An invitation to her place. The world got weirder and weirder.
He’d already told her he was a free bird tonight, but he couldn’t tell her he’d be right over. No way could he face her after watching her kiss Ari.
She must have taken his silence as a negative response waiting to happen. “Look, I don’t want you to think after all you’ve done that I expect anything more from you. I owe you my life. I haven’t forgotten that. I never will. I also don’t want you to think that you can’t get rid of me...if...you know...you wanted to get rid of me.”
Troy would’ve laughed if those coyotes hadn’t been lingering in her yard. He checked the safety was off on his H-K Compact .45. Get rid of her? Hardly. He’d already admitted to liking her so the beans were spilled. But it didn’t change the fact that he’d put himself in a damn screwy predicament. “I’m happy to help if I can.”
“I’m up in the canyons,” she continued. “I’ve got a one-level ranch-style house.” Her front door swung open and the coyotes crouched low.
“Fuck,” he muttered. He shifted in his seat, ready to bolt out of the car.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
He needed to warn her without blowing his position. “I don’t think I’d love a canyon home, not with all the wild animals hovering.” And hovering they were. “But I can probably arrange to be there in the next day or two. Hey, you don’t go outside at night without checking the yard, right?”
“Um.”
Her door shut and the custom shades parted as she glanced outside. “Oh, my God!” she breathed. Yep, she’d spotted the coyotes.
“What?”
“Three coyotes are on my lawn and I just nearly went out front. I think you might’ve just saved me again.”
He let his head fall back against the seat rest, relief rushing through him. “Ah, well, you know...all in a day’s work.” After slipping the gun back into the glove compartment, he watched the coyotes continue down the hill.
“I meant to ask, did you talk to the police at all about the shooting the other night?”
“Yeah, but they didn’t have anything new to tell me. I don’t think they look too fondly at hired muscle asking questions.” Actually, he’d left a message with his contact and as soon as the man came back from vacation, he planned to try again. “Why?”
“I guess I figured you’re all in the same business and I didn’t know if anyone had confided anything that the press hadn’t heard about. No one’s certainly told me anything.” She sounded insulted. “I mean if I am the real target here, I think I’m entitled to know how the case is progressing.”
He nodded. “I agree.”
She stayed quiet on the line and Troy wanted to say screw it to this whole operation, knock on her door and take her to bed. Except the image of her with Ari burned a hole in his brain and he couldn’t get past it.
“Troy?”
He loved the way she said his name. “Yeah.”
“If I offered to top Ari’s paycheck, would you come work for me?”
Jesus Christ. He hadn’t seen that coming. “Uh.” Fuck. He had no idea what to say.
“I know this is out of the blue, but I don’t know anyone else and I trust you. The LAPD has officers checking my house every few hours, but they can’t afford to station a car outside full time. I know Ari would be furious as hell with me and it might even cost me the movie, but...after everything that’s happened between the Sporties and the other night, I feel like I should have a little more protection.”
He couldn’t argue with that. But he wasn’t working for Ari. He was on Sophia’s payroll. And Sophia could do serious damage to his reputation if she decided to badmouth him to the press or start gossiping in social circles. To lose his business the same way he’d built it would be ironic as hell.
“I’ll have to think on that,” he said. “But thank you for the offer.” He already knew he didn’t want to be a hired hand. They’d end up in bed, and he’d collect a check and feel like a twenty-first-century gigolo. Then she’d get tired of him and toss him out. He was forgetting the most important part of this whole charade. He wasn’t a fucking bodyguard. He was a private investigator working his first undercover job to get the dirt on a smarmy producer. He had no