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have it white with one?"
    I nodded and took the cup he offered. Robbie
opened my pantry door and pulled out a carrot cake I'd baked the
day before. "Are you going to eat this?"
    "Cut yourself a slice." I indicated the
breadboard. A moment's panic seized me as he grabbed a knife, but
he simply used it to cut the cake. I was panicky over nothing.
Besides, Blake was there to disarm him if necessary. I suspected
Blake was good at doing that.
    He'd been goddamned good at everything eight
years ago, I saw no reason why he would be less capable now with
military training behind him.
    "Didn't you eat enough breakfast?" he asked
Robbie.
    Robbie shook his head, his mouth too full of
cake. He passed the breadboard to me and I set it on the table.
    "Did he stay with you overnight?" I
asked.
    Blake nodded. "At Mom and Dad's. I'm living
there while the house I renovated gets sold and until I find a new
one."
    "Your parents were okay with having a
stranger in their home?"
    "I didn't tell them. I waited for them to
leave for work then told him he could come out."
    "Your mother would kill you if she found
out." I couldn't imagine the very prim Ellen Kavanagh allowing a
homeless youth in her house. She was a charitable woman—from a safe
distance.
    Blake's eyes twinkled, reminding me that he
used to have a mischievous streak a mile long. "Everything was
fine. He was in the room next to mine. I would have heard him if he
came out in the middle of the night to slit our throats or make off
with the Mom's jewels."
    "You've acquired super hearing while you were
gone?"
    "I've become a light sleeper."
    "He's fucking Rambo," Robbie said, taking
another bite.
    "Don't use that language around her," Blake
said. His gaze flicked to me then away. "Uh, I mean around anyone.
Not just Cassie."
    Robbie laughed and winked at me. "You two
have history?"
    "None of your business."
    He held up his hands. They were clean. His
face was clean too, and he'd shaved and combed his hair. It was
dark brown and fell to his shoulders in gentle waves. He had
intelligent hazel eyes that narrowed to slits when he smiled, which
he did often. Gone was the previous night's attitude. If I had to
guess, I'd say he'd relaxed as he'd come to realize we wouldn't
hurt him or hand him over to the police.
    "Go on," Blake told him. "Now would be a good
time."
    Robbie drew in a deep breath, swallowed, and
breathed again. "I'm sorry, Cassie. It won't happen again."
    "Thank you for the apology," I said. "You're
forgiven. But if I were you, I'd lay low around here and don't
mention the word graffiti to my neighbors."
    He nodded at me then cast a flat smile at
Blake. It was pretty clear Blake had forced him to apologize, but
to Robbie's credit, he sounded like he meant it.
    "So are you here to join my art class?" I
asked him.
    Robbie suddenly looked like a shy kid, hiding
behind his hair as it fell over his eyes. He nodded into his coffee
cup.
    "Good. First lesson is this afternoon.
Classes start at two-thirty and run for two hours."
    "Wait," Blake said, setting down his cup. "It
wasn't supposed to work that way. I was supposed to offer you a
proposal."
    "Oh. Okay. What's your proposal?"
    "I'll pay for Robbie's tuition."
    "You don't have to pay me, Blake."
    "But I'm going to."
    "I'd prefer not to accept your money."
    "Why not?" he asked quietly, ominously. He
leaned forward so that we were nearly touching and it felt like all
the air was sucked out of the room. "Afraid I'll want something in
return?"
    Gulp.
    "Hey, don't I get a say in this?" Robbie
asked. "It is my future you're arguing about."
    Blake leaned back, but didn't take his gaze
off me. "Sure. You want me to pay her, right?"
    "That's not fair," I protested. "That's a
leading question."
    "What's the big deal?" Robbie said with a
shrug. "Let him pay you. Blake is a Kavanagh and Kavanaghs are
bazillionaires."
    "Not all of them. Some are just plain old
zillionaires. Blake might not even have a hundred bucks to his
name."
    One corner of