Page 24 of Shielding Serena

He set the box down and moved into her frame of vision, standing there until she looked up.

“Let me be clear, Serena,” he said, “I’m doing this because you’re one of my oldest friends and my first love. There is nothing I’d rather be doing than helping you out. Any kind of compensation is completely out of the question.”

“Oh,” she said, her voice going soft before she blew out a breath. “I didn’t mean it that way, I need you to know that. Just like you’re helping me, I’m happy to give you anything you want or need. Because you’re one of my oldest friends and my first love as well.” Her tone was nakedly honest. “You being here means the world to me.”

Walker nodded his head, satisfied that she’d understood, and even more satisfied by the way she’d seemed to feel the words as she repeated what he’d said.

They stood there, halfway into the storage unit, surrounded by pure chaos, for a long, long moment, and then both turned away, as if on cue.

Walker grasped for something to fill the silence. “So, tell me about your regulars,” he said. “Since I’m going to be around and we’re trying to figure out who could be responsible for hurting you.”

“I don’t want you hassling my customers,” she warned, all the mushy stuff burned away from her tone. “But I understand what you’re asking. From an ‘everyone’s a suspect’ standpoint, I guess you’d want to know about Bobby. He’s harmless, and I’ve peeked over his shoulder enough to see that he’s not doing anything nefarious using my Wi-Fi. He’s basically there all day, doing whatever it is he does. I’ve told him more than once he could do it at the library and not have to pay for food and drink, but he says he likes it there.” She shrugged and pushed aside a coat rack filled with what looked to be muumuus in every imaginable color.

“Adam Scott comes in most days,” she said, referring to the nurse who’d met them at the ER. “Grabs something on his way home from work. Most everyone is there to get their stuff and go. We also have a woman who comes in and works on her laptop. I’m pretty sure she’s writing a book. But I have no idea who she is, only that she likes espresso and the almond Danish.”

“What about Marlon?” he asked, shifting a stupid-heavy storage tote to one side. What the hell was in there? A suit of armor?

She waved her hand. “He’s exactly what he looks and sounds like. A hottie who knows it and is more than willing to use his looks to get what and who he wants. But I can’t see him ever being smart enough to break in not once but twice and get away with it. He’s right up there on par with Deputy Nixon when it comes to smarts.”

Yeah, Nixon wasn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer. Walker had gone to school with Addie’s brother, though Grady had been a few grades behind him. And what she’d said about Marlon tracked, though his stint in jail down in Phoenix certainly moved him to the top of the suspect list.

Serena moved onto a new box, and a moment later crowed in triumph.

“You found it?” he asked incredulously.

“Not what Higgins is looking for,” she said. “But the necklace and earring set Marlon was asking about.” She held them up and Walker scrutinized them. He supposed they were pretty enough, but not something he imagined a guy like Marlon would spark to.

She looked up at him. “That’s enough for today. I’m starving. Want to grab a bite?”

He sure as hell did. Breakfast felt like a lifetime ago. He followed her out and secured the storage unit, rotating the lock spinners as far away from her birthday as he possibly could.

CHAPTER 11

They settled on a barbecue joint around the corner she’d never heard of. Even though the restaurant looked disreputable and was sandwiched between two salvage yards with razor wire topping their fences, Walker said he liked it, so she was game. When they pulled in and found the parking lot full to overflowing, she knew he’d been right.

It felt good to be doing something normal after the last two days, and it felt even better to have Walker by her side. Like that space had been vacant for too long, and then he was just there, and fit perfectly.

Even knowing that, though, she was pointedly ignoring the hot flashes she was starting to have when she thought about him, the way her memories collided with the easy strength he’d exhibited moving things around this afternoon, his quiet sense of surety and command, and the way she’d honed in on the flex of his forearms as he’d lifted and toted without complaint.

What the hell was wrong with her, lusting over forearms?

The line at the counter wasn’t overly long, even with the crazy parking, and they got their food quickly.

They’d barely settled in when Serena looked up and groaned inwardly. Addie Nixon was heading directly their way. She did not need to add a showdown with her old nemesis to the list of shitty things that had happened over the last two days.

Addie looked good, she thought inanely. She’d always been tiny, almost waiflike, but with a personality ten times bigger. And when she’d aimed barbs at you? Oh, they’d been lethal. Back in the day, Addie Nixon had been able to reduce Serena to ash with one perfectly delivered sentence and a raised eyebrow.

Addie made a beeline toward them, her pace brisk, her face unreadable, a to-go bag in her hand. What were the odds they would have picked the same restaurant? Then again, this face-off was bound to happen sometime, so they might as well get it over with.

Serena braced, preparing herself for the verbal equivalent of incoming artillery. So she barely managed to suppress her gasp of surprise when Addie leaned in and gave her a hug that made the breath oof right out of her.

For one stunned second Serena sat there, arms half lifted, like someone who’d expected to be slapped and instead been tackled by affection.

“Oh my God, are you all right?” Addie asked, real emotion in her voice. She flicked her eyes toward Walker. “Oh, hey, Walker,” she said, then turned her attention back to Serena.

To say Serena was agog was a bit of an understatement.

“Well?” Addie demanded as she straightened to her full height and tapped her toe.