The phone quieted and then immediately started again. Connor cursed under his breath and eased his arm over so he could reach the phone.
“What?” he demanded in a quiet voice.
“Connor Malone? This is Lieutenant Donnelly. We spoke yesterday regarding R. J. Miller and Trent Carnes.”
Connor grimaced. It was awfully damn early in the morning to be calling with case updates. “Give me a second,” he murmured.
He disentangled himself from Lyric, who woke and stared up at him with sleep-clouded eyes. He leaned down to kiss her. “It’s nothing. Go back to sleep. I’ll be right back, okay?”
“Okay,” she mumbled.
He moved from the bed and walked across the room toward the bathroom so he wouldn’t disturb her.
“What do you have for me?” he asked the lieutenant.
“Your guys confessed. It was pretty pathetic really.”
“What the fuck were they trying to do?” Connor demanded.
“They saw the writing on the wall. They weren’t happy that Ms. Jones had started pulling away from them. Their words, not mine. They hatched this ridiculous plan to make it appear that there was a threat against her. Their hope was that they’d provide support and protection, thus making themselves invaluable to Ms. Jones.”
“What a bunch of dipshits,” Connor muttered. “What will happen to them?”
“We can’t hold them on much. The best option will be for Ms. Jones to take out a restraining order on them. We can arrest them for harassment, but they’ll likely be out on bail in less than a day, and no way is the DA going to pursue this beyond probation and maybe a little community service. They’ll plead out and be on their way before the ink is dry on the paperwork.”
“Figures. Thanks, Lieutenant. I appreciate your taking care of the matter.”
“Not a problem. Let me know if there’s anything else I can do to help.”
Connor hung up and then noticed he had a missed call from his dad. He winced. It had been several days since he’d talked to Pop, a fact that wouldn’t make the old man very happy.
“I hear there’s some serious bodyguarding going on over there and that you’ve taken a personal interest in a certain pop star’s body,” Pop rumbled as soon as he picked up the phone.
Connor shook his head. Trust gossip to have already reached his ears. “She’s the one, Pop.”
He could practically hear his dad grinning through the phone.
“Well, I’ll be damned. That’s great, son. You two got things worked out?”
Connor frowned and looked back toward the bed where Lyric was curled into a ball, her arm thrown over his pillow. “Not yet, but we’ll get there.”
“Good things shouldn’t be easy. You’ll work hard at it, and it’ll be all the sweeter for it.”
Connor shook his head. Pop was so full of shit. Good as gold, but he had something to say for every occasion.
“Bring her home for Sunday dinner. She should see what she’s getting into.”
Connor laughed. “We’ll get to that eventually. Right now we have more important fish to fry.”
Pop made a disgruntled sound. “What’s more important than my Sunday lasagna?”
“Faith and Gray have spoiled you by catering to your neuroses.”
“At least they eat with me every weekend. Well, when they can.”
“And I don’t?”
“Well, sure you do. But you’re single, and no single guy turns down free food. The test is when you have a beautiful woman at home as to whether you’ll give your old man the time of day anymore.”
Connor rolled his eyes. “Like I’ll ever get rid of you, old fart.”
Pop’s raspy chuckle filled Connor’s ear. “Damn straight. I plan for you and Faith to visit me in the old folks’ home when I’m old and toothless.”
“You already are old and toothless.”
“Don’t make come over there and kick your ass.”
Connor laughed. “Okay, Pop. Let me go. Take care of yourself.”
“Will do. Give my love to Lyric and tell her welcome to the family.”
With a smile, Connor disconnected the call. He’d love nothing more than to welcome Lyric to his family, but he wasn’t going to get ahead of himself. Right now he was just happy Lyric hadn’t run the other direction when he’d expressed a desire for them to be together.
With a look at the bed where Lyric was sleeping, he pulled on a robe and crept out of the bedroom and down to fill Kane in on the latest developments. Kane promised to do some investigating on his own. Connor intended to devote his time and energy solely to Lyric.
When he returned a few minutes later, he shed the robe and crawled back into bed with Lyric. She stirred and snuggled up close to him, breathing a soft sigh of contentment.
“Sleep well?” he murmured.
“The best night’s sleep I’ve had in longer than I can remember,” she admitted.
“Good. You needed to catch up.”
“Who was on the phone? Is everything okay?”
“It was the lieutenant who handled R.J. and Trent’s arrests. They confessed to leaving the notes.”
Her lips twisted into a perplexed frown. “But why? I don’t understand.”
Connor related what the lieutenant had told him and she shook her head. “That’s pretty pathetic, but what’s even more pathetic is that I was involved with those clowns. That I trusted them.”
He leaned down and kissed her forehead. “Quit beating yourself up. It’s all in the past. You won’t let it happen again.”
“Damn right,” she said with a grin. Then she reached up to touch his face. “What should we do today? We have hours yet until I have to be at the music store.”
“Anything you like or nothing at all. It’s solely up to you,” he said in a solemn voice. “You tell me what your pleasure is, and I’ll make sure you get it.”
She kissed his chest and pleasure melted through his body at the affectionate gesture.
“If I weren’t here and your job wasn’t to keep me safe, what would you be doing today?”
“Hmmm. I’d probably eat at Cattleman’s. Hang out with Micah, Nathan, and Gray. Nothing earth-shattering. Throw back a few beers.”
“I want to do something ordinary.”
He lifted a brow. “Define ordinary.”
“Something everyday. Average. What someone who leads a perfectly normal life would do.”
“You up for a jog?”
She pushed herself up and looked at him in horror. “You mean like exercising. Running?”
He chuckled. “Yeah. I like to keep in shape. I usually run in the mornings but I’ve missed a few days lately. We could go for a run. Take a shower together. Go eat breakfast at a little café I know of. Dad wants us to come for dinner tonight. He cooks lasagna every Sunday. It’s a family tradition. Maybe we can swing by after your signing.”
Shadows lurked in her eyes. Her gaze filled with uncertainty and she bit at her bottom lip. “Do they know? I mean, I guess they know, but do they know—know about us?”
He smiled at the way she sputtered around the subject. “Yeah. They know. Or at least Pop does. And now that he knows for sure, he’ll waste no time telling Faith, who’ll waste no time telling the other girls, who will waste no time telling their husbands. I should start receiving phone calls giving me shit within the hour.”
Her eyes lightened and she smiled back at him. “Sounds like a veritable gossip train.”
He shrugged. “We’re close. I guess that’s what friends do. Hard to keep anything from anyone in that group.”
“Yeah,” she said wistfully. “You’re lucky.”
“Hey, they love you.”
“I like them a lot too. I’m so glad I met them. And you.”
“Yeah, me too,” he said huskily as he leaned in to kiss her. “Now, how ’bout that run?”
“Oh my God, I’m dying,” Lyric wheezed when they walked—or, rather, she dragged—back up the drive to the house.
“You did great,” he said cheerfully. “Let’s hit the shower. I don’t know about you, but I’m starving.”