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“She could have.”
“I should have sent MeeMaw away as soon as all this started.”
“Why didn’t you?” I looked at him, watching his face.
“MeeMaw was afraid to leave me with you,” he said, a grin forming on his lips.
I pointed to my chest. “MeeMaw was afraid to leave you with me?”
“She thought you might try to seduce me.”
I snorted. “If I’d wanted to do that, I wouldn’t have cared who was here.”
His scar crinkled as he gave me a real grin. “Don’t make promises you don’t intend to keep,” he said, his mouth dropping really close to my ear.
My stomach dropped down toward my toes, so I laid my hand on my belly to settle myself. “Who’s going to keep you safe now, PI guy?” I finally had enough breath to ask.
“Who says I want to be safe?” he replied. He quirked one heavy brow at me.
“Maybe Channing will protect you.”
He snorted. “You mean like she protected MeeMaw today? She hid under the bed the whole time the alarm was going off.”
“So it is just you she hates. She’s scared of everyone else.”
“That little fucker would bite me before she’d protect me. She’d be more likely to protect you.” He jabbed his finger in my direction. “And since you insisted that she could stay, you get to take care of her.”
“She likes me.”
He stared at me. Hard. “So do I.”
I took a breath, trying to push down the butterflies that were suddenly loose in my belly. “You think MeeMaw will be okay with your aunt?”
“MeeMaw will be fine.”
“Do you think Megan would have hurt her?” My heart lurched at the idea.
“I think if Megan wanted to hurt her, she would have done it as soon as she got here. She was looking for something.”
“Like what?”
He shrugged. “Information, maybe. I have no idea. What do you think?”
“I think you’re right. If she wanted to hurt your MeeMaw, she would have.” I searched the street, but was looking for nothing, really. “All I have here is a bag with some clothes in it. Nothing more. So I doubt she was looking for anything of mine.”
“She didn’t know that.”
“If she’d wanted to know something about me, she would have gone to my apartment.”
“What makes you think she hasn’t already?”
“I rigged my apartment to blow up if anyone opens my door.”
He startled for a moment, and then he started to laugh. A grin tugged at my lips, even though I tried to bite it back. “You suck so bad, Shelly Punter,” he said. He turned and walked toward the house. “And you’re fired.”
“You couldn’t fire me if you tried!” I called toward his back. “You need me too much!”
He turned back only for a second. “You’re right about that.” He said it softly, but it was completely clear.
