by getting me involved in a lot of school activities.”
“What made you interested in law enforcement?”
She smiled. “My grandfather was a cop. He patrolled the same beat for over thirty-five years, and when he retired, the community got together and named one of the streets after him.”
“He must have been some cop.”
“He was. He kept a lot of the kids in the neighborhood from getting involved in gangs by setting up a police athletic league and becoming a mentor to a lot of guys.”
“Every person needs a mentor. I had one, as well.”
“You did?”
“Yes. Sheppard Granger. He’s the reason I decided to go into law enforcement.”
“Was Sheppard Granger a cop?”
“No, he wasn’t a cop.” Then he intentionally changed the subject by pointing out a landmark to her. The detective in Toni recognized the ploy and wondered why he didn’t want to discuss Sheppard Granger any further. Was he trying to hide something from her? If so, he had that right. It’s not like they had to get all into each other’s business. They wouldn’t be having that sort of party. Chances are when they departed at the end of the week, they would neither be seeing each other again. Nor was there any reason for them to stay in touch.
“We’re here.”
He stopped in front of a restaurant and released her hand to open the door. She felt an immediate sense of loss.
“I’M HOPING YOU’LL FIND something on the menu you like, Toni.”
She looked over at him and smiled. “I’m sure I will, Drew.”
At the sound of her voice, Andrew felt an arrow of liquid heat shoot straight to his groin. And it wasn’t the first time.
Toni was hot. She wore her sexuality like a badge of honor, and didn’t have a problem flaunting any of her attributes. He figured the short dress she was wearing was meant to show off her legs; the cut of her dress at the top was meant to emphasize a pair of beautiful shoulders; and the reason she licked her lips was to draw attention to what a delicious pair they were. She was intentionally working him, and he didn’t mind because he intended to work her, also.
“Are you okay?”
He glanced over at her. There was no reason to tell her there was nothing wrong with him that a night spent in her bed, or his, wouldn’t cure. “I’m fine,” he said, hearing the hitch in his breath.
The waiter came to take their order, first asking for their wine selections. He liked that she was knowledgeable about the different types of wines and hadn’t asked for his advice. He was a beer man, and only drank wine on occasion.
After the waiter left, she glanced over at him. It seemed every time their gazes connected it stirred the sexual chemistry between them. It was overwhelming his senses. One look was all it took to send his libido into overdrive.
“Tell me about you, Drew.”
He didn’t say anything for a minute, wondering how much to tell her. She didn’t need to know about his troubled past, that at the age of ten, stealing had been his favorite pastime. He supposed it was to be expected. He’d had a no-good, worthless, lowlife for a father who’d thought it was beneath him to work. And his mother, bless her heart, had loved the bastard so much, she had worked two jobs to take care of them. It was his father who’d taught him to steal—mainly cigarettes when Drew’s mother refused to give the guy money to buy any. That was the one place Beatrice Logan would draw the line—she would buy her husband his booze, but not his cigarettes.
As a teen, Andrew had been in and out of youth detention centers so often, their routines had become a way of life for him. It didn’t bother him—being at the centers beat living at home. He hated spending any time there. He hated his father for the way he was treating his mother, and he resented the way she would let him. After hearing about Toni’s grandfather, he couldn’t help wishing he’d had someone like him in his life while growing up. But he hadn’t.
The crazy part of how things had turned out was that his juvenile-delinquent record had been what had landed him in the slammer for something he hadn’t done. He’d been accused of a robbery he hadn’t committed. It had taken nearly five years before he’d managed to get a new trial, where DNA evidence had been introduced