She relaxed. “I’m starting to get lazy.”

Dameon shook his head. “I’ve seen the drawings and site plans. There isn’t a lazy bone in your body.”

“There are a couple of sore ones after last night.”

Dameon flashed a knowing grin. “I have early meetings tomorrow in Long Beach. I’m aiming to be back here Wednesday night.”

“I remember.”

He kissed her again and stood. He made it as far as the door before turning around. “Do you want a big family?” he asked out of the blue.

“What?”

“You know, kids? Are you thinking one or two? Or half a dozen?”

Grace felt her jaw dropping at the unexpectedness of his question.

“I, ahh . . .” How did she answer that? “More than one, less than six.”

Dameon kept nodding as he walked away.

Grace pulled her knees into her chest and hugged them tight. Holy shit, Dameon had just asked her how many kids she wanted. In all her years of dating, never once had someone asked her about having a family.

She couldn’t stop smiling.

Dameon poked his head back around the corner. “What about five?”

She was starting to hyperventilate. “You’re going to be late for work.”

He marched back into the room, kissed her again, this time with a little more something to talk about, and then abruptly walked away.

Only when she heard the front door shut did she let out a squeal and kick the covers back.

CHAPTER THIRTY

“What are the chances of getting Dameon to bowl with us?”

Grace was on the phone over her car speaker talking to Parker.

“Considering he asked me how many kids I wanted to have this morning, I’d say the chances are pretty high.”

“He did not.”

Grace was still giddy. “He did.”

“Oh my God . . . why didn’t you call me?”

She pulled the car to a stop at a traffic light. “My phone has been going crazy. Seems the paper made the rounds at work.”

“The pictures are pretty telling.”

The light turned green. “I’m having a hard time believing this is all happening. I’m not even upset about work anymore.”

“How can you care about something you were beginning to hate?”

“I love the job, can’t stand the politics. Even more now.”

“I bet.” Parker paused. “So how did the conversation about kids come up?”

“It didn’t. He literally just asked out of the blue.”

“Have you talked about getting married?”

“Parker, we haven’t been dating long.”

“Yet he’s talking kids.”

They were both silent for a while.

Grace merged into the turn lane and checked her rearview mirror. “Wait . . . was Erin drinking last night?”

“We went through two bottles of champagne.”

“Yeah, but how much did Erin drink?”

“I didn’t measure,” Parker said.

Grace’s mind started to calculate. “She said she was driving on our family dinner night.”

“Oh . . .”

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Erin’s pregnant.

“No. She would tell us.”

Grace switched lanes once the light turned green. “I’m going over there.”

“To Matt and Erin’s?”

“Matt’s at work,” Grace reminded her.

“I’ll meet you there.”

Grace disconnected the call and buzzed the car around traffic to get in the correct lane. She didn’t see any cops, thank goodness. Because she was driving a little crazy even for her. Although the dark sedan behind her could be an unmarked police car.

She slowed down and paid a little more attention to the road.

With one eye on her rearview mirror and the other on her speedometer, Grace started to feel like maybe the car behind her was a cop.

The cars opened up on the road and Grace moved into the slower lane.

The sedan stuck right behind her.

“C’mon, pull me over if you’re going to.”

Only that didn’t happen.

At the next red light, Grace stared through her rearview mirror. The expression on the man’s face was only partially hidden by sunglasses. He looked vaguely familiar, but she couldn’t place him. Was it someone she knew who was just messing with her?

When she pulled into Erin’s neighborhood the car kept pace.

“Okay, this is bullshit.” Grace pulled over to the side of the road suddenly and slammed on the brakes.

The car behind her buzzed around at that point.

She looked at the license plate to find a dark covering over the numbers. The kind of thing people use to get away with driving on a toll road without getting charged.

“What the hell?”

Maybe she’d just imagined the car following her.

She shook out her nerves and continued to Erin and Matt’s place. But being the cautious person her dad taught her to be, Grace parked a house beyond Erin’s.

Parker pulled into the driveway and watched Grace walking across the street. “Afraid I was going to hit your car?” she teased.

Grace shook her head. “No, it’s just . . .” Yeah, an overactive imagination. “Nothing. Let’s go ask Erin if she has a dead rabbit on her hands.”

She and Parker stood in the doorway and rang the doorbell.

Erin opened the door. “Hi.”

Parker hit Grace with her elbow.

She elbowed Parker back.

“What?” Erin asked.

Grace looked at Parker. “Chicken.”

Parker acted shocked.

“Fine.” Grace looked Erin in the eye. “Is it a boy or a girl?”

Erin’s face went stone white. “Who told you?”

Parker and Erin both screamed at the same time, and then it was nothing but hugs and tears.

Dameon had the phone on speaker. A week’s worth of paperwork spread out in front of him.

“I just got off the phone with Carson,” Grace told him. “The dirtbag was served with papers yesterday, and my response was given to the city this morning.”

Dameon stopped looking at the numbers on his spreadsheet. “What happens now?”

“Carson seems to think the city is going to lift my furlough and ask me to come back to work.”

“That’s a change in tune.”

“Yeah, he spoke with Simons, the city attorney, and offered a little information about Sokolov. The guy has a less than clean record. Spent a few nights in jail for a DUI and a few domestic calls to his mobile home park when he tried to strong-arm a tenant to leave.”

Dameon cringed. “When I think of you out there alone with that man . . .”

“I hear ya. Carson said the same thing to Simons. Suggested that Richard had been informed of this man’s hostility and still sent me there alone. That precautions needed to be in place.”

“Sounds like the city is going to be doing some backtracking.”

“I hate playing the fragile woman card. It’s not who I am.”

Dameon closed his eyes. “Honey, you’re what, five three? And I’m gonna guess a hundred and fifteen pounds on any given day.”