Page 12 of Safe With Me

“Okay, you’re the boss,” Lila said, shutting down the computer as I tried not to notice her teeth sink into her lush bottom lip in concentration. “Making sure I back up all the work I did so I don’t have to redo it tomorrow.”

“I was just telling my son that you were a smart girl,” Dad said, shooting me a look as he held the door open. “Come for dinner if you want, Mike.”

“Maybe. I have an hour left on my shift, if Mrs. Wagner and Mrs. Scarpullo don’t kill each other before I clock out. I was just going to walk around, get some air, make sure the kids aren’t getting into trouble.”

“Ah, I was lucky.” My father patted my cheek after he locked the door and glanced at Lila. “My son never got into too much trouble. He was a good kid.”

“Makes sense that he became a cop, then,” Lila said, shooting us a soft smile.

“I suppose.” Dad’s smile was tight as he shifted toward his truck parked in front of the office.

“Well, Lila, thank you, and have a good night. Mike, I hope to see you later.”

“Where are you parked?” I asked Lila as my father climbed into his truck.

“Just up the street.” She pointed to the corner. I recognized her small blue sedan from when it had been parked in front of the bar.

“I’ll take a walk with you. My cruiser is parked up the block.”

“That’s not necessary. I swear I’m not woozy today.” She chuckled before the smile melted from her face. “Thank you fornot telling your father how you first…found me. Or for at least leaving out the embarrassing parts.”

“There’s nothing to be embarrassed about,” I told her as we ambled down the small sidewalk. “You had a long drive and without anything to eat. And I didn’t think you were up to anything. I thought maybe you needed help.”

“So you didn’t think I was a perp?” The corner of her mouth twitched.

“I assure you, I didn’t.” A smile I couldn’t help ran across my face when she blew out a long breath.

“Well, thank you, Officer Mike.”

“Please stop,” I said with a groan. “No one calls me Officer Mike.”

Her cute little nose scrunched up. “What do they call you?”

“Well, some of the older ladies in town who know my grandmother call me Mikey. I broke my father out of that habit when I was fourteen, but I have less success with the older folks.”

“But Mikey is cute,” she said, her lips tilting in a teasing grin.

Fuck, she was pretty.

“This is me?—”

She froze, sucking in a gasp and bringing her hand to her chest.

“What’s wrong? Are you okay?”

“Yeah, um, my tire is flat. It looks like it was ripped or slashed.” She craned her neck, looking behind her as if she was searching for something she didn’t want to find.

Her throaty voice turned small, almost like a strangled whisper.

“Let me take a look,” I said, draping my hand over her shoulder as her rigid body quivered against my palm.

I stepped closer to the car and spotted a nail sticking out of one side of the tire.

“Come look,” I said, my voice low as I crooked my finger. “You must have run over a nail when you pulled over. The dry cleaner on the corner likes to do their own renovations sometimes, and when they do, the street is a mess. My stepmother ran over a nail not too long ago.” I pointed to more nails along the curb. “See? I’m sure this breaks some kind of law. I’ll look into it tomorrow and make sure they clean it up.”

“Yeah,” she breathed out as her body sagged with relief. “Makes sense.”

“Hey, are you okay?” I came over to her, bending to meet her terrified gaze.

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