who was now flushed red to her eyebrows.
“I’m really mad now,” she said, and he believed her, and smiled.
“He shot up Jacob Marley’s damned door. That’s beyond the line.”
He couldn’t cut off his smile, because her eyes were glowing. Her
soft blue eyes were hard and pulsing with rage. Her dyed hair was
nearly standing on end. “I heard the two of you talking. He tried
to kill you, Adam, to get to me. That’s beyond the line, too.” She
was panting now. She was major-league pissed, and she wanted to
protect him. He took her face between his big hands. His mouth
was nearly touching hers. He immediately straightened and took
the damned can of stain. He didn’t want this, but he couldn’t help
it. An enraged Becca Matlock who still wanted to protect him did
something to him, something strange and wonderful that seared
him to the soles of his scuffed boots.
He looked at her mouth again, but instead of kissing her, he started
to laugh. And he kept on laughing, he wanted to kiss her that bad.
She blinked at him and then took a step back. “Don’t get stain in your clothes. I’m not going to wash them for you.”
When it’s necessary, I’ll wash my own clothes,” Adam said, then
added on a grin, “if you’ll show me how to work the washing machine.”
“Mechanical things defeat you, do they? No, don’t say it, only
mechanical things that involve work could defeat a guy.”
Adam eyed Savich’s outstretched hand, grunted, and handed
him the stain. His arm burned and ached and Savich knew it, the
damned interloper. He said, “You know something? I’d really like
to rearrange your pretty face when this is all over.”
Savich stared at him, then laughed. “If you think my face is pretty,
then you’ve got a big problem, because that’s what I think about
yours.”
“Bullshit.”
Savich shook his head. “You want to play at the gym? Fine by
me.”
Becca stood by the front window as Savich stained the front
door, her Coonan held loosely in her right hand, looking all
around, just like a pro. After a bit, Adam couldn’t stand it and took
the brush from Savich.
Savich grinned at him. Sherlock said, “I love to see a real macho
guy in action.”
Adam brushed on the stain, slowly, carefully, gritting his teeth
because his arm hurt. But he wasn’t about to whine. He whistled
low, between his teeth, hoping Savich heard it.
Tyler showed up with Sam an hour later. “Hey, what’s that smell?
Who are these people?”
Becca went blank for a moment, then said, “I didn’t like the stain
on the front door. It was looking tatty and old. I just finished re-staining
it.” She waited to see if Tyler would say anything about
hearing bullets, but he didn’t.
Sam stared up at her, sniffing, but as usual he didn’t say anything.
“Smells weird, huh, Sam? Hey, here are some friends.of Adam’s.
This is Sherlock and her husband, Savich.”
Sherlock went down on her knees in front of the little boy. She
made no move at all toward him, just said after he’d studied her for
a bit, “Hi, do you like my name?”
Sam didn’t step back, but he did lean his head back a bit. He
gave Sherlock a bit of a smile and eyed her hair. He reached out
two fingers and patted the top of her head.
Savich came down beside her. “We’ve got a little kid, Sam, a lot
younger than you are. His name is Sean and he’s only six months
old. He can’t pat the top of his mania’s head yet. He doesn’t even
talk yet. But he is growing teeth.”
“Teeth are good,” Sherlock said, “but all that drool is a pain.”
That drew Adam up really fast. These two had a kid? Well, why
was he so surprised? Most men his age were married and had children.
He’d been married once, and he’d wanted a kid, lots of them
as a matter of fact, but Vivie hadn’t been ready yet. A long time ago
now, five years, nearly long enough to forget her damned name, if