Page 38 of Defender
Cooke continued explaining.
But Michael didn’t hear it. Not when a hard-looking guy, lanky, with stringy brown hair, swaggered past. His gaze flashed with dark interest as he looked Dani up and down. Every nerve in Michael’s back twitched. He kept an eye on him as the man crept closer, close enough Michael could make out the tat on his arm, some sort of wild cat.
Dani chuckled at something the older guy said. “Your profession really is underappreciated. Without you, it would get bad really fast. You guys are heroes.”
The creeper in the background moved closer but stayed behind a pile of tires.
Okay, this was getting to be a little much. Michael dropped his arm around Dani’s shoulders. “We should let these men get back to their noble work.”
“Right.” She shook their hands and gushed a bit more before Michael practically dragged her away.
And the whole time, the Wild Cat Creeper watched them.
Dani didn’t exactly mind Michael’s arm around her as they walked back to his car, but it was weird.
And…amazing. Still, he must have a reason, and as soon as they were in the safety of his vehicle she would find out what was going on. She couldn’t let a childish crush distract her. Not when she was fighting so hard to get this case solved and get out of Renegade—fast.
“So, why the protective-boyfriend cover?” Dani asked him as he started his engine.
“Did you see that guy in the background ogling you? He needed to back off, and it was the quickest way to communicate that.” He pulled out into traffic and headed toward the hills where they lived.
Ah. So it wasn’t because Michael felt anything romantic. How silly of her to even consider it a possibility.
Not that she wanted him to…
“Oh, so you did it to show him I’m ‘taken’?” She used air quotes. “Sheesh, Michael. I’ve taken down men twice my size. I think I can handle myself.”
“No doubt.”
“So why did you feel the need to stake your claim? Some stupid guy code where everyone has to mark their territory?”
“Dani, I have four younger sisters. If a guy was looking at them the way he was looking at you, I would’ve taken him down and thrown him in jail. Pretending to be your boyfriend was the only way I could think of that wouldn’t ruin our cover story. I didn’t mean to imply that you couldn’t handle yourself.”
The protective-big-brother move. Michael probably couldn’t help but see her as one of his sisters.
And even though she should be grateful that it meant less to distract her, something about that didn’t sit well.
She shoved the thought aside. “Well, I’m not your sister, and I can take care of myself.”
“I’m sure you can. And you’re right.” He blew out a long breath and glanced over at her. “I’m sorry. I’ll back off and not pull that move again.”
“Good.”
She purposely ignored the pang of disappointment reverberating inside.
Michael stopped at the light. “So what did we actually accomplish there?”
“Besides letting me investigate a case way more interesting than running accounting reports? I learned that they do the oil pickup once a month, but the regular garbage is once a week. And it happens at different facilities. The drivers for the oil have different certifications too.”
“That’s what you were asking?”
“You were right there. Didn’t you hear me?”
“I got distracted, sorry. But regardless…I don’t think we really found anything helpful.”
“Sometimes it’s more about greasing the wheels. See, now, if we have more questions or want info, we can ask Ron, Steve, and Denny. After work, they like to have a beer at O’Malley’s.”
“Of course you got their names and hangout spot.”
