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He grinned. “I appreciate you thinking so.”
“You want to be a risk?”
“No, I want to be a safety for you. Although I’m well aware that you can take care of yourself, I still want to shield you from danger. And I can promise you that danger will never be me.”
He’d never made a promise to a woman. Not even to Sophie. But he had just made one with Hollis, and it was one he intended to keep because, at that moment, he knew he was falling hard for Hollis Calloway and knew no way to stop it from happening.
He wasn’t sure he wanted to.
CHAPTER 23
“Looks like keeping things professional didn’t work out for you, Locke.”
“No, it didn’t, Macayle,” Locke replied, honestly. However, that hadn’t stopped him and Hollis from remaining objective while working on the case.
They had put in long hours Monday and Tuesday, reading reports and sending technical data for analysis. Hopefully, most of the results would come in over the next couple of weeks. The judge had given him thirty days, and he wanted to have enough evidence to free Karl by then.
“And your mom really likes Hollis,” Macayle added, cutting into his thoughts. “Smitty does, too.”
Locke knew that was true. But then, Harold Smith, the man his mother had married five years ago, would like anything or anyone that his wife did. He was still just that taken with Lucinda Dangerfield Smith. Locke often found it amusing that Smitty said they were still in the romance stage of their marriage. As far as he was concerned, that had been too much information. But he couldn’t help but like Smitty. Everybody did, and he knew his mother loved Smitty as much as he loved her. His mother and Smitty had pulled him aside more than once to tell him how much they liked Hollis, when she hadn’t liked Sophie at all.
It was quite obvious that he and Hollis were a couple. He had no problem with that since he’d always been a transparent kind of guy. He had been comfortable enough to introduce her as his business associate and his special friend. And just in case someone wasn’t sure what he meant, he constantly held her hand, wrapped his arms around her, and more than once had brushed a kiss across her lips.
Besides his mother and Smitty, the Jeffries and his friends liked her, too. He rarely left her side tonight, but about twenty minutes ago his mother came to take her away to introduce her to some new arrivals who also attended her church.
Right now, she was across the room, talking with his mother, Smitty, Duan and his wife, Kimani; one of Duan’s business partners, Landon Chestnut and his wife, Monica; Terrence’s sister, Olivia, and her husband, Senator Reggie Westmoreland, along with other members of Reggie’s family who had attended.
It seemed his mother was intent on introducing Hollis to everyone. He thought she looked absolutely gorgeous in that pretty printed dress and strappy sandals. But then she always looked good in whatever she wore.
Deciding he didn’t want Macayle to center their discussion on Hollis any longer, he said, “Congrats on winning your case.”
“Thanks. Great investigative work by Peachtree Investigators as usual. They dug up years of information on the man’s neighbor. It was proven that she hired the hit on the man’s wife because she wanted him for herself.”
“That’s sad,” Locke said, shaking his head.
“Yes, it is.”
Shogun joined them and told Locke the same thing Macayle had said about Hollis. “I can’t believe she took down three men without breaking a fingernail.”
“Well, she did, trust me,” he said, taking a sip of his wine.
“I’m glad you came to your senses about her.”
“Like we’re all hoping that you come to yours about Whitney? Where is she, by the way? You didn’t invite her?” Locke asked.
Whitney was the woman Shogun had been seeing on and off for a couple of years, maybe longer. She was an attorney living in Los Angeles, and the two were trying to navigate a long-distance romance after meeting at their friend Stonewall’s wedding. “No, I didn’t invite her.”
The tone Shogun used meant he didn’t want Locke or Macayle to ask questions. So, they didn’t. Instead, they talked about what NFL teams they thought would do well this coming season, and which ones had been a major disappointment last season.
When the band began playing, Locke put his wineglass aside and said, “I think I’ll ask Hollis to dance.” She had been hanging with his mother long enough.
***
Out of the corner of her eye, Hollis saw Locke approaching. She was glad he had asked her to come to Atlanta with him. When she woke this morning, she cried like she always did on Derek’s birthday. But today she’d had someone’s shoulder to cry on other than Malik’s. Locke held her, and when she tried to apologize, he told her not to. Her brother had meant a lot to her, and he understood. Some memories were hard to let go of, no matter how much time passed.
Hollis thought Locke’s mother was the sweetest person you’d ever want to meet. She took pride in showing her an album of all of Locke’s pictures while growing up. From his baby photos to the ones he took when he graduated from high school. She said she would forever be grateful to the Jeffries Family for standing beside Locke the way they had, and believing he was innocent of any wrong-doing. She also appreciated Sheppard Granger for being a father figure to him while he’d been confined. Since their flight didn’t leave until tomorrow afternoon, she and Locke had agreed to attend church with her tomorrow.
“May I have this dance, Hollis?”
