Chapter 50

“Ready, ready,” I said to the courier who was standing inside my door, waiting, visibly impatiently, for me to finish writing out the check from the amount I’d jotted down when I called Nordstrom’s to find out exactly how much a pair of fabulous, silver, watersnake, platform, peep toed slingbacks cost.

I signed the check, ripped it off and shoved it in the envelope with the note I’d dashed out while I still had the courage.

Hawk, For the shoes. You need to find a replacement for my shifts.

Sam

I licked the envelope, closed it and handed it to the courier.

“You don’t have a name of the company?” he asked me.

I shook my head. “No, I just know the building, fourteenth floor, turn right off the elevators, right again down the hall and second door down on the left. Tell whoever you hand it to to give it to Hawk.”

His brows shot up. “Hawk?”

“Hawk.”

He eyed me like he thought I had a screw loose.

Then he muttered, “Whatever,” and took his leave.

I shut the door behind him.

Then I walked upstairs and sent my work to my author with my notes. Then I packed a bag. Then I wrote a note for Dad and Meredith and left it in the kitchen. Then I got in my car which Meredith and I had gone to get from her house the day before.

Then I went to Cam and Leo’s.

I sat at Cam and Leo’s kitchen table with Leo. I was in my nightshirt. Leo was in a gray t-shirt and plaid pajama bottoms. Cam had an early shift. Leo had a late one.

Leonard Freeman was all bulky, compacted muscle on an average height frame, kind black eyes and midnight skin. He was man from head-to-toe which made him perfect for Camille because, except for her lack of cleavage (which was camouflaged by her ample booty and beautiful face) she was all woman.

Leo took a sip of coffee and so did I.

Then he started, “Sam –” Nope. No. Where Camille Antoine was a straight-talker, Leo was a sage. If he lived back in ancient Greece, Leo would kick Plato’s ass. He had life figured out and in a flash he could read people and situations and know exactly what was going on. This made him a good cop but a dangerous friend.

Desperate, I shifted focus and because I was desperate, I opened my mouth and inserted my foot.

“Why haven’t you asked Cam to marry you?”

His eyes widened and he stared at me.

Shit. Shit, shit, shit! Did I actually say that?

“Um…” I started to backtrack but couldn’t figure out how.

“She wants to get married?” Leo asked and it was my turn to stare. Apparently, Leo being able to read everybody didn’t extend to his live-in girlfriend.

“Well…” I hesitated, “yeah.”

“Seriously?”

I blinked.

“Uh…” I hesitated again, “yeah.”

“I thought she was happy with the way things were,” he told me.

“She is,” I told him.

He stared.

Well, I brought us to this dire pass I had to lead us through it.

Shit!

“Are you happy with the way things are?” I probed cautiously.

“Fuck yeah,” he replied.

Well, at least that was firm.

“So… um, your hesitation with making it official has to do with…” I trailed off and lifted my eyebrows.

“It’s fine like it is, why change it?” he asked.

Okay, I was careening down the highway to the danger zone so I might as well shift up and engage the rocket launchers. The problem was, this meant explaining women to him and men never really were able to process that.

“All right, this is the gig,” I said and straightened in my chair, shifting my booty in it to indicate what I was saying needed his close attention. “Women like clothes, they like shoes, they like flowers and they like people to look at them and think, ‘God, she’s gorgeous.’ The more people who think that, the better it is. The one day in your life where you get all that rolled up into one is your wedding day. And it comes with jewelry and presents and ends with a vacation where it’s practically law that you have to wear fabulous underwear and have lots of sex.”

Leo flashed me a white smile showing that, likely, most of what I said was lost on him but I got through with the fabulous underwear and lots of sex so relief flooded through me.

Therefore, I reached out a hand and wrapped it on his forearm.

“So, you give her that then you come home and it’s the same as it was before except you have towels and china in your house you didn’t have to buy.”

His arm twisted and he caught my hand then he gave it a squeeze.

Then he muttered, “This sounds good.”

“Well, lucky for you, you got it for free. I’m considering going on the road, holding classes for men, explaining things. I just need to hook up my commissions with wedding planners and really bad cover bands.”

This got me another white flash of smile even as he noted, “Engagement rings don’t exactly come cheap.”

“This is true but I’m Cam’s best friend and I’m not going to mess with any of that kitchen and bathroom bridal shower stuff. It’s all about lingerie.” I let his hand go and crossed my heart then lifted my hand, palm out. “Swear.”

“You break that promise, darlin’, and I gotta sort through garlic presses and other shit to find the bottle opener, you know I’ll make you pay,” he threatened.

“Camille doesn’t have a garlic press?” I asked, fake aghast.

This got me another white flash.

Then the white faded and his eyes grew intent. “She worried about this?”

“Cam?”

“Yeah.”

“Yeah,” I answered honestly and quietly.

“Shit,” he muttered.

“She wants to be yours, Leo,” I told him.

“She is mine, Sam,” he told me.

“Then let her show the world every day by giving her a ring.”

He held my eyes. Then he nodded once.

Then he said, “I gotta get to the gym.”

I nodded back, saying, “I gotta get home.”

He stood and I took a sip of coffee. I thought he’d go to the sink but he came to me. I tipped my head back to look at him just as his hand cupped the back of my head and his face got close.

“This,” he whispered, “this right here is why Cabe Delgado finally woke the fuck up.”

My heart seized but I wheezed, “Leo.”

“No more to be said, darlin’, think about that,” he declared, pulled my head forward an inch, kissed my hair and then let me go and walked his mug to the sink.

God, I loved Leo. He was the shit.

I looked out the window. The snow was long gone. February was leaking into March. In Denver this meant anything goes weather-wise. Blizzards, lying out in the sun in your bikini or both within an hour.

My phone hadn’t rung and Hawk hadn’t attempted to penetrate the Antoine/Freeman fortress. Even if he didn’t get my check and note yet, he went back to his lair to find I wasn’t there.

He was no call and no show.

This said it all and I told myself I was relieved but I wasn’t.