Del knew that about Tyler. He’d never played anything safe. “Your friends also have some . . . interesting sexual preferences.”
“Caught that, did you?” He smiled. “Deke and Luc are total cavemen. The rest are into BDSM.”
“BDSM?”
“Bondage, dominance, sadomasochism.”
Del sat back in her seat, shock and confusion pinging through her—along with unexpected heat. “Like restraints, whips, and chains? They hurt their wives?”
“Just a little pain to enhance the pleasure. As Jack is fond of saying, it’s more about the mind f**k.” Brow cocked, he shot her a speculative glance. “What do you know about that stuff?”
“I’ve heard of it.” Not for anything would she tell him that the thought of Tyler tying her up and having his wicked way with her made her ache. “You into that now?”
“I’ve picked up a thing or two listening to them. Interested?”
“No,” she lied.
“Then why are your cheeks flushed?” He grinned.
“You’re hallucinating.”
Tyler’s hand slid across her cheek before she could pull away. “Definitely flushed. Interesting . . .”
“Shut up and drive.”
He laughed, but Del had no doubt he was filing away the observation. “I will . . . for now.”
Damn, his playful side had always gotten to her. Her own nature tended to be far more serious, and Tyler had always done a good job of reminding her to laugh and enjoy life a little. It had been so long since she had anything to laugh about.
The sound of the phone ringing suddenly filled the SUV. Tyler grabbed it and glanced at the number, all business again. “Jack, what’ve you got?”
After a long pause, Tyler spoke a series of monosyllables, and Del lost total track of the conversation. Instead, she stared out into the desert, the late afternoon sun beating down relentlessly. A few minutes later, Tyler hung up with a ripe curse and turned to her.
“Tara dug around. Your credit card purchases are definitely being tracked by the DA’s office, through the pretense that you have an outstanding warrant. What is that about?”
The gravity in his tone hit her with anxiety. “I don’t know. I have an unpaid speeding ticket. That’s it.”
“Carlson is trumping it up to reckless driving. The warrant says you’re a danger to others.”
“That’s ridiculous!”
“I think there’s more than you’re telling me. Jack has the same theory I do. When a bad guy wants to off someone, they don’t usually start with something as flashy as a car bomb. Because then it’s obvious someone is trying to kill you and the police tend to look at that crime a lot more seriously. That wasn’t Carlson’s first attempt, was it?”
“No.”
Tyler raked a hand through his hair, clearly exasperated. “Why didn’t you tell me that sooner?”
“I wanted you to watch Seth, not get involved with the case. I knew if I said more, you’d jump into the middle of this mess, exactly like you have.”
“I was always going to get involved, Del. You were kidding yourself if you thought otherwise.”
“I didn’t need you to be responsible for me, just Seth. Just for a little while.”
“I’m taking care of Seth by taking care of you. He needs his mother.”
She wasn’t going to win this argument.
Delaney sighed. “The first incident, though I can’t prove it, was nearly being run over while crossing the street one evening. I literally dived onto another car parked on the street. If that car hadn’t been there, I think he would have followed me onto the sidewalk to run me over. Then a few days later, I went to the bank. When I came out, a thug with a gun tried to hold me up. But he didn’t seem interested in the three hundred bucks in cash I had in my purse, just in shooting me. I kneed him in the balls and clocked him in the jaw as hard as I could. Then I ran. He shot at me. When I close my eyes, sometimes I can still hear the bullet whizzing right past my left ear. The next day, someone broke into my house. Thankfully, Seth and I weren’t there. They didn’t take anything, but they trashed the place.”