Page 26 of Trick or Trouble
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to sound so abrupt.”
This time, it was Darcy who wasn’t talking.
***
THREE DAYS LATER, DARCYwas clinging to Maxine DeAngelo on the back of a Harley Davidson motorcycle that her slender frame shouldn’t have been able to lift off the ground.Stefano, Darcy’s brother who lived in Colorado, had threatened to come home and sell the damned thing before she killed herself trying to defy his father.But Darcy knew it was more than that, and managed to talk him down.
Still, when her mother gunned the growling machine into the drive of Simon’s Ford Dealer, the gently used side, she blew out her breath in relief.The Harley was a dream her mother had always wished for and never been allowed to have.She’d promised Stefano she would keep an eye on their mother—fingers crossed behind her back.There was no keeping Maxine DeAngelo down these days.
“I’m surprised you haven’t laid this thing on its side yet,” Darcy chided as she stepped down and took off her helmet.
Her widowed mother laughed gaily as she dropped the kickstand and swung off the monster bike.“You really have to be a putz to do that, Cara Mia,” she teased, lifting off her own helmet.Green eyes sparkled as dark waves, dusted with icing, tumbled over her shoulders.“I lift weights, and try to stay in shape—ever since your father—Dios de Benedicta—” Her voice faded, a shadow passing through her gaze as she traced the sign of the cross over her heart.
“I know, Mom,” Darcy replied gently.“His heart attack caught us all by surprise.”
As they walked towards the showroom where Darcy was supposed to pick up the used SUV she’d picked out on Monday, she wondered what Logan was doing.She did that a lot lately.They hadn’t parted on the best of terms Sunday evening.
“So, when do I get to meet your new man?”Maxine prompted, sliding her arm through Darcy’s.
Darcy huffed.“He’s not my man; we just met last weekend.”Her mother had managed to pry several details out of her about her disastrous weekend, much to her chagrin.How do you say ‘none of your business’to an Italian mother?
Maxine's eyes danced.“Whatever he is, he has to be better than that whiny one you took up with last year.What was his name?”
“You know his name.You don’t like him, so you don’t bother to use it.”She chuckled dryly at her mom’s unapologetic gaze.
“Life’s too short to waste time on unproductive relationships.”Maxine brushed her hair back and opened the showroom door for Darcy.
“Unproductive relationships are the only kind to waste time on.Getting married is highly overrated.”Darcy stepped inside, where the salesman was waving her to his desk on the showroom floor.“A good vehicle lasts longer than most men these days.”
“Hang in there, Cara Mia, you’ll find him one of these days—or he’ll find you and you won’t be able to say no when he sweeps you off your feet.”Thank God her mother didn’t know Logan had done just that—swept her off her feet and over his lap.
They stepped up to the wooden desk of a middle-aged man with a hairstyle designed to cover his balding pate and a toothy, polished smile.Did all car salesmen have those‘I’ve got a deal for you’smiles?
Probably.
Forty-five minutes later, Darcy was pulling out of the parking lot in hernew-to-her, blue SUV.Dark blue blended well in the shadows, and she didn’t care for black.Her mother glanced behind her and waved gaily before inserting her Harley into the traffic on Dante Street, causing the traffic to Darcy’s left to slow down to adjust for the unexpected intrusion.
Stefano would be apoplectic if he’d seen it.She smirked as she waited for a better opening before she slid into traffic.
Then her cell phone rang.Surprised, she saw Logan’s number lighting up the dial.When had he put his number in her phone?It must have been on the stakeout from hell.Whipping into the Casey’s looming on the right, she came to a stop and picked it up, her blood racing.“Hello?”
“You sound out of breath; have you been running after marks?”
His low, sexy voice tickled her ear and lifted her spirits at the same time.After the way they had parted, she wasn’t sure she would hear from him again.“Nope.Just had to walk a mile in Simon’s Car Lot to pick up my new ride.”
“Congratulations.I was checking to see if you had any new cases coming up.You said you had nothing for three days, but those are almost up.”His voice dropped even lower, his tone sweet velvet.“Or are you going to make me wait until this weekend for that spaghetti dinner at your place to see you?”
He still wanted her spaghetti dinner.Yeah!
“You didn’t get terrorized enough on Sunday?”His words were making her insides bubble with new hope.Maybe she hadn’t scared him off after all.When she’d challenged him about her job, he hadn’t immediately alpha-bombed her with demands that she give up the dangerous parts, which had been a total shock.
While he was doing his thinking on the drive home, she’d been thinking too, before she fell asleep.After he’d asked when she needed him next, and she replied she didn’t know, he'd walked her to the door, given her a chaste kiss on the lips, and was gone.
Honestly, she’d never expected to hear from Logan again.Watching him walk out of her life had haunted her all week, leaving her feeling restless and more annoyed at herself than she cared to admit.With this phone call, their twenty-four-hour fling had stretched into four whole days.Her stomach danced a ridiculous little jig, and she pressed a hand against it to calm the flutter.
He purred in her ear. “I think you’ll find I’m not that easy to terrorize, sweetheart.Since you aren’t too far from my office, can I take you to lunch at Olive Garden on Vincent Street?”
“I have to stop at Rib’s Photography to pick up something, but I can be there by noon,” she replied, managing to sound nonchalant even though her pulse skipped.
