She offered a stiff lift of one shoulder. “Stay away from me, Eric.” She looked at James, a small frown pinching her brows together. “No charges.”
James didn’t take his eyes off Coates. “But Shay—”
“I said no charges.”
James suppressed his annoyance with her decision while noting that relief flooded Coates’s expression. “In that case, I’m issuing you a citation.” He signed a sheet and ripped it off his pad and held it out.
Looking smug, Eric took it, then turned to Shay. “Remember what I said. We’ll talk later.”
“I wouldn’t advise that.” James came up behind Eric, close enough to make his physical presence a direct threat. “On a personal level I’m telling you to leave Ms. Appleton alone. Permanently.”
Eric swung around, his eyes widening. James let him look. “So … what? You’re the new boyfriend?”
Bogart stood up, his ears flicking forward in response to the man’s aggressive tone toward his handler.
Eric looked down and his expression changed. “So that’s where the dog came from.” He looked back at Shay. “You cheating slut.”
Bogart bared his teeth in answer.
Shay lifted her chin against the insult. “You should leave, Eric. Now.”
Eric’s gaze flicked between man and dog. “Okay. Right. I’m done.”
James didn’t plan to block Eric with his shoulder as he passed, but somehow the man was thrown off balance, stumbled into the sofa, and fell.
Unsmiling, James held out a helping hand. “Sorry about that.”
For a split second the heat of testosterone-fueled challenge shimmered between them. Then Eric’s gaze shifted to where James was holding the harness of an angry barking dog.
Ignoring James’s offer of a hand, he quickly righted himself, and lurched through the front door, slamming it behind him.
The second the door closed the remaining pair turned and spoke at the same time.
“Are you okay?”
“How did you know about last night?”
CHAPTER SEVEN
“Go ahead.”
Shay rubbed her palms up and down her denim-clad thighs. “No, you.”
James smiled, slipping out of police mode. “Ladies first.”
“Wait a sec.” Shay crossed over to lock her door.
As James pulled Bogart’s favorite ball from his pocket and tossed it as a reward for a good job, he noticed that she had three locks where most people could have been satisfied with one. The first was oxidized with age. The other two were shiny and new.
When she turned back to him, it seemed she had reconsidered her first question because she substituted another. “Why did you do that?”
“What?”
She folded her arms and stared.
Busted. “I saw what he was doing to you, Shay. You should have let me arrest him. Since you wouldn’t, I sent him that message in a way he’ll remember.”
Her chin shot up. He didn’t need words to translate that into I can take care of myself. Trouble was, it was obvious that she had been doing a lousy job. Not that that was his business, but—whoa. Wait. Not. His. Business. Even so …
“Want to tell me why you won’t press charges?”
She looked away. “I have my reasons.”
“Whatever they are, they aren’t going to keep him from putting his hands on you, again, like when I walked in.”
Shay reached down to Bogart, who had come up to her, and scratched him behind one ear. “News alert, Officer Cannon. I’m not your concern.”
“Come on, Shay.” He said her name softly, as if he had used it before, and it sounded wonderfully comfortable in his mouth.
Shay straightened up, feeling a little shaky from running on adrenaline. “Are you asking as a police officer or a friend?”
James felt himself shifting onto uncertain ground. “Whichever you need.”
Shay searched his face for a moment. What she needed was someone to believe her. But she couldn’t explain why without explaining the very things she wanted most to keep hidden. So even the compassion in his expression couldn’t help her.
Shay snatched her gaze away, searching for her security blanket of hostility. “Why did you come back, anyway? Looking for a little pat on the back to make you feel like a hero?”
Annoyance jerked at James’s patience. He’d swung by on a hunch. Yet after his graceless entry into her life, what had he expected, a parade?
“Fine. My bad. I thought maybe since we share a fondness for Bogart that we might become … friends.” James made a business of putting his pad away. “So, who is that asshole?”
Shay almost smiled at his description. “He’s my ex. Boyfriend.”
“Your decision?”
She nodded. “I broke it off a month ago, but he hasn’t taken the hint. I think now he will.”
“Don’t count on it.”
Shay pushed a hand up under her bangs, using her fingers as a comb. “Is that why you let Eric believe you had more than a professional interest in me?”
She caught that, did she?
“It’ll make him think twice before he tries to force his way in on you again. The least I could do.”