His eyebrows shoot up as he pulls his head back. “She’s what?”
“Off-limits to you, buddy,” I tell him as I step backward, making my way back to where she’s waiting.
“Yeah. Yeah,” he says, swiping his hand in the air to brush me off. “I got my hands full with Sharla anyway. Don’t need to add another to the roster.”
Sharla. She is something. Very pretty, but a little off her rocker. Exactly the way Liam prefers hiswomen. Stable and sane are not words to describe any of his long-term girlfriends. He met Sharla at the Pink Flamingo as she shook her moneymaker on the stage in front of him and still does three nights a week.
“Catch ya later,” I call out as I get to my truck door, wanting to get inside the warm cabin because the wind is wicked today, and there’s a good-smelling pretty thing waiting for me too.
“Bye!” he yells back before I climb inside.
“Everything okay?” she asks, her big brown eyes still filled with so much worry.
“All good,” I tell her, fishing the shit the cop gave me out of my side pocket. “You gotta go down to the station today and make a statement.”
“I didn’t see anything,” she says as she grabs her license from my hand.
“Just tell them what you did see and what you know. The dashcam and my statement will fill in the rest.”
She tips her head back against the seat. “I can do that,” she says with a sigh. “I’ll have to get a ride.”
“We can go now if you want,” I offer, for no good reason.
I want to stick close to her, and I don’t know why. I’ve met plenty of pretty women before. Hell, I’ve spent way too many nights with them too, but there is something about this one and the state of shock she is in that have me wanting to stick around.
“I’m sure you have better things to do than hang out with me.”
“Not really,” I answer honestly. Sure, I could be working, but with the wind and cold, I’d do almost anything to get out of being outdoors right now. And being around her isn’t a hardship. I can’t think of a better way to spend my day. “I have to go down there too so they can get a copy of my dashcam video.”
“I canceled my meeting with my client already, so I’m free if you are.”
“Free as a bird,” I tell her, putting the truck in drive. “Buckle up.”
Without hesitating, she does as she’s told. I don’t know if she’s always this easy or if she’s still in shock over what happened.
“You need a ride home after the station?” I ask her, because why the hell not. I’ll do whatever to spend more time with her and not just because anything beats freezing my ass off in the cold.
“I can get a ride.”
“Darlin’, I have a truck and some time. You want a ride home after the station?”
“Sure,” she says, picking up her phone when the screen lights up. “But I hate to put you out.”
“You’re not putting me out. I offered.”
“Okay, but only if you let me buy you lunch.”
I glance her way, wondering if I heard her right. “Lunch?”
She gives me a smile that makes me warmer thanthe sun ever has on a summer day. “My family owns a place, and they make the best burgers in town.”
“I’m not one to ever turn down a good burger,” I say, but the woman could’ve offered me anything and I would’ve jumped at a chance to spend more time with her.
“The best. I said the best, not good.”
“So, you said client. What do you do for work?” I ask, making the question seem like small talk, but really, I’m gathering intel. I have an overwhelming need to know everything about her. I know the basics from her license, but besides the events of earlier, I don’t know much else.
“I’m an organizer.”
