Page 10 of Protect and Serve

“I don’t need a dating show to get a man.”

“Don’t you?” Cade asked. “Because I haven’t seen you dating much.”

How mortifying. The heat spread to her chest and prickled. “Have you seen the field of contenders? This is Snake Gully.”

“There’s always Derwood,” Lisa suggested on a snicker. Yeah. She could snicker. She was engaged.

“I try not to be picky, but I kind of like it when a guy I’m kissing has teeth.”

“Derwood has teeth,” Porsche insisted. “They just slip out sometimes.”

“How about Wayne?” Cade asked, referring to one of his buddies. There was nothing wrong with Wayne that a good bath and a strong dose of deodorant wouldn’t cure, but he hardly inflamed mad passion in her heart of hearts.

“Yeah. I’ll ask him when he finishes playing World of Warcraft.”

“Oh, he’s finished with that,” Porsche said.

“Yeah?” Yay.

“He’s into LARPing now.”

“Okay, what?” Charlie asked.

Porsche whirled on him and affected her most ingenious grin. “LARPing. Live Action Role Playing.”

Cade leaned in. “So when you see a horde of Huns frolicking in the park and storming the jungle gym on Saturday afternoon, you don’t need to call for backup.”

“Good to know.” Charlie’s lips kicked up and somehow snagged Claire’s attention. They were nice lips. But then, everything about him was attractive. He was tall and broad enough to make her feel small, which she really liked in a man, and he was handsome as hell. His features were flawless, with the exception of a scar tracking through his short-shorn hair and even that gave him an air of mystery.

Or not mystery. More like savagery.

She wondered where he’d gotten it, but it was probably impolite to ask. She wondered a lot of things about him all of a sudden. But if she showed any interest in him, her brother would pounce and God knew what kind of humiliating things he might say.

It was bad enough that they were openly discussing her love life—or lack thereof—in his presence.

Lisa, bless her, saved her. “So Charlie, what have you been up to since you left town?”

Claire pretended disinterest and studied Lisa’s actions as she stuffed the pâte à choux in a pastry bag and started piping it onto a baking sheet.

“He was in Iraq,” Cade said.

Her heart jerked. Damn. Cade had been in Iraq. It had nearly crushed his soul. She flicked a look at Charlie, but when she realized his gaze was on her, she quickly looked away.

“Yeah. Five years in the service was enough for me. I was an MP, so it made sense to go into law enforcement.”

“Good for you,” Lisa said.

“And it was good timing,” Porsche chirped. She was such a chirper. “With Frank retiring and all.”

Charlie nodded. “Right.”

“You’ll have to come for dinner one night.”

Claire glowered at Lisa. There was no call for that. The last thing she wanted was to spend more time with him. Oh sure, he was cute and tall and all grown up, but she remembered him. He’d lived to aggravate her.

“I’d love to,” he said. And, with a glance at Claire, “Sometime. I was hoping to see Cody. Is he here?”

Claire tipped back her chin. “He’s out.”