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The zing that hadn’t been there when I’d shaken Holton’s hand hit me with the force of a truck just by catching Laeth’s stormy eyes.
“Laeth, hi.”
“Daddy!” Cash called out from the driver’s seat of the SUV.
Laeth quirked a brow at me as he moved closer, leaning in to get a peek at his son. “Hey, kiddo.”
“I a peace man!” he exclaimed excitedly.
“I see that, bud.” He stood tall, looking back at me.
“We were heading back from the library, and Cash saw the sheriff’s SUV,” I explained. “Holton caught us looking through the window and was nice enough to offer Cash a closeup experience.”
Laeth turned his attention to the man beside me, and I felt something heavy and ominous crackling though the air between the two men, exactly where I was standing.
“Ah, so this is who you’re nannying for,” Holton said, and when I glanced his way, he was eyeing Laeth up and down. I got the distinct impression the two men were sizing each other up for some strange reason.
I felt like I should grab Cash up and move away from the cruiser, like I’d been caught doing something wrong when that wasn’t the case at all.
“Clarke,” Laeth said in a flat, monotone voice.
“Harker,” Holton returned with the same lack of enthusiasm.
They kept their gazes pinned on each other for a few more seconds before Laeth finally turned his back on Holton, disregarding him in a way that felt like a slight, so he could talk to me. “You guys walked to the library today?”
I gave him a flat look. This wasn’t an argument I had any intention of having again. “You know we did,” I said dryly, and I could have sworn I caught a slight tilt at the corner of his mouth, almost as if he were trying to suppress a smile.
“All right, come on. The office isn’t far from here. I’ll give you guys a ride home.”
My chin jerked back in surprise at the offer. “But what about work?”
“I can take them,” Holton jumped in to offer. “You know, if you need to get back.”
A low, rumbling noise vibrated from Laeth’s chest. “I’ve got it,” he said through a ticking jaw. “Was planning to work from home the rest of the day anyway.”
He was? That was the first I’d heard of it.
Without another look to Holton, Laeth reached into the cruiser and scooped his son up, and I didn’t miss the way the action made his biceps stretch the fabric of his shirt.
He turned back to me. “Grab your books, Bambi.”
That was the second time he’d called me Bambi, and for the life of me, I didn’t understand where the nickname came from. But I couldn’t shake the feeling there was meaning behind it.
Moving back around the SUV, I grabbed up the canvas tote that contained my prized library books but before I could loop the straps over my shoulder, Laeth was there, hooking it over his free arm.
“I can carry—”
At my argument, he shot me a silencing look, stating, “It’s heavy, so I’ve got it.”
I clamped my lips between my teeth to keep silent. The truth was, the bagwasheavy. I hadn’t exactly picked the lightest books, so the straps had dug into my shoulder as we were leaving earlier. If he wanted to carry it for me, I wasn’t going to argue.
I cast one last look over my shoulder at Holton, giving him an awkward wave. “Thank you again. It was very nice meeting you.”
His stony expression softened as he turned his eyes from Laeth’s back to me. “Same, sweetheart. And think about that coffee, yeah?”
“Oh—okay.”
Another growl rumbled from Laeth’s chest as he placed his palm on the small of my back and gave me no choice but to follow along beside him.
