Page 16 of Playing With Danger

“Extra caffeine.”

“I think I need you to expand on that. Are we talking clean-my-house-and-do-all-the-laundry caffeine or are we talking run-a-full-marathon caffeine?”

Those sexy lips twitched.

“Somewhere in the middle.”

He took his card back, thanked Crystal, I did as well, and we stepped out of line.

“And you’re sure there’s no GFY in there?” I asked as Valentine led me to a small two-top by the window.

“Depending on if you can handle your caffeine you might find some go fuck yourself in there.”

Drat.

I could handle my caffeine.

“Bummer.”

“Who pissed you off?”

I glanced around the busy coffee shop and took a deep breath. Yesterday when I was here to speak to the owner about rebuilding her website the smell of fresh-baked cinnamon rolls and coffee beans excited me. Today not so much.

“How long have you known Hayden?”

The corners of Valentine’s mouth hitched up. If that wasn’t sexy enough—which it was—when his smile dissolved into a knowing smirk my panties nearly caught fire. My guesstimation they were only slightly simmering instead of outright blazing was only because I had firsthand knowledge he was lugging around a monster in his pants and quite frankly it scared me.

“I met him when he started volunteering at the Hope Center.”

Interesting.

So they’d known each other a while, but that long?

It seemed my roommate had been holding out on me. I made a mental note to give Hayden shit for not telling me about Hot Cop sooner.

“I heard about the fire.”

Gone was the good-natured guy who was letting me change the subject.

“Sorry, I?—”

“Nothing to be sorry about,” he said. “A good friend of mine, Phoenix’s boy was trapped in that fire.”

“The news said everyone made it out. He’s okay, right?”

“Yeah, he’s good.”

If I remembered right the news had said that the fire set at Hope Center was arson. I couldn’t remember the details beyond the building had been condemned. Which was a blow to the community. The Hope Center offered free services sponsored by donations for programs like after school tutoring, big brother / big sister opportunities for at-risk youth, sports, and such. Hayden went to the center twice a week to play basketball with the teenagers.

Thinking on it now, why hadn’t I ever volunteered? I had free time. I could give up Saturday lounging on the couch to help out. Word was the director of the center was always trying to find new ways to engage the kids the center served. I didn’t have an abundance of skills but I could help someone with homework or a school project—as long as it wasn’t math. Hell, what kind of a person did it make me that I’d never even dropped off supplies from their Amazon wish list?

“You know your eyes give you away,” Valentine noted. “You’re back to pissed.”

“Well, this time it’s at myself, for being selfish instead of at my mother for being—” I snapped my mouth shut.

Damn, I had a big freaking mouth.

“Ah, trouble with the ‘rents.”

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