by Amy Vastine
Donovan explained those were the places she wanted to strike if she needed to in order to get away. “Come over here by the punching bag and show me how you would hit it.”
Kelly ran a hand along her braid. She may have been confident about where to hit, but she wasn’t as sure of the how. She made a fist and cracked her knuckles with the other hand. Turning her body at an angle, she jabbed at the bag like she was trying to fluff a pillow.
Donovan suppressed a smile. “Okay, if you punch someone like that the only thing that’s going to happen is you are going to hurt yourself.”
She frowned. “I always got good feedback in my cardio kickboxing class from the instructor.”
Cardio kickboxing was not the same as self-defense. At least Donovan knew now that he had some reteaching to do. Kelly would have to unlearn a bunch of bad habits she got from her fitness class.
He had Kelly show him her punching fist. He held on to her wrist and flipped her fist over. “Number one, never tuck your thumb into your fist. That’s a sure way to break your thumb. Number two, sometimes your fists aren’t the best weapon. Fingers in the eyes, an elbow to the throat, stomping on his foot with the heel of your foot—these strikes can hurt much more than a punch to the face.”
Kelly practiced on the punching bag while Graham looked on. Donovan needed to come up with a way to help Graham feel more confident without encouraging him to fight at school.
“How would you feel about doing some lifting with me a few times a week? I could set you up with a schedule and we could work on building muscle the right way.”
“Yeah? You’d let me use your stuff?”
“As long as I was here to supervise you. Yes.”
“That would be awesome.”
Donovan loved the sound of that. “Awesome” from a teenager was much better than “lame.”
“You know, your dad wanted to become a personal trainer once he got discharged. He was obsessed with working out. That’s how he got so big. He worked for it.” And worked and worked.
Kelly wasn’t very focused on her attacks. “Graham’s dad was in the military?”
“He was,” Donovan answered. “The only reason he met my sister was because we were really good friends.” He had loved Oliver like a brother, so it only made sense that he should become his brother by marriage.
“It’s nice that you were close to him as well as your sister,” Kelly said.
“Could Daddy jump rope?” Avery asked from the other side.
“He could jump rope really fast.” Ollie was larger than life. He had boundless amounts of energy like Avery, but he had a bit of a stubborn streak like Graham, as well. As much as the kids reminded Donovan of his sister daily, they equally made him think of his dear friend.
“He sounds like a cool guy. Kind of like some kids I know,” Kelly said. She threw some playful punches at Graham until he smiled.
Jessica would be disappointed in Donovan for letting Kelly be around the kids so much if he had no intention of developing this relationship further, but Ollie would have been ticked off. He would have liked Kelly so much, he would have stopped at nothing to get Donovan to like her, too. Ollie had a thing for matchmaking. He was always setting Donovan up with women he thought were perfect for him.
Watching her make Graham laugh, Donovan wondered if Ollie was enjoying this because there was no shaking these feelings she stirred up inside of him.
CHAPTER TWELVE
“WHERE IS MY favorite bodyguard?” Juliette asked when Kelly arrived at the station Thursday morning. She had picked up her car yesterday afternoon and got to drive herself to work for the first time in forever. Donovan was supposed to meet her here.
“You shouldn’t get so attached. I’m starting to think my secret admirer has gone into hiding. I might not need a bodyguard for much longer.”
“Oh, I’m so torn! I don’t want anyone to stalk you, but I kind of enjoy having the detective around. My husband’s stomach likes him, too.”
Kelly needed to take her own advice about getting attached because like Juliette and her husband, she also liked having Donovan around a bit too much. It had been over a week since Kelly’s stalker had left the apology note on her door. Juliette did not recognize Hunter in the photo Donovan showed her. Donovan wasn’t convinced that meant he wasn’t still a suspect. He made Kelly order from Johnny’s Grill one night this week. When Hunter showed up, Donovan was the one to answer the door and pay for the food. It was a test, but if that was supposed to make Hunter jealous and push him to act out, it didn’t work or Hunter wasn’t the guy they were looking for.
There had been no stalker activity all week. No gifts, no notes, no phone calls. Nothing. The guy had never gone more than a couple days without making contact. Maybe getting the police involved had scared him off.
The elevator pinged and Donovan stepped out dressed much more casually than the first day they had met. Later this evening, they had to attend a concert at Ryman Auditorium where Kelly was emcee. Dressed in a black button-down and dark denim jeans, Donovan was looking more like a hot date than a bodyguard. He also was holding a tray of coffees.
“Good morning, Detective,” Juliette greeted him and was the first to receive a drink.
“Sorry that I’m late. I stopped to get you guys some coffee. Juliette, yours is a latte with sugar-free vanilla.”
“It’s a good thing my husband loves the recipes you share with me or else he would be very jealous of how much I love you.”
He pulled another drink out of the carrier and handed it to Kelly. “Chai latte for Miss Bonner.”
He paid attention to things Kelly didn’t realize he had noticed about her. Between the way he looked and the kind gesture, her heart skipped a few beats.
“Thank you, Detective Walsh,” she said, gratefully accepting the drink. “You didn’t have to do that.”
“I am celebrating one week without any calls from the high school about Graham. He’s gone to all of his classes. Stayed out of trouble. We only have to get him through one more week and some finals and he will successfully finish the year.”
Kelly was so proud of Graham. He didn’t have an easy time at school with some of the bullying going on. Since they had talked about the issues last week, he had begun to open up more and more about school and his classes. He still hadn’t confronted the girl, but he was thinking he might do it the next time she chose not to say anything when her friends picked on him. Thankfully, those guys had backed off a bit.
“Excellent reason to celebrate. I’m glad he’s doing well.”
“Thanks to someone who is a very good listener.” He tipped his cup in her direction.
Kelly couldn’t take any of the credit. Graham was choosing to make different and better choices for himself. This was all him.
“Kelly, I’m glad you’re here. I need to talk to you.” Nancy came out front and snatched her friend away and into Kelly’s office.
“What’s the matter?”
Nancy shut the door. “I need your help with Lyle.”
Kelly’s brow furrowed. “What kind of help?” As far as Kelly knew, Lyle had played it cool and kept things professional after Kelly had let him down easy about Nancy not being interested.
“Ever since you mentioned that he likes me, I can’t stop thinking I am a giant fool for not at least trying,” she said, pacing around the small space. “And the more I regret my choice, the more he seems perfectly content to just be friends. I thought you said he really liked me.”
“He does really like you, but I told him you weren’t interested, so he’s moving on. What did you expect?”
Nancy sat down and crossed her legs. “I don’t know. I expected that things might be awkward for a little bit, but he hasn’t made it awkward at all. And I caught him chatting it up with Trish the other day. I would definitely characterize it as flirtin
g.”
“You’re jealous of our twenty-two-year-old intern? She was literally in college two months ago. Come on, Nancy, Lyle is not interested in Trish.”
“I think I’m going to ask him to go to dinner this weekend. Do you think that’s a good or a bad idea?”
“It doesn’t matter what I think. Do you want to go to dinner with him?”
“Yes.”
“Then ask him. If he wants to go with you, he’ll say yes.” She was all for them getting together if that was what both of them wanted. “But I do ask that you think about why you’ve had this change of heart. If you’re doing this because you don’t like it that he’s giving Trish attention instead of you, please don’t ask him out.”
Nancy seemed genuinely perplexed. “Why?”
“Because he really likes you. If you’re just jealous and not really interested in being in a relationship with him, then please don’t ask him out. He deserves better than being that someone who feeds your ego.”
Nancy pressed her hand to her chest. “Hurtful. This is not about my ego.”
“Then you have my blessing.”
“Thank you,” Nancy said, getting to her feet. She stopped in the doorway. “I see you and the cute bodyguard are getting along nicely. Anyone else having a change of heart around here?”
“What?” Kelly was shocked by the accusation. What had she seen that made it so obvious that Kelly was torn about what to do? “No,” she lied. “Donovan and I have become friends. He’s teaching me how to take care of myself and I am helping him figure out how to take care of two kids. There’s no romance going on here.”
“Says the hopeless romantic who has a knack for knowing two people belong together before they do unless one of those people is her.”
It was true. She did have a gift for recognizing when people belonged together. She also was terrible at finding a good man for herself. Did that mean she was missing something going on between her and Donovan?
Kelly turned her back on her friend. “Good luck getting a date. Lyle and Trish are kinda growing on me.”
“Super hurtful!” Nancy said on her way out.
A few minutes later there was a knock on her door. Lyle’s lanky frame stood in her doorway. “Oh, good. She’s not in here.” He came in the office and shut the door behind him. “I need to talk to you.”
Kelly set down the pen she was marking her notes with and gave him her full attention. “About?”
“Trish asked me out for drinks after work tomorrow.”
Kelly’s eyes nearly popped out of head. Had she jinxed Nancy with her jokes? “When did that happen?”
“This morning.”
She leaned forward, fearing what this meant for Nancy’s change of heart. “And what did you say?”
Lyle grimaced. “I said yes. Why did I say yes? She was in diapers when I started high school.”
“Nancy’s planning on asking you to dinner this weekend.” The words fell out of her mouth on their own. She hadn’t planned to spill her friend’s secret. In fact, that was the exact opposite of what she’d told herself to do.
He put his hands on his head. “Don’t mess with me, Kel.”
“You’ve been doing such a good job of playing it cool, she realized she’s more interested in you than she had originally thought she was.” Thankfully, Kelly managed to leave out the part about being jealous of Trish.
“Are you kidding me?” he asked. Kelly shook her head. “You’re telling me that she realized she likes me as soon as I acted like I didn’t like her?”
“Pretty much. What are you going to do?”
Lyle threw his hands up. “I don’t know. It’s not like Trish and I have decided we want to go steady. I agreed to get drinks.”
“The fact that you call exclusively dating someone going steady means you are way too old for her.”
“If Nancy doesn’t ask me to go to dinner, I will never forgive you for giving me this anxiety,” he said, pacing around her office.
“You better hope Trish doesn’t tell Nancy that you agreed to go out with her. That’s the only thing that might stop her from following through.”
Lyle’s eyes went wide. “Do you think they would talk to each other about me?”
Kelly couldn’t picture Nancy sharing personal information with Trish since she already saw her as a rival. Of course, Trish might say something about going for drinks since she was oblivious to Nancy’s feelings for Lyle. “Maybe?”
“Oh, great. Should I tell Trish I can’t go? What if Nancy doesn’t ask and I pass up the chance to get to know Trish better? What if they find out I said yes to both of them and they both cancel on me and I die alone?”
Kelly got up and stopped him from pacing. She put a reassuring hand on his arm. “Deep breath. You are not going to die alone. Saying yes to both of them is not a crime. Like you said, you aren’t going steady with anyone. I think you can have drinks with Trish tomorrow and go out to dinner with Nancy this weekend.”
“It’s been a while since I dated one woman and more like forever since I dated two at the same time.”
Kelly smiled up at him. “That’s because you are a good guy. And because you are such a good guy, you have two wonderful ladies hoping you’ll want to spend time with them. There are worse problems to have, my friend.”
For example, you could be attracted to a great guy with awesome kids who just so happens to also be a cop working for your uncle, which was a deal-breaker. He could have also said you were amazing but at the same time would never, ever be in love with you. Those would be much worse problems to have.
* * *
DONOVAN BEGAN TO think this stalker wasn’t planning to ever show his face. The gifts had stopped coming to the station ever since Donovan started manning the lobby. He wondered if it was possible for the stalker to know he was there. Was he watching without making himself known?
There was no way for Donovan to know for sure unless he set some kind of trap. Maybe he needed to not be in the lobby for a few days to see if the gifts started up again. He didn’t like the thought of leaving Kelly unprotected. He’d have to find a way to be close but less visible.
Kelly came out to the lobby. “Ready to go?”
Her dark hair was pulled up in a sleek ponytail that accentuated her long neck and high cheekbones. Her skin was a little pink from being outside in the late-afternoon sun yesterday. She had come over to the house to do some self-defense training but ended up sitting on the porch with him watching Avery jump on the trampoline for a couple hours instead.
“Ready when you are,” he replied. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Juliette. Have a good night.”
“Bye, you two. Keep her safe, Detective.”
They got in the elevator and Kelly pressed the button to get to the parking garage. “I need to be at the auditorium at six. The station is sponsoring the meet-and-greet before the show.”
It was four o’clock. Avery would be home by five. He was hoping to feed the kids dinner before he had to leave, but if she needed to be there by six, he’d be cutting things close.
“I can pick you up so you have some extra time at home to get the kids settled,” she said as if she had read his mind.
It was a good idea but not possible. “Can’t do that because I have to check your apartment at the end of the night. I have to drive. I could meet you at the venue or I can pick you up when you’re ready to go.”
“I don’t want to make you drive all over the city for me. What’s easiest for you?”
The elevator opened and they stepped out into the basement garage. “Easiest would be to go straight to my house, make the kids dinner and go to the show, but I’m sure you need to go home first.”
Kelly dug through her purse and pulled out her valet ticket. He walked with her to the valet station. “Well, I don’t have to.” She smiled at the vale
t, handing him her ticket. “How are you doing tonight, Miller?”
“I’m doing well, Kelly. How are you?”
“It’s been a good day, but I have to work tonight.”
“No rest for the weary, huh?”
“Not for me,” she said.
“Do you have a ticket, sir?” the man asked Donovan. He was one of the valets Donovan had talked to that first day on this case.
“No, I self-parked.” Donovan turned his attention back to Kelly. “If you want, you can freshen up at my place and we can leave for the show from there. It would definitely save me some time.”
“Let’s do that then. I’ll follow you to your house. I wanted to hear how Graham did on his chemistry test, so it’s all good.”
Donovan noticed the valet had found the keys but was still standing there. “Are you going to get her car?”
The man didn’t bother to acknowledge Donovan’s question. “I’ll be right back with your car, Kelly.”
She gave him another smile. “Thanks.”
“You and the valet are on a first-name basis?” Donovan asked when the young man finally jogged off to retrieve the car.
She shrugged. “He’s worked here for a little while. I thought I told you the guys who work here are always pretending to fight over who’s going to help me. Miller is always really nice, so I asked his name one time. He acted like no one had ever bothered to ask him that before. We’ve been buddies ever since.”
“Buddies like you and the food delivery guy, huh?”
“It’s exactly like that. Miller asks me how my day was, I ask him how his day was. We do a little small talk. It’s nothing, but he seems to appreciate being treated like a human being instead of just a car valet.”
“You are a very nice person, you know that, right?”
“Because I treat people like people?”
Miller was back with her car quite quickly. Being nice probably helped with the wait time. Kelly folded up a couple dollar bills and handed them to him when he got out of the driver’s seat. “Have a good one. I’ll see you tomorrow,” she said.