Mr Right Next Door

Let her try to tell herself she was in love with the jerk then!

Of course, she didn’t know that, poor, silly, naive woman that she was.

Why were the gorgeous ones always so…senseless when it came to men?

He’d wanted to say stupid. He’d normally say stupid. How could women be so stupid?

But he thought she was a nice woman, and not just because she had a great body, so he couldn’t bring himself to call her stupid. He was already worrying about how she was going to take it when her lover boy turned out to be a crook.

He hoped he wouldn’t have to be the one to tell her, but since it was his case, he’d probably have to do the deed.

She’d probably slap him. She’d cry. She might squeal, a really unhappy, awful squeal that wouldn’t make him think of anything like taking her to bed with him. Not that she’d be getting anywhere near him once she knew what he was doing here.

Still, he didn’t want her to cry.

He just wanted her to be smart and not get involved with jerks or pirates or international terrorists.

Was that too much to ask?

Nick watched, waited and listened as best he could as Kim chattered on.

He couldn’t be sure, but he thought she’d said her new boyfriend was coming here…soon? Somebody had squealed again at that point in the conversation, so he just wasn’t sure.

Maybe she’d call someone tonight and they’d have the phone tap in place and no one would squeal. Did women squeal on the phone, too? He hoped not. It was starting to make his head hurt.

Nick had finished his meal and the lunch rush was in full force. He ordered dessert to have an excuse to stay. It seemed half the town was there and that all of them knew Kim Cassidy and wanted to know about her adventure with the pirates. They all stopped at her table. She hugged quite a few of them, grinned broadly at others and gave them all a condensed version of the story.

Nick became aware that everyone in the place seemed to be talking about her.

He kept catching bits and pieces, none of which made sense.

“Engaged—” That from the guy in mechanic’s overalls, heading to the cash register to pay his ticket.

Were they engaged? Surely not. Surely she wasn’t that stupid.

Nick fought the urge to close his eyes and swear.

“From Colorado—”

So, the guy was from Colorado? That was something they could check. Nick made a mental note to tell Harry. Check Colorado.

“Cleveland—”

The guy in the dark blue suit said Cleveland?

Okay, check Colorado and Cleveland.

“Pittsburgh—”

What the hell? How could three different people in the same diner at the same time as her all think the guy was from three different places?

“Next week maybe—”

This from one of the waitresses who’d just been at Kim’s table.

That was promising.

“Next month—”

No, no. Not next month. He would not make it until next month. Not here. Not with her.

“Huge party for them—”

“Soon as he gets here—”

“Falls Park—”

“Hold the crowd—”

“Award—”

Someone wanted to give the damned guy an award? For saving Kim?

Nick groaned.

“Great idea—”

“Talk to the mayor—”

“Talk to her sisters—”

“Award and engagement party, all at once—”

Nick hoped his head didn’t explode and that he didn’t blurt out something outrageous, like the truth of the matter, to everyone present at the Corner Diner that day.

Couldn’t any of them get their stories straight?

Wasn’t there one, solid, reliable piece of information in the whole place?

Other than the possibility that she might be engaged to the criminal?

Surely not.

Surely she wasn’t that stupid.

He was thinking it now. Maybe the woman was just stupid. Nice but not very smart. From his experience, a frighteningly large number of women fit into that category. Maybe it wasn’t their fault. Maybe they couldn’t help it. Maybe men like Eric Weyzinski had some strange power over them and they just couldn’t tell a jerk from a nice guy.

God knows Nick fooled enough of them into thinking everything he said was genuine, when hardly anything that came out of his mouth was.