Executive Protection(47)

“Thanks, Gracie.” He hoped she’d leave them alone now. No such luck.

“Kate Winston was released from the hospital, I heard,” she said.

“Yes, she was.” Gracie was always chatty when he came in, catching up on the latest news.

“Heard on the news that your friend has been by her side the whole time.”

She didn’t have to say Thad’s name for him to know that’s who she’d meant. But why was she pointing that out? “It’s his mother.”

Gracie smacked her gum. “Is he part of the investigation? I heard the feds were leading it.”

She’d heard a lot. “He’s doing what he can.” Darcy couldn’t talk much about that. Chief Thomas had too many eyes and ears as it was.

“Well, if anyone can catch that shooter, it’s you and Thad.” Gracie turned to Avery.

“Did you know he came here to my restaurant every day after some gang members killed a teenage boy in my parking lot?” she asked Avery.

Avery shook her head, but exchanged a knowing look with Darcy. That was the crime he’d responded to, and what had kept him coming back.

“Made me and my workers feel a lot safer,” Gracie said. “Saved my business, too. Customers came back and liked knowing an officer of the law was spending a good portion of his day here.”

“It wasn’t that long.” Why was she making a special effort to boast for him?

“All morning. Every morning.” Gracie turned to Avery. “He was here before the first worker arrived. Most times that was me.”

“You just think it’s sexy to have a cop in your restaurant.”

She hooted a laugh and patted his back. “It’s good to see you recover so quickly, Darcy.”

So that’s what she’d been leading up to. He’d brought a beautiful woman into her diner in the dark hours of morning. He should have expected that.

“You have yourself a fine man,” she said to Avery. “I’d hang on to him if I were you.” She winked at Darcy.

While Avery looked bashful at that comment, he endured her not-so-subtle praise. They always talked when he came in. They were friends. Darcy leaned back against the bench seat in resignation.


“You two enjoy.” Gracie left the table.

“You’re well liked in this community,” Avery said.

And he felt like asking if that would make her admit she loved him. He let her eat awhile, seeing that she was slow in doing so.

After a while, she gave up. Putting her fork down, she leaned back like him. “What are we going to do about this?”

“About what?” He knew, but he hedged anyway.

“Us. Last night. This morning.” She flung her hand as she spoke.

“Nothing. Live.”

“We both just got divorced, Darcy. My husband cheated on me.”

“My wife cheated on me.”

“Exactly. We’re damaged.”

“Why do we have to look at it that way?” Darcy sat forward. “Why can’t we look at the good in this?” The connection. The sex.

She angled her head, uncertain but accepting his reasoning.

“Do you enjoy being with me?” he asked.

She blinked, their passion from last night reflecting briefly in her eyes. “Darcy...”

“Do you? And not just the way we were last night. Do you genuinely like being with me?”

She took a few seconds to consider his serious question. “Yes. You know I do.”

Relief flooded through him. Then he wasn’t wrong about her, about them. “I enjoy being with you, too. So what do you want to do? Stop seeing each other?”

“No.”

“Are you sure?” He held her eyes in a demanding gaze. She had to tell him the truth. “I need you to be honest with me right now.”

Another blink revealed her feelings. She feared what had sparked between them, but she truly did not want to stop seeing him. “Yes. I’m sure. But...” She averted her gaze.

Somehow he had to reassure her.

Darcy put his hand on top of hers where it rested by her glass of water. She looked at him again, turning her hand to entwine her fingers with his.

“Even if this is just a Band-Aid that helps us both get past our divorces, I don’t see anything wrong with that. We hang out together, make each other feel good and live life. If it ends up that we decide to split, then we split. If it ends up we decide not to...we don’t.”

“No pressure,” she said.

“No pressure.” Would she place pressure on herself by resisting love? He had to make her face her fear.

“I see us going on the way we are and falling more and more in love,” he said. “I see us getting married and having kids. And that’s something I never thought I’d say to any woman ever again.”

Her hand tightened in his and she looked uncertainly at him, afraid of the intensity of what they had together.

“I won’t tell you I love you until you’re ready,” he said. Just like she wasn’t ready to have sex until last night.

She relaxed again. “Okay.”

“Don’t be afraid.”

She sighed and slipped her hand from his. “I’ll try.”

Seeing her resistance linger, he wasn’t convinced. What could he do to make her trust him? Trust in them as a couple?