I stared at him.

I started to move away but his arms got tight. I looked at him and he kissed me again, this time slow and sweet but with lots of tongue.

That was more like it.

When he was done, my freak out had disintegrated.

Gone.

I looked him in the eyes for a beat then said against his mouth, “Sleep well.”

He kissed my forehead and I grabbed my nightie, pulled it over my head, turned off the alarm so it wouldn’t wake Vance, swung off the bed and went to feed Boo.

I showered, got ready as quietly as I could and chanced a glance up at the bed before I left.

Vance was lying on his stomach, sheet down to his waist and I could see his brown-skinned, muscled back which looked even browner against my cream sheets. Boo was curled into the side of his waist and didn’t even look at me when I peeked.

I had to hold on to the bed platform not because of a belly flutter but because my knees went weak. There were all sorts of reasons for this, none of which I had the time or inclination to explore at that moment.

I pulled myself together and walked outside.

Nick was standing in the yard staring at Vance’s Harley which was parked close to the backdoor.

Nick’s eyes swung to me but he didn’t say a word.

“Um… seems Vance and I are back together,” I informed Nick, explaining the bike.

Nick watched me a beat then dropped his head, stared at his shoes and muttered something under his breath I didn’t catch.

I walked closer to him. “Sorry?” I asked. “I didn’t hear that.”

He looked at me. “These are the times I hate,” he said louder.

I just stared at him.

Then I asked, “What times?”

“The times when I don’t know what Reba explained to you and what she didn’t.”

Oh crap.

Not one of those times. Those times were always embarrassing for both of us. Always.

“Nick –” I started but Nick interrupted me and I could tell it was in an effort to get what he had to say over with and quick.

“Don’t f**k with this guy, Jules. This is not the type of guy you f**k with. I figure he’s got a lot of patience and to be honest, no offense sweetheart, he’s gonna need it with you. But don’t use up his patience. Does that make sense?”

I was still caught at Nick dropping the f-bomb. Nick didn’t tend to use the f-word very often.

Nick took my silence as confusion, came closer to me and explained, “What I’m sayin’ is, don’t jack him around.”

“Nick!”

“I’m just sayin’.”

“I’m not jacking Vance around!” Okay, maybe I was, but I didn’t realize it at the time. “I’m just…” I went on, “working through some issues.”

“Well, don’t tease him while you’re doin’ it, that’s all I’m sayin’.”

“Tease him?” I whispered.

Oh my God.

Was I teasing Vance? Was I teasing Luke? Was I teasing both Vance and Luke?

Oh… my… God.

How did I go from virgin to slut to tease in a week?

“Do you think I’m teasing him?” I breathed, beginning to freak out.

“Uh…” Nick mumbled, watching me freak out and then lifted a hand to scratch the back of his head, “maybe you should talk to one of the girls at the bookstore about it.”

“I think I’ll do that,” I agreed quietly and I was damned certain I would. If there was ever a time for a girlfriend, this was the time.

Nick came forward and kissed my cheek then he was gone.

I got into Hazel and freaked out.

Then I thought of Vance sleeping in my bed and I freaked out more (but in a good way).

Then I felt something funny, sweet and wet, nudging around in my memory filing cabinets. I looked through my chain link fence and saw a cute, fawn-colored pug puppy with a black face pushing his nose through the fence and giving me sloppy, puppy kisses.

I looked through the fence.

My Rottie was nowhere to be seen.

I wondered if I’d miss him.

Chapter Twenty

Yoko Ono

I sat in the parking lot at King’s and pulled out my cell phone, scrolled down to Luke’s number, took a deep breath and hit the green button.

“Yeah?” he answered after the first ring.

“Hey, it’s Jules.”

“I know who it is and I know why you’re callin’. I’m lookin’ at the monitors and I see Vance’s Harley sittin’ outside your house.”

Whoops.

“Um, seems there was a misunderstanding,” I told him.

“Bet there was, especially with him doin’ surveillance room last night.”

“He kinda saw us,” I explained unnecessarily.

“I know where the cameras are positioned, babe. He more than kinda saw us.”

He’d said “cameras”, plural. It was a big room but still.

I decided it was best not to think about it. “He wasn’t happy,” I went on.

Silence but I heard a door close.

“Seems that we weren’t broken up after all,” I went on, “he was just giving me space.”

More silence for a beat then quietly, “I hope that’s it. I find out he threw away his nice shiny toy then got pissed when he saw someone else playin’ with it, I’m the one who’s not gonna be happy.”

Um.

Yikes.

“I’m not sure I like being described as a toy,” I said, feeling the head crackin’ vibe coming over me.

“I’m not the one treatin’ you like a toy,” Luke shot back.

I decided this wasn’t going very well. “There are things you don’t understand.”

“Right.”

Time to play peacemaker. “Luke, seriously, I don’t want to be Yoko Ono.”

“Come again?”

“I don’t want to be the one who breaks up the band.”

More silence then, “Babe.”

I felt relief sweep through me. His “babe” was amused. He understood.

Then he continued talking. “Mace heard how you took down Warren and his girls and saw you floor Jermaine. He and I agree you’re ready to be full-time in the field. No more training. It’s showtime. You’re ride-along with me tonight.”

He wasn’t asking. I didn’t know how Vance would feel about this but I hoped I could talk him into it because I really, really wanted to do ride-along.

“What time?” I asked.

“Pick you up at nine.”