Hot Six (Stephanie Plum 6)

I tipped my nose up, trying to pull off looking indignant. “I'm going inside. And just to make you happy I'll lock my door.”

“Wrong. You're going with me, and I'm going to lock you up.”

“Are you threatening me?”

“No. I'm flat-out telling you.”

“Listen, mister,” I said, “this is the twenty-first century. Women aren't property. You just don't go around locking us up. If I want to do something incredibly stupid and put myself in danger, I have the right to do it.”

Ranger clapped a bracelet on me. “I don't think so.”

“Hey!”

“It'll only be for a couple days.”

“I can't believe this! You're actually going to lock me up?” He reached for my other wrist, and I yanked the cuff out of his hand and jumped away.

“Come here,” he said.

I put a car between us. I had his bracelet dangling from my wrist, and in a weird way, which I didn't want to think about, it was sort of erotic. And then in another way, it really pissed me off. I reached into my shoulder bag and came up with my pepper spray. “Come get me,” I told him.

He put his hands on the car. “This isn't going well, is it?”

“How did you expect it to go?”

“You're right. I should have known. Nothing is ever simple with you. Men blow themselves up. Cars get flattened by garbage trucks. I've been in full-scale invasions that have been less harrowing than meeting you for coffee.” He held the key up for me to see. “Would you like me to take the cuff off?”

“Throw the key over here.”

“Uh-unh. You have to come to me.”

“No way.”

“That pepper spray only works if you get it in my face. Do you think you're good enough to get it in my face?”

“Absolutely.”

A junker of a car pulled into the lot. Ranger and I gave it our full attention. Ranger had a gun in his hand, his hand at his side.

The car came to a stop and Mooner and Dougie got out. “Hey, dude,” Mooner called to me. “Lucky break finding you here. Me and Dougie need some of your sage advice.”

“I have to talk to these guys,” I said to Ranger. “Lula and I sort of trashed their house.”

“Let me guess, they were serving egg rolls and something yellow.”

“Cheese balls. And it wasn't my fault. The Romulan started it.”

The corners of his mouth tipped into a small, controlled smile. “I should have guessed it was the Romulan.” He holstered his gun. “Go talk to your friends. We'll finish this later.”

“The key?”

He smiled and shook his head.

“This is war,” I said.

The smile turned grim. “Be careful.”

I backed away and moved to the building's back door, Dougie and Mooner following me. I couldn't imagine what they wanted. Restitution for damages? A report on Elwood's future as a drug lord? My opinion of the egg rolls?