Page 28 of Demo

“Yeah?” she answered. She quickly wiped the unshed tears from her eyes.

“I meant what I said. Don’t try to pay me back for any food I buy you. With how busy your work schedule sounds tomorrow, don’t be surprised if you get another delivery.”

She bit her lip before asking, “Can I request you as my delivery driver?”

His low laugh was husky and held the promise of shared passion. “Absolutely. I’ll even let you tip me in kisses.”

Her heart swelled to dangerous proportions at the fact that the sexy as hell man on the phone with her just said ‘kisses’ with a straight face. Or, rather,voice.

“Good night, Paige. Drive home safe.”

“Good night, Demo. And thank you.”

“I’m going to take a page out of Bulldog’s book and tell you something I’ve heard him say a million times to Abby but never fully understood until just now: youneverhave to thank me for helping you.”

She couldn’t have prevented the adoring smile on her lips if she tried. “I’m going to thank you anyway. I truly do appreciate it.”

“You’re welcome, Paige. Will you at least text me that you got home okay or would that be a bit out of line?”

“I’ll text you,” she promised.

“Text me when you’re locked inside your house. Not from your driveway,” he ordered.

It was odd. The order should have upset her or gotten her defensive. Instead, it only made the decision she had to make harder. “I promise.”

“Good night, Paige,” he said again.

She repeated, “Good night, Demo.”

Paige frownedas she pulled up outside her clinic Tuesday morning. It had snowed a little overnight. She’d dropped the boys off at Cindy’s earlier than her usual time because she assumed she needed to come shovel and salt the sidewalk outside her clinic.

But it had already been done.

Not all of the shops, she noted. Just the ones connected to the club. Hers, Angel’s tattoo shop, the bakery, Mrs. Bunu’s antique store, Lucky’s studio… The bakery was owned by Mabel Weiss, Deputy Danny’s mom and a friend of the club’s. Mrs. Bunu was a widower and Paige had noticed more than one person wearing a prospect badge helping her out around her antique store throughout the year. The parking spots outside each of the storefronts were also shoveled and cleared.

After her talk with Steel the day before and then her conversation with Demo later in the evening, Paige shouldn’t have been surprised that a club member or prospect had shoveled and salted in front of her clinic. But she was. Maybe seeing and believing were two very different things after all.

Richard had promised her all sorts of things when they were dating that never came to pass after they’d been married. He’d cared about appearances at the country clubs, how prestigious their home looked when people came to visit, how expensive a car he drove… Richard’s priorities had been far different than her own.

Paige exited her car, her snow boots hitting salted asphalt rather than white fluff. Making her way over to her clinic, she saw that there was a bunch of boxes sitting outside the door. She frowned. She hadn’t ordered anything. Sheneededto order supplies, but she’d been holding off doing so with as few regular clients as she’d had before yesterday.

She recalled the conversation she had with Kelly about her mom’s candles and soaps, but these boxescouldn’tcontain that. She hadn’t even had a chance to talk to Kelly’s mom yet about an arrangement. It would be completely unorthodox and rude to just pile up her mom’s products outside her clinic door unattended anyway.

Upon closer inspection, she saw a note taped to the top box.

Paige,

I’ll be back before you open at 8. Needed more coffee.

Keys

Keys had been here?Keysas in the computer tech guy who worked for the motorcycle club? If she recalled correctly, Harper had said he was twenty-two, but that conversation had been almost a year ago. Regardless, why wasKeysgoing to go get more coffee and then be back before she opened? What did her opening have to do with his being here anyway? And what was in the boxes?

There was one large box at the bottom with three medium sized boxes and several small boxes. Plus what looked like a plastic bag of tied-off wires. What the hell was going on?

“Oh good, you’re early.”

Paige spun around. She had her hands in her pockets because she’d given Mikey her gloves against the brisk wind that morning and forgotten to get them back after dropping the boys off with Cindy. Her scarf was pulled up over her ears, muffling his voice. “Are you Keys?”

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