He looked unimpressed. "Doing what?"
"Sneaking up like that. Make a sound or something next time, will ya? Seriously. It's freaking me out. And besides, it's rude."
I looked to Lawton, waiting for him to either dispute it or back me up.
Turning toward me, his lips curved into a small, but incredibly sexy smile. "You're awesome, you know that?"
"Huh?" I squinted at him. "What?"
"I've been wanting to tell him that for years," Lawton said.
The guy gave Lawton a look. "Youhavebeen telling me that for years. Now, c'mon, I've gotta show you something."
"Not a chance," Lawton said with a vague shooing motion. "Now get the hell out. And this time, don't come back."
But the guy didn't get the hell out. Instead, he turned his gaze on me. "Still need to get back in your house?" he asked.
"No. She's staying here," Lawton said. "Too late for a locksmith."
The guy lifted his eyebrows a fraction of an inch. "A locksmith? You stickin' with that story?"
"Oh fuck off," Lawton said without any real heat behind the words. He glanced at me. "Sorry."
He didn't need to be sorry. At this point, I was kind of wishing the guy would fuck off too.
"Sure." The guy flicked his head toward the back patio. "But first you've got to check this out. Sorry, but it can't wait."
"You don't sound very sorry," I said.
"True," he said. "But it seemed the thing to say."
"Son-of-a-bitch," Lawton muttered. He gave his friend a hard look. "Fine. Gimme five minutes." Lawton turned back to give me an apologetic smile. "Sorry about this."
"That's alright," I said, giving his friend a long, annoyed look. "It's notyourfault."
"Hey, still want that shower?" Lawton asked.
I nodded.
"How about this? I'll set you up, and maybe we can meet back here in, I dunno, a half hour?"
I glanced at the doorway. The guy was already gone, melted away like he'd never been there in the first place.
I felt my eyebrows furrow. "You related to that guy or something?" I asked.
Lawton hesitated. "What makes you say that?"
"Oh please," I said, "I have eyes. You could be brothers. Are you?"
"Well, since you're so curious about him," Lawton said in a teasing tone, "his name is Bishop."
"First or last?" I said.
"Last. But that's the one he goes by."
"Oh." The implication was obvious. Their last names were different. That ruled out brothers. "Cousins, then?"
Lawton gave a laugh. "No. We're definitely not cousins." He grinned. "Don't tell me you have a thing for him?" From the tone of his voice, it was pretty obvious Lawton knew exactly how I felt about that guy.
