Page 25 of Lawson & Jill

“What struck me at the time was that he didn’t seem well-organized. Then there was the fact that at the end of the conversation he left abruptly.” Her eyes narrowed. “Actually, he was pretty rude. I remember thinking at the time that the HOA needed to find people with better people skills.”

“And that didn’t set off your bullshit meter?” Law asked.

“I had to take work home that day and I ended up working past midnight. So no, it didn’t.” She shrugged her shoulders.

“Did you tell Lawson about your home security alarm being tripped last week when you were in Santa Barbara for the night?” Hiram asked Jill pointedly.

What?!

Law looked at Jill. She was ready to let go of both barrels on Hiram. The man was going to be drinking Edith’s pie through a straw.

“Jill, let’s get these flowers to the shed, then you can feed me.” Law smiled. He put his arm around her waist. “Good-bye Hiram, it was good talking to you.”

Thank God she let him guide her away. He’d wondered if she would.

Once they were around to the back of the house she stepped out from his reach. “So, are you going to start questioning my judgment like Mr. Applegate was?” Jill demanded.

“It’s not a matter of questioning your judgment, Jill, it’s a matter of everyone’s area of expertise,” Law said as he opened up the door to the shed.

“Meaning?”

“If there was a medical issue, I would stand back and let you handle it. If you told me to jump in that situation, I would ask how high. Does that make sense?”

“I’m fine with what you’re saying so far, as long as you’re not going to say I have to jump regarding this guy who came to my door.”

Law set down the flat of flowers and pulled Jill into his arms. “Honey, my hope on coming over here was to spend a lazy Sunday with you. I’m not about to put that in jeopardy by coming off all caveman.”

She relaxed against him. God, she felt good. She snuck her arms around his neck.

“Being a caveman isn’t all that bad.” Her breath was warm against his neck.

“Do you want to tell me what happened with your alarm system? Because I have to tell you, those two things put together like that, give me a really bad feeling.”

She relaxed more into his body, then rested her forehead on his chest for a moment before looking back up at him. “I never put those two things together. Do you really think they have something to do with one another? Because when I talked to the guys at my alarm company, they wanted to upsell me on a new system. They wanted me to get cameras around the house. They said they couldn’t be sure if it was a person trying to break in or an animal who had tripped the window alarm, so I should upgrade.”

Who in the hell had she talked to, Bert and Ernie?

“Did they send you a report?”

“Yeah, it’s in my e-mail along with the estimate for the alarm upgrades.”

“Why don’t we go have a look at those along with getting some food?”