“Okay.” Sophia stepped between us and looked at me. “He doesn’t really have a hitlist. Now he’s making shit up to freak you out.”
“Are you sure about that, Soph?” Eric said with a smirk and a subtle eyebrow raise.
A bell dinged as a customer walked through the door and I considered offering to pay for their coffee to express my gratitude at having the SEAL’s eyes finally shift away from me.
Sophia grabbed my hand and pulled me to a table in the corner while Eric went back behind the counter to take the man’s order.
“That was—wow,” I said, as she slid into the half-circle booth, and I slid in after her. “You all were not kidding. Is his wife around? I could use an easy one. Better yet, let’s just go back to your mom’s. I like Dave.”
Sophia laughed. “We haven’t even gotten coffee yet.”
“I’m plenty awake and alert. I think caffeine will only launch me straight into a heart attack.”
Eric finished ringing up the customer and turned to us. “What do you drink for coffee, Leo?”
I leaned close to Sophia’s ear. “Is this a trick question?” I whispered.
“Of course not,” she said with a laugh.
“Americano, please, sir,” I said.
Eric chuckled and shook his head before turning around to make our coffees.
While he was working on them, a dark-haired woman in an orange, floral-patterned dress came out of the back of the café, looking flustered with a phone in her hand. She spotted us. “Shoot, did you already meet him?”
Sophia jumped up to hug her. “Hey, Aunt Kat.”
“I’m so sorry,” Kat said. “I had to take a quick client call, but I was planning to be out here to police him when you arrived. Kennedy made it clear you needed the help.”
“I don’t need to be policed, Gorgeous,” Eric said, still facing away from us.
Kat glared at his back before nudging Sophia back into the booth and sliding in on her other side.
“It’s fine, Aunt Kat. We survived,” Sophia said.
“Speak for yourself,” I grumbled, holding out a hand to Kat. “I’m Leo. I’m in love with Soph. Is your husband violent?”
Kat laughed. “Oh, you’re cute.” She shook my hand. “He’s not violent, but hecouldrip you limb from limb if he wanted to.”
Eric set down a coffee in front of me and handed Sophia her iced vanilla latte, glaring at me.
“And does he want to?” I asked, staring back at him.
“Not yet,” Kat said with a cackle.
“Aunt Kat,” Sophia said. “I thought your assignment was to help.”
“Right, sorry.” She turned toward Eric. “Babe, do you remember when you met my dad for the first time and you were a panicked ball of nerves?”
Eric lifted his eyebrow slightly and smirked at her. “Doesn’t sound familiar.”
Kat grinned at him. “Sure, okay, we can pretend it didn’t happen that way. Just take pity on the poor boy. You were a trained Navy SEAL, and you were still terrified.”
“You are a lot scarier than her father,” I said to Eric as I took a sip of my coffee. “And her stepfather.”
“Her stepfather is a giant teddy bear of a man,” Eric said with what could maybe be called a smile on his face. “If you feared Dave, I’d be concerned. You should be more worried about Laura. And Danny is all talk, completely harmless.”
“And you?” I asked, warily.
