Ten Big Ones (Stephanie Plum 10)

I smiled at him and kissed him lightly on the lips. 'Yeah.'

He pulled me close to him. 'You don't expect me to wait, do you?'

'Yep.'

`I'm not good at waiting.'

'Deal with it,' I said, pushing away.

Morelli narrowed his eyes. 'Deal with it? Excuse me?'

Okay, maybe I said it a little more authoritatively than I'd intended. But my day hadn't been all that great, plus I was feeling just a tad defensive over the foreign substance in my hair that might have been drool, but then maybe not. I could have ended the conversation there, but I didn't think it was smart to back down on the issue. And truth is, I was working my way out of Morelli's house.

`I'm not staying home. End of discussion.'

'The hell this is the end,' Morelli said.

'Oh yeah? Well end this.' And I gave him the finger and headed for the stairs.

'Very adult,' Morelli said. 'Nice to know you've thought this through and have it reduced to a hand gesture.'

'I've thought it through, and I have a plan. I'm leaving.'

Morelli followed me upstairs. 'Leaving? That's a plan?'

'It's a temporary plan.' I took the laundry basket from the closet and started putting clothes in it.

'I have a plan, too,' Morelli said. 'It's called you're staying.'

'We'll do your plan next time.' I emptied my lingerie drawer into the basket.

'What's this?' Morelli said, picking out lavender string bikini underpants. 'I like these. You want to fool around?'

'No!' Actually, I sort of did, but it didn't seem in keeping with the current plan.

I gathered up some things from the bathroom, added them to the basket, and carted the basket downstairs. Then I lugged the hamster

cage from the kitchen and put it on top of the clothes in the basket.

'You're serious about this,' Morelli said.

`I'm not going to start every day off with an argument about hiding in the house.'

'You don't have to hide in the house forever. Just lower your visibility for a few days. And it would be nice if you'd stop looking for trouble.'

I hefted the laundry basket and pushed past him to the door. 'On the surface that sounds reasonable, but the reality of it is that I give up my job and hide.'

I was telling the truth. I didn't want to start every day off with an argument. But, I also didn't want to wake up to more graffiti on

Joe's house. I didn't want a firebomb thrown through his front window. I didn't want a Slayer breaking in when I was alone and in the shower. I needed a place to stay that was unknown to the

Slayers. Not Morelli's house. Not my parents' house. Not my apartment. I wouldn't feel completely safe in any of those places.

And I didn't want to put anyone in danger. Maybe I was making a big thing out of nothing... but then, maybe not.

So, here I was idling at the corner of Slater and Chambers with a pleasant, perfectly designed, color-coordinated Martha Stewart laundry basket on the seat beside me, filled with all the clean clothes I could find, a hamster cage wedged into the seat behind me... and no place to go.

I'd told Morelli I was going home to my parents' house, but it had been a fib. The truth was, I walked out without totally thinking the whole thing through.