Totally, Sweetly, Irrevocably(33)

“I’m going to call and cancel,” she said.

“What?” Nat climbed off Eric’s lap and sat next to her. “Why?”

“What do you mean, why? I’ve never met any guy’s family. This is…weird. We aren’t even dating. He’s only hanging around with me to make sure I don’t do anything illegal that will make his life more annoying. The only reason I even got invited in the first place is because his sister saw us. She probably felt obligated. Or totally read the situation the wrong way, which is all kinds of awkward. And you know I’m not a big family person. I can barely handle hanging around you three, and I like you guys.”

“Ah, come on,” Jared said. “It’d be worth going to the dinner just to get a little one-on-one time with that man.”

He glanced around at all the surprised faces suddenly staring at him. “What? I’ve seen the guy. Hell, if there was ever anyone who could sway me to the other team, it’d be him.”

Gina threw a piece of muffin at him, but instead of it hitting him in the face, Jared snapped it right out of the air and chewed happily. “Thanks. Anyhow, for you to agree to go in the first place, I’d say there’s got to be something more between you two than him trying to prevent you from committing a felony. Which is a pretty pointless endeavor, anyway. I mean really, it’s only a matter of time.”

Gina glared at him. “Keep it up, Chuckles. My first felony might be a nice little assault.”

“Ah, now there’s the Gina I know and tolerate. Be sure to show that side to his family. You’ll never be invited back. Problem solved.”

Gina chucked the whole muffin at him this time, smiling when it bounced off his forehead.

“All right, you two,” Nat said. She stood and waved her hands at Eric and Jared to shoo them off. “Eric, take your boy out of here so Gina and I can have some adult conversation.”

Jared scowled at her, though the look was tinged with the amusement that never really left his face. The day Jared took something seriously enough to truly frown, Gina would pack her bags and head for the hills, because it was definitely a sign of the apocalypse.

As soon as the men were gone, Nat plopped down next to her. “Spill it.”

“Nothing to spill.”

Nat eyeballed her and Gina squirmed. Nat was the only one who could make her do that. She finally groaned and dropped her head into her hands. “I don’t know what’s going on. Until today I’d have said nothing. Or, you know, not really. I mean, he’s seriously hot, I’ll give him that…”

Nat’s eyebrow rose. “Hot? The man is a bulging, ripped walking orgasm waiting to happen.”

Gina’s jaw dropped. That observation was something that normally would have come out of Gina’s mouth, not Nat’s. But hell, when the woman was right, she was right.

Nat shrugged. “I’m married, not dead. Anyhow, continue.”

Gina shook her head. “God, I don’t know. He’s a pain in my ass. Every time I turn around I think he’s going to whip out his little ticket pad and write me up for whatever infraction of the law I’ve committed. But last night…he’s not some stuffy paper pusher cop, you know? He’s kind of a badass.”

Her lips twitched again, remembering the scene. “He surprised me. I don’t know why. I mean he’s obviously more than capable of taking down a bad guy. I guess I didn’t expect to see it up close and personal.” She frowned slightly. “He took a knife for me, Nat. He said it was a scratch. But it was a big scratch. Two dozen stitches worth of a scratch. I still can’t believe it.”

Nat reached over and squeezed her hand for a second. “Not all cops are bad, Gina. I’ve been telling you that for years. Most are pretty decent. Some are downright heroic.”

“I know. I guess I’ve never really seen it.”

“Well, it’s not like you give people a whole lot of opportunity to help you out,” Nat said, giving her a chastising but fond smile.

“Yeah, I know. I’m a pain in the ass, too.”

“Yes, you are. But I love you, anyway.”

Gina laughed. “Yeah, well, after that I was kind of rattled, I guess. And we were standing there and I’d just bandaged him up and…well…”

Nat sat up and leaned forward. “Gina…you didn’t!”

“We kissed.”

“What?” Nat looked like someone had handed her a winning lotto ticket for Christmas.

“Relax there, Captain. It was only a kiss.”

Nat didn’t look like she believed her. “Only a kiss, huh?”