Page 36 of Xavier

Not that she’d miss him when he left. She barely knew him.

He saved you twice, a voice in the back of her head reminded her.

So what?

Firefighters saved women and children from burning buildings. Paramedics saved men from heart attacks and traffic accidents. Brotherhood Protectors protected people. That was what they did.

She led the way back to his truck, pushing thoughts of sex with Xavier to the back burner. She had work to do. Until she warned the others, she couldn’t rest…or go to bed with her handsome sidekick.

Xavier helped her into the truck. As he stepped up onto the running board, she held up a hand. “I can buckle the seatbelt,” she said, falling back on the self-proclaimed mantra she’d invoked and lived by since the age of ten.

Take care of yourself.

“How do we get to your grandmother’s?” Xavier asked as he slid behind the wheel and started the engine.

“I have a pirogue at the marina. Some of the places we’ll visit are on the bayou. They’re also the places my grandmother makes house calls a couple of times a week. We can start with them and work our way back into town.”

Lissette sat back, wondering why she’d spilled her guts to this man who wasn’t much more than a stranger. She should have kept her mouth shut. Then he’d only see her as an ex-con, not a juvenile delinquent who’d lived up to everyone’s expectations by landing in jail.

He should have listened when she’d told him to stay away from her. She was trouble. Maybe even cursed. Why else would her mother have walked out on her when she was only ten years old?

Oh, yeah. By ten, she’d already been more mature than her druggy mother. The woman hadn’t been capable of making sense of her life. She’d always looked for someone else to take care of her instead of taking care of her own child.

Xavier pulled into the parking lot at the marina and turned off the engine.

When Lissette reached for the door handle, Xavier laid a hand on her arm. “I just want you to know, there are good people in this world. People you can trust. I suspect your grandmother is one of them.”

She stared at his hand on her arm, a burning sensation stinging her eyes. The little girl who’d trusted her mother to come home wanted so badly to believe his words.

The grown woman who’d spent time with people even worse than herself lifted his hand and laid it on the console. “You have your fantasies. I like to stick to the cold, hard truth.” She pushed the door open, dropped out of the cab and hurried toward the marina.

The truck door slammed behind her, and footsteps crunched on gravel, quickly catching up to her.

When she reached the pirogue, she dropped nimbly onto the metal bench at the back and started the engine.

Xavier didn’t give her time to speed off without him. He untied the line and quickly stepped into the boat, making it rock wildly.

He hadn’t even settled on the seat in front of her when she whipped the little skiff around and sped off into the bayou.

Fortunately, he’d settled on the bench facing forward. She didn’t have to avoid awkward eye contact. The little motor’s hum was loud enough to discourage any conversation.

The short ride to the island seemed to take forever. By the time Lissette slid the pirogue up against the dock, she was wound tighter than a knotted shoestring.

Xavier leaped out, tied the front of the boat to a post and held out a hand to her.

Since he was standing in front of her, she had no choice but to take his hand and let him pull her up onto the dock. When she stumbled, he caught her against him. His arm encircled her back, holding her close until she steadied.

She should have pushed away, but the warmth and solidness of his chest pressed against hers was so very hard to resist.

A flap of wings alerted her.

She spun, pushed Xavier behind her and grabbed the fishnet from where it hung on the post.

Napoleon half-ran, half-flew at them, the devil’s gleam in his beady eyes.

“Oh, no you don’t.” Lissette faced off with the one-eyed rooster. “He’s with me. Back off, Napoleon.”

The rooster landed in front of Lissette and danced to the side, looking for a way to get to Xavier.