I leaned in. “I cannot believe this,” I snapped and shook my head because I really couldn’t. “Which one of you started the rumor about last night?” I asked.

Sniff went silent and I got my answer.

“So, you’re sitting around waiting for one of the Nightingale Boys to show up, is that it?” I went on.

“Wanna talk to Crowe,” Roam finally spoke.

I opened my mouth to reply, or maybe yell (okay, probably yell) but I was interrupted.

“Hey woman,” the big guy behind the espresso counter boomed at me and I looked at him, “you wanna latte? I’ll make you my special. On the house.”

His generosity was a surprise and I looked around the room again.

Most of the customers from around the espresso counter had cleared; the rest of the folks who looked like regulars were all watching me openly and grinning like lunatics. I didn’t want to upset the lunatic asylum and didn’t know how it’d look if I waltzed in, yelled at a couple of runaways and didn’t buy a coffee.

So I said to the big man, “Sure.”

“I’m Tex,” he informed me, even though I didn’t ask, and he started banging on the espresso machine in an alarming way.

“I’m Jules,” I replied because I didn’t want to appear rude.

“She’s called Law,” Sniff declared loudly.

Oh crap.

“Law?” The blonde behind the espresso counter walked to our side and looked at us, smiling. Her smile was amazing and, for a second, I was dazzled.

“Yeah. She’s Law. Street name. Got it ‘cause she’s The Law. Gonna bring down all the dealers. She goes out huntin’ ‘em down at night, just like Batman,” Sniff announced.

“Enough, Sniff,” I said, my voice low.

The blonde’s eyes turned to me. They’d grown round.

In fact, the whole place had gone silent and there was a tremor in the air that was almost physical.

Then the big man pointed at me and boomed, “Fuckin’ A, darlin’!” Then he threw his head back and shouted, “Yee ha!”

Yikes.

Indy, the blonde and the Dolly Parton lady had approached us.

“Seriously?” the blonde from the book counter asked, staring at me.

I glared at Sniff.

“I’m Indy.” The redhead came up to me and shook my hand, saving me from having to answer.

“Jet,” the blonde behind the espresso counter said and waved.

“I’m Roxie,” the blonde from the book counter put in, she shook my hand too.

“Daisy. Sugar, I like your boots,” the Dolly Parton woman offered, also shaking my hand but she was looking down at my shiny, black cowboy boots. They were a Christmas present from Nick the year before.

“Me too,” Indy said, “they’re the shit.”

“Um… thanks,” I replied as the bell over the door went.

“Holy f**k,” Roam breathed from behind me.

I twisted to look at him but he was staring, eyes wide, at the door. Slowly I turned around to the door, feelings of dread seeping through me.

Three men had walked in and at the sight of them my breath left me in a whoosh.

All tall, all dark, one looked like the All-American boy gone wrong but in a good way (a very good way). Another had close-clipped black hair and killer facial hair, his mustache trimmed to razor sharpness down the sides of his mouth. If it had been on anyone else, it would have looked ridiculous but on him it was quite simply hot. The last was taller than the other two (which meant he was seriously tall). He had coloring and eyes that I knew, from the stories I’d heard about him, were from his Hawaiian ancestry. They all had fantastic bodies clearly noticeable under their clothes and they all looked like the badass mothers I knew them to be.

These men were Lee Nightingale, Luke Stark and Kai “Mace” Mason, in that order.

“God dammit,” I muttered under my breath.

They approached and instinctively I moved in front of the boys.

All of their eyes were on me and they noticed my movement. One side of Stark’s lips went up in a sexy half-grin, Nightingale’s eyes crinkled at the corners and Mace smiled flat out.

They thought I was some silly woman, the jerks. My back went straight and my chin went up.

“Law,” Nightingale said when he arrived at our group.

“Shit, Law. He knows who you are!” Sniff piped up behind me, his voice filled with excitement.

“Quiet, Sniff,” I said, not taking my eyes from Nightingale.

“You got business here?” Stark asked, positioning himself beside Roxie and telling me not so subtly that I didn’t have business there.

“I’ve just come to get my boys,” I assured Stark. Then, eyes still on Stark, I said to Roam and Sniff, “Let’s go guys.”

I didn’t hear chairs scraping so I turned to them. They hadn’t moved.

“I said, let’s go.” And I used my word-is-law voice.

They both immediately stood.

“Don’t forget your coffee,” Tex boomed.

I nodded to the big man but said to the boys, “Hazel’s down the street. Get in. I’ll be there in a minute.”

“But, Law,” Sniff whined.

“I’ll be there in a minute,” I repeated, walking over to take my latte.

I wrapped my fingers around its heat ready to offer to pay when the bell over the door went. I looked toward it and saw Vance walk in.

“God dammit,” I hissed under my breath.

His gaze locked on me and he walked to our group and stopped, his eyes never leaving me. I felt his stare like he was touching me and my mind, working against me, flashed on this morning and my body, also working against me, reacted.

Roam and Sniff had frozen.

I shook off the Crowe Effect. “Boys, get to the car.”

“I wanna work with you,” Roam said to Vance and Vance’s eyes left my face and sliced to Roam but he didn’t say a word.

“I wanna be, like, your trainee or somethin’,” Roam went on and you could tell just by looking at him that this was taking everything he had.

Crowe’s face was blank and he showed no reaction, not even to Roam’s obvious mixture of discomfort and longing. I felt my heart squeeze and my breath freeze, worried that Crowe would make a fool of him. There was nothing in Roam’s life that he ever wanted that he actually got and you could see, quite plainly, that there was likely nothing in Roam’s life that he wanted more than he wanted this.

“Roam –” I started to break in.