Riptide

his voice, "I didn't know Becca had a cousin. Who the hell are you?"

Chapter 10

    Adam said easily, "Becca's mom was my aunt. She died of cancer,
    you know, very recently. My mom lives in Baltimore with my step-dad.
    A great guy, loves to fish for bass."
    Thank God she heard that before she came back into the living
    room. The man was quick and smooth. He was a very good liar.
    She would have believed him herself if she hadn't known better.
    Actually, her mother was an only child, both her parents long dead.
    Her father had been an only child as well. His parents were also
    dead. Who was Adam, anyway?
    Tyler turned toward Becca and said in a warm voice that was far
    too intimate, "Well, just maybe Sam can have a stepmom, just like
    you got yourself a stepdad, Adam."
    Becca felt a jolt that landed a lump in her throat. She couldn't
    breathe for a minute. Tyler was looking at her like that? A future
    stepmom for Sam? She cleared her throat twice before she could
    speak. Well, she'd known him forever and he hadn't killed his wife,
    but he was a friend, nothing more than a very good friend, which
    was quite enough, given what her life was right now. "It's getting
    late. Adam, how about--"
    He interrupted her smoothly, standing, stretching a bit. "I know,
    Becca. I'll be back over in a little while. I've got to get my stuff
    from the Errol Flynn Hammock. It's a great B-and-B. That guy
    Scottie is a hoot. You want to eat out tonight?"
    Becca and I were going to go to Errol Flynn's Barbecue this

evening," Tyler said, and now he was standing perfectly still, his
    shoulders back, his chin up, ready for a fight, Adam thought, like a
    cock ready to defend the henhouse against the fox.
    Adam grinned. "Sounds good to me. I like barbecue. You bringing
    Sam? I'd like to meet him."
    "Of course Sam's coming," Becca said, her voice firm as that of
    a den mother faced with a dozen misbehaving ten-year-olds.
    "What street is Errol Flynn's Barbecue on,Tyler?"
    "Foxglove Avenue, just across from Sherry's Lingerie Boutique.
    I hear that Mrs. Ella loves Sherry's lingerie, always in there on her
    lunch hour." He shook his head. "It's rather a scary thought."
    "I haven't met Mrs. Ella yet," Becca said, then to Adam,"She's the
    sheriff's dispatcher, assistant, protector, screener, whatever--but I
    know about every one of her pets for the last fifty years. Her job was
    to save me from hysteria while I was waiting for the sheriff to come."
    "Did it work?" Adam said.
    "Yes, it did. All I could think about was the beagle named Turnip
    who died by running right off a cliff when he missed the corner
    chasing a car."
    Both men laughed, and the male pissing contest that had nearly
    made her take a kitchen knife to both of them was out of sight, at
    least for the moment. She would have to speak to Tyler if it turned
    out he was getting the wrong idea, and evidently he was. But didn't
    he realize that being her first cousin meant that Adam was no
    threat? She didn't need this. She could eat barbecue with them, she
    supposed. Thank God Sam would be there.
    Sam didn't have much testosterone yet.

    It was just after midnight. Tyler McBride was still hanging about
    at the front door, and Sam was asleep in the car, his bright-blue

T-shirt and black kid jeans covered with the sauce from the pork
    barbecue spareribs. The kid hadn't said much--shy, Adam supposed
    --but he'd eaten his share. He'd finally said Adam's name
    when he'd taken a big bite of potato salad, then nothing more.
    Would the guy never give it up and leave? Adam took a step
    closer to get him out of there when he overheard Tyler saying
    quietly to Becca at the front door, "I don't like him staying here
    with you, alone. I don't trust him."
    And then Becca's voice, calm and soothing, and he could practically
    see her lightly touch her fingers to Tyler's arm as she said, "He's
    my first cousin, Tyler. I never did like him growing up. He was a
    bully and a know-it-all, always pushing me around just because I
    was a girl. He's grown up into a real sexist. But hey, he's here and he
    is big. He's also had some training, something like army special
    forces, I think, so he'd be useful if someone came around."
    "I still don't like it."
    "Look, if something happens, he's an extra pair of hands. He's
    harmless. Hey, I heard from his stepdad that he is probably gay."
    Adam nearly lost it then. The laughter bubbled up. He practically
    had to slap his hand over his mouth to contain it. The laugher
    dried