“Libby,” I warn, watching Levi’s shoulders tense as my sister continues talking.
“What? I’m just saying, if I had a guy like him living next door to me, I wouldn’t look elsewhere, either.”
“Please.” I look at her and jerk my chin toward Levi’s back, hoping she will realize he can totally hear every single word she’s saying.
“Oh yeah, sorry,” she mumbles, having the audacity to look contrite. “You probably don’t want him to know that you want him.” My teeth snap together, and I glare at her, letting her know silently that if we weren’t in the middle of a police station I would take her to the ground and force her to be quiet like I’ve been doing my whole life.
“Libby, stop being a pain.” Mac laughs, tucking Libby into her side, forcing her to walk next to her a few feet ahead of me. Thankful for the reprieve, I drop my eyes to the ground and wrap my arms around my middle as I walk behind them.
“Fawn,” Levi calls, and I stop walking and lift my eyes to his staring back at me.
“Levi?” I prompt when he does nothing more than scan my face.
“I’ll be right back.”
“Uh, sure.” I nod, gaining his chin lift in reply before he and Jinks disappear behind a closed door at the entrance of the station.
Feeling Mac and Libby get close, I pull my eyes from the door to look at them. “Someone’s been holding out on us,” Mac says, and I shrug.
“He’s my new neighbor. I don’t really know him.” Her eyes search mine, and a slow smile spreads across her face like she knows something I don’t. “I’ve only talked to him once before today,” I continue, and her smile broadens.
“Sure,” she says, like she doesn’t believe me, and I bite my tongue, refusing to let her bait me into an argument, which is something she does often.
“Ready?” Levi asks a few minutes later, and I let out the breath I’ve been holding.
“Yep.” I start for the door behind my sisters, who have already stepped outside ahead of us.
“Hold up.” His voice slides over me as his long, warm fingers wrap around my wrist and tighten when I try to tug free.
“What?” I look up at him, hating how breathless I sound.
“Paper.”
“What?” I repeat, getting lost in his gaze and touch as the fingers on his other hand slide up my temple and through my hair.
“You have paper in your hair,” he says, gently flicking his fingers out, causing a small scrap of white paper to float to the floor.
“Oh.” I drop my eyes from his and shake my head, trying to get rid of the dizziness and the feeling in the pit of my stomach.
“Come on, let’s get you home.” He drops my wrist and moves his hand to my lower back, where it burns a hole straight through his jacket and my dress into my skin, until he finally drops it away so he can help me into the front seat of his SUV. He makes sure I’m settled before he slams the door.
“So are you going to tell us who this guy is to you?” Libby asks from the backseat as I put on my seat belt.
“Leave her alone, Lib,” Mac says quietly, and I watch in fascination as Levi moves around the hood to the driver’s side. I’ve never really noticed the way a man walks before, but his walk is confident and sure.
“I’m just curious,” Libby grumbles right as Levi opens his door.
“Are you all going to the same place?” Levi questions, sliding in behind the steering wheel, putting the key in the ignition, and starting up the engine.
“Yes, and thank you for giving us a ride. We really appreciate it,” Mac says from the backseat as we pull out into traffic.
“It’s not a big deal. I was heading home anyway,” he replies as we stop at a red light.
“What are you doing?” I tense as he reaches across the middle console between us.
“No need to yell fire, babe,” he jokes, reminding me of our first encounter, and my cheeks heat as something in my stomach twists on the word babe. Holding my breath, I watch him adjust the heater vents on my side to blow directly on me before turning up the warm air.
“I thought you were going to kill me,” I defend myself, hearing him chuckle as the light turns green and he presses the gas.
“I thought about it.”
“You did?”
“Yeah, I also thought about a couple other things,” he says, and I wonder what those things were, but I don’t have enough guts to ask him.
“Did you have a good night at work?” I ask instead, then wish I hadn’t, because he’s obviously a homicide detective and I can’t imagine any part of that being good. “Sorry, that was a stupid question. Ignore me.”
“It’s all right.” He turns his head toward me and smiles. “Can’t say it was a good night, but there is always a little bit of satisfaction involved when I bring someone to justice.”
“Did you . . . I mean, did you bring someone to justice tonight?”
“Yeah, but now I have a new case to solve.”
“The guy who killed the prostitute?” I ask softly, watching his expression change in the green lights coming off the dash.
“Yeah.” He nods once, and his fist tightens on the steering wheel.
“It must be difficult witnessing firsthand the worst parts of humanity, day after day.”
“It’s not easy,” he agrees, and I wrap my hands together in my lap to keep from reaching over and touching him in some way. To assure him that what he’s doing is important and appreciated. “I’ll drop you girls off out front, then go find parking,” he says, and I pull my eyes from him and realize we have already reached our block.
“Sure, thanks again.” I give him a small smile as he pulls up in front of our apartment building and I unhook my seat belt.
“Yeah, thanks for the ride,” Libby and Mac say.
I open my door and hop down, slamming my door as he says, “No problem.”
Heading to the building, I punch in the code for the door and let my sisters in ahead of me. “Um, how are we going to get into your apartment?” Mac asks as we head up the stairs to my place.
“My hidden key,” I tell her, walking across the open space between Levi’s apartment and mine. Bending, I lift the corner of the mat in front of my door and pull off the spare key I taped there when I moved in.
“That’s not very safe.” Libby eyes the key as I peel it off the tape.
“The building’s safe, and only tenants have the code for the front door.”
“Still, Dad would kill you if he knew you had a key hidden under your mat.”
“Dad will never know.” I shove the key in the lock and push the door open. “Hey, baby, did you miss us?” I smile at Muffin, who greets us with her tail wagging a hundred miles an hour. Giving her some love, I pat her head, then walk around her. “Let Mama change; then I’ll take you out to potty.”
“Yeah, and when you come back, you can tell us about Levi,” Mac says, dropping to the couch. Muffin climbs up next to her, pushing her head under Mac’s hand.