“My business is plastic wrap and canola oil,” I told him.

After I was done with my statement he gave me one of his half-grins and I realized what I said sounded like.

“Go home,” I ordered, deciding to get snippy instead of blush.

“If you’re worried Vance can see us on the cameras, don’t. He’s after a skip.”

With everything that happened, I’d forgotten about the cameras.

I did a mental review of my time in the house without Vance and realized with relief I’d been clothed through all of it and hadn’t done anything embarrassing like dance around singing “Sir Duke” with Stevie Wonder (which I was prone to do).

I decided to ignore the cameras, for now. “A skip?”

“Someone who skipped bond. Vance is in Wyoming.”

For some strange reason knowing that and finding out from Luke slid in deep like a knife to the chest and it hurt like hell.

He pushed away from the counter, index and middle fingers around the neck of the bottle, and walked up to me, like Vance did, overpowering and right in my space.

Then he put the hand not holding the beer to my neck, thumb at my jaw. I had no idea what he was up to but I stood my ground, head-crackin’ mamma jamma that I was, no retreat.

I rethought my decision when I looked in his face.

This was not badass, Super Dude Luke. His look was gentle and if he was kickass hot normally, gentle would have taken me to a serious Grade Three belly flutter if I wasn’t hung up on Vance.

“He shouldn’t have f**ked a virgin,” Luke said to me.

Oh my God.

Any hint of a belly flutter disappeared. Mace had heard the cherry popping discussion and talked.

I tried to jerk my head away but his fingers tightened around the back of my neck and I felt the warmth of his body as he got closer, way closer but still not quite touching me with his body.

“Nothin’ to be embarrassed about, Jules.” His voice was soft.

“Maybe you should go home now,” I suggested, deciding he was wrong. There was indeed something to be embarrassed about but I didn’t want to have this discussion with him (or anyone for that matter).

“It’s sweet as hell and every f**kin’ guy at the office wished they’d gone after you and trapped you in that alley after you shot out Cordova’s tires. Including me.”

Oh… my… God.

These guys gossiped like a bunch of women.

“I wouldn’t have f**ked you and left you though. No f**kin’ way,” he went on, still talking softly but sounding like he meant it.

Um.

Wow.

I swallowed and straightened my shoulders. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“I know Vance.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” I repeated and he didn’t and I wasn’t going to tell him.

He stared at me a beat.

Then he said (luckily deciding to switch topics), “Tomorrow, training early. I’m takin’ you out to dinner then we’re going on patrol.”

“Tomorrow’s Saturday. No training and I’m going to annoy some dealers tomorrow night. I haven’t done it in days. I don’t want them –”

“Training at four. Dinner. Patrol. You need to take a break from the dealers,” he interrupted me.

“Luke, I’m not going to stop.”

“I’m not tellin’ you to stop. I’m tellin’ you to take a break, make them think Darius negotiated you off the streets. Get some action where you can try what you’ve learned. Then you can go back after them.”

“Luke –”

“Give it a week, with me.”

I didn’t know what he was asking and I didn’t want to know mainly because I was afraid of what he might be asking.

He knew what I was thinking. “Just training, just patrol, just ride-along when I’m workin’. Anything else you can think of that doesn’t have to do with that, I’m open to it.”

I couldn’t help myself; a ride-along while he was working was too good to miss.

Anything that didn’t have to do with that I wasn’t going to think about.

“Okay, training and patrol tomorrow… no dinner,” I gave in partially.

“Dinner.”

“No dinner.”

He got closer and my br**sts brushed his chest.

Um.

Yikes.

“Dinner,” he said softly.

Time to retreat.

I pulled back. “Training and patrol, if I’m hungry, dinner.”

“You’ll be hungry.”

Whatever.

Time to stop talking.

I frowned at him. He gave me a half-smile.

Then he touched my nose with his finger and was gone.

I stood in the kitchen and wondered what in the hell just happened.

Then I decided not to wonder. Best to leave it alone and book my flight to Nicaragua first thing in the morning.

I got ready for bed making certain I did it in the bathroom where Vance told me there were no cameras (and I hoped he wasn’t lying).

Then I climbed in bed and waited for Vance to break in. Wyoming wasn’t that far away, just a few hours. He could make it back in time, from what I heard he was a good tracker.

I tried to stay awake so I could hear him when he came in and be ready to give him a piece of my mind before I jumped his bones.

Then when I dozed, I tried to do it lightly.

Then I fell dead asleep.

* * * * *

I woke to the phone ringing.

I didn’t open my eyes and did a body scan, feeling for extra heat, the weight of an arm on me.

Nothing.

I opened my eyes and saw Boo staring at me. “Meow,” Boo said.

I slept on my side in the middle of the bed. Even though it was a big bed it wouldn’t give Vance much room to sleep and not touch me if I was in the middle.

Still, I turned to my back and twisted my head to look.

No one there.

Boo walked on my chest, sat down and stared at me. “Me… ow,” he repeated.

My answering machine clicked on.

“In a second, Boo,” I whispered, waiting for a voice to give a message and hating myself because I was holding my breath.

The voice came.

It wasn’t Vance. It was Ally.

“Girl, wake up. We’re all doing mimosas and eggs benedict. Dozens. Meeting in an hour. Be prepared, Tod’s bringing the Wedding Planner Book. It might get hairy.” She paused. “By the way, ‘in an hour’ means nine thirty.”