Page 24 of Watch Me

“Sure.” He grinned. “We can give her the full experience and have her ride in the back of a squad car.”

I chuckled. “Yeah, she’d like that.”

We said our goodbyes, and I drove to Reagan’s, needing to pick her up before I grabbed the boys on the way to my parents’. After I’d hung up the phone with my mom about bringing Reagan to our family dinner, I’d called Jessica. I didn’t need her permission to introduce them to Reagan, but I did it out of respect for her. We’d been separated and divorced for long enough. Plus, she was already dating againtoo.

“Hello?”she’danswered.

“Hey, it’s me.”

“What’s up?”

I’d taken a deep breath and just laid it out there.“I’m dating someone, and she’s coming to Wednesday night dinner at my parents.”

Silence had filled the other end of theline.

“Jess?”

“Sorry.”Another pause.“Are you asking for my permission?”

“No. I’m telling you that the boys are going to meet my new—well, not really new girlfriend.”

“Then they’ll meet my boyfriend.”

“Okay.”I’d nodded.“Whatever you want to do.”

As I pulled into the parking garage of Reagan’s building, I realized I was early, and she wasn’t downstairs waiting for me as per the plan, but that was okay. I had akey.

Letting myself in, I opened the door. Reagan was at her desk on her laptop. “Almost done, Buttercup?”

She glanced at the screen, probably the time and then responded, “Yep. Just need to hit save and then get my shoes on.”

I walked up behind her, and she turned her head, looking back at me. I lowered my lips to hers. “I hope you’re hungry. Mom likes to go a little overboard.”

“Starving, actually.”

“Good. Oh, and I got the approval for the ride-along. Monday, after you’re done with class, we’ll take a few hours and see what happens.”

“Yay!” she squealed, standing and wrapping her arms around my neck. “You just made this night even better.”

“Good. Now, time to meet and re-meet all the Valors. Plus Rhys.”

“And Jessica.”

I blinked. “Jessica?”

“Well, I’m assuming she’s going to come outside and want to check me out.”

I groaned and looked up at the ceiling briefly before responding. “Yeah, I guess she will. You know, to make sure you’re not a murderer or anything even though I’m a cop and shit.”

Reagan laughed. “Monday, I had a guy ask if I was a murderer.”

I balked. “Really? Why?”

She took a step back. “It was a customer of Judy’s. He works on campus or something.”

I furrowed my brows. “And how did the conversation turn into you being a killer?”

She chuckled again and walked into her bedroom. I followed. “He asked what my major was, and I told him I was doing CSI. He teased me and asked if I was into murder.”