Chapter Seventeen
Frank held on to a shopping bag with a couple outfits Marianne had handed him before they left the store. The park they strolled had more people milling around than he was used to seeing. Moms sat on benches, talking while the kids played on the playground. So much for her keeping a low profile. The entire town knew her already.
“So,” Frank said, “did you mean it when you agreed on me being a great guy? Which I am, you know.” He tugged on his shirt, lifting his chin.
“Please,” Amie retorted, “don’t make me puke.” She laughed when he feigned being emotionally hurt. His heart hurt, but for a different reason.
A couple ladies on a bench waved. “Hi, Amie, Frank.”
Susan gave them a conspiratorial wink. “We know it’s not our business, and not to pressure you guys, but are you planning on dating soon?”
Cheryl elbowed Susan. “I think they already are. You two make such a cute couple. Thanks for the party yesterday. It was great.”
Amie waved back. “Thanks, Susan and Cheryl. I’ll see what I can come up with for an encore.”
He mustered the courage to ask what he really wanted to know. “So, what do I need to know about Amerella Capone that’s different from Amie Truman?” Her fear and shame floated in the air. But he stood strong. He wanted her to answer him. Answers were important.
She chewed her lip. “Amerella and Amie are the same. I never lied to you. I just gave selective answers.”
“Selective answers?” he asked. “What’s that?”
“You know the saying that men have ‘selective hearing.’ I was offering selective answers. Things that I knew wouldn’t scare you or make you leave me.” He couldn’t believe she thought her family would scare him off. She never gave him a chance to show her. As he readied to make a retort, Amie held up a hand.
“Hi, Amie. Hi, Frank. Loved the party, Amie. Tell Jean thanks for hosting.”
“You’re welcome, Scarlet. We’ll be sure to tell her.” Amie took a deep breath. “Let me finish, then you can tear into me. My mom and dad died in a car wreck when I was young. I told you that. Uncle Giuseppe became my guardian and I lived in his mansion until I escaped to college.”
“Did he treat you badly?” Frank would skin the man alive if he so much as laid one hand on her.
“He did his duty giving me food and shelter. But the emotional stuff he wasn’t good at. I spent a lot of time babysitting for the child of a friend, who was more a mom to me than anything.” Amie looked away and wiped at her eyes. He sensed a sadness roll through and waited for her to explain. But when she didn’t, he wasn’t going to push.
“Is the woman and her child the reason you came back to Vegas after school?” He was hoping to wheedle out an answer for why she left him.
“Not really. By then Joey was old enough to take care of himself.” She snorted. “I thought so, anyway. But actually my uncle is still my legal guardian until I turn twenty-six next month and my trust fund becomes mine. Until then, he has control of it along with my dad’s attorneys.”
Instant fear ran through him. In his experience, large sums of money and giving up control of it never worked out well.
“What happens to your fund if . . .” He couldn’t say the words. The thought was too horrible for him.
“If I’m dead?” Amie finished. “It goes to a very close family member before my uncle could get to it.”
Frank let out a whoosh of air. “That makes me feel better.”
Amie laughed. “Dad knew what he was doing when it came to money and security for Mom and me.” Overwhelming sadness poured from her, almost sending Frank to his knees. His cat told him to change the subject, or it would.
Amie stopped and shoved at his arm. “You’re a big-time super-secret agent now. Show me some moves.”
“What moves? I’m an agent, not a dancer,” he replied. “Although, I rocked in those women’s shoes yesterday.” He strode forward, pretending to walk like he did in the high heels.
“Yeah,” Amie began, “until you wiped out the chair, the ladies in the chair, and table and lamp.”
“That was part of the show.”
She shoved him again. “You are so lying. Now show me some self-defense moves.”
That was a great idea. Even though he planned to never be away from her side for her to use them. “There are some basic moves that are really easy.” He lined himself in front of her.
“Let’s say you’re walking in the park like this. The first thing you do if someone starts to get close to you is to turn and look them in the eye. The bad guy is wanting to use the element of surprise to get you off balance. But if you confront them, that’s gone. Hopefully, they will get flustered and run.”
He reached out and wrapped a hand around her forearm. “But perhaps he doesn’t run and grabs on to your arm. What’s your initial instinct?”
Amie stepped back and pulled her arm. “I want to get out of his grip.”
“That’s what you want to do. But when you stepped back and yanked your arm, all you did was drag me toward you. You did nothing to my grip. My hand is still on your arm.”
Scarlet hurried toward them from where she was sitting closer to the kids. “Frank, are you showing Amie self-defense moves?”
He felt a little dumb now for doing something so publicly. Amie replied, “Yeah, do you want to learn, too? You never know when you might need help and it’s not there.” Scarlet took Amie’s hand and led her closer to the playground.
“Yes, all the women in town need to learn this stuff. I’ve been trying to get someone to hold a class, but nobody around the area knows how to do anything.” Scarlet leaned closer to Amie. “My mom was attacked when she went to the city. Luckily she got away because she had a brick in her purse and beat him over the head until he ran.”
“A heavy purse is a good defense if you have nothing else, I’d think,” Amie said.
“Well, Mom had a real brick. She was in the city to find paint to match her and Dad’s house.” Scarlet called out to the other ladies. “Come on, Susan and Cheryl. Get over here.” Amie gave Frank a look. He didn’t need to read her mind to know what she was thinking. What were they getting into?
In a group, they stood at the edge of the playground, not far from the kids. “Okay,” Scarlet said to Frank, “you had a hold of Amie’s arm.”
“Right.” He once again put his hand on her soft skin. He thought back to last night and all the touching he did then.
“Hey,” Scarlet said after an inhale, “keep all that stuff for later. No sexy smells in self-defense.”
His face instantly heated. Living among humans for so long had made him forgetful of his own kind. The thoughts fled his mind from embarrassment more than discipline. He cleared his throat and glanced at Amie’s smiling face. She was so beautiful.
“Yeah, I was showing her how to get out of a hold if someone grabbed her arm. Instead of tugging back like your first instinct says to do, you want to bend your arm at the elbow and snap your hand in the direction where his fingers and thumb meet. By doing this, you’re taking advantage of the weakest part of the hand—the ability of the thumb to hold down. Same thing if you’re grabbed by the upper arm. Try to move your arm so it lifts at the thumb.”
“What if you’re grabbed from behind?” Susan asked. “How do you get out of that?”
He stepped behind his mate for demo purposes. “There are several things, but what I think would be the easiest is to . . .” Well, shit. He should’ve thought this one through before enacting it. “Uh, is to grab his, uh . . .”
“Balls,” the ladies said at the same time and laughed. Not only was his face hot again, but sweat broke out.
“Scrotum,” him interjected. “Please, ladies. Let’s keep this scientific, shall we?” That earned a round of laughs. He wrapped his arms around his mate’s upper arms. “A guy is more than likely going to grab up here and not at the waist. So that leaves your lower body free to move side to side.” Taking care to follow instructions, his mate gladly rubbed her ass against him side to side. Almost instantly making him hard. Fuck. This was so not good in front of a bunch of near-stranger ladies.
He cleared his throat and whispered into Amie’s ear. “Love, you keep that up and we’ll show them more than defensive moves.” Of course, with shifter hearing the ladies heard every word. A little whoopin’ and hollerin’ followed.
“Okay, back to seriousness. All the woman needs to do is bend forward, slide her hips to the side, and swing her fist back to—”
“Rack in him the cojones,” Scarlet said. “For those who don’t speak Spanish, that would be ‘scrotum,’ scientifically.” With no warning, Amie tore from his arms and ran toward the playground. One of the little ones was about to fall headfirst from the top of the slide.