Page 56 of Warrant

“I have a favor to ask…”

Looking back up at Warrant, wariness set in. “Whatkindof favor?”

“I need you to look after Beau and Aella for me.”

My mouth dropped open as I searched his face. There was no humor, no sign that he was joking around, and there wasn’t even any shame or guilt for asking. “That’s…that’s a huge favor, Warrant.”

“I know.”

“How long?”

“No idea. Hopefully only for today.”

I scowled at him. “You want me to watch her for an unknown amount of time? How do I even know her parents are okay with her staying with a stranger?”

“We’re sort of in a jam here, Ains,” he said. There was pure honest truth shining there in his eyes. That scared me.

Damn him.

“I don’t really know what I’m doing with kids,” I admitted.

“It’s not that hard,” he said with a grin because he knew he was about to get his way. “She can poop on her own, makes everything else real easy.”

The last thing I wanted was to get involved in whatever this was, but I couldn’t exactly let a child suffer because of Warrant’s choices. I wasn’t even certain this was his fault, though for now I was going to hold it over his head, just as a default. “I gu-”

“Great!” He was placing Aella into my arms before I could even finish agreeing to babysitting. “Aella, you’re going to love playing with Aunt Ainsley. You know she’s the Sheriff! How cool is that?”

“Really!” The little girl squeaked. “Aunt Murphy used to be F…B…I. Now she’s, um, bad guy hunter. Something.”

I smiled back at the girl, unsure how to respond to a bad guy hunter something, “That’s really cool.” To Warrant I asked, “What are you doing?” as he opened up the back of my Tahoe.

“Putting her car seat into the back. I’ve included everything you should need to watch her. Except maybe food,” he added. He wasn’t looking my way because he already knew I was glaring at him.

“Forge could watch me,” Aella said.

“Who’s that?” I asked her.

“A friend she met recently,” Warrant said, giving the girl a conspiratorial look. “He can’t watch you, Kid. Don’t worry, you’ll like Aunt Ainsley.”

“Here’s her stuff, in case she needs to stay overnight. And Beau’s dog food and bowl are in the back too.”

My head whipped up and I watched Warrant as he transferred everything. “Overnight? But you said-”

“Thanks so much for this, Baby Girl,” he said, cutting me off. “I’ll make it up to you.”

I wasn’t sure how he was going to do that, but the charming smile he was throwing my way almost made me want to forgivehim. At least until he started backing out of Laurel’s driveway. “Wait!”

He didn’t wait. He didn’t turn around. He didn’t even have the decency to look in the rearview mirror as he left me with a snoring hound, an excited puppy who was currently peeing herself, and a quiet young girl.

“Every time he shows up he reminds me why I should keep my distance,” I muttered.

“I like Uncle Warrant. He’s funny.”

Staring down into the girl’s face, I nodded. “Yeah. He is.”

“I get down now?”

“Right. Sure.” I put her on the ground and she giggled as she squatted to pat at Cadet.