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obvious
question,” I said.
    “Why am I here?” she asked.
    I grinned. “No. Do you want some
coffee?”
    That got a little smile out of her.
    “Sure,” she said.
    Yeah, I wanted to know why the fuck
she was at my house. I’d get those answers soon enough. The key right then was
to keep her there and keep her as calm as I could.
    My mind raced as I walked to the
kitchen. I set up some coffee and then turned, leaning against the sink. Ava
had helped herself to sitting on a barstool at the island.
    She was looking around, assessing
the place.
    “What is it?” I asked.
    “You’re a bad guy.”
    “Says who?”
    “The law.”
    “Fair enough,” I said.
    “And you live in a normal house.”
    “Maybe I’m really good at saving my
stolen money.”
    Ava swallowed hard. “Or maybe
something else.”
    “Maybe my great aunt had the house
and passed away. Maybe I was the only one left in the family to help her out
and make arrangements for her. Maybe as a thank you she left me the house in
her will. And maybe, just fucking maybe, I took the house and made it my own.”
    I shrugged my shoulders.
    “Sorry,” Ava said. “I shouldn ’ t judge. I’m far from
perfect myself, right? Look at my family.”
    That ’s right, sweetie,
lead yourself into it …
    “So I find it funny that I saved
your ass and now you’re in my kitchen. I’m not going to play a cat and mouse
game, sweetie. I go forward, full force, whether I’m in the kitchen or in the
bedroom.”
    I loved adding that little snippet
at the end because it made Ava’s face blush.
    “My father is scared,” Ava said. “He
wants you to protect me.”
    I laughed. “For what? A favor?”
    “I don’t know…”
    “So here’s the way I’m looking at
this thing. I look at you and you’re fucking beautiful. After I pick my jaw up
off the floor, I realize you’re working at a shit hole grocery store. A store
that has no business of being open. Then I find out your old man is running
something out of the back room. He’s got a guy in a suit beating on him as he’s
offering cash. You’re telling me you know nothing about that?”
    Before Ava could answer, the
coffeepot gurgled.
    “Think about it for a second,” I
said.
    I turned and grabbed two coffee
mugs. I filled them and then walked to the fridge. I grabbed the milk and slid
it across the island. Then I got Ava some sugar. I stood with my coffee, black,
and blew into the mug.
    “Thanks,” she whispered as she
prepared her coffee.
    I studied how she made it.
    Why the hell did that matter?
    She sipped the coffee and let out a
sigh. “Much better than my father’s.”
    “You live with him?”
    “No. But I stayed there last night.
He was really drunk. And he had me scared.”
    “Because of Frank?”
    “Uncle Frank, yeah.”
    “Uncle?”
    “I don’t really think he’s my
uncle,” Ava said.
    “I know about that guy,” I said. “I
can help you if you help me.”
    Ava sipped her coffee some more. “Look,
Jace, I’m not sure what to believe right now. I was just helping at the store.”
    “That’s your story?” I asked.
    “That’s the truth,” she shot back
at me.
    I drank my coffee and stared her
down. I put my mug on the counter and stepped toward the island.
    “And you expect me just to protect
you? For what?”
    “You protect the town, right?”
    I grinned. “I thought we were bad
guys?”
    “You are. But that’s not always a
bad thing I guess.”
    “So what do you want me to say?
Offer you some food? A shower? A bed? Put my life on the line for someone I don’t
know?”
    “When you say it like that…”
    I made fists and put them on the
island. “Let me be very clear, sweetie. The only reason I saved your ass
yesterday was because it benefited my club. You want a shower here? I’ll be
right behind you, fucking your sweet pussy until you come. You want a bed? You’ll
be in my bed, under my command.”
    “Is that your offer?” Ava asked. “If
I sleep with you I can stay