Page 62 of In Safe Hands

“Yes. Get that thing away from me.” Despite his words, he looked more relaxed than when he’d arrived. “So you’re not mad.”

“I’m not mad,” she agreed, “although I might start getting annoyed if you keep asking me that.”

“I’ll quit then.” His mouth relaxed into a little smile. “What was Tyler doing here?”

“He’s going to be my grocery-delivery boy.” Folding down the box flaps, she frowned. “If he doesn’t have his license, how’s he going to deliver my groceries?”

Chris shrugged. “Bike maybe, or on a sled after it snows. You don’t get much, so he could even carry them. It’s less than a mile to the grocery store. I didn’t know he was working at Melcher’s.”

“Tyler said it’s only been for a month.” She shut down her laptop. “I feel bad for the kid. He seems lonely. Even I have more contacts in my cell than he does.”

While he waited for her to finish, Chris leaned against the wall, his arms crossed over his chest. “Why were you looking at his phone?”

“Putting my number in there,” she said, just to watch his eyebrows shoot toward his hairline. She wasn’t disappointed. “So I can text him my grocery list.”

He grunted. “Why does he need your number for that?”

“So he knows who’s texting him? Why are you being so weird about it?”

“I’m not being weird.”

“Right.” With a shrug, she dropped the subject and headed toward the living room. “You hungry? We could do the early-bird-special dinner, or we could watch a movie first and then break out the pizza.”

“I can wait.”

“Okay.” Turning to face him, Daisy walked backward and grinned. “You just can’t wait to watch Brutal Fists, can you?”

As soon as she reversed direction, Chris’s gaze shot up to meet hers. “Uh…right.”

A little confused by the guilt in his expression, she continued to walk backward, frowning at him. “What’d you do?”

His answer came too fast. “Nothing.”

“Your lying skills could use some work. Don’t they teach you that in cop school?”

“No. Watch where you’re going, or you’re going to run into something.”

Cocking her head to the side, she stopped so she could study him. The obvious answer was too ludicrous to consider, but it popped out of her mouth anyway. “Were you looking at my butt?”

“No.” That time, the quick denial was paired with a dark red flush across his cheekbones.

“Liar.” She turned away from him to hide her pleased smile. “Do you want something to drink? Besides coffee, I have…well, water. Or milk.”

“I need to actually sleep tonight, so I’ll have some water.” He sounded like he’d regained his equilibrium. “I’ll get it though. Want some?”

“Sure. Thanks.” As she set up the DVD, she couldn’t stop grinning. Deputy Chris Jennings had been checking out her butt. Once she had everything ready to go for the movie, she pulled off her hoodie. Although she told herself it was only because she’d get too warm otherwise, Daisy knew she was lying to herself as she smoothed the soft material of her newly revealed fitted shirt. When Chris returned bearing two water glasses, she quickly dropped her hand and took a seat on the couch.

“Guess what?”

“What?” he responded absently, placing the water on the coffee table in front of them.

“I have a new therapist.”

His head jerked up, and he stared at her for a moment before a grin stretched across his face. “Hey, that’s great, Dais!”

“Yeah.” Her face was flushed with excitement and embarrassment. “We had our first session over the phone this afternoon, and we’re going to do a video conference on Monday. Dr. Fagin is in Denver, so he’s going to come here eventually, but I told him I’d feel more comfortable doing the phone and video thing first.”

“He?” Chris seemed to lose a little of his enthusiasm.