“I’m not.”
“Yes, you are. You’re so particular about your coffee, nails, the way your towels are folded, and everything else.”
She laughed and curled up closer to me on the couch. “I’m a simple girl.”
“Tell me one thing simple about you.” I dropped a kiss on her forehead.
“Okay.” She tapped her head and then answered. “I like drinking coffee in the morning while watching the morning news. When I have quiet time, I love to cuddle up with a crossword puzzle and a mug of tea. Ohhh, and on a cozy, slow Sunday or a rainy Saturday, I’m fine with watching antique shows.”
“I did notice that you have a few antiques in your home. Have you always loved them?”
Delaney bobbed her head. “Yeah. I used to go antiquing with my grandmother, so it reminds me of her. I still go. I’ve been looking for this precious clock for a while. Every time I track it down and go to the shop where it was last seen, I’m told that it’s no longer there. I have to go track it down again.”
“What does it look like?”
She described the clock to me, and I nodded.
“What about you? What do you do in your spare time when you’re not crushing lives, Mr. Attorney?”
I laughed. “I love muscle cars, and my dad and I used to work on them. We were working on a sixty-nine Thunderbird before he died. We were close to finishing it, and I haven’t found the energy to continue since he passed. I mean, I’ve restored other cars but not that one.”
“You should do it. As an homage to your father.”
“Mm, . . . maybe one day.”
“Good. When you do, I’d like to go for a ride in it one day.”
“Okay, baby. You must have had a long hard day.”
“I did. But why did you say that?”
“You keep yawning, and you’re dozing on me. I must be boring company.”
She giggled and stroked my beard. “Never that, baby. Just sleepy.”
“Well, I’m gonna head home and let you get your rest.”
I had driven straight to her house after picking up something from Soldier’s for a quick meal for us. We ate and settled down to watch a movie.
“No. I want you to stay.”
“Stay?”
“Yeah.”
“So I can watch you sleep?”
“No. You won’t be watching me sleep, but you can put me to bed.”
I lifted her in my arms and carried her back to her bedroom where I laid her on the bed. When I grabbed her covers to pull over her, she asked, “What are you doing?”
“Putting you to bed. Ain’t that what you asked me to do?”
“I wasn’t talking about that way.”
“What way were you talking about, sweetheart?”
Delaney sat up in the bed and removed the oversized cotton T-shirt that she had been wearing. I smirked when she tossed it to the floor and then reached under the covers to remove her panties.
