“It’s not all like that, you know.”
Okay, given the gentleness of his tone, maybe he did know. She must’ve been obvious without meaning to be. Yvette wasn’t sure what to say so she looked away.
He dipped his head into her line of vision. “Sometimes,” he continued, now all teasing and silly, his eyebrows bopping, “it’s just dirty fun.”
“Armie.”
Satisfied that he had her attention again, he straightened. “Yeah, doll?”
“This is my car.”
His grin was so big that he almost made her grin, too. “Can’t make you blush, huh?”
Cannon made her blush all the time. She gave another sigh. “Not over something so silly.”
“So maybe I need to try harder.”
She unlocked her car door. “And why would you want to do that?”
Going super serious, he stared down at her and spoke in a quiet, sincere voice. “Because Cannon cares about you, and he’s like a brother to me, so that means I care, too.”
Now she blushed.
And Armie loved it. “There you go,” he said softly. “Cannon will be along any second now if you want to wait.”
“No.” The very last thing she wanted to do was butt in on his night out with his friends. She touched Armie’s arm. “You don’t have to mention to him that I—”
“Was shopping for a movie in the legendary local p**n shop? Yeah,” he said on a laugh, “I most definitely do. Fact, I can’t wait.”
She glared, but that only amused Armie more. “Butthead.”
The insult sent his brows high. “Don’t know why I’m surprised at the name-calling,” he muttered as he watched her get into her car. “I mean, after catching you in the dirty-video store, nothing should be a shock, right?”
“Goodbye, Armie.”
He grinned. “’Bye, Yvette.”
The way he said that, all sugary and teasing and full of wickedness, well, Yvette could see why the naughty ladies loved him.
But she’d be willing to bet the not-so-naughty ladies were drawn, as well. Just not her.
She’d already fallen for Cannon.
And given what Cannon had said earlier, and what Armie had just confirmed, she needed to level with him.
It was bad enough that she had to be miserable.
No reason to make Cannon that way, too.
CHAPTER NINE
AFTER WHAT ARMIE told him, Cannon cut his evening short. It was still late, but not as late as he’d figured on. He’d lasted only an hour more and then couldn’t take it.
The guys laughed at him when he separated from them, but he didn’t mind. With their warped senses of humor, they found a lot of twisted shit hilarious. They continued on through the neighborhood and he cut back across a few empty lots to where he’d parked his truck.
The drive home took him past the pawnshop, and that was when he saw the guy go running away from the front door. He’d have parked and given chase, but the flare of a fire stopped him.
Keeping an eye out for an ambush, he approached and saw the fire was a bucket of trash set up close to the front door. Probably just vandalism, but, damn, what lousy timing since Yvette had just decided to reopen it. He snuffed it before any damage was done, and then, knowing Rowdy would still be working at the bar, he called him.
Ella answered, meaning Avery must’ve been on a break. When she laid the phone down to get Rowdy, Cannon could hear the noise of the boisterous crowd in the background. A packed room. Cannon hated to bother him.
Half a minute later, Rowdy answered with an intuitive, “What’s wrong?”
“Maybe nothing.” Pacing alongside his truck, keeping an eye on some youths across the street, he told Rowdy what had happened. “I just convinced Yvette to reopen the place, but with a damn fire... I don’t know. I don’t want her spooked.”
“First off, I’ll give Logan a call and let him know, just so he can have some officers keep an eye out. You might want to put some cameras up, maybe an alarm or two.”
“Yeah. I was going to do it to the house anyway, so might as well include the shop.” Which meant Yvette would definitely know about the fire. “Hell.”
“Second thing,” Rowdy said, easily interpreting his curse, “she’s not made of china.”
“No, she’s not,” Cannon agreed. “It’s actually surprised me, how strong she is. But the threat of a fire has to hit her differently.”
“You were there, too, threatened same as Yvette, and you aren’t spooked by a bucket of old rags. Don’t assume she would be either. Tell her about it first thing,” Rowdy advised. “Let her decide whether it’s worth it to battle some vandalism or if she’d rather leave the headaches behind.”
It was whether or not she’d leave him behind that Cannon was worried about. He wanted a chance to get to know her again, in every way imaginable.
He wanted a chance to fulfill that particular fantasy.
“One more thing,” Rowdy said.
“Yeah?”
“If she’s not with you, does that mean she’s alone? Because much as I assume it was just vandalism, I can’t discount the past.”
“Same here,” Cannon admitted, and that was the crux of his concern. “In all the time that she’s been gone, no one has bothered the shop. I know because I check on it every so often when I’m in town.”