“You ready for this?” I asked Lottie.

“Ready to kick Dad’s ass? Fuck yeah,” Lottie replied.

I rol ed my eyes.

Indy and Tod grinned at each other.

Guess Lottie had the seal of approval.

My phone rang again.

It said, “Eddie cal ing.”

“Uh-oh,” I muttered when I saw it.

“Eddie?” Indy asked immediately.

“Is that your new boyfriend?” Lottie asked.

Tod nodded for me.

I stil wasn’t ready to ful y commit to the boyfriend thing, I’d said it once and once was enough.

“Who told on me now?” I asked, flipping open the phone.

“Half a dozen you could choose from,” Indy said.

My life sucked.

“Hel o?” I said into the phone.

My opening was greeted with silence.

“Eddie?” I asked when the silence went prolonged.

“You sure you want to stick with this boring tactic? Gotta tel you, Chiquita, it seriously isn’t workin’.” Wonderful.

“Lee phoned you,” I said.

“Lee, Hank, Duke not to mention Mace and half a dozen cops who heard it on the grapevine and wanted to determine the commitment level of our relationship.” I blinked at the table. “Pardon?” I asked.

“For the record, I made it clear our commitment level is in the red zone,” he said.

Dear Lord.

“We’ve only had one date,” I replied.

Silence.

Then some muttering in Spanish and final y, “We gotta have another chat?”

No!

No more chats.

“I think I got it,” I told him.

“I hope so Chiquita, if you don’t, you wil ,” he said quietly.

Eek!

“I got it.”

“Shit, you’re kil in’ me,” he sounded frustrated.

I felt bad for him but I didn’t know how to help. Helping him would be putting myself out there and I felt plenty out there already.

I decided to change the subject, “My sister’s in town.”

“Yeah, heard that too. I’d like to meet her but I’m caught up in something and need to work late tonight. I’l pick you up from Tex’s.”

I looked around the table. Everyone was staring at me.

“Actual y, I’m going out tonight with Indy, Tod, Lottie and Daisy. I’l probably be out late.”

That’s al I shared, he could guess the rest.

More silence.

More Spanish.

He guessed the rest.

“Eddie…”

Final y, he said, “I’l ask Lee to tail you.”

“No! We think we have a lock on Dad and Lee’l scare him off.”

Lee’d scare anyone off, one look at us with Lee in charge, word would spread like wildfire and Dad would be gone.

“It’l be okay,” Eddie said.

“Anyone sees him with us…”

Eddie laughed softly but it was a serious laugh. “If Lee tails you, no one wil see him, not even you.” Somehow, that scared me more.

“I don’t think—” I started.

“Trust me, Chiquita.”

“I’m not sure—” I tried again.

“I want you to trust me and I’m askin’ you to do this for me. It’l give me peace of mind. I might have some shit goin’ down tonight. I don’t need to be worried about you.” My breath froze in my lungs.

This was a lot, trusting Eddie, doing something for Eddie and worrying about Eddie al at the same time.

I made a split-second decision.

“Cal Lee,” I gave in.

He talked in Spanish again, his voice now soft, I knew some of the words and they were sweet.

Then he said, “When you’re done, you’re comin’ to my place.”

He wasn’t asking.

“Yeah,” I said, feeling the warmth curling in my bel y, I couldn’t say anything else; I was in an Eddie Daze.

“Leave your sister with Tex.”

“Okay,” I was stil in The Daze.

“Be careful.”

“You too,” I said quietly, meaning both words and meaning them a lot.

He was silent for a beat and then he said, “This is the part that makes you worth it.”

I blinked again, not keeping up with him.

“Pardon?”

“You got two kinds of sweet and I like both of ‘em.” Then he disconnected.

Dear Lord.

Chapter Twenty

War

The afternoon passed in a whir.

We went back to Fortnum’s, then Duke took me to the bank (my second ride on a Harley) so I could deposit my tips and the (very generous) col ection from the folks at Smithie’s.

While I was gone, Lottie trailed Mom and Tex home in her rental in order to visit with Mom and get settled at Tex’s.

Tex seemed surprisingly content with his house fil ing up with women. Indy explained Tex had been a loner and kinda hermit for years before he met her, so she figured he was making up for lost time.

Duke and I went back to Fortnum’s. I helped close and then Lee and Indy took me to my apartment to find something sparkly to wear. I’d packed for Eddie’s during a mammoth flip out and thus, didn’t do it very well . I was going to use the opportunity to pack more (a girl’s gotta have options).

Lee made Indy and I stand in the front hal while he did a walk-through of the apartment. I felt kinda stupid standing there, not to mention uncomfortable. The favors people were doing for me were spreading far and wide, so far and so wide, I’d never be in a position of payback.

“Al clear,” Lee said with a chin jerk.

Indy fol owed me into my bedroom while Lee hung out in the living room and flipped open his cel . Before going into my room, I glanced at him as he moved around my living room and a thril went up my spine. He was just talking on the phone but he’d somehow completely claimed the space. In fact, his presence fil ed the entire apartment with a kind of dangerous, badass magnetism.

“He kinda scares me,” I admitted to Indy when we’d entered my room.

She threw herself on my bed to watch me pack.

“He’s kinda scary,” she told me.

I stopped digging through my closet and stared at her.

“How do you get over it?” I asked, then immediately started digging again. It was a nosy question and real y wasn’t my business.

Then, I couldn’t help myself, I had to, so I decided to share.

“I’m only asking because Eddie kinda scares me too.

He’s a cop, he says something’s ‘going down’ tonight. I don’t know what but it doesn’t sound good. It flips me out.