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Pixie cleared her throat. “Uh, who’s the older sister here, Talia?”
“You are.” There was no hesitation. “But who’s the law-and-order expert?”
Damn.Her sister had her there.
“Fine,” Pixie grumbled. “But you won’t be getting any hysterics from me, regardless of how thoroughly I’m interrogated.”
“Who’s interrogating who?” Doug’s voice clipped angrily from behind her.
Pixie jumped. She hadn’t heard him move up the hallway.
She took a moment to reorient herself before turning around to face him.
“No worries, Doug. It’s just Talia, being overprotective,” Pixie told him, trying to calm her suddenly racing heart because…Yeah. The man wasn’t wearing a shirt, and his chest was…Damn. It was magnificent. And the towel draped around his neck made his shoulders seem even broader.
“Let me talk to Lumous,” Talia demanded in her ear.
Pixie held the phone up to Doug, and this time her handwasshaking.
Sure.She could face off with a junkie, but Doug without a shirt? Earthquake city.
“Talia wants to talk to you,” she managed.
Doug didn’t hesitate. He strode forward and took the phone.
“LT,” he grunted. “I’m guessing Pixie filled you in?”
Pixie couldn’t hear what Talia was saying, but by the series of winces and grunts that came from Doug, she was certain her little sister was being bossy.
“Yes. Of course. I’ll see you when you get back.” Doug ended the call.
“Sorry about that,” Pixie apologized. “I didn’t know she’d try to pump you for information.”
“Not a problem,” he assured her, catching a drip on his cheek with the edge of the towel. “She’s right to want all the details.”
“It’s not her jurisdiction,” Pixie grumbled. “And I’m not a child.”
“Nobody said you were,” Doug answered calmly. “It’s just her being worried about you. You must admit, a lot of shit went down today that could have screwed with your head.”
Pixie nodded. “Itwasa lot. But I’m feeling fine about it. I already told you that.”
Did his face show doubt? Pixie needed to set him straight.
“Listen Doug. I’ve spent years hiding away. And you already know my first foray back into dating was with you.” She speculated over what she had yet to say out loud, then continued. “I don’t know why, but you, your presence, and what you did at my school during that shooting… It gave me hope. That good guys win. And I guess, it also lent me the courage to make a connection with you. And even though you’ve said there will never be anything romantic between us, I still…care about you. Andthathas to be the spark that’s ignited this whole new confidence inside me. The thing that made me stop focusing on my own little, comfortable sphere, and start looking at the broader world again. You matter to me, so I stepped up when I had to.” She pinned him with a stare. “And don’t tell me it wasn’t all because of you. Itwas, Doug, and it is. So…thanks. I feel better right now than I have since I was a teenager.” Pixie blinked. It was quite the rant. “You believe me?”
Doug’s face hovered above hers, and he sighed.
“If I didn’t, we wouldn’t be having this conversation” he responded with a hard-to-read look. “I would have insisted ondriving you back to Skowhegan. I would have already had you calling your therapist for an emergency session, and I’d be staking out your house until your parents got home.”
Pixie blinked, not knowing if she could find her tongue to respond. Doug, in friend mode, was attractive. In combat mode, he was hella appealing. But in bad-ass over-protective mode—as he was now, and with all that skin showing—he was a fantasy come true.
“Okay,” was all she could manage.
“Okay?” he asked, a slight grin forming on his normally taciturn face.
“Yeah. Okay. I believe that you believe me, and that makes me like you even more.” Could she say that and not make him run away? Revert to being wary? Pixie held her breath.
Doug rolled his shoulders and stood up straighter. That had to be a good sign, right?
