“You’re the best mermaid ever. We’ll be over after lunch.” He tried to hang up.
“Wait! Who’s ‘we’? Who is this kid, anyway? What’s going on?”
“Tell you later. Just don’t mention anything about this to Ma.”
“Um, Clancy? She’s—”
“See you soon.”
“Are you ready, Officer Clancy?”
He shoved his cell phone in his pocket and retreated from the mudroom. “I’m right here.”
“Go sit on the couch.” Clancy had no idea four-year-old girls could be so bossy. “Then close your eyes, ’cause it’s a suuuu—perize!”
He did as instructed. “I’m ready.”
Clancy heard giggling and shuffling until it stopped directly in front of the fireplace.
“You can open.”
Mission accomplished—they looked nothing like the photos of the suspected kidnapper and missing girl now being splashed all over creation. He would be thanking his mother.
“Very nice,” he said.
“I know!” It was so good to see Evie’s face light up with laughter. It had to be the most beautiful sight in the world.
“Watch out for the scary pirate!” Christina began a jerky freestyle dance that caused her tricornered hat and attached curly wig to list to port. “I will fight you for the treasure!”
As Evie tightened the headgear, he had to admit that Christina’s outfit beat her previous pirate costume all to hell. Clancy had been forced to climb shelves and root through plastic storage tubs, but he had found it all—ruffled shirt, vest and short pants, pull-on vinyl boots and a plastic sword with matching scabbard and belt. He even found a new eye patch.
However, it was Evie who stole this particular costume show. Mona had been right—the shells needed adjusting and the spandex mermaid skirt was damn near scandalous.
He liked it. A lot.
“I’m not sure I can go out in public in this.” Evie ran her hands down her hips, looking worried.
“It’ll just be for a while.”
“Yeah, but”—she mouthed the next sentence—“Your sister will think I’m a pole dancer.”
He laughed. “And here I thought you were a sports therapist and blogger.”
“We have some catching up to do, like you said.”
Clancy got everyone in the Jeep and headed out to the Safe Haven. Chris was singing happily in the backseat and Evie sat with her hands folded on top of her spandex scales.
“You sure Rowan is okay with this?”
“Oh, she’s thrilled!” Maybe that was an exaggeration, but at least she hadn’t refused.
As they drove, Clancy glanced at Evie sitting in the passenger seat of the Jeep. She looked so goddamn hot he could hardly steer. He was probably this worked up because of the knowledge that—if all went according to plan—they’d be alone soon.
She looked over at him, sunlight in her pale green eyes. “You know, the last man I dated called my wardrobe ‘predictable.’”
“He never had the privilege of seeing you in a mermaid skirt, I take it.”
When she laughed, he wanted her so much it hurt—pure torture. He was a grown man, and a beautiful, wonderful woman had been sleeping in his bed and walking around his house and he couldn’t have her. The images had been hijacking his brain all day. Evie in a state of abandon, wild and uninhibited and rolling on top of the sheets with him. Evie panting because she wanted him so badly. Evie naked and wet in the shower with him, in the surf, kissing him in the kitchen, sitting in his lap.