Page 82 of Protecting Peyton

He wasn’t thrilled with me returning to the condo, but it would be safe enough with the new door. They’d determined that Frankie had gone to Santa Monica the day of my break-in and not back to our building.

I followed Karla into the kitchen with my dishes and March’s.

Karla turned on the water in the sink. It was her way of getting a little privacy. “I can see it in your eyes.”

“What?” She had better not be talking about the attraction to March I was fighting. I was not ready for the mother-to-potential-girlfriend talk.

“You’ve been running from something, and you’re preparing yourself to run again.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” That was the first thing that came to mind.

“Ever watch the Nature Channel?”

That came out of left field.I nodded as I passed her the plates. “Some.”

“They call it the fight-or-flight response. The gazelle always chooses flight. She doesn’t know anything else. Do you ever see scenes of her playing with her family and lounging around in the grass, lying down soaking up the sun? No. She spends her entire life eating dry grass and getting ready to run. She can’t live because she knows nothing but fear, so you know what happens?”

I shook my head. “No.”

“One day she gets caught by the lion and eaten. End of story. The running only put off the inevitable.” She looked me in the eye. “Don’t be the gazelle.”

I squirmed. The inevitable sounded bad.

“Now take the lioness,” Karla continued. “She may choose flight when she’s alone and faced by a pack of twenty hyenas, because running is the smart thing to do for the moment.” She loaded the plates into the dishwasher.

I passed her the glasses to rinse.

“But when she has her pride behind her, she chooses to fight. You see plenty of scenes of her on the Nature Channel, lounging around in the sun and playing with her cubs. Be the lioness, flight when smart, fight when you have support.” She touched my arm. “Ruppie and the rest of them have your back.”

March interrupted the moment. “What’s for dessert?”

CHAPTER 20

Peyton

It was justafter nine in the morning on Friday. Grace and Marci had gone into demo room two with a client, and I had a few moments to myself. I grabbed the vase of roses off my desk and went to add some more water. They were pretty, but what was even more beautiful was the sentiment they conveyed from the man I couldn’t get out of my mind. He didn’t say anything flowery, except maybe naming me Angel, but it was obvious he cared—he cared more for me than anyone ever had.

With every day I spent around Zane March, I came closer to reconsidering my no-men rule. After saving me one more time from those two terrible guys that he referred to as Tweedle-dee and Tweedle-dum, I certainly owed March more than I could repay. What those two had said they planned for me still made me shudder.

Back at my desk, I considered calling him to see if he had gotten to talk to the two yet and learned who the mysteriousmanwas, but I decided against it. He would call when they knew something.

Opening my drawer, I came face-to-face with my doodles regarding my escape plan. I hadn’t had time to research the best route from here to B-B Pawn, but that could wait until another day.

My heart skipped a beat when my phone rang. I had to learn to be less jumpy. Pulling the device from my little backpack purse, I found March’sname on the screen and answered eagerly. “Hello?” I felt like addingI miss you, but I didn’t.

Why the hell couldn’t I come out and say how I felt? Pete had said one lesson he’d learned overseas was to be more decisive, and I wanted to emulate that—maybe tomorrow.

“Hi, Angel.”

I breathed in, warmth filling my chest at those words. I needed a nickname for him, and Ruppie wouldn’t do. The first thing that came to mind was what Constance had called him. “Hi, Cowboy.”

“You do know I was in the Navy, not the Cavalry?”

“Do you want me to call you Swabbie or maybe Squid?” Those were the only sea-based slang terms I could come up with quickly. “You know, most women happen to think cowboys are sexy.”

“Does that include you, Angel?”

I swallowed my giggle. “Let me get back to you on that.”