I hustled to the kitchen and stopped dead in the doorway when I saw Meredith chatting with Detective Mitch Lawson.

I was freaked out last night, what with the fire and Dad and Hawk battling the flames with fire extinguishers, I hadn’t taken the time to admire yet again how hot he was. Now that he was in my kitchen and I was in a little black dress with hair out to there, when his eyes turned to me and he froze, I had the opportunity to process yet again how hot he was.

So I took it.

He recovered first.

“Gwendolyn.”

God, I liked it that he always said my full name.

“Hey, Detective Lawson.”

He did his small smile then he invited, “You can call me Mitch.”

“Um… okay.”

Lawson’s eyes swept me then he looked at Meredith.

“I’m sorry, Mrs. Kidd, but could you give Gwendolyn and me a moment?”

“Oh!” Meredith cried at the same time she jumped. She’d been processing how hot he was too. “Sure. Of course. I’ll just…” she rushed to the fridge and grabbed two beers, “get Bax and I a drink.” She closed the fridge then rushed to the door of kitchen saying, “Nice to see you again, Detective Lawson.”

“Mitch,” he corrected.

“Mitch,” Meredith called as she continued escaping.

Oh boy. Alone in my kitchen with Mitch. No eight cops in the living room. No Hawk… yet. He was late.

I walked a bit into the kitchen. “Uh… is everything okay?”

His head tipped to the side. “Yeah, why?”

“Uh… you’re here and… uh… you’re an officer of the law and there’s the small fact my sister is in some serious trouble so…” I trailed off.

“I’m here because of your sister but not because anything is wrong.”

“Oh. Okay,” I replied.

“Or, anything else is wrong,” he amended.

“Oh. Okay,” I said again.

“I just wanted to ask a favor of you.”

I took a breath and then repeated, “Oh. Okay.”

And, by the way, I felt like an idiot repeating those two words but what could I say? I was in a little black dress waiting for Hawk and Lawson was hot and I knew he was into me and he was there to ask a favor. I didn’t know what to do. The situation seemed uncertain, not in a good way or a bad way, just in an unpredictable way.

He studied me a second then, his voice dipping quiet, he ordered, “Gwendolyn, come here.”

Without delay my feet moved me closer to him because I was a woman and when a hot guy told you in a quiet, deep, attractive voice to come to him, you just did it.

I forced my feet to stop when I was a foot away from him.

When I stopped, he said softly, “You look pretty.”

He told me I looked pretty.

Nice.

“Thanks,” I whispered.

“Goin’ out with Hawk?”

I pressed my lips together. Then I nodded.

He smiled.

Then he straightened and moved into me so the foot that separated us became more like six inches.

Or less.

Then his hand came up and he rested it on my waist and before I could say anything or move, he started talking.

“I don’t want to offend you when I say this but after last night, I need to say it.”

Uh-oh.

I’d tipped my head to look up in his soulful eyes and they seemed more soulful than ever.

“What?” I asked before I could get lost in his soulful eyes.

He hesitated then stated, “Your sister, Ginger, she’s not too smart.”

Oh. Well, I’d expected something else. I didn’t know what but, seeing as his hand was on my waist and he was in my space, it wasn’t Ginger.

“I kind of know that,” I replied.

“You probably know this too and if you didn’t before the last coupla nights, then you do now, but she doesn’t think about who she’s draggin’ into this.”

“Yes, the last couple of nights I’ve learned that.”

He nodded. Then he said, “So, the favor I’m askin’, if you see her again, I want you to call me.”

My body got tight but it was only automatically, nevertheless, he felt it and he got closer, his hand gripping my waist, his other hand lifting to do the same on the other side.

“I can’t say what’s gonna happen to her. If she plays it smart, if we can cut a deal, if we can protect her. There are no promises here, Gwendolyn. What I can say is, whatever happens, she’s safer with us than she is on the street and you are definitely safer if she’s with us and not on the street.”

I could see this.

He kept going. “And, for you, we get her in custody, I’ll do what I can for her.”

Oh. Wow.

“Thanks,” I whispered.

His fingers dug in, giving me a squeeze as his mouth gave me a smile.

“Just want to be clear, I don’t want you to try to detain her. But if you see her, she shows, she gets in contact with you, you won’t be helpin’ her out, even if she tells you you are, by keepin’ it from us. Just call me, tell me what she said, where you saw her and if you know where she intends to go.”

“You want me to inform on my sister,” I surmised.

“Yeah,” he replied, no hesitation, no bullshit.

“Okay,” I agreed, no hesitation either.

He smiled again.

Then his fingers gave me another squeeze and he asked, “How’re you handlin’ this?”

God, he was nice.

“Well, there are life lessons I’d prefer to learn, say, how to make the perfect soufflé, not that I can keep my head in a crisis that involves fiery destruction but I’m doing okay.”

His brows went up. “You want to learn to make the perfect soufflé?”

“Um…” I was uncertain where to put my hands. There wasn’t enough space and I was carrying my clutch and wrap. But when his fingers gripped me again and pulled me an inch closer I had no choice but to lift them and rest them on his chest. Hmm. That was better. “Not really,” I went on. “More like, I’d like to learn to make chocolate chip cookie dough in thirty seconds or less.”

He smiled yet again.

“But I wouldn’t be adverse to learning to make the perfect soufflé,” I continued, “if it was chocolate.”

His smile deepened.

Yowza!

Then his smile faded and his face got soft as did his voice. “Lotsa shit happenin’, Gwendolyn, scary shit. You sure you’re okay?”