Her Detective's Secret Intent

Or another picnic on the beach.

Maybe Ethan was bugging her about another round of Zoo Attack.

Hell, he’d be willing to sit in a puddle with them on the back porch. His, hers or someone else’s.

Feel like going out to dinner?

Sounds good. Uncle Bob’s again, probably. Or somewhere he hadn’t been that was equally pleasing to kids. Some pizza place where he and Ethan could play Skee-Ball or shoot hoops. Rubbing his hair while the rest of him drip-dried, Tad waited for more details.

And maybe a club or something? Adult time.

He read the screen while the phone lay on the bathroom counter, then pulled the towel from his head and wrapped it around his growing midsection.

At the word adult?

He stared at his phone, as though touching it would make it explode.

Unless you don’t want to.

The sudden hesitation struck him. He knew what it would have taken for Miranda to issue that invitation.

Picking up his phone, he typed, Of course I want to. Sorry, just getting out of the shower, went to the gym for supper tonight.

They were going out for “adult” time. Just the two of them. He felt like a randy teenager. And a fool. He was on a job.

With permission for fringe benefits.

But Miranda didn’t know that. Any of it.

Still, his feelings for her were as genuine as he could get...

If he pulled back now, she’d be hurt.

Ethan’s spending the night with a friend, she texted.

When should I pick you up?

I drop him off at five. How about six? Let’s dress nicely. My first time out in six years.

Images of Miranda in a form-fitting dress that showed some cleavage and shoulder immediately overwhelmed him.

Got it.

Got that they’d have all night, too. That she could very well be expecting the kiss he’d managed to avoid on the trail on Wednesday. And more.

Fully erect now, he noticed the bulge of his towel in the mirror’s reflection and knew he was in serious trouble.

* * *

Miranda’s Saturday off meant cleaning day, and she hit it like a maniac. Ethan went along with her plans to clean out his closet until he realized that meant getting rid of things he hadn’t worn or played with in at least a year.

He agreed to dust the living room and bedrooms. And to empty all the trash cans. He started to grumble when she suggested

he sort through his video games and choose some of them to donate—the ones he hadn’t played in quite a while.

She’d been spraying down the back patio, cleaning the table and chairs, and came back in to find him playing video games. Every one he hadn’t touched in what he figured was the past year.

Errands were next, and leaving a completely spotless house that now smelled like cleaning solution mixed with lavender, she got them through six stores, including the toy store where Ethan dawdled as they chose Jimmy’s present—an educational race car building kit. They were still back home with a couple of hours to spare before she had to drop him off.