“Has it occurred to you that it just might be Larry’s fault?” she demanded indignantly.

“Sure, for all of two seconds, although I intend to find this friend of yours and beat him to a bloody pulp.”

“Can I watch?” Saber grinned at him, inviting him to laugh at the entire incident with her. That was the thing about Jesse she loved so much; he was so protective and dangerous. He gave the illusion of being a teddy bear, but underneath…underneath all that muscle was something deadly that drew her like a magnet.

“It’s not funny, you little brat, you could have been mugged, or worse. Now what happened?”

“I’m quite capable of taking care of myself,” Saber informed him haughtily. “You know I can too.”

“I know you think you can. That isn’t quite the same thing.” He turned probing, hawk-like eyes on her. “Now stop avoiding the question and tell me what happened.”

Saber stared sightlessly out the window. It almost made her resentful that she was going to tell him. She didn’t want to, but for some reason she seemed to tell him anything he asked. Worse, she never felt uncomfortable with him afterward. She was definitely getting too close-and that meant she had to leave him.

Leave him? Where had that come from? Her stomach dropped out from under her and her heart did a strange little flip that was very alarming.

“Stop sticking your obstinate little chin out, Saber; it always means you’re about to become stubborn. I don’t know why you bother, since you always tell me what I want to know in the end.”

“Maybe I don’t think it’s any of your business.” She said it decisively, pretending she felt no guilt.

“It’s my business if you have to call me out at two thirty in the morning when one of your lowlife boyfriends dumps you out on the street.”

Instantly Saber’s temper flared to life. “Hey, I’m sorry I bothered you,” she said belligerently, because the way he made her feel was scaring the hell out of her. “If you want me to, I’ll get out of your precious van right now.”