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Talia sighed. “You’re going to make an awesome auntie, you know that?”
“Something you’re not telling me, Tallie?” Pixie held her breath.
“Nope. Not yet. But Fleet and I decided we aren’t going to wait any longer to try for kids. Neither one of us is getting any younger.”
And mostly that was awesome, but…it also sucked. A gut-punch reminder that Pixie was older than Talia by one year, and her prospects for kids were nil. But she wasn’t about to rain on Talia’s parade. “Well, give it a good shot this weekend while you’re away,” she told her sister cheekily.
“Already penciled into our agenda,” Talia answered with a giggle.
“Lucky girl,” Pixie replied without hesitation.
“You know, you—”
Pixie nipped that thought right in the bud. “No. I’m not interested in looking for a partner. Been there, done that, got the zombie arm to prove it.”
“Oh, Pix,” Talia’s voice came back softly. “I wish things with Doug…”
“Yeah, Tallie. Me too.”
And why did that make her feel like crying?
CHAPTER THREE
Doug knew he was pushing his luck. Pixie would discover him sitting outside soon enough. What would he say when she confronted him—ifshe confronted him? That was up in the air. It depended on how she reacted.
He’d heard last night, during a SWAT training, that Talia and Fleet were going away for the weekend. When he’d asked if she needed someone to feed her cat—he was making a huge effort to be nice to his LT—she’d told him Pixie was staying the weekend, to which Doug had grunted. Talia had responded with a knowing smirk, so… She definitely wouldn’t be shocked when she eventually found out he was sitting in his truck across the street from her house.
He felt the need to be here, regardless of the fallout.
When Pixie had been in lock-down due to the gunman at her school, the LT had given Doug a quick synopsis on Pixie’s past; why she’d probably be even more terrified than normal over what was happening. And he’d responded accordingly.
On their first two dates, Doug hadn’t let on that he knew anything regarding her history, but Pixie had slowly filled him in on the details of her ex-boyfriend who’d been an abusive asshole. She’d also revealed the life-altering incident that had occurredafter Pixie finally jettisoned Mr. Bad-news’ ass. The psychopath had killed his father, wounded his brother, then come over to the Spires’ home and turned his gun on both Pixie and Talia. Luckily, Talia—despite her blood loss—had been able to keep the asshole from finishing what he started; holding him off until the police arrived. Pixie hadn’t escaped completely unscathed however, either physically or mentally. The bastard’s bullet had taken away the use of Pixie’s left arm,and the incident had seriously eroded her self-confidence.
Doug knew he was the first man Pixie had dated in the sixteen years since the shooting, and yeah, he’d been honored, but then… He was a louse and a coward. Once he’d seen the stars shining in Pixie’s eyes, his own fucked-up issues had him backing off before she could get too attached to the damaged goods he was.
If Pixie thoughtherbrain was screwed up after her trauma, what the hell would she make ofhisif he revealed the shit that constantly swirled in the depths of his gray matter?
Still, once he heard she would be alone at Talia’s, he hadn’t been able to stay away.
Doug was acquainted with the officer on the OTPD who’d been assigned to do the overnight safety-checks, and had waylaid him to say he’d be watching the place for the weekend; that there’d be no need to keep this street on his rounds. The patrolman had looked at Doug a tad askance, but eventually he’d given in.
Yeah. Doug wasn’t known to be much of a team player, even to surrounding PD’s.
If Talia hadn’tpreviouslysuspected Doug would take it upon himself to be Pixie’s security detail by dismissing one of the LT’s patrols, she was eventually going to find out. That officer had probably been on the horn to blab the minute he’d driven away. But that was okay. If Pixie didn’t spot him, Doug planned onletting the sweet woman know he was there before the night was over. For a while, however, he was going to stay low-key.
A half hour pre-sunset—which was currently around seven every evening—Doug thought it was probably time to reveal himself to Pixie, but nerves got the better of him and he decided to wait until she’d most likely eaten her evening meal before he announced his presence. He settled down in his truck with his seat semi-reclined, pouring over a book on HVAC systems which would be useful for a new setup he was contemplating for his cottage. He’d passed papers on his new home several weeks ago, and had already begun renovations. He’d even bought himself a brand new, king-sized bed so he could sleep there.
Doug was deep into the technical specs for installing a split system when a knock on his window had him jumping enough to drop his book and knock his knees against his steering wheel.
“Shit! What the…?”
“Why are you here, Doug?”
For a moment, he couldn’t answer as he blinked toward his partially opened window. Simply seeing Pixie again, up close and pissed, was enough to render him speechless. She was so damned beautiful.
Doug swallowed his sudden nervousness and slid the window all the way down. “I’m, uh… I heard your sister say you’d be here alone this weekend, so I thought it would make you feel more comfortable if someone you knew was watching the house. I was going to come tell you after you’d eaten your supper.”
“You’ve been here for two hours, Doug. You didn’t think I’d notice?”
