She grabbed her purse from the table next to her, opened the door, and hurried out before locking it as Johnny headed for the automatic doors.
“Crista.” He stopped and blinked quickly as she moved around the registers and called out his name. “What are you doing here?”
She flicked her fingers to the upstairs office. “New job.” Or something. “Look, I left my car at the diner. Could you give me a ride?”
He was maybe a quarter inch taller than she was, but she wasn’t betting on it. He glanced to the door, then smiled again. “Are you sure you want me to give you a ride? Dawg and I aren’t on the best of terms. If you two have something going here, then he’s liable to be a tad upset if you go anywhere with me.”
She flicked a glance to the doors. Nope, no Dawg in sight.
“Dawg is always upset over something.” She swallowed back her own trepidation at the thought.
“And I promise, I won’t tell him who offered me a lift.”
She smiled back at him with an edge of desperation.
Johnny chuckled in amusement, shaking his head at her, his dark blond curls tumbling about his face. He really should have been born a woman, she thought. He had a soft, feminine air about him, an almost gentle demeanor. And he was nice. He shared his baked delights with her on her off days when the store below was closed and he was alone putting together the next week’s confections. And it wasn’t as though Dawg could be jealous.
“Come on then.” He nodded toward the doors. “I’ll give you a lift. Are you coming back here or heading home?”
“I’m going home.” She neglected to mention why she was going home. That was a subject she didn’t want to get into just now.
Following Johnny through the doors, she glanced around quickly, expecting any minute to see Dawg bearing down on her like some avenging angel.
Yes, he had told her to stay put, but he was late, and the precautions made no sense. By his own report, the man who saw her was dead, and the other suspects had been arrested or were dead. No one else but Dawg and Natches could know she was there. No one was going to step out from behind a vehicle or a building and start shooting anyway.
Were they?
“When did you start working for Dawg?” Johnny drew her attention away from her morbid paranoia as he glanced behind his shoulder to show her a warm smile.
“Just today.” She drew level with him, gazing around in front of her. “How far away did you park?”
Johnny laughed. “The far end. This is how I work off all those calories I add into my body on baking days.”
The other side of the parking lot was no joke.
The early June heat was bearing down on them, causing a fine film of perspiration to break out on Crista’s face as they reached the late-model Taurus Johnny drove.
He unlocked her door with a florish. “Roll down the window,” he advised. “The air conditioner went out last week, and I haven’t had a chance to get it fixed yet.”
She rolled down the window before closing the door and snapped her seat belt in place.
Still no Dawg.
She was tired of waiting for Dawg. The danger he kept harping on couldn’t be too high, or he wouldn’t have left her alone for hours at the lumber store.
She was really rethinking this whole danger and blackmailing business. She was starting to wonder if the danger wasn’t more in Dawg’s mind than in her life, and was just a ready means of getting her into his bed. After all, they had arrested those guys at the warehouse. And whoever got away with the money was probably spending it right now in the Bahamas or something.
And why hadn’t she thought of that one before now? she asked herself as Johnny moved into the driver’s seat and started his car.
“Where were you the other night?” he asked, startling her out of her thoughts. “I was at the store until late, and you still weren’t home.”
She glanced at him, surprised he had noticed. “I was, uhh, with Dawg.”
And Dawg was making her paranoid, because suddenly she felt nervous, uncertain. Why would Johnny care where she was? Why would he check to see that she wasn’t home?
Johnny faced forward as he started the car and brushed back a curl from his cheek.
“With Dawg, huh?” he asked curiously.
Technically. For a little while. “Yes,” she answered carefully.
His lips turned up into a grin as he glanced over her and put the car in gear. Driving from the parking lot, he turned onto the interstate that led back to the main street of Somerset before flicking her another look.
“Be careful, Crista.” He finally sighed. “You know, we call him Dawg for a reason, right?”
The gentleness in his voice had her hackles rising. She could feel the judgment in his tone and she didn’t like it. She wasn’t a child anymore, and she had endured enough lectures eight years before. She didn’t need any more.
“Because he’s stubborn?” she batted at him sweetly. “Come on, Johnny, I’m a big girl here. I can handle Dawg.”
She heard lightning struck in cases of whopper lies like that one. She looked up at the clear blue sky. Not a cloud in sight, thank God.
Johnny only chuckled. “So, did he bring along the rest of the team, or was he solo?”
She nearly gaped back at him. “That’s a rude question, Johnny.” And it made her more nervous, more uncertain, and even more aware of the enmity that existed between Johnny and Dawg. Leaving with Johnny hadn’t been a good idea.
“And entirely qualified.” Johnny rolled his eyes. “Darling, despite Kelly’s determination to hold out, its more than obvious those three have been working her for years. They saved her for Rowdy, and he will share her eventually. It’s a delicate little seduction technique they use. How delicate the seduction determines how serious they are about the prey.”
“Oh Lord, you make them sound like wolves.”
“Very well-bred wolves, I’m certain.” Johnny laughed. “And you didn’t answer my question.”
“Dawg was traveling alone that night,” she assured him. “Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been with him.” Was that a cloud overhead? A rumble of thunder maybe?
Okay, no thunder. But there were two Harleys behind them, the smooth rumble of their motors reminding her of Alex.
“Interesting,” Johnny murmured as he flicked on the turn signal and pulled into the turn lane to head into the smaller road that led into the old center of the city.