Page 35 of Protecting Peyton

Had he seen me? Seen us?

Zane

When we walkedout of Bella’s Steakburgers, habit kicked in, and I scanned both directions. That’s when I saw him—Frankie, her creepy neighbor from this morning, still in his Dodgers jersey.

Peyton jerked when she noticed the guy, after I already had.

“What’s wrong?” I knew what the answer should be, because she’d blown off his lunch request this morning.

She walked faster. “Nothing, except I’m already late.” She didn’t choose honesty, which was a shame after the lunch we’d had. Peyton also didn’t think I’d seen the creep. “I’ll have to tell Grace you had me tied up.”

“I like how that sounds.”

She tried and failed to hold back a giggle. “I didn’t mean it that way.”

“I did.”

The blush that rose in her cheeks was unmistakable. Maybe she wasn’t as innocent as she pretended.

With a shit-eating grin,Duke eyed me as we walked back into SpaceMasters. I let Peyton go ahead, while I checked in with my SEAL brother.

“It took you long enough.” He made a show of checking his watch. “I can give you some pointers on how to please your woman more quickly.” He laughed.

I waited until he’d finished.

“Yeah, quick to finish. That’s what she said about you.” I dodged sideways when he growled.

“Hey, I’m the one filling in for you, asshole.”

“Thanks,” I said sincerely. “I appreciate it.” I moved in and slapped him on the shoulder. “Anything happen while I was away?”

“Grace wanted to make a bank run, but I vetoed that idea since I didn’t know when you’d be back.”

“Yeah, I’ll take care of that.” It couldn’t be that hard.

After Duke left, I escorted Grace on her run to pick up cash and deposit checks at the bank.

When we returned, Peyton even smiled at me. I took that as a win.

A text had arrived from Jordy, so I snuck into the small conference room to deal with it.

JORDY: Small problem.

I braced for bad news when I dialed him.

“You know that business you wanted me to help with?” he asked. Most likely, from his wording, he had Lucas within earshot.

“Yeah?”

He hesitated. “I started on your order, but was hassled by this guy who’d been hanging around. So, I couldn’t complete it. I need to give it a week or so before I try again. Sorry, man.” He meant the cameras.

“Thanks for trying.”

I did a quick search on my phone and found a Rolex dealer in Century City. I’d promised Peyton I’d get her watch fixed, and I planned to take care of that as soon as I found a chance.

Pulling the watch out, I looked it over. To my eye, it was a really nice imitation.

The watch went back into my pocket. It was a shame the scratched crystal made it look so bad.