“Please come sit, Detectives.” Millie twittered around them. “Can I get you some tea?” Her birdlike gaze twinkled at him. “Although you’ll have to wait for more water to boil. My uninvited guest is wearing my first cup.”
He raised his eyes to the ceiling. “Help me, Lord.” Hearing smothered laughter in the background, he glared at Colson. “No tea. Thank you.” His patience was wearing thin. “The facts?”
“Well, I came home from the bank and the market—they had strawberries on sale, and I knew they’d be the last ones of the season—”
“Ms. Johnson, please?”
“Colson and I were going to have some cookies, and I made a cup of tea. Then the bell rang. This young woman was crying, saying her boyfriend beat her up and could she come in and call her mother.”
He frowned. “And you opened the door, even though you know there’s been a rash of break-ins. I thought we had this discussion already about you checking the camera.”
“That’s where I come in.” Colson joined the story. “I was already here in the house when she received a call from the bank that they needed her to come in and verify signatures. I offered to stay because she had cookies in the oven.”
“All this is very interesting, but can we get to the point where this all happened?” Nolan made a let’s-move-on gesture.
Colson continued. “Knowing that Millie was too trusting, once I heard the front door open and this one”—he poked the girl on the floor with his foot—“started with a nasty mouth, I ran in with the cup of tea. When I saw her with her fist cocked to punch Millie, I threw the hot tea in her face.”
“He burned me,” the girl cried out. “I need a doctor.”
“Yeah, sure, honey, we’ll get right on that,” Harper drawled. He got on his phone and called for backup. In five minutes, two officers were in the house and hauled the girl to her feet. Harper checked her out. “Don’t worry. You’re not burned. Just wet.”
She spit in his face, and though he ducked, some caught him on his cheek. “Bastard,” she screamed.
“Aw, crap,” he said tiredly. “What’d you do that for?” He tipped his head to one of the uniformed officers, who stared at her in horror. “Add on assaulting an officer to the charges.”
“You got it, Detective,” the officer answered, and after placing her in handcuffs, led her, still screaming profanities, out of the house.
Colson rushed up to him with a wet washcloth. “Here. Let me.” He suffered through having his face washed, while Nolan raged.
“That’s disgusting. How dare she do that to you? You should go to the hospital and get checked out. Get a tetanus shot or something.”
“She didn’t cut me. I’ll live.” With only the four of them there, Harper was comfortable enough to put his arms around Colson. “Thank you.”
Visibly upset, Colson pressed him. “Are you okay? Maybe Nolan is right and you should go see a doctor.”
“Nah. I’m fine. Most of it missed me.” He made a face. “It’s probably more in my hair than anything. I’ll take a shower when I get home.”
Colson leaned in close and whispered, “I’ll make sure you clean it all off.”
“Excuse me,” Millie interrupted. “Now that we’ve gotten that unpleasantness out of the way, is there something you haven’t told me?”
A cute blush rose over Colson’s face, and Harper grinned. “What would that be?”
She wagged her finger at him. “Detective Rose, you’re teasing me. Did you take my advice?”
His arm tightened over Colson’s shoulders, and his gaze found Nolan, who was trying—and failing—not to laugh out loud.
“I guess you could say so. I listened to my heart.”
Epilogue
Eight months later
He woke to Harper kissing his neck.
“Mmm. Good morning to you too.”
“I’ve never kissed a tripleNew York Timesbest-selling author.” Harper teased his ear. “It’s sexy. You’re sexy.” He continued to trail kisses up and down his neck. “How does it feel?”
