“There’s no such thing as a trained––”
“Let’s agree to disagree, and you all just go ahead and leave, all right?”
They were studying me. I was still standing there with my arms crossed, so I took a deep breath in through my nose, which made my chest appear just a bit bigger. That was it, they bolted down the street toward a Monte Carlo that had seen far better days. Hard to tell what the original paint color had been.
Turning, I was faced with Benji Grace, who was closer than I expected him to be, nearly pressed up against me, so I took a step back to give him some room. I never liked to crowd people, not with how big I was.
“Good morning,” he greeted me, which was odd since we’d been talking before, and now he was suddenly breathless.
“Good morning,” I returned, grinning for some unfathomable reason. It was the strangest thing, but I felt like I knew him. Like we’d met somewhere before.
His smile was brilliant as a few raindrops started to fall. “You must be Mr. James.”
“Call me Shaw,” I ordered gruffly, noting that the guy I had come to protect wasn’t just a handsome man but a beautiful one. “And you’re Benji Grace, yes?”
“Yes,” he answered, his smile, even as the drops steadily increased, remaining intact. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, even though, I must confess, I didn’t originally want you here.”
I pointed over my shoulder, realizing we were about to be caught in a sudden squall. “Why don’t we go get in the––”
“And not because of anything bad,” he continued, raking his hand through his hair, pushing the jet-black mane out of his face even as water dripped down his nose. “Let’s be clear, it’s always good to meet new people, but I didn’t want to waste your time.”
The thunderclap was booming, and we were both going to drown if we didn’t make a run for the car. “I appreciate your honesty, but could we get out of the rain?”
“Oh my, yes,” he said with a chuckle, lashes fluttering as the drops fell furiously now.
Dashing for the SUV, I held the door open so he could climb into the front seat that Delly had vacated for him, and then darted around to the other side and climbed in. From the enormous tote bag Delly had taken from Sian’s van and put in the back seat of the rental, she produced two beach towels, one for me and one for Benji.
“It rains here a lot,” she informed me, “so we’re always prepared.”
“Thank you,” I said, realizing that wearing a long-sleeve T-shirt under my hoodie and leather jacket had been a good call. Benji was in a fisherman sweater under a parka, so other than his head, he was insulated as well.
“So, Shaw,” he began, and he was smiling again, staring at me oddly, like I was something special. I realized that part of what made him so striking was his big blue eyes; they were the most remarkable shade of electric blue I’d ever seen. “Tell me all about yourself.”
“No,” I answered flatly. “You tell me who those guys were.”
He waved his hand dismissively. “Those guys are the ones who get loud when we’re all at the pub together, but they’re harmless.”
“I don’t know about that. You were in an actual fight with them when I––”
“Mrs. Kramer,” he gasped, jolting in his seat, opening the door and scrambling out of the car, fast, leaving the towel as he rushed back out into the deluge.
I watched him run awkwardly down the street.
He left the door wide open, and Delly came from the back to the front, sat down, leaned out, grabbed the handle, and shut the door.
“What the hell was that?” I asked her.
“He gets a bit frantic when he forgets something,” she answered, having first patted herself dry and then wiped down the inside of the door.
Turning, I watched him continue to run three doors down in the monsoon, open the front gate of a house with a white picket fence, and sprint to the front steps, where he was met at the top by four very beautiful, very large German shepherds. Unfortunately, they knocked him down and tried, as far as I could tell, to lick him to death.
I did a slow pan back to Delly.
“They like him a lot. The big one there, his name’s Thor.”
After moving the car from where we were at the Fleming house, to where Benji had finally gotten up and knocked on the door, which I was guessing was the Kramer house, I parked and left the car on so Delly would stay warm. Before I got out, I had her pass me the golf umbrella I’d bought in Portland before I took the freeway to Rune. Now that I knew how unreliable the weather was, I wouldn’t be parted from it.