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I turned my head to look at him, but he was staring out the windshield. Then his hand reached over and grabbed mine, and he tangled our fingers together. I felt myself melt, despite the blasting air conditioning.

“Girlfriend?” I finally asked.

“I’ve got to say, I’d prefer calling you my woman, but I wasn’t sure how that would fly.”

My fingers squeezed his tighter. “If it’s just you and me, I like that just fine. Because I sure as hell would like to be able to call you my man.”

I watched as a smile spread across his face. Ooh, this was a better look than the brooding Scottish warrior romance cover. Hmm, maybe he could be a hot next-door-neighbor-type that goes from friends to lovers. Yeah, that would work.

“So have you decided?”

“Huh?” What was he talking about? He didn’t know about my romance cover fetish, did he?

“Is it sugar, or ibuprofen?”

Oh. That. “Ibuprofen,” I answered.

I watched as he hit a button on his steering wheel, and the name Pearl’s popped up on his dashboard display.

After two rings somebody picked up and said, “Pearl’s.”

“This you, Pearl?” Kai asked.

“Yeah, who’s asking?” She did not sound all that pleasant.

“It’s Kai Davies.”

“Well, hey, Kai. Why didn’t you say so from the start?” Now she sounded almost motherly. “Are you stopping by for dinner tonight? It’s on the house, you know.”

“I need to know if you have ibuprofen there.”

“Of course we do. It’s in the first aid kit. You have a headache?”

“Marlowe does. Somebody tried to kidnap her and used chloroform on her. Doc said she’d probably have a headache. But Marlowe also wants something sweet.”

“Kidnap her?” Pearl screeched. “You hustle your buns over here. I’ll take care of poor Marlowe.”

The line went dead.

“We’re going to eat at Pearl’s tonight,” Kai said.

“Works for me.”

Hell, everything worked for me. I was Kai Davies’ woman!

“What do you mean, you were evicted? That can’t be right. Beau wouldn’t evict you, would he?”

I think someone was talking to me, but Marlowe was using her straw to scoop up the whipped cream off her milkshake and daintily lick the cream off the tip. I was breaking out in a cold sweat as I watched her.

She’s hurt. No sex.

She’s been injured. No sex.

She’s been scared. No sex.

“Kai, are you listening to me?”

I looked away from Marlowe to see Pearl glaring at me. “Tell me your brother would not evict our sweet Marlowe. Tell me.”