but said, “Tate had hope. At the party, I heard Betty talkin’ to you about Dalton, that guy who kidnapped Laurie, stabbed her and Jim-Billy?”

I nodded.

“FBI got involved in that. Agent in that case, name’s Tambo, smelled somethin’ funny workin’ with Carnal PD. Tate thought he’d run with it. He didn’t.”

“Maybe you could talk to him?”

“And tell him what? I got played by pu**y and dirty cops in two f**kin’ states not even connected conspired against me? He’d think I was a f**kin’ nut.”

I slid my eyes to the side and had to admit this was true.

“Lexie, look at me.”

I slid my eyes back and I got another light squeeze.

“Keep your head down and a handle on that sass. You unleash it, you do me no favors. Worse, you put yourself out there and you do, I think you get from where we met I cannot protect you.”

“Can I have one exclusion? If I run into bitch-face Misty, can I unleash my sass?”

His chest started shaking and I guessed it was with laughter considering his mouth was also twitching but he said, “She’s married to a police detective.”

“I’ll be discreet.”

“You rub up against Misty, you’ll be f**ked.”

I held his eyes thinking he was probably right about that too.

Then I gave in, “Oh, all right.”

That got me another light squeeze but only with one arm because his other one left me so his big hand could cup my jaw as he dipped his head so his lips were against mine when he whispered, “Thanks, baby.”

Then he kissed me lightly.

My heart fluttered not only at the kiss but because his hand felt nice on my face and his arm felt nice around me.

When he lifted his head, I said, “One thing. Misty’s fair game after you wreak your vengeance.”

His shades held mine. Then he whispered, “I can give you that.”

“Thanks,” I whispered back.

“Got ‘em!” We both heard Stan shout and we looked to the side to see him running to us, hand up, jingling a keyfob. “Magnetic gray!”

Five minutes later, Ty and I were pulling out of the lot on a test drive.

An hour after that, I was in the Viper trailing Ty in the Cruiser on our way home.

And sitting behind the wheel of the Viper, I was having the weird feeling that Lady Luck was beginning to like me.

* * * * *

Ty parked under the deck, I parked the Viper in the garage. He took the outside stairs. I took the inside ones.

I met him in the kitchen, bouncing on my high-heeled wedges.

“That was awesome! Can we go back… oof!”

The “oof” was because I was so excited about driving the Viper, I didn’t see his intent when he was coming at me and only saw it when his shoulder dipped when he made it to me. And his shoulder dipped so it could hit me in the stomach and he could heft me up.

My stomach got tight and I felt another tickle between my legs, this one nicer than the Viper tickle. Way nicer.

“Ty,” I whispered to his back as he started up the stairs.

“Told you, Lex, a man released from prison’s got his first day off work, he’s gonna spend it f**kin’ his new wife.”

Another tickle. A lot nicer.

It seemed that Ty was getting around to giving me an orgasm. I wanted Ty to give me an orgasm. Therefore, I fell silent.

He took me to the top and set me on my feet by the bed.

The first thing I did was pull off my top.

His eyes went dark and he pulled off his tee.

Another tickle. A really good one.

God, he was perfect everywhere.

I reduced the area between us by half and since we were less than a foot away that made us super close. Then I undid my shorts and shimmied them down.

Ty picked me up and threw me on the bed.