Still, Ava was nothing if not a skilled conversationalist when need be. Where was Luc?
She needed to keep Mr. Almost-Naked here, and touching the man was out of the question. Obviously. Somewhere along the way, the white tank top he’d supposedly been wearing must have gone the way of his pants.
She gave him an easy smile, never letting her gaze stray below his eyes. Reel him in, Ava. “Truth be told, I find it a bit hard to turn down a dare myself,” she said, her voice low and confidential.
Do not look down. Do not look down.
“Yeah!” He brightened, moving as though to sit down on the curb for a nice long chat. “See, you get it. I’ve been trying to explain, but—”
“Sir. No.” Ava held up a solitary finger. “Put your pants on.”
“But you said—”
“I said it was hard to turn down a bet, not impossible. Have some dignity, man.”
“But I have to stay this way until noon or I don’t win.”
She heaved out a sigh, resisting the urge to ask what prize could possibly be worth this humiliation. She looked around for Luc and his partner. Maybe this was why they’d wanted her to stay in the car.
Oh, wait, the car…
Ava hitched a thumb over her shoulder. “You do see the vehicle I’m standing next to, right?”
The man followed the direction of her point and for the first time, his impish smile slipped. “Shit. Are you…”
“A plainclothes police officer? Maybe.” She folded her arms across her chest.
He began to back away, and Ava shifted her eyes to the sky to avoid nightmares for a week.
“Sorry, sir. Ma’am. Sir. Officer. Um, I won’t bother you…”
“I’ll tell ya what,” she says, snapping her fingers. “I won’t turn you in, if you agree to put on some clothes and then knock some sense into your moron friends who put you up to this.”
But Naked Man wasn’t paying attention to her rather excellent advice. His gaze was locked behind her shoulder, his eyes wide and terrified.
Uh oh.
“Sims, Sims, Sims,” came the low, horribly familiar voice. “Did I just hear you impersonate a police officer, bargain with a known suspect, and then propose that he commit battery?”
“I like to think of it as a Good Samaritan thing,” she said, turning around to face one very pissed Officer Moretti.
“Or…citizen’s arrest?” she asked cheerfully when he didn’t respond.
Behind her, she heard Lopez’s slightly accented voice mingled in with the loud protests of the guy who was now being cuffed. Luc still hadn’t said a word.
“Is um…Lopez putting handcuffs on a butt-ass-naked dude?” she asked, pointing over her shoulder. “Because that’s gotta be an interesting visual.”
Luc continued to study her with dark blue eyes.
Ava heaved out a sigh. “Look, he found me. What was I supposed to do? Run away screaming?”
“Well you sure as hell aren’t to engage him in a conversation!”
“Well I wouldn’t have had to if you’d actually done your job.”
Luc’s eyes flared and he took an angry step toward her.
Interesting, Ava thought, eyes narrowing. Officer Moretti takes his job very seriously.
Behind her, she heard Mr. Naked explaining the virtues of following through on a dare to a very unsympathetic Lopez. The car door slammed and Lopez came around to interrupt Luc and Ava’s staring contest.
“We are going to need serious disinfectant in the backseat,” he said, gesturing toward the car.
Eeew.
Luc pinched the bridge of his nose. “Great. Fucking great. Okay, let’s take him in.”
Lopez set a hand on the small of Ava’s back, and Ava didn’t think she imagined the way that Luc’s eyes traced the motion.
“Sweetheart, this is where we part ways,” Lopez said. “Can’t let you ride along with the perp. Not that you’d want to.”