Page 66 of The Hitman and the Psychic

My eyes widened. “Dang. I didn’t even think about it.”

His lips twisted. “It’s okay. You’ll have to remember it for next time though, since it’s obvious he’s planning on seeing you again.” His brows drew together. “So tell me. It sounded like you already had a divorce agreement drawn up, but he wouldn’t sign it, right?”

“Yeah… pretty much.”

“Why wouldn’t he sign it?”

I set my fork down. “He wants half of the settlement money from the accident. I guess he forgot that I used most of it to pay all the hospital bills along with my lawyer’s fees. Technically, he should only get what’s left over after all the bills were paid, but now he’s suing me to try and get more.He must think suing me for mental cruelty would entitle him to that.”

I shook my head. “I also paid off this house and bought a new car… that I had to sell. I lost my job after the accident, so I decided to start my own business. That took every last penny I had, but I thought it was a good investment, you know?”

Stone raised a brow. “So basically, if he signed it now, what would he get?”

“We’d split the market value of this house… that’s it. I don’t mind doing that. He took everything he wanted and left the furniture… that sort of thing. He also cleared out our shared checking account, but there wasn’t much in it, so I didn’t bring it up.”

I picked up my fork, but I’d lost my appetite, and I pushed my remaining food around on my plate for something to do. “But what I really want is to have him out of my life. I’m sure once I get my business up and running I could qualify for a loan to pay him off, especially with the money I’m getting from Vanetti. But if it goes to trial, most of that will be gone, too.”

“You need to withdraw your proposal and write up something new.”

I set my fork down. “Like what?”

“I don’t know. Half the equity in the house would be better than the market value. Then you should threaten to counter-sue him for mental cruelty. See how he likes that.”

“Yeah. Maybe. But that just takes more money away to pay my lawyer.” I rubbed my forehead, feeling another headache building. “I just want this to be over. I’m so tired of it dragging on and on.”

He huffed out a breath. “I’m sure you are, but he’s dragging this out no matter what you want.”

“Okay. I’ll call my lawyer tomorrow and see what he says.”

“Just out of curiosity, did you get the locks changed on your doors?”

I sucked in a breath. “Uh… no. He gave me back his keys, so I didn’t think I needed to.”

Stone raised a brow. “I didn’t think you trusted him.”

“I don’t… but…” I glanced away, worry tightening my chest. What if Brandon had a spare key I didn’t know about? He could come into the house anytime he wanted. Take whatever he wanted. “You’re right. I should have changed them.”

Stone checked his watch. “The hardware store should still be open. Want to make a run and get new locks? And a security camera for the porch would be nice. It wouldn’t hurt to set you up with a security system, either.”

“I can spring for the locks. But I don’t have the money for a security system. Don’t you have to pay a monthly fee for that?”

His brows dipped and he looked me in the eyes. “Don’t worry about it. I know a guy.”

My eyes widened. “Are you joking with me right now?”

He grinned, his sexy smile doing funny things to my stomach. “Babe, I’m talking about myself. Besides, you should have done this right after he left. Now I can do it for you, and it’ll help make us even.”

My brows rose. “You mean for saving your life today…andyesterday?” I twisted my lips. “I’m not sure that’s enough to make us even.”

“Maybe not, but if you think of something else, we can add it to the tab.”

His smoldering gaze sent a different kind of message, and heat filled my veins. Was he propositioning me? Just the thought made it hard to think straight. I swallowed andshrugged, hoping he didn’t notice. “I guess I’ll have to see how good of a job you do on the locks before I decide.”

He raised a brow. “Well… I am good with my hands, so you’re on.” He grabbed his jacket and headed to the back door. I snatched mine, and quickly followed.

The hardware store wasn’t far, and I ended up following Stone around the aisles, since he knew where to go and I didn’t. He helped me pick out everything I needed. Then he paid for it before I could stop him, and we ended up back at the house in no time.

While he got to work on the locks, I cleaned up the kitchen from our dinner. I had to admit that it was nice having him here to take care of this for me. I probably could have done it myself, but why not take advantage of him while I could, right?

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