Now that, that surprised the f**k out of him.

He didn’t give it away. He did nothing but stare.

Peña put his cards on the table. “So, the reason I’m here is for Lexie. The reason I’m here is because, I heard she was hitchin’ herself to you, I got interested and what I found got me more interested and that more interested got me more but in the end led to nothin’ but questions, questions without answers. So now another reason why I’m here is because I’m lookin’ for answers. And last, the reason I’m here, right now in this parking lot with you, is to warn you to remember what you got in your garage and hangin’ in your kitchen window and mostly in your bed. And it’s also to give you a head’s up that I’m in town, why I’m in town and whatever the f**k you’re plannin’, so I don’t screw you, you gotta know I am.”

And again, that surprised the f**k out of him.

“You’re doin’ Lexie a favor,” he said quietly.

“Yeah, it was just for Lexie until you opened, Tyrell. I still don’t give a f**k about you but you made it pretty f**kin’ clear you give a f**k about her and I spent years watchin’ her be with a man who didn’t so, in a roundabout way, I’m also doin’ it for you.”

Jesus.

“Peña,” he felt it necessary to warn, “you do not know what you’re up against.”

“Tyrell,” Peña fired back, “I know exactly the filth I’m up against. You got your color, I got my own so I know. And I figure, with Jackson’s nosin’ around, he’s given you the head’s up so you know I ain’t stupid and, I’ll confirm, I ain’t. I figure you aren’t either but I’ll still remind you not to be and I’ll do it because of where her Charger is, what bed she sleeps in and those petals she stares at doin’ the dishes. I like my life so I don’t waste it so I won’t waste it tryin’ to talk you out of whatever you’re gonna do. But I’ll remind you to think of those three things you got that other men would kill to have and I’ll advise you that someone like me can get a f**kuva lot further in this mission than someone like you.”

“You’re from Texas,” Walker reminded him.

“A cop’s a cop, Tyrell, in Texas, in California, in Colorado or on the moon,” Peña returned.

Walker stared at him. This wasn’t true. Those boys pissed all over their patches, did it regularly so no one could mistake the smell and, no matter you carried a badge or not, they let in only who they wanted to let in.

Then again, what Tate said about this guy’s tactics, he had balls, who knew what he could do?

Finally, he said, “No one calls me Tyrell.”

Peña stared at him. Then he grinned.

Then his grin died and he asked quietly, “How’s she doin’?”

“Ella, Bess and Honey just left after spendin’ two weeks with us,” Walker answered.

“Jesus,” Peña muttered, “So she’s happy as f**k but you’ve been in hell.”

Yeah, he made it his business to know Lexie.

“Somethin’ like that,” he muttered back.

Peña hesitated. Then he pushed it.

“She make a beautiful bride?”

Fuck.

And f**k him. He gave it to the bastard.

“Magnificent.”

Peña nodded but he’d asked a question the answer he already knew.

Walker was now officially done.

“They burn you, I don’t know you but more importantly, Lex doesn’t.”

“I told you, I ain’t stupid.”

“And I’m tellin’ you, you stick your nose in this, it blows back on my wife, ex-con versus cop or not, you got a problem. Am I understood?”

Peña held his gaze. Then he didn’t grin. He smiled.

Then he whispered, “Waited a long time to see that woman with a man who gave a f**k. I see you haven’t missed I wanted to be that man. What you don’t know is, the kind of interest I have in Alexa Berry Walker, I don’t care who it is just as long as he does.”

“Then we got somethin’ in common, ‘cept of course, I’m that man,” Walker replied.

Peña nodded on another smile.

No hard feelings.

“Stay sharp,” Walker told him, turning and folding into the Viper.

“Same to you,” Peña replied and Walker slammed the door.

Then he fired up, pulled out of his spot, glanced at Peña strolling back to his pickup and hoped to Christ the man knew what he was doing.

Then he put her in first and headed the f**k home.

* * * * *

Walker hit the top of the steps but he heard the music before he hit the utility room. Mood music. Alicia Keyes. Their wedding presents from Lexie’s family were definitely more for Lexie than for Walker but the shopping expedition had one plus for him. Lexie hit a record store and stocked up on decent music. And it wasn’t just so her family would have the soundtrack to their visit they enjoyed, it was for him.

Another way she gave.

He rounded the railing and dropped his workout bag there, looking first to the kitchen.

Around this time of day, she’d be thinking about food but mostly she knew his schedule and he knew she wanted to be close when he arrived home so she could greet him, something she always did, pressing into him and tipping her head back for a kiss. This was whether he came back from the garage or the gym, sweaty or not, his woman didn’t care.

And another way she gave.

She wasn’t in the kitchen so he looked to the second place she usually was, thinking he liked their deck furniture, it was the shit and it looked good. But it cost a f**king whack. He didn’t mind the money, never did if it was nice shit and looked good. But he minded it even less because she used it all the time. When her family was there, they ate out on the back deck. Before they came, his days off, he noticed she had her breakfast and coffee out there and she did it like she did it all the time so he knew she did it all the time. Other times, she’d wander out there with her Kindle to read or her iPod to listen to while she stared at the view. Colorado was new to her, she liked it, she liked their view and she gave it her time, as much as she could when she wasn’t giving that time to him.

So he turned his head to look at the deck and froze solid.

This was because she was curled in the loveseat, legs bent and fallen to the side, heels tucked close to her ass, beer in hand resting on the side of her thigh, head thrown back because she was laughing.