"Hey!" An all-too-familiar voice sounded just behind me. "What the hell are you doing to her?"
I whirled around. And there he was, close enough to touch, close enough to kick.
Lawton.
Breathless, I stared up at him, trying to recall all the insults I'd been practicing in my head. But my brain was worse than empty. Instead of coherent thoughts, it contained a jumbled pile of nonsense, like someone had shredded a crossword puzzle and scattered it at my feet.
As my brain churned, I tried not to notice Lawton's absolute perfection, those stormy eyes, his chiseled jaw, a body to die for. But one thing about Lawton, he was impossible to ignore.
Chapter 11
He was giving Bishop a murderous glare. "Answer me!" he said.
Behind me, I heard the car door open. I turned around to see Bishop slowly getting out of the car. Automatically, I moved to the side. Bishop shut the door behind him and tossed Lawton the keys.
As if by reflex, Lawton snagged them in mid-air.
Bishop turned toward the restaurant. He started walking.
"Hey!" Lawton called after him. "Where do you thinkyou'regoing?"
Bishop didn't turn around, but his voice carried across the cool night air. "To get a burger, beer – hell, a cab, I dunno. You guys work it out. I'll catch you later."
"Hey!" I cupped my hands around my mouth and hollered "There's nothing to work out, dipshit!"
No reaction. No twitch. No hesitation. No nothing. I glared at his receding back. That jerk. He must've heard me. He was just like his brother, maddening beyond description. I wanted to scream.
Next to me, I heard Lawton's amused voice. "Did you just call him a dipshit?"
I whirled to face him. "You think it's funny?"
He raised his hands in mock surrender. "Nope. Not me."
"Then why are you smiling?" I said. "God, you are such a—" I shook my head. "I don't even know what to call you."
His smile faded. Slowly, his gaze traveled the length of me as if cataloguing my body parts, as a doctor, not a lover.
"You're okay?" His voice caught. "You look okay." He reached for my hand. "But what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be home?" He visibly swallowed. "In bed or something?"
I yanked my hand away. "Oh, because some psycho locked me in his basement?" I laughed, a foreign, hysterical sound. "No big deal. Happens to me all the time. Life goes on, right?"
His face crumpled. "Baby–"
"I already told you, don't call me that." I pointed toward the restaurant. "So why'd you do this here? Youwantme to lose my job? Is that it?"
"No. I get it. You love this job. I know that."
"Oh yeah.That'swhy I'm working here. Because I love it soooo much."
His eyebrows furrowed. "You don't?"
"Hell no," I said. "But I still don't want to get fired." I reached up to rub my temples. "I can only imagine what those two guys from the trunk are saying right about now." I closed my eyes. "God, what a nightmare."
"They're not saying anything," Lawton said.
I opened my eyes to look at him. "What are you? Some kind of mind-reader? Admit it, you don't know squat."
"I know one thing," he said. "They won't talk."
