There was a couch and a table with some chairs around it. No one sat so I didn’t either.

“What’s going on?” I asked Lee.

“Darius wants a meet,” Lee told me, not leading into it, just saying it straight out.

My mouth dropped open. Then I snapped it shut because I figured a badass mother wouldn’t stare with her mouth open.

“With me?” I asked stupidly. They hadn’t come all the way to the Shelter to tell me Darius wanted to meet with the Queen of England.

“Yeah. It’ll be you and Vance, Darius and me. Tomorrow night. Can you fit that into your ass-kicking schedule?” Lee inquired.

Luke chuckled again. I frowned at Luke and he quit chuckling but he gave me one of his sexy half-grins. I turned back to Lee.

“What’s this meet about?” I asked.

Vance was standing at my side, close to my side, not close-close as in loverly close, but close enough.

“He’s got an offer he wants to make you,” Lee answered.

“What kind of offer?”

“Don’t know; he hasn’t shared. He wants you off the street and he’s willing to negotiate,” Lee told me.

I stared at him. This was an interesting turn of events.

“What does that mean, negotiate? Is he going to offer me money?” I pressed.

“Likely,” Luke said and my eyes cut to him. Then they went back to Lee.

“Forget it. I’m not taking money,” I declared and I felt Vance get tense beside me, in fact, the entire room got tense.

“Law –” Lee started.

“No way. Forget it,” I stated in my word-is-law voice.

“Take the meet. Listen to what he has to say,” Lee advised.

“I’m not going to sit down with a drug dealer and listen to him offering me money he’s made by destroying people’s lives. No. That is not going to happen,” I said.

“Law, this is a game,” Lee informed me. “You entered the game, now you have to play it. You don’t take the meet; it’s disrespect. Darius won’t like that.”

“Do I care?” I asked.

Vance came closer and turned his body into mine, cutting Lee off from sight.

“Take the meet, Jules,” he said.

I looked up at him and opened my mouth to speak but he got there before me.

“Take the meet; listen to what he has to say. You can say no. Then you can tell him what you want. Maybe we can come to a compromise, maybe not. You don’t take the meet, everyone will lose,” Vance went on.

“What do I have to lose?” I asked.

“You don’t want to go up against Darius. You do, since we made our positions clear last night, that puts us against him. That means war with you caught in the middle and the middle is an uncomfortable place,” he got closer and his voice dropped, “Jules, we’re talkin’ war between Lee and Darius. You don’t want to be the cause of that.”

Again I opened my mouth to speak but he kept going, voice even lower, eyes intense. I’d never seen him so intense (well, he was normally always a trifle intense but this was something else). I stared at him.

“It’d be like Sniff goin’ bad and Roam challengin’ him to a death match. In that situation, nobody wins. Do you understand what I’m sayin’ to you?”

I kept staring at him and it came to me. Eddie Chavez, Lee Nightingale and Darius Tucker, all friends, all close, just like Park, Roam and Sniff. I guessed that somewhere along the line, Darius turned, went bad. Regardless, Eddie and Lee stayed close to him, such was their bond. It was precarious, something would eventually test it, something just like this was bound to happen. You couldn’t have a cop, a PI and a drug dealer remain friends without it going sour somewhere along the line.

But I didn’t want it to be me that made it go sour.

I nodded to Vance. “I’ll take the meet,” I said.

He lips turned up at the ends and I knew he approved. I got that warm feeling again but kept my face blank and he moved away from me.

Lee and Luke were watching me, not amused anymore.

“Is everything okay with Jermaine and Clarence?” I asked.

“Vance took care of you,” Luke said. “You need to be safe, though.”

“You get in a situation like last night, you call backup before going in,” Lee added.

“Backup?” I asked.

“Vance will give you the number,” Lee said but didn’t answer my question.

I turned to Vance. “Backup?”

“You call the Nightingale control room,” Vance said. “One of us will take your back.”

Oh my God.

Were they serious?

“That isn’t necessary,” I announced.

Lee was making a move to go. “You’ve been smart so far, don’t be stupid now,” he warned then our talk was over. He jerked his head to Luke and Vance and Luke made a move.

“In a minute,” Vance said.

They glanced at him. Lee nodded. Luke grinned. They closed the door when they left.

Vance turned and with his eyes on me and us being alone I totally forgot why I asked to talk to him in the first place.

“Jules?”

With effort, I cleared my head. “Um, I just wanted to say…” I lost it then got it back again, “thanks. You didn’t have to go that far with Roam and I appreciate it.”

The air changed. Vance’s macho man forcefield clicked on and, I could swear, my body leaned into him a bit.

Then his eyes got soft and sexy. My belly fluttered.

His voice came at me, smooth as silk. “You want to thank me, you ever want to thank me, you don’t say it to me. You show me.”

I stared. “Sorry?”

He didn’t explain, he just said, “Come here.”

Without hesitation, I went to him such was the power of the forcefield.

When I made it to him, one of his arms went around my waist, his other hand twisted around and around in my ponytail, fisted and he pulled my head back gently.

Then he said, “Kiss me.”

My belly plummeted.

“Sorry?” I repeated, this time in a whisper.

His face came so close I could feel his lips against mine. “Kiss me,” he said there.

Oh crap.

I wasn’t sure I even knew how to kiss someone.

“Vance –” I breathed.

“Kiss me. Now,” he ordered.

I kissed him. I had no idea what I was doing but I just went for it. I figured it was better to get it over with because I was learning fast that Vance wouldn’t let it go.