don’t have any man at my disposal, handy or otherwise.”
The answer pleased him, though it shouldn’t have. It wasn’t like he was going to stick around for more than a day. They were strangers. He was helping out in a crunch.
The fact that she was fascinating and a temptress even with her black eye didn’t mean he was looking to start parking his boots under her bed or even pop in for a beer on occasion. Not that she’d invited him.
He pulled into the supermarket lot and found a spot near the front door.
Alexis looked around cautiously as he parked, as if she half expected the monster who’d attacked her earlier to show up for a rematch.
“I don’t have any money with me,” she reminded him as she opened her car door.
“I do.”
“I’ll pay you back when we get to my house,” she said.
“Better than that, you can fix me a sandwich. I missed lunch and I’m famished.”
“I should provide more than a sandwich after all you’ve done,” she said, “but to tell you the truth, I’m a lousy cook.”
“Now you tell me after I’ve wasted a whole day on you.”
“Whoa, cowboy. I never asked you to do…”
“Just trying to ease a little of the tension that’s got you gripping my door handle so tight, you’re liable to dent it.”
He was beginning to think it wasn’t only cops she mistrusted, but men in general.
She exhaled slowly. “I am a little uptight.”
“And you have every right to be. But you’re safe now, so let’s go buy some groceries.”
“Want kokalat,” Tommy said, as she released the catch on his safety belt.
“I don’t think you need chocolate,” she said. “You just had a lollipop.”
“All gone. Want kokalat,” he said, unperturbed by reason.
“You can choose a chocolate bar for later, but you can’t open it until after dinner,” Alexis said as they started toward the door.
Tommy walked between them until they reached the lines of empty carts. Then Alexis swung him up and settled him in the child seat, buckling him in so that he couldn’t crawl or fall out.
It struck Tague how much they must look like a typical family out shopping.
The thought terrified him. He walked away from Alexis as soon as they entered the store, shopping alone to buy a few items, including a couple of steaks, two baking potatoes and a nice bottle of wine. Alexis could use a glass after the day she’d had. And he hadn’t been kidding about being starved. A sandwich wouldn’t cut it.
* * *
“T OMMY ’ S FALLEN ASLEEP ,” Alexis said when they arrived at her apartment with the few groceries she’d bought. “I should have known he was being too quiet.”
She shifted Tommy’s head to a more comfortable position and then unbuckled his safety belt before lifting him into her arms.
“Why don’t you let me carry him in for you?” Tague offered.
“I can handle him.”
“I wouldn’t feel too manly following you up the stairs empty-handed while you’re lugging a sleeping kid.”
“You’d be lugging groceries.”
“A carton of milk, a loaf of bread and a kokalat bar?”
“I bought more than that.”
“Not much.”
Because she’d be leaving town before the detective had his fingerprints and she’d be traveling light. And if Tague really knew her, he’d be running for the hills instead of offering to hang around.
“Far be it for me to offend the manhood of my chauffeur,” she said, handing Tommy over.
A niggling uneasiness crept deep inside her as Tommy stirred and then resettled with his head resting against Tague’s chest. It was the first time any man had held him since they’d fled Los Angeles in the middle of a dark, smoke-filled night.
She reached into the backseat for the groceries.
“Just get the chocolate so it doesn’t melt,” Tague said. “I’ll come back for the rest as soon as I put Tommy down.”
“I can easily manage two bags.”
“And leave my six-pack to boil? Besides, you’ve got to come up with a key. Do you have one hidden somewhere or will you need to have a manager let you in?”
“I’ll need to have a key reissued.” She would have never risked leaving a key where it could be found. She grabbed her two bags of groceries. The beer could stay where it was and go home with Tague.
She didn’t have time for company now. She had to find a way to get her hands on a vehicle that would get her out of town.
Tague stared at the three flights of stairs.
“I’m on the second floor,” she said. “Apartment 212, just up those steps and turn right at the top.” She motioned to the covered walkway that ran from one corner of the building to the other. “Two doors down. There’s an elevator at the west end of the building, but I never take it.”
“No wonder you’re in such terrific shape.”
She turned to hide the unexpected blush that burned in her cheeks. It was just an offhanded compliment. It shouldn’t have affected her at all, especially with all she had on her mind.
Tague started toward the stairs.
“You should probably go with me to the leasing office so that you can wait in the air-conditioning,” she said. “It may take a few minutes to get a key. It all depends on how busy they are.”
“We’re right behind you.”
She hurried to the first-floor office. Fortunately, one of the leasing agents was readily available and eager to accommodate. Alexis only told her she’d lost the keys, omitting any reference to the carjacking incident.
Once she had a replacement key in hand, she climbed the stairs with Tague at her side. The day’s developments, including his presence, were mind-boggling.
A day that had started out as normal—or at least as normal as any of Alexis’s days ever were—had quickly deteriorated. When that thug had driven off with Tommy, the terror had consumed her. The same way it had when another maniac had threatened Tommy’s life.
That fear still haunted her every waking moment and created a never-ending nightmare. No hunky cowboy had ever ridden to the rescue in that nightmare. And no matter how genial and accommodating
