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“Do not put your foot down,” his mother said with a shake ofher head, proving she knew him well. “I know that look. Your father gets thatlook when he’s about to be super stubborn. Don’t do it. She won’t handle itwell.”
Liam turned to her. “What would he be putting his foot downabout? And why? I don’t think TJ has that place in Lou’s life. Has anyone toldher?”
His mom grinned Li’s way. “Oh, I didn’t tell you. So whenthe kidnappers had TJ, his response to being in danger and Lou getting sent into save him was to hump her leg. And in a way that Big Tag saw.”
A booming laugh came out of Liam’s mouth. “Are you serious?How did the big bastard take that?”
“Oh, it was so much Big Tag drama. There was talk of himgouging his eyes out or bleaching them. I offered to sew them shut for him,”his mom replied.
“You didn’t even tell him Lou and I are together now?” Hismom knew how to bury a lead. This dude was his mom’s best friend and she hadn’teven told him?
Liam shrugged. “She told me the important stuff. You letyourself get roofied and some bad guys think you know another bad guy.”
This man had a reputation as McKay-Taggart’s problem solver.The man who could put the wildest shit together to solve a case.
“Though she should have told me Big Tag got an eyeful,” Liamcontinued. “He’ll probably still be ranting about it this morning. So youfinally fell into bed with Lou and now you think you need to put your footdown? Why would that be?”
“Because the men who kidnapped me got away, so she couldstill be in danger. She’s my weak spot and everyone knows it,” he replied. “Sowhile I’m here, I’m her bodyguard.”
Liam turned and looked at him. He was roughly the same ageas his mom, with a hint of silver at his temples and intelligent green eyes.Though he’d lived in the States for the majority of his adult life, the manstill sounded like he came straight out of Dublin. “Let me see if I understand.She had to go in and save your arse, but she’s theone in danger. You know there is a school of thought where if you’re the targetof a bunch of maniacal killers, you maybe distance from your loved ones.”
His mom made a gagging sound. “Don’t even put that into hishead. TJ, you would do that if your family was some precious middle-class clanwho’d never had to bury a body. Oh, hey, did you thank Avery for letting thekids use your backyard?”
“Not a problem. I know Big Tag is full up, and our dog is alazy bastard. He won’t be digging our friend up. Though I did make them do itin the dead of night,” Liam replied. “Couldn’t have my sweet Daisy seeing thatgoing on. That girl needs a bodyguard.”
They were getting off the topic. “I’m not putting spacebetween me and Lou to save her. That feels dumb when she’s apparently perfectlycapable of saving herself. But as her bodyguard, I have to have a say in hersafety, and meeting a bunch of strange men isn’t safe. My aunt should knowthat. She shouldn’t be sending her off with random men.”
His mom moved a couple of car lengths before the lightturned red again. “They aren’t random. I assure you that Charlotte wouldn’t sether up with anyone who didn’t pass a bunch of tests. This particular guy is afriend of Phoebe’s.”
“How would you know?” TJ asked.
One slender shoulder shrugged. “Who do you think does theactual vetting?”
A nasty sense of betrayal flooded his system. He sat back,letting that knowledge sink in. His mom was helping Lou find someone who wasn’thim. His mom, who had always loved Lou, who told him on so many occasions thathe would regret not taking a chance with Lou. He knew he’d screwed up.
Still, he’d thought his mom would be on his side.
“What’d you find this time?” Liam asked.
“He’s allergic to dogs,” his mom replied.
The light changed and his mom moved through, taking themcloser to the small café where Lou was meeting a dude who couldn’t be around dogs.
Lou loved dogs. Like was obsessed with them. All animals,really.
His mom loved him. “Aunt Charlotte doesn’t know that?”
“I don’t think it came up. He’s successful and looks good onpaper, but there’s zero way our Lou doesn’t have a bunch of dogs in her future.I also vet her online matches. Dennis Sims seems good on paper but he’s still afrat bro, and that will come out at some point, and Lou is never going to bewith a man who could have done that to her when she was a kid. Tell Kala I wasproud of how she handled that.” She stopped the car in front of the café andturned his way, her lips curling up in a satisfied smile. “I know everything.Everything, son. My intelligence work trained me for motherhood in a way youcan’t imagine. And if Devi thinks I don’t know how her car got that dent lastweek, she hasn’t been paying attention. Tried to avoid a duck? Who does she thinkI am? I can get into CCTV cams, child. I know she hit a fire hydrant because ahot guy ran by in shorts that would make a cheerleader blush. Duck, my ass.”
Liam’s head tilted up as though he was looking to theheavens. “I thank the lord my sweet girl isn’t all that interested in boys.”
He saw his mom’s eyes roll in the rearview, but she didn’tcorrect him.
Daisy wasn’t interested in boys. She was a maneater.
Which didn’t matter. He breathed a sigh of relief. “Soyou’re not trying to find a nice guy for Lou?”
“Lou has a nice guy.” She reached back and rumpled his hairlike she used to do when he was a kid. “You should understand that I wasplanning on having a long conversation with you when you came home this timearound. I was going to give you a month tops and then I was going all inbecause you can’t keep her in limbo, baby.”
