“While you’re at it, you should delete the one he probably took a few minutes ago of you, naked, in the shower. Wouldn’t want it to end up on the Internet one day . . . ho!”
Meg laughed as she shot an elbow into Casey’s ribs. Keeping her voice to a whisper, she said, “You’re still the bigger ho. We didn’t get to finish.”
Casey pulled Meg close. “Maybe that’s a good thing. Ryan is worried. You need to be careful.”
She was worried too. Not that Josh was anything but what he said, but that she’d handed her heart over to a man she still feared would hurt her again.
When the microwave beeped, Meg got Haley’s breakfast ready. Josh sat her in front of it at the table.
Haley happily dug in, and then with her mouth full said, “I’m gonna ask Santa for a horse, or a doggy. Then I can breathe better like you, Daddy.”
Josh’s mouth tilted into a big grin. Probably because it was the first time she’d ever called him Daddy. “Good idea, Haley.”
What? No!
As her traitorous sister chuckled, Meg opened her mouth to do damage control, but Josh was quicker. He laid his mouth on hers and kissed her.
When she didn’t have enough working brain cells to tell him he was in trouble, he leaned back and shot her a cute smile. “Gotta go. Have a nice day, ladies.” Then he strolled out the door.
She’d have to set him straight later on the dog thing. Preferably when he and his sexy mouth were far across the room.
Josh and Zeke, working side by side to classic rock because it was Josh’s day to pick the music, stripped the salvageable parts from Meg’s old car. There weren’t many to choose from.
A chime sounded from his back pocket. Josh wiped his hands on a rag before pulling out his cell. The text was from his former handler, Watts. Heads up. Someone’s coming to look into that matter. Suggestions on times?
The cryptic message referred to the reason Josh couldn’t tell Meg about his past as an agent yet. While the mobsters behind the online gambling ring had either killed one another or were behind bars due to Josh’s testimony, there were still loose ends to tie up. Meg’s father being one of them.
His thumbs tapped. Saturday. Picnic in the afternoon/evening. Should keep him occupied.
Watts wrote, Got it. Done with your little vacation? You can have your job back anytime.
Vacation? It would have been just a matter of time until every bit of his soul had been sucked away if he hadn’t quit. Nope. How soon before it’s over?
Going for the source. Soon.
That probably meant they were going to place tracking software on the mayor’s computers to see if he was bouncing his signal to hide activity. Could be that Meg’s father just gambled online sometimes, unknowingly involving himself in their case. But where there’s smoke . . . Let me know when.
Will do. Still can’t believe you gave up a stellar career for a woman.
That didn’t even deserve a response.
Meg was what he’d been missing his whole life. He’d tried once to mix those lives and lost Meg. This time would be different.
Just as Josh was about to put his phone away, it beeped again with an e-mail from Eric.
thx for the pix and the dog food. mr. j says I can only keep 1 pup. can u help me find homes? A picture of all three black-and-white balls of fur appeared under the text.
Haley would happily take one of them off Eric’s hands. Maybe he’d just have to adopt one himself. Meg couldn’t complain because the dog would technically belong to him.
I’ll ask around. Everything else going okay? Josh poked the button to send the e-mail and then put his phone away.
Zeke cocked his head. “Now that you’re done with your fancy phone there, want to get back to work? This whole shooting the car up was your big idea, after all. Should be a good show.”
“Yep.” Josh leaned down to start on the trigger device. He’d run into the fire chief, Abe, at the diner earlier. Abe had been at the bar for the dart competition the other night and asked if he could use Meg’s old car for a fire drill once they were done shooting it up. Two birds. One stone.
Besides, blowing up stuff was fun.
Meg squared her shoulders and then yanked on Town Hall’s main door. She didn’t have an appointment, which Dragon Breath would hate. But it wasn’t anyone else’s damned business if she wanted to have a private discussion with her own . . . father. Or whatever he was to her.
She’d considered doing it at the house, but then the step-monster would surely invite herself, just as she always did. It needed to be between her and Dad. And she wasn’t leaving until she got the truth.
But first, she had a dragon to slay.