Page 18 of Under Fire

Her muscles relaxed. “That’s Tyler Neeland’s vehicle. He and his wife, Vickie, are separated. If the town grapevine is correct, she’s filing for divorce. Vickie claims he’s jealous, obsessive, and possessive.”

Matt’s teammate snorted.

“Tyler has been parking in different places on the street at various times during the day since Vickie kicked him out of the house for cheating on her.”

“Seriously?” Liam sounded incredulous. “He’s jealous that she might look at another man when he’s sleeping with another woman?”

“That’s the rumor. I’m not friends with the Neelands. I usually don’t have time to socialize much.” Not if she wanted to keep the shop running in the black, something she’d managed to do since her third month of operation.

That was the month she bought the swim spa. Until that time, she’d been making a daily trek to a nearby town with an Olympic-size swimming pool in the local high school that was open to public use at five in the morning. Delilah had been thrilled when her swim spa was installed on her patio. She was able to sleep a little longer in the mornings and still get in her laps.

“Can’t imagine what makes a man treat his wife like that.” Liam turned away from the living room window. “I need some water. You?”

She followed him to the kitchen. “I’d love some.” Sitting at the breakfast bar, she broke the seal on the bottle Liam placed in front of her. “Thanks for keeping watch over me today.”

He shrugged. “Not a hardship.” Liam guzzled half his water before he set it aside. “Is Piper seeing anyone?”

Surprise and amusement twined inside Delilah. “Not at the moment. If you’re interested, you should ask soon.”

A scowl. “Why?”

“She’s asked to go out frequently, especially by PSI operatives.”

“What are they doing in a candle shop?” he snapped.

“Same as you, hoping for a date with a pretty woman.”

“Did she go out with any of them?” he asked, his expression dark.

Delilah shook her head. “Piper is choosy. She doesn’t want to be a man’s flavor of the week.”

Liam leaned against the kitchen counter and polished off the rest of his water. “They been pestering you for dates, too?”

As if. “No.”

“They’re either blind or they noticed Matt’s interest in you and backed off.”

Delilah shrugged. She didn’t attract men from PSI except Matt. Why he was the exception, she didn’t know although Delilah was happy about his attraction to her. Hopefully, she wouldn’t screw things up and make him lose interest.

“Are you going to ask Piper on a date?”

“Yeah, I am.” Liam’s eyes narrowed. “Don’t tell her. Unlike Cade and Matt, I can handle it myself.”

Delilah held up her hands in surrender. “I promise to leave the asking to you.” Secretly, she was pleased for Piper’s sake. Her assistant was a spunky woman who loved people and was a lot of fun. Delilah was surprised that Piper turned down the string of men vying for her attention. Maybe she’d been holding out hope a certain Bravo member would ask her out.

Delilah’s cell phone rang. Afraid her assistant was calling with a problem, she grabbed her phone and glanced at the screen.

Her heart nearly stopped at the name displayed. Immediately, her stomach knotted and her skin crawled. She rejected the call and dropped her phone on the counter, hand shaking.

Liam straightened from the counter. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” A lie. He never called. Delilah hadn’t talked to him or the others in years. Why now? She flinched as the phone rang again. The same name and number popped up on the screen.

Liam looked at her screen. “Who’s Randy Holloway and why don’t you want to talk to him?”

“My mother’s husband, and it’s a long story.”

“One you don’t plan to share.”

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