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“I want you inside.”
“Thenhe’llwant to talk!”
“And he doesn’t know how to let people have a phone conversation?”
“It’srude, Ethan,” she strained.
Hmm. He liked when she used his real name. “Two minutes away now.”
“Good, I’ll stay on the pier till you get here. Isthatokay?”
“Yes.”
“Well,thankyou, sir.”
“Cat, if we’re going to be in this arrangement, you do realize my position requires exactly what you’re having a huge problem with.”
“It’s not that,Ethan, it’s the stupidity of it.”
“Well,Catherine,I can guarantee you right now that you and I willnotagree on the difference between safety and stupidity.”
“Well, we’re going to need to have a real good sit down where you lay out just how stupid this security thing will be so I can know whether or not it’s doable.”
“You already said yes.”
“Then it’ll be the shortest marriage you ever saw,” she guaranteed.
Well, that problem got bigger quick. “I’ll lay it all out,” he said. “And you’ll tell me if you can handle it. If not, as you say, shortest marriage I ever did see.” Only it wasn’t. He’d been married for five minutes before. In his young pre-Bishop, idiot days.
“And does my brother know you’re not going now?” she accused.
From friend to boss man to deadly foe on the flip of a dime. “He didn’t know I was going.”
“You were just showing up out of the blue.”
And now he was rude. “I’m here.”
“Oh, I see you,” she assured, like she saw a whole lot more than that.
He docked near her little boat and climbed out, making his way to where she stood with her hip cocked and arms over her chest, staring him down. She was back in her usual attire, overalls and a yellow tank top under it. Hair in a ponytail. Simple little gem. With claws. How sharp and long was the question.
“We all have our limits,” he said when he made it to her. “Yours are with authority. Mine is with safety. There are some things in my job I can’t compromise and that’s one of them.”
“I havenoissue whatsoever with authority, Ethan.”
“I don’t think you’re being dishonest when you say that, but I think your speaking from a place you’ve never been before.”
She angled her head. “Come again?”
He grinned at the crimp in her entire face. “I mean you’ve never been in this position before so it’s hard for you to know.”
Her face cleared instantly, and she aimed her thumb over her shoulder. “I got a boss. He tells me what to do, when to do it, how to do it and I do it. No questions other than those that might help me do the job better.” She smacked a mosquito on her shoulder without breaking eye contact.
“So, what exactly do you have a problem with then? I asked you to wait inside because it’s safer.”
“You said yourself you doubted he could protect me!”
“I did, but it’s better than no protection.”
