Proof positive that men would do anything to stop a woman from yelling.

Ally threw open her door, leaned out and shouted, “Get in!”

Rosie and The Kevster jumped into the SUV, there was more crinkling of shopping bags, then Willie took off.

Everyone was silent. All you could hear was Rosie and The Kevster’s heavy breathing.

Willie broke the silence.

“Lee owes me big time for this.”

I didn’t know if he was talking about the mall or the grunge invasion of his Pathfinder.

Likely both.

* * * * *

If I had known I was going to go to Lee’s offices that day, I would have chosen my outfit more carefully.

Dawn was again wearing designer.

I was wearing my cutoff jeans shorts, an Air Force blue t-shirt with “USAFA” in white on the front (even though the man I loved was honorably discharged from the Army, I was an equal opportunity military supporter) and blue flip flops. After three orgasms and a fight with Lee that ended up with me admitting I loved him, I was spent. Creating an Indy Outfit was beyond my capabilities. I hadn’t even bothered with a belt.

Willie, Ally, Rosie, The Kevster and I invaded Dawn’s pristine reception space and she looked at us in horror. Rosie still had the ice cream “O” around his mouth and remnants of the drip on his hand, too rocked by recent events to attend the basics. At the best of times, Rosie and The Kevster weren’t overly bothered with personal hygiene and these were far from the best of times.

“What now?” Dawn asked.

At Dawn’s greeting, I wondered, briefly, if Lee knew what the word “cordial” meant.

“We need to talk to Lee,” Willie said to Dawn.

She looked at Willie and her face changed. Willie was hot and Dawn was in heat, so she tucked away the attitude and gave him a brilliant smile.

“I’m sorry. He’s in a meeting.”

“Tell him we’re here,” Willie went on.

“I’m sorry, but when he’s in a meeting, Lee says –”

“Tell him… we’re… here,” Willie repeated in a tone that made Dawn’s eyes go wide. She put her hands to the arms of her chair (manicured fingers pointed straight out, the better to be on display), pushed herself up, rounded the desk and disappeared behind the door to the Inner Sanctuary.

“I’ve never been here,” Ally whispered to me.

“Really?” I whispered back, not knowing why we were whispering.

“This place is the shit,” Ally said.

She was right, it was. I felt a strange sense of pride, even though it had nothing to do with me.

I smiled at Ally. She smiled back.

“Are we, like, in trouble?” The Kevster asked, breaking into our moment.

Ally trained her eyes on Kevin. “You’re, like, morons.”

“Dudette!” The Kevster was aghast at Ally’s insult.

“You better clue in before someone helps you check out,” Ally told him. “People are getting shot at, stun-gunned, kidnapped and cars are exploding. Wake, the f**k, up.”

Well, there it was. Couldn’t get any more honest than that.

Rosie and The Kevster stared at Ally, whether what she said penetrated was anyone’s guess.

While all this was going on, Willie was making a call and after Ally’s announcement, he flipped his phone shut.

“Got someone checking,” Willie said, “odds are Wilcox bonded these two idiots.”

“Why would he do that?” Rosie asked.

“I don’t know, maybe because it’s easier to blow your brains out when you aren’t under twenty-four hour police surveillance,” Ally replied.

Okay, so, maybe you could get more honest.

The door opened and Dawn and Lee came out. Dawn scooted behind the desk looking chastened.

Hee hee.

Someone got in trouble.

Lee did a room scan, his eyes fell on me, then he did a body scan. After he ascertained I was all in one piece with no holes, blood leaking or body parts blown off, he looked at Willie.

“What happened?” he asked.

Willie ran it down for Lee.

Lee’s face got hard.

“Get Mace,” Lee told Dawn and, without delay, she picked up the phone. “They weren’t after Indy?” Lee asked Willie.

“Didn’t even look at her,” Willie replied.

“Except when she threw her ice cream cone at them,” Ally put in.

Lee looked at me and I could tell he didn’t know whether to laugh or yell.

Instead, he muttered, “Christ.”

I was pleased he found a happy medium.

“I’ll take it from here,” Lee told Willie.

Willie looked relieved. I knew he cared about me but he had ice cream smears on his backseat upholstery and he spent three hours in the mall, not even with his girlfriend racking up brownie points. He’d gone way beyond the call of duty.

“Thanks Willie,” I said to him.

“Stay safe,” he replied, then he took off.

Lee was looking at Dawn and issuing orders.

“Take the boys to the safe room and start a DVD. Get Hank on the phone and when Mace makes contact, I want to know immediately.” His eyes cut to Ally and me. “You two come with me.”

I wasn’t real fond of being bossed around by Lee but I felt it best not to kick up a fuss in front of Dawn.

Ally and I walked behind Lee to the door to the Inner Sanctuary. I wish I could say I was the kind of woman who didn’t do what I did, but I wasn’t. I twiddled my fingers at Dawn in a “nanny, nanny, foo, foo, Lee’s all mine” multi-finger wave. She totally got my meaning and her eyes became scary hard.

I was considering sticking my tongue out at her when I ran smack into Lee who’d stopped to open the door.

He looked down at me and I knew he caught the whole thing and was in my brain, again.

He shook his head and let us in.

Okay, so maybe I could be jealous-possessive too.

Lee led us to his office.

Sitting in one of the chairs, opposite Lee’s desk, tapping away at his BlackBerry was a handsome man with dark hair, blue eyes and he was wearing a seriously cool dark suit.

He looked up when we entered.

“Marcus, this is India Savage and Ally Nightingale,” Lee said then turned to me. “This is Marcus Sloan.”

So this was Marcus.

He stood and shook our hands. I knew by the way he greeted us that he knew who we both were before the introductions.

He wasn’t creepy, like Wilcox. He didn’t look Ally or me over. He was all business, by the look of his expensive suit, big business, maybe a little dirty business, but he was professional and, you could tell, totally sane. He was still kind of scary, I didn’t know why I thought that, he just was.