Page 30 of Her Ruthless Protector

“Are you a chocolate girl? Should I put more Ding Dongs and Tim Tams on your plate?”

“Do you really have to ask?”

He shot her a wicked grin and loaded up her plate. The microwave dinged and she took out the two hot dogs.

“How in the hell did you get these?” Kane asked.

“A girl doesn’t spill her secrets.” She got glasses out of the cupboard, put the hot dogs onto the plates. “Are we sitting on the couch?”

“I’m sure as hell not going to be able to sit at the table,” Kane replied.

They made themselves comfortable on the couch and started with the water and the food. They ate in silence, savoring their meal.

“You do realize we’re both considering the scotch as dessert instead of the Pop Tarts, right?” A.J. asked.

“I’ve always considered dessert to be the thing that gives you the most pleasure,” Kane said in a smoky tone.

A.J.’s eyes widened. This man sure was charming. Damned if she didn’t feel herself blushing.

“I’m going to pour the scotch,” she scrambled up from her seat.

He chuckled.

She poured healthy shots then handed him his glass. “So, tell me why are you here at my trailer tonight?”

“I wanted to take some time to get to know the woman who was so kind to that kid, Troy.”

A.J. squirmed. She was never really comfortable with her touchy-feely side. Kane lifted his eyebrow like he knew.

“What do you want to know?” she asked.

“How did you get to be so good with kids like him? Was it something in your past?”

“Nope, not going there. No deep dark discussions allowed over scotch and Ding Dongs. I will tell you that my job has forced me to get in touch with my feminine side.”

Kane threw back his head and laughed.

“I love that. I fucking love that. If that’s how you put it, then I must be producing more estrogen to deal with Baby Nick.”

God he was hot.

“So are we talking about the job now?”

“I suppose, but then we’re back to flirting.” His look sent heat through her veins.

“So start talking,” she said as she bit into a Ding Dong.

He held his glass between his knees and rolled it between his palms. “It seems we have a couple of problems.”

“We have more than a couple.” A.J. tucked her feet under herself and curled into the corner of the sofa. “Someone’s randomly sabotaging the show, we have the potential al-Qaeda threat and I have some very scared acts that I’m worried might back out.”

“How bad is it if someone were to back out?” Kane asked. “For that matter, what happens if the show just shut down?”

A.J. sat up so fast, scotch sloshed out of her glass. “Don’t even think that.”

“Is it really that big of a deal?”

“This thing’s been going strong for over sixty years. It would be blasphemy if it were to cancel. It doesn’t get World Cup viewership, but it did get over one hundred eighty million viewers.”