Page 4 of Guard Dog

“He was gone for six months before that, Deke. I’m ready to move on. I deserve to. Don’t put me on a pedestal because ofKeith. I’ll get hurt when I fall off. What’s important now is what I want, and what you want. We’re the only two people in the room. This can’t work if you invite anyone else in.”

He hesitates and, honestly, it’s the best reaction I could hope for. It means he’s thinking about it.

“Ba!” Peony shouts from the other room.

The moment is truly over now, but I don’t move. Deke puts his hand over mine and presses it into his chest. Then he pulls away and steps out of the bedroom.

“Hey, Russo is here,” he calls from the living room.

I take another step and stumble again since the tape is still sticking my foot to the floor. Rick Russo was another of Keith’s teammates. He and Keith had been friends since before Deke joined the team, and long before I was in the picture. It’s probably the reason Keith chose him as his executor. I never expected to see him in Lonesome. He’d insisted on helping me pack back in Virginia, but he wasn’t supposed to come with the moving truck. I’m hopping on one foot and peeling the tape from my sock when I hear the front door open. “Hey, Rick, what are you doing here?”

“Just checking in. Making sure everything arrived in the proper number of pieces. How are you, Vi?”

“Aside from being viciously attacked by a ball of used packing tape, I’m fine. We’ve already got all the furniture in place. Now it’s just boxes.” I can’t believe how much Deke and I got done today. I’ll empty some more boxes after Peony goes to bed, and we’ll be mostly done.

“Fantastic. I can help with those.”

“That’s sweet, Rick, but no thank you. Peony and I will do it. Deke helped with the big stuff, which I appreciate, but I will handle the rest of it.” The last thing I need is for Deke to think I need somebody looking after me every minute of every day.

“As you wish, my lady. Can you at least offer me the sofa?”

“No can do,” I state, and Deke’s eyes open wide. “The sofa is Romy’s. Deke, do you know of a place that Rick can stay? Preferably with beer so he can catch up with the boys?”

Anger flashes across Rick’s face so fast I almost miss it. Deke, who is inspecting Peony’s keychain, does miss it. When he looks up, Rick is all smiles again. “What do you say, brother? Got room for me somewhere?” Rick asks.

“I’m sure one of us can squeeze you in.”

Peony tugs on my pantleg and I lift her to my hip. “We’ve worked hard today, haven’t we, sweet pea? I think we should make some spaghetti and have a fancy supper. What do you say?”

“Ba!”

The men take it as the cue it is, and head for the door. “Deke, thanks for everything today. Everything.”

“Good night, Violet.”

It won’t be as long as I’m sleeping alone, but the memory of his kiss will keep me warm for a while.

Chapter Four

Iam an idiot. What the fuck did I do?

I know exactly what I did. I kissed the woman I’ve been fantasizing about for the last three years but fuck, what the hell was I thinking? I only have a few minutes to put it out of my mind on the drive from Violet’s place to the garage. I need to get my head on straight by the time I arrive because Russo is trailing me in his shiny black luxury SUV, and he can’t get a whiff of what I’m feeling or what’s left of the team will call me the most disloyal brother who ever lived.

But it’s going to be real fucking hard if Russo doesn’t shut his mouth.

“I think she’s faking,” Russo says as he sprawls on the picnic table behind the garage. Dobermann’s Garage is closed for the day, and we’re enjoying the spring weather, with Bishop manning the grill and JD dumping another bag of ice into the beer cooler.

“What?” I ask. Because to my eyes, Violet has been kicking ass across the country.

“I’ve been looking in on her for the last six months. It’s a good thing Keith left me in charge of the paperwork. She leans on everybody way too much. She asked both me and that fuckingsister of hers to help her pack. Violet is sweet, no doubt, but she’s as needy as she ever was.”

“Fucker, she was packing up a house with a toddler. Asking for help was smart. She didn’t ask you to pay for the movers, did she?” JD asks. I’m shocked. I can’t remember the last time JD inserted himself into a conversation.

“Well, no?—”

“And she didn’t ask us to give her the job. She applied for it like everybody else,” Bishop adds. “Yeah, her history has weight, but without her skills, it would have been a no. I was impressed that she’d started working towards her bookkeeping diploma before Keith died. It shows she was looking out for her family before things fell apart. That’s smart too.”

Rick cracks a beer. We’ve been friends long enough for me to know that he’s fuming at the defense. For some reason, he wants the guys to agree with him that Violet’s floundering. I know I’m biased, but I don’t think she is either. “Do you think Violet needs a hand unpacking? I helped her with the furniture today, but left all the boxes,” I say.

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