Depends on Who's Asking - Lani Lynn Vale Page 0,46

amputate it. He looks weird, doesn’t he?” I couldn’t believe our luck.

Poor Smoke.

“He does look a bit odd,” she agreed. “But he’ll work it. Will this change his duties at work?”

“The vet suggested we give him a week off to make sure that he knows how to handle himself, but ultimately said that dogs do very well with this type of surgery,” I admitted. “I wish I could pull that guy out of the car and punch him all over again.”

She blinked at me with wide eyes. “You punched him?”

I shrugged. “I was out of sorts.”

She snickered and patted him on the back one last time before she stood up and said, “Are you hungry? I made a cake today.”

I looked at her with narrowed eyes. “Who told you it was my birthday?”

“It’s your birthday?” she all but shrieked. “What?”

I frowned. “Yes, well technically my birthday is December twenty-fifth, but I choose not to celebrate it that day.”

“And you didn’t tell me?” She threw her hands out wide. “That’s something that I think one would share with the person that they’re sleeping with.”

I opened my mouth and then closed it, unsure what to say.

“I…” I paused. “You didn’t know? Then why did you make a cake?”

She crossed her arms over her chest, causing her breasts to rise up with the movement. It also pressed them together, which then made me take notice of the sweatshirt she was wearing.

“You’re wearing my sweatshirt,” I said dumbly. “When did you get that?”

She pulled it away from her chest and then shrugged. “I’m not sure. But when I got it, I didn’t bother trying to give it back. I like it.” Her eyes narrowed again. “And don’t think that you can change the subject.” She turned her back on me and headed into the kitchen where a chocolate cake with chocolate icing sat on a stand in the middle of her kitchen island. “I can’t believe I just all of a sudden had a hankering for cake. I wouldn’t have normally done this. It’s kismet.”

I walked up behind her and wrapped my arms around her waist, my hands coming to a stop on her lower abdomen as I pulled her closer into me.

“I don’t usually share my birthday with anyone,” I admitted. “When I was younger, my mother always used to use it as a political appearance. An ‘oh look how special I treat my only son when it’s his birthday.’ When I was around fourteen, I stopped asking for presents, and my parents conveniently forgot that it was my birthday a lot of the times, so I make up my birthday, since they don’t acknowledge it anyway. It’s just habit now. The only person that really always remembered was Brad and the other secret service agents that watched over me.”

“Brad?” she asked. “The one that you think is possibly responsible for hurting your father and murdering your mother?”

“How did you hear that?” I asked carefully, turning her around to face me.

“My dad and your boss, Luke, got to talking. They were really careful about being quiet, but I kind of sort of snuck up on them. We used to do that a lot when we were kids.” She paused. “Are you mad at me?”

I was actually kind of relieved.

“You know all the stuff that I wasn’t telling you?” I asked.

“Some of it.” She paused. “I know that you were the only son of our president when I was in middle school. I know that your mother was murdered, and your father is in critical condition at a hospital surrounded by round-the-clock surveillance in Dallas. I also know that you think that one of your ex-secret service agents was responsible. Or at least, possibly, based on what your father said to you on the telephone the night that you took off and broke it off with me.”

I stared at her in shock.

She knew all of it.

At least, all that I’d told Luke, that was.

“What kind of hiding spot do you have?” I asked. “Because that’s kind of scary that you can find out all of that information and you weren’t even detected.”

“Actually,” she admitted, “it’s not all that surprising or stealthy on my part. I was talking to my dad before he went into Luke’s office to talk to him. And the majority of the time, Dad never hangs up the phone, he always expects you to hang up. This time, though, I was driving and my button wasn’t hanging up the phone. It