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Bonnie laughed, then covered her mouth when it came out like a giggle-snort.

Jase smiled. “You’re too cute for words.”

“Sure I am. Anyway, you’re assuming I go out on enough dates to have a scoring system.”

“Well, don’t you?”

“Don’t make me snort again. Are you kidding? When would I have time, and who can I bribe to babysit? Hazard pay is required.”

Jase chuckled. “They’re just normal kids.”

“They convinced one babysitter that I was really an undercover cop, and they weren’t really my children. They convinced her that the pizza delivery guy would be our backup, but she had to order almost everything off the menu so he’d know that they were in trouble. When she wouldn’t do it, Amber told her if the bad guys found them, and she saw them, then she’d either die or have to go into the witness protection program.”

Jase was leaning closer and closer across the table as she told her story. “Is that for real?”

“Yep, it was just three months ago. Amber likes movies like Jason Bourne and the Jack Ryan series. Her first love was The Professional with Natalie Portman.”

“Those are intense movies for six- and seven-year-olds.”

“Tell me about it. Last summer when school was out, I had my neighbor, Mrs. Atwood, watching the kids. A lovely, older lady. She’s close to seventy, and too sweet for her own good. She raised one daughter who must have been perfect, because it doesn’t even occur to her that my two could ever be lying or wreaking havoc. Lachlan wanted to watch the Call of Duty movie and had been complaining to Amber about the parental controls I had put on our cable. My lovely daughter Googled how to get around them.”

“Doesn’t that require a password?”

“That was totally my fault. Amber heard me tell Mrs. Atwood and a couple of other people what our home alarm code was. She must have memorized it.”

Jase nodded. “I’ve got it. You used the same numeric code for the parental controls.”

“Bingo. Jase, I’m telling you, they are little genius criminals and they’re only in second grade. You really don’t want to take them out.”

“The more stories you tell me, the more I want to take them out.”

“You’re deranged.”

5

As Jase’s Mustang pulled to a stop at the curb in front of Bonnie’s home, he turned to her. “Wait for me to help you out of the car, okay?”

Bonnie nodded.

Jase turned off the car. He prowled over to her side to open the door and assist her out of the car.

“I missed doing this,” he muttered.

“What?”

“The valet got to do this at the restaurant.”

“I’m going to stick with my original hypothesis. You’re a goof.”

“But I’m a goof you’re willing to put up with. Admit it,” he said as they went up her walkway.

“You’re right, I admit it,” she murmured softly.

Jase struggled to hear the words, but he did.

He watched as she stood in front of her locked door, and he watched as she considered asking him inside. He did nothing to sway her. This was totally up to her. He was really hoping that she would, but there was a part of him that was hoping she wouldn’t. He could tell she needed to be wooed.

“Would you like to come in for another cup of coffee?”