Page 118 of Tortured Tones

Cole lifted her over his legs and placed her on the seat beside him. She grabbed the big spoon and dug into her dessert.

Another male customer finished his lunch, paid for his items, and left.

“Do you ever fucking relax on the job?” Cole stuffed a fork full of pancakes into his mouth.

“No. Not when I’m on duty, Mr. Tanner.”

He chuckled.

“What?” I took a sip of coffee and licked my lips.

Cole leaned forward. Charlotte remained focused on mushing, stirring and eating her ice cream as Cole lowered his voice. “Every time you call me Mr. Tanner, it fucking turns me on.”

My breath skipped through my chest. Just looking at him made my body temperature rise. “Cole...” Too much want and emptiness hovered through my whisper. “We agreed not to...”

“I know. But you, in that uniform, bossing me around gives me a permanent semi.”

Heat flared in my cheeks. I pressed my thighs together to ward off the throb and need for action that pulsed deep inside me. “You shouldn’t wear that leather jacket. Makes us even.” Yep, leather jackets were my new weakness...on Cole anyway.

“Shouldn’t we do something about it?” He licked cream off the tip of his finger.

Oh, boy. “No, we shouldn’t.” But damn, he made it difficult not to.

“Ava?” Beckett’s voice hummed in my ear piece. “You watching the woman in the corner? She hasn’t stopped fidgeting, playing with something in her tote or looking your way. I’m not liking her vibe.” I’d felt the same way when we’d walked in. Shit. I’d been distracted by Cole. That wasn’t good.

The woman held up her cell phone and the camera flashed in our direction. She didn’t stop pointing it at us as she ran her hand over her head and stared out the window. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end.

I clicked my radio to talk to Beckett. “Me either. Let’s move.” I downed my coffee and wiped my mouth on a napkin. “Cole, we have to go.”

“But I haven’t finished.”

He’d demolished half his food. That would have to do. “A few people here have taken photos of you. They’ve all had that OMG-it’s-Cole look in their eyes. But the woman in the corner is holding up her cell, pretending to use it to do her hair or something, but I’m convinced she’s filming you and taking photos.”

“What’s wrong with that? I get photographed all the time.”

“She’s not looking at us as she does it. I’ve got a bad feeling about her. So has Becks.”

“A feeling?” Worry flitted across his eyes.

“Yes. Plus there’s a crowd growing outside. We need to get back to the hotel.”

“Okay.” He wiped his mouth on a napkin and tossed it on the plate. “I’ll pay then we’ll go.”

I nodded as he stood and headed to the counter. I buzzed Beckett. “We’re moving. The blonde is unnerving me too. That’s not fandom we’re dealing with.”

“No, it’s not. I’m ready when you are.” Beckett edged closer to the door.

I grabbed a napkin and wiped Charlotte’s hands and mouth clean from sticky ice cream. She’d finished the whole bowl in record time. Cole returned to pick her up and placed her onto his hip. “Time to go, munchkin.”

“Walk to the right.” I shielded him from the patrons as we headed out the door. Out of the corner of my eye, the blonde filmed every step we took. Again, she wasn’t doing it in some fan-type way.

“Becks, did you get a photo of her while we were in there?” I asked as we crossed the road.

“Sure did.” He waved at a taxi to stop as we dashed across the hotel’s driveway. “It’s not the same woman from LA.”

“You think someone new is following me?” Cole cradled Charlotte’s head against his shoulder. “Fuck, how many psycho fans do I have?”

“Do you just want to consider the girls you’ve slept with or include your fan base as well?” I glanced over my shoulder toward the café, but the woman had disappeared. Crap.

---