Golden Trail (The 'Burg #3)(26)

She stared at him and he knew he hadn’t convinced her.

So he kept at it. “Same plan, Roc, except with this one, you don’t have to put yourself out there.”

“I have no problem putting myself out there,” she returned.

“Yeah? You can let a dirty cop stick his tongue down your throat?”

She was a cool customer, when she wasn’t taking a swing at him that was, but he saw her cringe before her eyes shot over his shoulder.

Until he saw her cringe he couldn’t be sure she wouldn’t have done it.

Now he knew she couldn’t have done it.

“Yeah,” he said softly. “I suspected that’s where your plan would go south.”

He let her wrists go and her hands went directly to his chest where she put pressure, just not much.

“I would have done it,” she declared and he had to hand it to her, she did it with only a hint of obvious bullshit.

“I believe you,” he lied and made it clear he was lying.

“It would have been gross but I would have done it,” she reiterated.

Layne grinned. “Rocky, you’d get squeamish seein’ blood on your finger if you gave yourself a paper cut. Don’t think you’d be able to convince Rutledge you had the hots for him if you puked into his mouth when he stuck his tongue in yours.”

“I wouldn’t have puked in his mouth,” she snapped.

“Okay, so I don’t think you’d convince him you had the hots for him if you puked on his shoes after he stuck his tongue in your mouth.”

Her face paled and she hissed, “Stop talking about him sticking his tongue in my mouth!”

It took a lot for Layne to choke back his laughter but he did it by asking, “Sweetcheeks, if you can’t even talk about it, tell me again how were you gonna pull off this grand scheme of yours?”

“Shut up, Layne,” she whispered irately and he knew he had her.

“Just sayin’,” he whispered back, smiling at her.

Finally remembering where she was, her hands put more pressure on his chest.

“Get off me,” she demanded.

“Sure,” he replied, “Once I know we got a deal.”

“Well yes, now that you’ve pointed out how gross it would be to… whatever, then obviously your plan is better than my plan so fine,” she bit out that last word, “we’ve got a deal.”

“Good, then you’re comin’ over for dinner tonight.”

He had no idea he was going to say it until he said it but once he’d said it he liked the idea. Maybe too much.

“What?” she whispered.

Layne looked at her and, f**k him, it was out there so he had to go with it.

“You’re comin’ over for dinner tonight,” he repeated.

“But… why?”

“’Cause they might be tailing me, watchin’ me.” That was a lie. They weren’t. He’d know. They thought he’d backed off, taking three bullets had a way of doing that with most men. Layne, however, wasn’t most men. But the look on her face made him know she bought it, she didn’t like it and she was even scared of it which made him feel guilt but he had no choice but to use it. “And ‘cause I owe you a dinner.”

“You owe me a dinner?”

“You fed me and my boys last night, sweetcheeks.”

“But –”

“Though you aren’t getting leg of lamb. Probably Hamburger Helper.”

“Hamburger Helper?” she repeated on a breath. She wasn’t keeping up, finally he had her off guard and he needed to use that too.

So he went on. “And you’re goin’ to the game with me tomorrow.”

She blinked and kept using that breathy voice. “I’m going to the game with you tomorrow?”

“Yeah,” he replied. “Though, Rocky, you gotta know I hang with the boys and I watch my sons play ball so you’ll have to hang with the boys too.” He smiled at her. “Gotta say, though, I figure they won’t mind.”

“But… um… everyone in town goes to the game.”

“Yeah,” he agreed.

“So that means everyone will see us,” she informed him.

“Sweetcheeks, Sully saw us, Colt saw us, half a dozen other people saw us and Betsy was at the reception desk when we walked out hand in hand. She was probably on the phone with one of her kids or grandkids before the doors even closed. You don’t think that shit’s not already flyin’ through the ‘burg?”

Her face got even paler and her eyes grew unfocused in a way that didn’t sit right with Layne.

When she didn’t speak and her eyes stayed distant, he called, “Roc?”

Her eyes focused on his and she whispered one word.

“Jarrod.”

He felt something sweep through him, an emotion that he didn’t quite get, but one he liked, and it rushed through him strong, leaving a golden trail.

“Bonus, baby,” he whispered and he felt her body relax beneath him.

“You know,” she said softly.

She meant about Astley’s new piece.

“I know,” he confirmed.

“Even if he’s got… even with her there, he won’t like this, Layne,” she informed him.