Ally glared at me, her head swung to Hank and then she blew out a breath of pure exasperation.

“He shot at Indy! Twice! He kidnapped her. I’m not gonna let him get away. Give me a f**king break. I’m a Nightingale. If either of you…” she pointed to Hank then to Lee, “were sitting in a car and saw the opportunity, you’d take it without a thought. What? I can’t because I’m a girl?”

Okay, she had a point there.

I stopped struggling to get at her.

“And you,” she pointed to me, “someone did those things to me or your Dad or any of us, and you were behind the wheel of a car and had a chance to nab him, would you even hesitate?”

Hmm, another excellent point.

I bit my lip.

Being caught up in the events of the last several days, I had not stopped to consider how the people I loved, who loved me, felt about everything that was happening.

So I put my foot in the other shoe and the feeling it gave me was overpowering. Tears came up my throat and I swallowed them back.

“Ally, girl,” I whispered.

Ally wasn’t done. “I’m not a badass cop or a badass…” she stared at Lee, “whatever-you-are but if I get the chance to do my bit, I’m gonna do it. I mean, that guy interrupted ‘No More Tears’. Burgundy and Indy were kicking ass up there. Something had to be done!”

“I think you made your point,” Lee said from behind me. His arm was still around me tight.

A car angled into the lot and Dad, Malcolm and Kitty Sue were there.

Malcolm charged out of the car, assessed that his loved ones were breathing and healthy and then roared at Ally, “Tell me you didn’t just participate in a high speed chase!”

“We’ve covered this ground,” Hank said.

Lee let me go and turned me into Dad’s arms. Dad held me and kissed my forehead.

“You okay?” Dad asked.

“Yeah,” I answered.

A squad car angled in and Jorge and Carl were there. Carl shot out of the car, his face angry.

“Have you lost your mind?” he shouted at Ally.

It obviously wasn’t going to be Ally’s night.

Though I had to admit I found it a tad interesting how upset Carl was.

Hmm.

Jorge came out slower, his face set and showing little emotion. He approached Lee, Dad and me.

“I don’t know what’s goin’ on, Nightingale, but you should consider putting Indy in a safe house until it’s over,” Jorge remarked.

Lee made no comment to this. Ally and Carl were shouting at each other and Dad was holding on tight. Lee and Hank started making phone calls, Jorge got out his notebook and we all made statements.

Lee put me in the Crossfire after a wrecker came in to tow Ally’s Mustang. Carl sat in the car, the radio microphone in his hand, calling in a report. Tex was going with Carl and Jorge who were taking him back to the hospital to get re-stitched up. Ally and Hank were catching a ride with Malcolm back to BJ’s to pick up Hank’s SUV.

I waved to everyone as Lee pulled away, heading north on Broadway.

“I don’t want to go into a safe house,” I told Lee.

“You’re in a safe house, the condo’s safe. You just keep leaving it.”

I didn’t like the way he said the second sentence.

“Are you thinking of cuffing me to the bed again?”

He didn’t hesitate. “Yes.”

Great.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”

“Thinkin’ about it isn’t the same as doin’ it. You’re a security challenge. I have to keep you safe while not lowering my chances of gettin’ into your sexy underwear, or, more to the point, gettin’ you out of them.”

I thought it likely that Lee was up to that challenge. At least I hoped so.

“By the way, nice performance back there. I especially liked the part where you kicked the guy in the chest. Class.”

Great.

At least his voice sounded a mixture of amused and admiring.

When we got to the condo, Lee let us in and I told him I had to do the round of calls to make sure everyone was all right.

I stood on the balcony with my phone and without me having to ask, Lee brought me three ibuprofens and a glass of water. He watched as I guzzled them, took the glass and then disappeared.

Holy shit.

He was very good at this togetherness stuff.

I called Tod and Stevie first.

They were home, safe and sound and maybe a little freaked out but not mad at me. At least Tod wasn’t, he was more interested in dissecting our act on stage.

“Girlie, we kicked ass. They were on their feet. They were chanting. We gotta go shopping, we gotta get you some mini-Burgundy outfits. We gotta take this show on the road!”

Andrea and Marianne were also safe, though Andrea’s husband said she wasn’t allowed to go out with me anymore which caused a fight as no one ever told Andrea what she was allowed to do. No one. Richie Sambora, the great and glorious lead guitar of Bon Jovi and Andrea’s dream man could have given her an order and she would have told him to go f**k himself.

Duke thought it was a hoot, Dolores was considering backing out of girl’s night out on Wednesday.

I flipped my phone shut and walked into the bedroom. Lee was in the same position he’d been in last night, in bed, on his back, chest bare, sheet nearly to the waist. The light was on but this time, he didn’t have a book and he was fast asleep.

I’d never really had the time to observe him while he was asleep and he looked different. He looked kind of like the old, pre-Special Ops Lee, the hardness and scariness gone, just… Lee.

I wanted to kiss him, as in really wanted to kiss him. He looked good, lying there sleeping. Seriously good. Melt in your mouth good.

Instead I cleaned my face, brushed my teeth and pulled on the Night Stalker tee. I double checked the door was locked and the sliding doors to the balcony were secured. I tiptoed to Lee’s side of the bed, switched off the light and then went to my side of the bed and slid in carefully, so as not to wake him.

I told myself over and over again that I was not going to kick or hit Lee in his sleep. This helped me force out thoughts of bullets flying and how totally out of control my life was.

* * * * *

I woke up to a hand in my panties, cupping my ass and another one under my shirt, stroking the side of my breast. I was sprawled half-on, half-off Lee, my face tucked into his neck.