“What the hell?” she asked.
He looked away, feeling his cheeks heat with embarrassment.
“You do this for shits and giggles? Trying to torture a poor old lady?”
“No way,” he growled, seriously offended before tamping it down. It wasn’t her fault. He’d be pissed too in her shoes. With a groan, he rubbed a hand over his nape, slugged back half his beer, and told her, “I gave it to a friend. Had too much shit goin’ on and didn’t have time to deal with placin’ the ad again. She was headed to theGazetteanyway, said she’d ask ’em to run it again, but the stupid paper misplaced the old version, and when Binx went to—”
“Wait, Binx? From self-defense class?”
Shit. Hadn’t meant to let that out. “Yeah.” He sighed. “Don’t think she meant any harm by it; she just does stupid crap, y’know? Without thinking.”
Uma made a disbelieving little sound in her throat. “Why didn’t you have them pull it when you found out?”
“I did! ’Course I did, Uma.” The words came out defensive, so he pulled himself back. “Switched the ad as soon as I could. But the kid responsible for the ads kept screwing up and keepin’ the old one. Maybe he thought it was funny, maybe he had his hands full and kept forgettin’—whichever it was, took a few days before they finally got it right. Hell.” He looked at her. “I’ve been helpin’ Ms. Lloyd for years now, you know? She’s all alone. Can’t find anyone. The people she does get take advantage of her, steal shit. Not like she has anything worth taking, but… They treat her like shit, and she’s there all by herself, and one day, I’m gonna head over there and find her on the floor half-dead. And then I’ll have to go out and hunt down the fucker who did that to her. I wouldn’t want to put somethin’ out there that’d attract people who’d want to hurt her. I’d never do a fuckin’ thing like that.”
Uma leaned forward in her seat. “You could have told her, at least. Warned her about it.”
“No point hurtin’ her over something’ neither of us could change. And then you showed up, and I figured I didn’t need to.”
“Congratulations to Binx. You can tell her she managed to get half the loonies in the county calling Ms. Lloyd.”
“What?”
“Yeah. She hasn’t mentioned all the calls?”
“No.”
“Well, good job looking out for her.” She shifted back and drained her cup, leaving them in silence.
“I’m so damned sorry, Uma. If I’d a known…”
She eyed him a second before turning away, her features less angry if not entirely settled. “The ad got me here, didn’t it? At least for now. And I have no intention of hurting Ms. Lloyd, so…I guess it worked out for everybody. In the end.”
“True. Who’d have thought anybody’d be crazy enough to answer an ad like that?”
Her smile was a little bit sad. “Yeah, well, here I am.”
He pictured himself leaning forward to kiss it right off her face. “I’m sorry.”
With a toss of her hair, she puffed out a hard breath that changed the air in the room. “Guess I’m the only personcrazyenough to answer that stupid ad.” There was a challenge in those words.
“Yeah.” He looked down at the paper in his hand and smirked. “Which part was it that sold you on the job?Kinky?Or maybe you’re into theold hagthing.”
“Oh please. Whatever.”
“No, seriously. What’d you think when you read it?”
“What did I think? Seriously? Hmm, let’s see.Why not? Love a good challenge.”
“Yeah?” he asked, not believing her but enjoying the back and forth.
“Yeah.”
Oh, he liked this Uma. A little pissed off and sarcastic, maybe flirty underneath. He narrowed his eyes and leaned in, head tilted at an angle, focus divided between her eyes and her lips. “So, princess, just howcrazyare you?”
Why did that come out sounding like a challenge?
She must have felt it too, judging from the way she responded, her eyes darting over his face, assessing him openly before she responded. “Crazy as a shithouse rat. Still interested?” She imitated his tone, was better at it. “How about you,Ivan? How crazy are you?”
