Part of Your World(24)

Daniel somehow managed to be charming and completely down-to-earth while also exuding pure sex. It was the most baffling combination.

And one I wasn’t capable of refusing.





Chapter 11

Daniel



The phone woke me up at seven-thirty.

Alexis was still here, naked and curled up next to me in my bed. I filed this away as a victory.

I didn’t want her to get used to staying in the big house. It wouldn’t always be available, and it wasn’t where I lived. Where I did live wasn’t great, but it was where I lived. And the sooner she got comfortable staying at my place, the better, because she had to keep coming back. She had to.

The sex was unreal. It was like finding the perfect dance partner and then only getting better because now you were practicing together.

I couldn’t keep my hands off her. Hell, she couldn’t keep her hands off me. I was going to have to start keeping Gatorade on the nightstand.

I leaned over and picked up my ringing cell with a smile. “Hello?”

“Hey, hon, it’s Doreen. Hope I didn’t wake you.”

“It’s fine,” I said, rubbing my eyes. “What’s up?”

“Popeye didn’t come in this morning. Now, I know sometimes he runs a little late, especially if Jean’s dog’s been doing her business on his lawn and he’s gettin’ into it with her, but it’s almost twenty past and he’s not here. I didn’t want to call for the sheriff, ’cause you know how Pops feels about Jake.”

Shit.

“All right, thanks for letting me know. I’ll head over there now.” I hung up.

Alexis sat up on her elbows. “Everything okay?”

I threw off the covers and started jumping into pants. “I have to run out,” I said. “I don’t know what time I’ll be back. I need to check in on someone.”

“Is it medical?”

“I think so.”

She got up too. “I’ll go with you.”

I didn’t argue. One, because I didn’t like losing time with her, and two, because if Popeye was still alive, I could probably use the help. He was a handful. He always took to women, so he’d probably put up less of a fight if she was there.

She got dressed quickly, and Hunter followed on her heels right up until she jumped in the truck. “What happened?” she asked, slamming the door.

I fired up the engine. “Popeye didn’t come into the diner this morning,” I said as I backed down the drive.

Pops was like clockwork. He was at the diner by seven o’clock every single day, rain, sun, or snow. If he didn’t come in, something was seriously wrong.

“Popeye?” she asked.

“He squints with one eye. Kinda looks like him,” I said as I turned onto the road. It was only a two-minute drive.

“How old is he?” she asked.

“Ninety at least.”

“Any preexisting conditions?”

I shook my head. “I don’t think so.”

“Dementia, high blood pressure, diabetes?”

I glanced at her. “I don’t know. Nothing he’s ever mentioned. He’s pretty sharp.”

“Any idea what medications he’s on? Has he ever been hospitalized?”

I blinked at her. “No…”

I wanted to ask her about the questions, but I didn’t have a chance because I was pulling up to his tiny one-story house. I put the truck in park. “Stay here.”

She got unbuckled. “I’m not staying in the car.”

“What if he’s dead?”

“I think I can handle it.”

I arched an eyebrow. “What if he’s naked?”

“Nothing I haven’t seen,” she sang and got out.

I smiled after her, then jogged up the walkway and knocked. “Pops? You there?” I gave him a minute. When he didn’t answer, I fished the spare key to his house off my key chain. Popeye was armed and not afraid to shoot, so I knocked and called out as loudly as possible as I opened the door. I pushed it in slowly and peered inside. “Pops?”

A moan came from the bedroom. I ran through the dark, musty house and burst through the door. Popeye was on the floor next to the bed. He was awake and sitting up, still in his pajamas, his back propped against the front of his nightstand.

“Hey, you okay?” I crouched next to him.

“I fell gettin’ outta this damn bed. Couldn’t get my feet under me to get back up. Well, help me for God’s sake!”

I put an arm behind him and helped him to the edge of the mattress. He smelled horrible. Acrid sweat and ammonia. My eyes started to water. “Jesus, Pops, you’re ripe. When’s the last time you had a shower?”

He yanked his arm away. “Who the hell are you, my wife?” he snapped.

Well, at least he wasn’t injured enough to stop barking at me. “Do you think you broke anything?”

He glared at me under his thick white eyebrows, stark against his black skin. “No, I didn’t break anything. Gotta piss like a racehorse though. Took you long enough to get here.”

Alexis knocked on the doorframe and came up next to me. “Hi, Popeye. I’m Dr. Alexis. Is it okay if I have a quick look at you?”