Page 26 of The Plan

Even if she knew it was insane. He just wanted the baby. That was all.

Twelve weeks and six days had just proven that.

She needed chocolate. The good kind. The kind that helped a girl forget the boss who had driven her crazy from day one. The good stuff that melted properly. There had to be pretzels around here somewhere, too. She needed sweet and crunchy to go with her pickles. She needed them. Badly.

“We need to talk about the house tonight,” he said. Blocking her path again. Didn’t he know not to get between her and the good stuff like that?

“What house?” She wasn’t a fool. She knew what he was plotting in that man-brain of his. He was going to carry her back to his cave and just keep her!

"Our house." He followed, a warm shadow she couldn't shake. Didn't want to shake, if she was being honest. Which she wasn't. "Since you're carrying our?—"

"Don't." She dropped two bars of dark chocolate in the cart. Added a third because the baby clearly had expensive taste. Like father, like alien. “We are not discussing Alien-Baby here.”

People could be watching. That hottie Clay Addy was eyeing her suspiciously. He was around Cam’s age and she had always enjoyed watching that man. He and George in the same room together was often enough to get a woman’s temperature rising.

She supposed she could tell Deputy Addy that George was up to no good. She could get rescued by a seriously hot man in uniform here…

Rescued by the man in uniform, from the seriously sexy villain in a silk tie. Either man would be very complicated. Better to stick with the devil she knew best. And…that tie was hanging a little crookedly. Her fingers itched to fix it.

What had her life become?

"Wasn't going to. But pretty soon the entire town is going to know. I can’t wait. My mama is probably telling everyone she knows already. That woman has wanted a grandchild for a long time. I’m the favorite child now. Not that I’m not almost always…but sometimes one of the girls will do something a little bit cute…and she’ll like them a bit more than she does me, but just for a little while.”

They rounded the corner into the beer aisle, and everything changed. Especially George. He tensed.

And just reacted.

George grabbedVeronica and pulled her closer the instant he recognized the man in the middle of the beer and hard liquor section. Junior Tolben. And it looked like he’d already been in the beer. He always smelled like he had. And…now was no exception.

“Junior.”

“I don’t know what you’re aiming at, Hiller. Leave my father alone. You lost. He lost. Move on.” He slurred his words. That told George all he needed to know.

“Something’s wrong with what happened.” George was certain of it. What had happened in the Tolben case didn’t make a damned bit of sense from a legal perspective. To him, to other attorneys he’d consulted. Apparently, it had made sense to Judge Holland Felner, though. But that man—George had his reservations about that judge. He’d been sitting the bench in Barratt County for thirty-something years. And no one ever voted him out. But this was a screwup of major proportions.

George just had to tread very carefully here. And Jim Tolben had to be willing to take it to the next level. And the older man just wanted to give up. If Jim didn’t want to fight it—George really couldn’t. “What happened goes against established case law. If your father would just talk to me about an appeal?—"

Junior said a two-word phrase that had Veronica flinching right there. George wrapped an arm around her without thinking, and pulled her closer.

Junior just looked at her, his expression darkening instantly. George knew what he saw—Veronica was a very beautiful woman. Her hair was down—he’d been responsible for undoingthe twist she’d had it in that morning. It just shone in the light, making her unusual eyes look even bigger, brighter now. A man couldn’t look away. “Who’s this?”

“Ronnie Lake,” she said firmly. “I believe we spoke on the phone a time or two when you’d call for your father. I am George’s paralegal.”

“Thrown your lot in with the devil.” Junior just stared at her. George stepped in front of her when she took an involuntary step back. “You proud of that, lady?”

“George isn’t the devil—well, he’s my particular demon, actually—but he did his best for your father’s case. If George says he should appeal—your father should appeal.”

“Whatever. It’s not going to happen. I talked to him, he’s not interested.” Junior looked right at George again. “Be glad for what you’ve got, Hiller. Hate to see you lose it all someday, starting with her.”

George nudged her more fully behind them. And faced the other man full on.

“Is that…a threat?” a cool voice said behind George.

George turned. To see one of the three stooges from that morning standing right there.

Thesnarlyone.

“Who the fuck are you?” Junior snarled at him.

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