"Unfortunately, they didn't find out anything last night. If anyone has been asking around about you, they've been really discreet."

"So everyone knows?" She shouldn't feel so embarrassed-what had happened was out of her control. She was a child at the time. Orphaned.

Mentally, she understood all that.

But emotionally, the shame of it left her devastated. Her pathetic past showed her lack of family morality even before her parents had died. And after their deaths, she'd been dropped right back into the same situation, only without any affection, without any concern for her well-being.

The past more than emphasized her lack of upbringing, extended family, friends.

Her lack of...everything.

"They know," Denver said gently, "and they're concerned. That's all, honey. No judgment, no pity. Just understanding."

Because Denver was now involved, too, she pushed the humiliation aside. She wanted him protected, and his friends were in a great position to offer that service. They were well-trained fighting machines with lethal ability, already spending a lot of time with him, and they were also the most moral men she'd ever met.

Denver probably thought he didn't need the added security. But then, he didn't know Carver, Gene and Mitty like she did.

DENVER KNEW SHE was trying to sound more upbeat and accepting than she felt when she said, "I need to thank the guys for their concern."

"Sure." None of them would expect that, but if it made her feel better he didn't see how it could hurt. He glanced her way, saw her chewing her bottom lip and wanted to say all sorts of things, most of them inappropriate to the moment. When he started declaring himself it'd damn well be in private so that as soon as the words were said he could take her to bed. He was better at showing than telling, and he wanted her to know every single thing he felt for her.

"We'll see them Friday night. That is, if you don't mind our date including a trip to Rowdy's bar." She'd been to the bar many times while he was also there, but they'd never gone together as a couple.

Pleased, she smiled at him. "That sounds like a perfect date."

"A movie first," he clarified, wanting her to know he'd taken to heart her request for a real date. "Then a casual dinner, and the bar last."

"Denver," she chided. "It doesn't have to be all that."

Hoping she'd understand, he said, "I think with you, with us, it has to be everything."

She opened her mouth, but nothing came out until she finally gave a strangled, "Okay."

And again he laughed. "By the way, I called in our RSVP to Dad's birthday party."

She went still in surprise. "You left a message?"

"Actually, no." He cleared his throat. "Dad answered."

Wincing, she asked, "How'd it go?"

His brows twitched together. "Better than I expected." Way better. He'd half expected his dad to kill the call-but he hadn't.

Tentatively, she asked, "That's good, right?"

"I could tell Dad was thrown by hearing from me." He scratched his chin. "I explained, told him that Pamela had invited me over. At first he didn't say anything."

"And then?"

Denver hesitated. He wasn't used to sharing, especially not with a woman. Damn, but it made him uncomfortable.

Cherry touched his arm. "I don't mean to pry. I know it's private."

That made him frown. "I want to tell you."

"You do?"

Strange as it seemed... "Yeah." Then he gave her a look. "I want you to share with me, too."

"I do."

Not everything, but hopefully he could lead by example. He went quiet as he recalled the details of his talk with his dad.

Sounding noncommittal, his father had asked, "So you'll be there?"

"If that's okay." Then to deflect some of the tension, Denver had added, "I'm bringing a date."

"A date," Lyle Lewis asked, "or someone special?"

That tone had been so familiar, so paternal, that Denver fell easily into the old camaraderie. "Very special."

"Then I look forward to meeting her."

Cherry nudged him. "Denver? Are you still with me?"

"Yeah." He was with her now, and if things went his way, he'd be with her always. "I told him about you."

"About me?" she squeaked.

"Yeah." Grinning, he said, "Hope you don't mind that I set you up as the buffer, a way for us both to give a little. I want to introduce you, he wants to meet you. You okay with that?"

She nodded fast. "Of course." And then with less confidence, "What did you tell him?"

"That you're special."

Her lips parted. "Really? I mean, I am?"

"Yeah," he said softly. "Very special."

Looking more than a little dazed, Cherry stayed quiet for the remainder of their ride to Merissa's house. Denver would have loved to know her thoughts, and usually he could sense them. But on occasion she could be so unreadable.

Her silence would have worried him, except for that small smile playing at her lips.

"Hey."

Brows up, she turned her head toward him. "Hmm?"

As he parked, he said, "How about you go grab your keys and I can take a look at your car before we head to my place? That way I'll know if I need to pick up anything to fix it."

"Are you sure you want to bother with this? You have so much you're juggling already. I know your free time is precious."

Not as much so as his time with her. "It's not a problem." He drew her in for a soft kiss. "Grab enough clothes so you can stay the night again." Rather than give her a chance to question that, he said, "It'll save me time in the morning."

That's all it took to get her hustling. Denver went to her car and opened the hood to look inside, but nothing appeared amiss. When he heard voices he turned his head and saw Cherry exit the house with Merissa following her, both ladies chatting and happy.

Merissa wore shorts and an SBC T-shirt that, given its size, probably belonged to her brother, Cannon. She had a sandwich in one hand, a cola in the other.

She followed as Cherry stored a pile of her belongings in the backseat of Denver's ride. Seeing the two of them together always made him smile. Merissa was nearly as tall as her brother, but where Cannon was muscular, she was willowy. They shared the same light blue eyes.

In contrast, Cherry was shorter, rounder, her shoulder-length blond hair bouncy instead of straight.

They were both lookers but in very different ways.

Denver watched as they approached.

"Moving pretty fast, aren't you, Predator?"

He gave Merissa points for keeping her gaze on his face this time even as he grinned at her use of his fight name. "You think?"

Cherry snorted. "Seems pretty slow to me."

Giving her a hug, he said, "Then I'll see what I can do about making up for lost time."

"There you go," Merissa said, propping a slim hip against the fender and saluting him with the remainder of her cola.

Denver leaned back over the engine. "I don't see anything wrong. Turn the key a few times for me, will you?" If it was just a dead battery, that'd be easy enough.

Cherry walked around him to the driver's door, opened it-and screamed so loudly that Denver hit his head on the hood.

Cursing, feeling a trickle of blood run down his temple, he squared off for a threat only to see Cherry slapping at her clothes and hair, backpedaling in a high-pitched panic.

And no wonder. A dozen or more snakes spilled out of the car, writhing on the ground, mouths open, bodies coiled. Mixed with that horror, massive spiders, roaches, locusts and other creepy bugs fluttered and flew around the car.

"Ack!" Merissa dropped her cola and ran all the way to the house, darting inside.

After kicking the driver's door shut, Denver grabbed a wide-eyed, horrified Cherry, who continued to dance and screech while he shooed bugs away and ensured no snakes were near her.

"Shh. It's okay, baby." Holding her close, he pulled her around to the driveway. The snakes probably weren't poisonous, but he didn't know for sure. They didn't look like the little garter snakes he used to see as a kid, and since moving to the more urban setting of Warfield, well, he hadn't seen a snake.

"Ohmigod, ohmigod, ohmigod..."

"Are you okay?" He brushed Cherry's hair back and in the process dislodged an enormous praying mantis that took flight. Luckily she didn't seem to realize. "Cherry?"

Face pale with shock, she looked at the car-and screamed again. Denver turned to see a brown-and-black snake, probably four feet long, slithering across the street.

"Shit." He gave Cherry a squeeze. "Go get me a rake or something, and maybe a garbage can with a lid, or at least a garbage bag."

She blinked big dazed eyes at him. "Your head is bleeding!"

"It's fine."

"But..."

"Shh." Again he squeezed her shoulders. "I'm sorry, girl, but I don't know if those snakes are dangerous or not, so I need you to hustle up and get what I need."

Hand to her heart, Cherry closed her eyes as she nodded, sucked in a breath, then ran up the driveway to the garage.

From the front door Merissa yelled, "I called Cannon."

Great. Just freaking great. "Thanks," Denver called back to her. He searched the ground and found a small fallen branch that he used to corral the biggest snakes. There were maybe ten of them that were larger than the others, and they were testy and uncooperative. Denver barely kept them from getting away.

Some of the smaller ones made it into the grass and down the street drain; nothing he could do about that. He didn't want to kill anything, not even a snake, if he didn't have to.

Looking like she faced the gallows, Cherry ventured forth with the requested items. She held the garbage can lid in front of her like a shield. She kept whispering, "Ohmigod, ohmigod, ohmigod," in a terrified litany.

"Leave everything right there," Denver told her, rather than have her come any closer.

"I...I should help."

"No, I've got it." He used his forearm to swipe the blood off his face.

Still, she gulped and inched toward him. "Here. I brought you a washcloth for your head. Are you sure you're not badly hurt?"

His heart swelled, both with love and pride. Clearly the girl had some issues when it came to creepy-crawlies, but she forced herself to be brave. "The bugs flew off," he promised her as he took the cloth and swabbed at his head. "And yeah, I'm fine. Just a split."

"I'm so sorry I startled you."

"You had good reason." He accepted the rake from her and worked to keep the snakes together. One particularly aggressive snake tried to come at them, sending Cherry scurrying back with a frantic gasp. Denver pinned it with the rake, then put the lid over it.

Luckily, Armie pulled up with Cannon. Both of them jumped from Armie's truck, looking at the twisting snakes with morbid awe. "Damn," Armie said after a peek in the car.

"You're okay?" Cannon asked when he saw the blood on Denver.

"Banged my head." He was so furious he could barely get the words out. "It's fine."

"And you?" he asked Cherry.

She gave a short nod. Denver didn't miss the fear in her eyes, the paleness of her face, or her determination to help.

With only a few more questions, both men got to work helping Denver get the snakes in the can.

Over his shoulder, wanting her away from the proof of Carver's obsession, Denver asked Cherry, "Would you have Merissa call the cops?"

From a safe distance away, Merissa said, "Already done. I called animal control, too. They're sending someone who's a rodent expert or something."

With the majority of the snakes in the can, Denver went to check out Cherry's car. Now that they'd been stirred up, bugs flew around inside, hitting the windows, clinging to the seats. The floorboards were alive with impatient, slithering snake bodies; he had no idea how many.