Page 33 of Hard Rock Heat

"Sorry about that," Jessie said. "These kids are great, but I swear, sometimes I'm a glorified babysitter." She turned to us, taking in the sight of me still in his arms, trying to squirm away. She raised an eyebrow. "You two need amoment?"

I flushed. "No." With a shimmy to the side, I ducked out of Damon's hold. I put a few feet of distance between us and ran my fingers through my hair to smooth it out. "Those kids are pretty rambunctious," was all Isaid.

"They can be." She gave me a concerned look. "Do you think you'll be able to handle a bunch of them for onenight?"

"We're putting a minimum age of sixteen for the sleep out. Teens and up only, not kids." I told her. "We don't want the event to turn into acircus."

"Smart." Jessie nodded to Damon. "Which twin are you pretending to be today?" she askedhim.

"Aw, Jess, if I told you, where would be the fun?" hedrawled.

"I guess I'll just call you knucklehead for the time being." Jessie shook her head at me with sympathy. "How'd you get roped into working with this one?" She jabbed her thumb atDamon.

I immediately took a liking to thisgirl.

"My boss insisted," I said. "How do you know thetwins?"

"The band likes to get tanked at the dive bar I work at part time." She leaned in to fake-whisper. "The twins are cheapskates when it comes totips."

The two of us shared a laugh as Damon gave her a sullen look. Now I really liked thisgirl.

"If you two don't mind waiting here, I can get you a list of other community groups who would probably like to be invited to the event," she said. "I'll speak with the Executive Director for a few minutes and be rightback."

After she left, I gave Damon a firmlook.

"Did you forget about our agreement?" Iasked.

"What agreement?" he saidbreezily.

"Either you ask me out or you keep your hands toyourself."

He tried to hide a grimace, but I caught it in the slight twist of his lips. "I don't recall agreeing tothat."

"Will my fist in your face jog yourmemory?"

"Threatening to beat me again?" he said slyly. "Didn't you say you weren't intothat?"

I clenched my jaw. "Since you won't ask me on a date, I'll guess you'll never findout."

"What about all that hot sexting?" he asked. "Doesn't that count as adate?"

"Such low standards youhave."

"So you're the wine-and-dine kind of girl, hm?" He smirked. "Candles, mood music, the wholeworks?"

"I certainly expect more than a shag in the backseat of alimo."

"So high maintenance." He looked around the youth center foyer as I suppressed an annoyed growl. "You think this place can help us get what weneed?"

I took in a deep breath, and let it out slowly. I smoothed down my skirt. "Yes. Jessie seems to know what she's doing. Thank you for putting me in contact with her," I saidpolitely.

"She's a cool girl, even when she harps on me," hesaid.

A screeching kid came running down the hallway at high speed. The both of uswinced.

"Jessie!" the boy shrieked. He barreled toward us, nearly running into Damon's legs as he turned thecorner.

Damon swooped down and grabbed the kid before he smacked face-first into hiskneecaps.