Page 28 of Dark ’N’ Deadly

Eric strategically positioned his big body between her and the chip reader. “Humor me.”

“Oh, for god’s sake,” she muttered, shoving the cash back in her wallet. “Nick says that all the time, and I hate it when he does.”

“Where do you think he got it from?” Eric smirked then retrieved his card.

Again. Men.

Her and Eric’s personalities were as different as night and day. It was just as well he’d never asked her out while they’d both lived in Springfield. They would have killed each other before getting through their first date. If that weren’t enough reason to give him a wide berth, there was always the inescapable fact that he was an ATF agent. Just because he’d bought her a beautiful silk scarf she couldn’t afford and enough groceries to feed a small army was insufficient grounds to forget that.

She went first out the automatic door, holding her hand over her eyes to shield them from the sun. She looked in the direction of Eric’s Tahoe then froze. Every muscle in her body tensed. It’s not possible. It had to be the sun playing tricks on her.

Halfway down the row of cars, a man holding a plastic shopping bag pulled open the door of a dark blue SUV and got in. The door closed, and the tinted windows prevented her from seeing inside.

Oh no. No, no, no, no!

Her fingers tightened around the strap of her shoulder bag, and her heart pounded faster. She had to be mistaken. Please, let me be wrong.

The SUV backed out of the parking space. A New Jersey license plate, not Alabama. Then again, he could have rented a vehicle, or stolen one, or purchased one locally so the Alabama plate wouldn’t stand out.

It can’t be him. This man was too old, but it did kind of look like him. Not her stepfather, but someone just as bad in his own sick, twisted way.

Mark Pritchard.

Her eighteenth birthday… Horrific images of what her life would have been like if she’d stayed in Alabama flashed before her eyes. The roasted veggie wrap she’d enjoyed so much at the brewery roiled in her stomach, and she had to swallow repeatedly to keep from throwing up.

Not wanting to give whoever was in that vehicle a better look at her, she spun and plowed headfirst into Eric.

He clasped her upper arms. “You okay? You’re as white as a sheet.”

Which was saying something, considering she had a typical redhead’s pale complexion to begin with.

“You really are,” Jesse commented as he came to stand beside them.

“I’m fine. I think I ate too much.” For effect, she placed her hand on her abdomen, hoping to draw his focus away from the parking lot behind her. It wasn’t working.

He stood motionless, his gaze methodically sweeping the area where the dark blue SUV had been. She really needed to stop wearing her emotions on her sleeve, because nothing got past this guy. “Please, can we just go home?”

“Yeah. Sure.” His eyes softened, although there was a slight glint of something else there as well.

Suspicion.

As Eric rolled the shopping cart onto the curb, she caught Jesse mouthing the words, What’s wrong? Making sure Eric wasn’t watching her, she gave a brief shake of her head, sending him a look of warning. When they were alone, she’d fill him in on whom she’d seen. Correction, whom she thought she’d seen. Whoever it was, he’d appeared to be shopping. Not following them.

Her heart sank. She’d been a naive idiot to let herself enjoy even a single moment of her time in Flemington. If she’d been paying closer attention to her surroundings, she might have been able to determine without question whether the man she’d seen was a real threat to her and Jesse.

What she needed to focus on was keeping her guard up. If she lowered it again for even a moment, she could miss something critical. Something that might get her and Jesse dead.

Chapter Nine

From the backyard, Eric watched through the glass door as Tess prepared dinner at the cooktop. If anyone could actually call that dinner. Tofu veggie sauté.

His balls began to shrivel just thinking about eating that meatless concoction of plant matter. There wasn’t enough melted cheese in the world to make it palatable. Even Tiger would turn his nose at it.

When he’d pulled a couple of steaks from the refrigerator so he and Jesse wouldn’t starve to death, the look she’d given him was as subtle as a nuclear bomb. If he’d been Superman, the Kryptonite shooting from her green eyes would have melted every one of his internal organs. Starting with my balls.

“Zit.” When Tiger sat obediently at Jesse’s feet, the kid grinned then referred to the Dutch cheat sheet Eric had given him. “Af.” Tiger lay down.

“Good job.” He was pleased at how quickly Jesse was picking up all the K-9 commands. Tess’s brother really did have a way with dogs.