“French toast sounds good.”

He obviously felt like ignoring the rest of what I said.

Whatever.

“Do you have bread, eggs, maple syrup?” I asked.

His head dipped and went to my neck. With his lips there, he said, “Probably.”

“Powdered sugar, cream cheese?” I went on.

“Probably not,” he said, mouth stil at my neck.

Oh wel , I’d make do.

“Move back, I’m going to get started.”

His head came up and he was grinning at me.

I rol ed my eyes at him and heard him laugh softly.

He let me go and stepped away.

I walked to the coffee and pul ed open the cabinet above it, figuring that’s where the mugs would be because that’s where I’d keep the mugs. The mugs were there and I took out two.

“How do you take your coffee?” I asked.

He came up behind me, pressed my h*ps against the counter and his arms went around me, his mouth going back to my neck.

“Black,” he answered, just before both his hands went under the shirt; one went north, one went south.

“Hank!” My body jerked but there was no getting away from him. “Let me go.”

“Cal me Whisky and I’l let you go,” he said against my neck.

Good God.

I ignored his request and shouted, “Let me go!” One hand went into my panties, the other hand cupped my breast.

Oh shit.

Ten minutes later I was pressing my back against his body and holding onto the counter for dear life. My head was tilted back resting on his shoulder, my forehead was pressed into his neck. He’d tilted his head forward and he was listening to me gasp.

The fingers on both of his hands did a delicious swirl.

“Cal me Whisky,” he murmured.

I didn’t delay and I did what he asked.

Then he took care of me, orgasm number two of the day and I hadn’t even been awake as many hours.

He held me, my back to his front, his arms wrapped around my midriff, while I recovered.

Once my breathing evened he asked, “Scared of my house anymore?”

My bel y melted and I let out a quick breath from my nostrils. Hank was trying to erase the bad memories by giving me good ones.

God, he was such a nice guy.

Though, he was a nice guy in a seriously sexy way.

I shook my head.

He kissed my neck. “You feel like stayin’ yet?” Jeez.

He might be a nice guy but he sure was a stubborn one.

I shook my head.

“Stubborn,” he murmured, his mouth behind my ear.

“I was just thinking that about you,” I told him.

I felt his smile rather than saw it.

“This is gonna be fun,” he said.

I doubted that.

* * * * *

We had French toast. We had a shower. He took me to Tex’s and I heard him on the phone in the kitchen while I did the whole getting dressed production. I cal ed Annette and she answered with a sleepy, “Yo bitch.” She was in Denver and she told me she and Jason were catching up on sleep and we arranged to meet later at Fortnum’s.

I cal ed Uncle Tex at the store (he was stil not using his cel phone) and got the address for where my car was.

Then, Hank took me to get my car.

I thought this was fishy, Hank being so nice, taking me to my car, considering I intended to drive off into the sunset with it. But I wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth, especial y Hank’s mouth; his mouth was mesmerizing.

The guy in dirty blue coveral s was sitting behind the counter, flipping through the paper.

“I’m here to pick up my car,” I told him when he looked up.

He looked at Hank, then back at me.

“Sorry, can’t give it to you.”

I stared at him. “Why?”

“Some cops came in awhile ago, towed it to the impound. Said it was evidence in a crime.” My body went stil . “What crime?”

He shrugged.

My head turned slowly to look at Hank. He was looking pleased with himself. That was when my body turned slowly to face Hank. “You know anything about this?” His lips twitched. “Might do.”

My hands fisted at my sides, I stomped my foot and let out strangled noise.

Hank did a ful on smile, tagged me around the waist and pul ed me into his body. “Told you you were stayin’,” he said.

“I… you…” I stopped and made the strangled noise again.

One of his arms wrapped around my waist, the other one slid into my hair.

“God, you’re cute,” he said.

“You’re a jerk,” I replied.

He shook his head, then bent it and kissed me dizzy.

I blinked up at him when he was done.

Then he said, “This is fun.”

* * * * *

Hank took me to Fortnum’s and everyone was there; Indy, Lee, Al y, Daisy, Uncle Tex, Duke, Jet and Eddie. It was like they were waiting for the show.

I stomped in and Duke opened his mouth to speak but I put up my hand.

“I don’t want to hear it. So, yeah, you cal ed it. I put you al through the mil . It wasn’t like I wanted to be assaulted and abducted,” I snapped at him.

“I was just gonna say, good to see you safe,” Duke said.

“Wel …” I huffed, the wind out of my sails, “Thank you.” He shook his head at me like he wondered about my sanity. I couldn’t say I blamed him: I was beginning to wonder about my sanity too.

“You’re welcome,” he replied.

Hank stood close to my side and I looked up to him.

“Don’t you have to go to work or something? Interrogate suspects? File reports? Testify in court? That kind of thing,” I asked, sounding uppity.

He put his arm around my shoulders and dipped his face to mine, his eyes smiling, his mouth not. “It’s Sunday, I only interrogate suspects on weekdays if I can manage it.” My head jerked. “It’s Sunday?”

“Yeah.”

Shit. I’d been away a week.

“My life’s a shambles,” I whispered.

He squeezed my shoulder and, for some reason, I felt reassured.

I had no time to process my feelings of reassurance as Daisy bel ied up to us, looking up at Hank. “Back off, big boy. You’ve had her long enough. We got girl talk.” Then she grabbed my hand and pul ed me into the shelves of books.

We turned in the P-Q-R-S section and I noticed Al y, Indy and Jet had fol owed us.

“So, you’re back with Hank,” Indy was smiling.

“I’m leaving town as soon as I can get my car,” I told her.