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“Carter.” I tilted my head in greeting. I wasn’t glad to see him. We’d gone to dinner the week before but it didn’t give him the right to show up on my door whenever he wanted. In robotic fashion, I then turned to my new neighbor. “Baylor.”
“Fortune,” they said in unison.
Carter immediately glared at Baylor. “Her friends call her Fortune. Everyone else refers to her as Sandy-Sue.”
Instead of responding to Carter, Baylor looked at me. “What was Jake France doing here?”
“Why does it matter?” Carter asked.
“We’re friends,” Baylor replied. “He seemed like he was in a rush and didn’t say hello.”
“He was here on business,” I explained, opening the door and moving aside. “Come on in, guys.”
Now what was I supposed to do? Instead of explaining to Carter that I had a date, I hurried to the kitchen and quickly snapped my shoulder bag closed, hooking the silver latch on the front. Maybe if I stalled, Baylor would do the honors and tell Carter about our festival plans. I sent a prayer upstairs and hoped it would reach beyond the rafters so God would grant a pardon this once.
I didn’t want the word date to fall from Baylor’s lips.
“What brings you out this way tonight?” Carter asked.
My back went rigid. Gritting my teeth, I closed my eyes until I heard Baylor say, “I live two doors down.”
“And?” Carter was persistent to a fault.
And I couldn’t stand there all night eavesdropping. Opening my eyes, I cut the kitchen lights and double-checked the locks on the backdoor.
“Is it against the law to walk down to a neighbor’s house after a certain time, Deputy LeBlanc?”
“No, but it could be,” he said in a weird voice, one which reminded me of those Alpha males on a chick flick I’d recently tolerated thanks to Ally’s insistence.
“It could be illegal to visit any neighbor or just Fortune?”
“What are you getting at, Mr. Madison?”
“Asking an officer of the law a simple question. Is it a crime to talk to Fortune after a certain hour?”
“Maybe,” Carter said. “Guess it depends on what you want to talk about.”
I groaned. This wasn’t going well.
About that time, Merlin—the cat that I originally didn’t want but now liked, a little or maybe a lot—wrapped his body around my calf. Meowing like crazy, the cat provided a legitimate excuse. “I’ll be just another minute. I forgot to feed the cat.”
“You have a cat?” Baylor asked, glaring down at my animal.
I pointed. “Meet Merlin.”
“I’m allergic to cats,” Baylor said.
“Then say whatever you need to say to Fortune and be on your way. The cat stays.” Carter scooped Merlin into his arms.
“Of course you love cats,” Baylor muttered.
“I do,” Carter said, focused on Merlin.
Desperate to find the comic relief in all this, I casually waved my hand and said, “Oh now, boys, there’s no need to start whipping ‘em out so we can see who has the biggest weapon and best aim.”
Baylor gave me a look that made me blush. Carter stared at me in disbelief. Everything about an assassin’s day revolved around guns but I couldn’t say as much.
“Okay so that was the wrong thing to say.” I was at a complete loss for words. “I meant...the gun...your weapons...if you have them...that’s what I meant.” I pointed at Carter’s side. Instead of making this easy for me by breaking the tension, they both continued to shoot these weird looks in my direction so I made a pistol with my fingers and added, “Pow. Pow.”
Merlin meowed twice. At least my cat understood Fortune-speak. I left the men to their dirty looks. I could kill a man with a stiletto without a second thought but let two men show up on my porch and I felt as if I might be coming down with the flu
“Fortune, can I talk to you for a minute?” Carter was already behind me. I could practically feel him staring at my back.
I poured cat food in a bowl and set it on the floor. “Sure. I’m all ears.”
By this time, Carter was standing a mere two inches from me. He released Merlin and grabbed my arm, steered me to the living room, and called over his shoulder. “Wait for us on the porch, Baylor. We’ll be right there.”
A moment later, the front door slammed.
“What do you think you’re doing?” He looked mad enough to pick a couple of fights with Gertie and Ida Belle. Unfortunately, they weren’t available so that left me.
“I could ask you the same thing,” I said, miffed. “I mean the whole I’m Batgirl and you’re Superman may work for some people, but it’s really not as irresistible as you may believe. In fact—”
“Stop digging,” Carter said, closing the distance between us.
“I...um...I’m...not.” Catching my breath and scared to death he was about to kiss away any possibility for sensible thoughts later, I took a step back, held my head high, and said, “I wasn’t digging. I was making a simple observation and came up with the perfect explanation of why—”
Before I knew what to expect, he placed both hands on my face, tilted my chin to his and gave me one of those soap opera kisses, the kind of romantic kiss that writers described in three sentences or less, but did so in a way that made the reader’s toes curl.
Ugh. I couldn’t bear to think about it.
My toes were curling. My spine was tingling. My lips were...parting. I gasped.
Before I lost myself in his arms, he pulled away and smiled. “Cat is fed. Backdoor is locked. I’m ready when you are.” He turned around and took long strides.
“Wait.” I hurriedly crossed the room to stop him. Grabbing his sleeve, I yanked at it like a child might. “Just...just wait! What are you talking about? Where do you think you’re going?”
“With you of course.” Carter grinned. “Thank Gertie and Ida Belle.”
I ground my molars. “Why should I thank them exactly?” I probably didn’t want to know. At this rate, they’d be lucky if I didn’t short-sheet their beds for a month.
“They called me. They’re worried about you.”
Of course they are.
He shook free of my grip and then held out his arm, extending it toward the door. “Your ‘date’ is new in town and thanks to his timely arrival and an occurrence here in your backyard, I don’t trust him. They don’t trust him.”
“That still doesn’t explain what you’re doing here.”
“Sure it does,” he said, placing his hand on the small of my back and guiding me to the porch. I should’ve taken the arm he offered. This hand-on-back thing was far more intimate. “Since you and Mr. Madison are new in town, I took the night off to show you some Sinful hospitality.” He shot my neighbor an arrogant smile. “The three of us are going to the fall festival. I’ll drive.”