Page 34 of Protect and Serve

“I don’t.” It was a rule. “Besides, I ended up in the hospital, remember?”

“Oh. Yeah. There is that.” Porsche tapped her lip with a finger. “He’s still pretty tall. And you are…”

“What?”

“You know. Short.”

“He doesn’t seem to mind.”

“Still, he doesn’t seem like…your type.”

“Oh? I wasn’t aware I had a type.”

Her friend became utterly obsessed with her linked fingers. “Not a cop.”

Claire studied Porsche’s expression and all of a sudden it hit her like the blast of heat on a summer day. “You like him?” Her friend’s predatory smile made something nasty crawl down her spine.

“He’s…cute.”

Cute? He wasn’t cute. He was savage, wild, a ferocious tiger. Not a fuzzy gamboling kitten.

“I thought you were in love with Cody. We were going to be sisters, remember?”

“Cody doesn’t even look at me.”

“That doesn’t mean you can have my boyfriend!” She wasn’t sure why she was so panicked at the prospect, except for the fact that Porsche was much prettier than she was, and skinnier too.

“Is he your boyfriend?”

“We’re dating. What do you think?”

“But he’s so tall!”

“I like them tall.” She loved the way he made her feel. So fragile. So protected. So beautiful.

“But that tall?”

“Let it go, Porsche. Like Princess Elsa”—she used a reference Porsche would understand—“just let it go. He’s mine.”

Something in her tone must have made it through because Porsche sighed. “He really is a good catch.”

“Mmm hmm.” She leaned closer and repeated herself. “And he’s mine.”

No one else was getting her grubby paws on him. Especially not Porsche.

Chapter TEN

Charlie’s flowers arrived that afternoon. A beautiful bouquet of red long-stemmed roses. She didn’t like them as much as the tulips, but that didn’t stop her from setting them in a crystal vase on the table in the foyer; when he came on Friday night, he’d see them first thing.

She was glad she was feeling better, so she could oversee Lisa’s baking for the weekend. Not that Lisa needed much direction, but she tended to make whatever captured her fancy, and Claire had specific requests.

Cream puffs, for one thing. She’d been salivating for those since Lisa had mentioned them. And she wanted a double chocolate fudge cake and the lemon bars that made her tongue want to dance.

When she went into the storage room and brought out two bottles of champagne to slip in the fridge, Lisa frowned, though it wasn’t a serious frown. “This is looking more and more like a date, rather than a babysitting job.”

Claire bristled. “Babysitting? Who called it babysitting?”

Lisa looked at the ceiling and whistled.