“Seriously? Holy crap.” She froze, staring up at him. “Anyone hurt?”
He dried off the wok and hung it from one of the hooks on the wall. “A young mom, with a rap sheet.” He carried his beer into the living room and sat on the couch. He ran a hand through his hair and took a long swig of beer. “She’ll end up implicated if I can’t find some concrete leads. And her kid will probably end up in the foster system. She’s covering for someone, I know it. I can feel it.”
“Why would she do that?” Cady sat beside him, cradling her wineglass.
“Fear,” he answered.
“Can’t you protect her?” She frowned. “Where do you start? I mean, that’s so...so overwhelming. How do you know where to look? Who to talk to?”
He looked at her, taking in the empathetic furrow and concern in her brown eyes. She was listening to him. Ellie would have tried to brush it aside, to pretend he didn’t deal with real, messy situations. “I follow leads. For every five, I hope one turns something up.”
She took a sip of her wine then set her glass on the end table. “That sounds...defeating.”
He laughed. “Sometimes.”
“Why do it?” she asked.
He relaxed into the leather couch. “It’s what I do, Cady. Who I am.” He looked at her, waiting, wondering why she was so easy to talk to all of a sudden. “It’s my...responsibility.” He shrugged.
She nodded. “How did Zach avoid becoming a cop?”
He snorted. “Zach’s wired differently. He’s more...impatient.”
“I’m getting that,” she agreed. “He seems more like the take-a-girl-home-for-a-night versus taking-her-home-to-the-family type.”
He couldn’t exactly argue, so he nodded again. “He has a pretty damn thick black book, I’ll give you that. But he seems different. What about Bianca? You said she’s not a drinker and she rarely dates, so why my brother?”
Cady shrugged. “I have no idea.”
Patton laughed then. “He’s not that bad.”
Cady laughed, too. “I didn’t mean it like that.” She sighed. “So...about this plan. Diandra...” Cady leaned forward, sitting cross-legged on the couch. “What if...” She stopped, looking uncertain. She looked adorable, all wide-eyed and flustered.
“Go on,” he encouraged. “We’re never going to get anywhere if we try to be careful about this. We don’t have a hell of a lot of time. So pretend my brother’s cheating on her or in the mafia or something—whatever you need to do to make this okay.” He looked at her, waiting.
She took a deep breath, blurting out, “What if Diandra mixes up the cake orders?” She did air quotes as she spoke. “What if Bianca ends up with a baby shower cake instead of a wedding cake... It would shake things up and get people talking.”
“Sounds like a good place to start,” he agreed. “But we need...more. I think we need to send strippers.”
“Strippers? To the wedding shower?” Cady stared at him, horrified. “But your mom will be there. And Bianca’s grandmother—and her grandmother’s gardening group. Don’t you think—”
“One of Zach’s exes is putting herself through law school stripping,” he explained. “If I can get her to come, we’re talking major fireworks.”
“Oh.” She seemed to be thinking it over. “So he’s into models and strippers. Bianca really isn’t Zach’s type. Go for it... I guess.” She shrugged, her eyes locking with his. Her hunger knocked the air from his lungs. She picked up her wineglass and drained its contents. He watched the line of her throat as she swallowed. She looked at him. “It’s been over two days.” Her voice was low and husky.
“Since?” He tried to breathe, determined not to lose all control.
“Since we got naked and attacked each other.”
He was rock hard. “I thought you were in favor of delayed gratification,” he growled back, aching.
“That’s one option.” She nodded. “Now I’m wondering if we shouldn’t try something else first.”
“Like?”
“Give in to whatever this is...” Her gaze locked with his, blazing and desperate.
His heart was hammering in his chest. “Could be potentially fatal.” But he was willing and ready to take the risk.