Page 78 of Bad Situation

Jen grabs her father’s hand and lowers her voice. “Dad, enough.”

“You’ll be okay if I leave? I need to get home. Your mama and I are going to see Millie tomorrow so I won’t be in until later, if at all.”

“I don’t know how many ways to tell you that I’m fine. How are Jordy and Cara?”

Kipp sighs and whatever argument they were having before I walked in is brushed to the side. He leans down to kiss his daughter on the forehead. “Ellie said she’d spend the day with the kids tomorrow. Cam called and offered to come home early. He’s worried about Jordy and Cara but Ellie assured him they’re none the wiser to everything that’s goin’ on.”

Jen nods and Kipp turns to grab his suit jacket off the back of the sectional. When he turns to look at me, I get a glare and a shake of his head. Then he’s out the door and I can’t lie—I’m glad.

“He’ll come around,” I hear from behind me as I go to flip the lock on her door, not wanting another distraction or hellacious storm to burst into our lives again until at least tomorrow morning. When I turn, she’s headed back to the kitchen. “He doesn’t do well when anything is out of his control and, right now, his grasp on life is slippery at best.”

I follow her into the kitchen and press my front into her back, putting a hand low on her hip. I look over her shoulder as she tosses shrimp into the garlic mixture. “That smells good.”

She turns and looks up at me with her soulful brown eyes. “I ordered groceries today. Life might suck right now, but cooking for you is my attempt at simple. Hummus doesn’t seem to impress you.”

I turn and press her back into the island and push a chunk of hair out of her face. “You’re cooking for me.”

“You did save my life yesterday.”

I lean in and put my lips below her ear and taste her skin before I murmur, “Saving someone’s life calls for a steak.”

She fists my shirt and presses her body to mine. “I’ll remember that, but I don’t have a grill and, even if I did, I don’t know how to cook a steak. You don’t like seafood?”

“Growing up, Hamburger Helper was a treat. But, if you’re cooking, I’ll eat anything.”

“Now I feel bad I’m not feeding you a steak. I grew up in a house where food represented emotions with my mother and I’ve done everything I can to break that.”

I lean down to put my lips on hers and drop my hands to her waist, yanking her short dress up. When I put my hands on her tiny panties over her sweet ass, I squeeze. “If the last few years have shown me anything, it’s that life’s too short for that shit. You celebrate everything you can and don’t push any emotion away. You never know when they’ll be gone. Revel in it while you can, baby.”

Her eyes turn wet and I’m sure she’s thinking about her attorney and friend, but bullshitting or treading lightly isn’t my way. The moment I decided I wanted her was when I set all shit aside and put my wants first for a change. As long as she’s in my life, I’m going to make damn sure she does the same.

The shrimp and garlic sizzle, filling her kitchen with its aroma and making my stomach growl but she doesn’t move away from me. She wipes her eyes and gets control of her emotions. “Can you grill a steak?”

I raise a brow. “I was a recruit for the MacLachlan family and part of my responsibilities was cooking for the men. I didn’t want my ass capped for overcooking meat, so I learned how to grill a steak.”

Her eyes widen. “Wow.”

“Yeah, wow.” I give her ass a light slap and let her go so I can stir our dinner. “What else are we having?”

She tosses some pasta into another pot of boiling water. “Angel hair, salad, bread, and I even got a chocolate cake. But I didn’t bake it. I don’t grill and I don’t bake.”

I pick up my beer. “I’ll grill and we’ll order in from a bakery. Looks like this might work after all.”

She takes a sip of her wine and gives me a small smile.

I change the topic. “You sure you want me to look into things at work? Your dad wasn’t too happy about that. In fact, he’s not too happy about me in general.”

She puts her wine down and sighs. “My dad can deal with it. I need to know what’s going on within the walls of MI. You’ll have access to anything you want but no one else needs to know besides you, my father, and my attorneys. You can access anything you need through my login. I’m afraid whoever is behind this will be tipped off if we create a new profile for you, but you’re the investigator. If you need something, say the word and I’ll make it happen.”

“You feel unsafe at work?” I ask.

She frowns instantly. “No. But before the shooting Sunday, I just thought this was someone trying to frame me. I should talk to my dad about installing metal detectors at the main entrance. It’ll be a pain for employees, but I can’t bear the thought of anyone else getting hurt.”

“I agree. This isn’t just a legal issue anymore. What’s with your new attorney?”

She closes her eyes and sighs. When she looks back up at me, she strangely asks, “You ever have someone from your past show up and, even though life was already off-kilter, it really throws your shit into a tailspin? That’s what happened to me today.”

My muscles tighten. I don’t mean for my tone to have an edge, but I can’t help it. “What does that mean?”

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