Part 19 (2/2)
He smiled. ”I know.”
”Oh.” She nodded. ”I watched most of it. I heard you coming in, though, and turned off the sound.” Saying that, she picked up the remote, paused the movie and then turned off the set. ”There's something else I want to talk about.”
The sudden buzzing of his phone sounded obscenely loud. ”d.a.m.n. Sorry.” Retrieving it from his pocket, he checked the caller ID. ”It's Mindi.” Before she could ask, he said, ”The a.s.sistant who works with Whitaker.”
”I remember.” Twisting to see the clock on the wall, Yvette made note of the time and raised a brow.
a.s.suming her only reason for calling this late would be an invite, Cannon put a hand on Yvette's thigh to keep her close and answered the call.
”I was just about to hang up,” she said. ”Am I calling too late?”
”It's okay. I meant to get hold of you anyway.”
”Do tell.”
Determined to keep it brief, he said, ”We're keeping both properties.”
”Both?”
”The house and the p.a.w.nshop. Appreciate that you were willing to help us, but tell your buyer we're not interested.”
”But...” Mindi floundered before annoyance took over. ”How is that even possible? Everything in the p.a.w.nshop is gone.”
”Yvette has inventory from her old job.” Cannon met Yvette's killing glare with a wink. ”And apparently Tipton has stuff he'd put away, too.”
Mindi went silent, then muttered, ”I didn't realize.”
”Yeah, apparently he filled several storage units.” When she said nothing to that, Cannon added, ”Thanks again,” and started to hang up.
”Wait.” He felt her hesitation before she finally said, ”If you're going to go through everything...” She paused for effect. ”I'd be happy to lend you a hand.”
Yeah, he'd just bet she would. Her hand, her mouth... ”No, it's not a problem, but thanks.”
”Really, Cannon, if you need anything, anything at all, let me know.”
Cannon rubbed his thumb in small circles over Yvette's thigh. ”Will do. Take care, Mindi.” He put the phone on the coffee table. ”She wanted to offer up her a.s.sistance.”
Yvette snorted. ”Yeah, right. She wanted to offer up herself, you mean.”
Enjoying her show of jealousy, Cannon smiled. ”A little of that, yeah. But I turned her down for you.”
She bit her lip. ”Just like you turned down the dancers?”
He'd have to kick Armie's a.s.s later. ”Want me to return the movie for you tomorrow?”
”Thank you, yes.”
He leaned in to kiss her. ”The women sometimes hear things going on in the neighborhood. They give info about it when they can.”
”Again,” she said, ”hoping they can give you more.”
No reason to deny it. ”Sometimes, yeah. But that's not why I visit with them. As Armie could tell you, I'm picky.”
Her mouth quirked. ”No topless dancers?”
He rolled a shoulder. ”If I liked her and was attracted, too, I wouldn't hold that against her.”
Tucking her chin, Yvette stared at him with disbelief. ”Baloney.”
Yeah, she had him there. ”Okay, so I'd probably want her to do something else if I started getting serious. No sharing the goods, ya know? But if it was in her past...” To tease her, he asked, ”Why do you ask? You have some pole-dancing moves you want to share?”
”Dancing is not my forte.”
”They could probably teach you.” He looked her over, imagining it. ”I'd enjoy watching the lessons.”
She lightly punched his shoulder, then rubbed the spot. ”It's getting late and I was hoping to get this over with.”
That sounded pretty d.a.m.ned ominous. ”Okay.” Had she already decided to go back to Cali? With Heath? His eyes narrowed. ”Heard from your ex again?”
Lacing her fingers together, she rolled her eyes and said, ”Several times.”
”And?”
”I wrote back once just to say, again, that it was over and we had nothing to talk about.”
”Bet he took that well.”
Her mouth twisted with wry humor. ”Actually, he blew up all over my Facebook, so I unfriended him.”
”Good move.”
”I talked with Vanity.”
It was weird how much he enjoyed sitting there with her, just chatting, even though part of that chat was about her a.s.shole ex. ”Will she be able to visit?”
”I invited her, so we'll see. But she actually called me to say that Heath is posting more nonsense. Not that I care. We don't have the same friends, so what difference does it make?”
She said all that as if it really didn't matter, so then why did Cannon want to find the putz and teach him a few lessons on manners? ”What did he say?”
”A bunch of nasty stuff that's not worth repeating. It's just, well, your Facebook is open to the public, so it's possible he might bomb it with his trash talk.”
”I'll have him blocked, too.”
”Thanks.” With a deep breath, she scooted closer, reached out a hand to touch his forearm. ”I waited up because I wanted to talk about...us.”
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