I woke up feeling unusually irritable. It didn’t take me long to figure out why. I hadn’t gotten my Haven fix the night before, and that made me cranky. Seeing her, spending time with her each night after my shift, even from across a counter, was like having a weight lifted from my shoulders.

I knew what that meant. I was a police officer, trained in and adept at reading between the lines. More importantly, I wasn’t an idiot.

I had it bad for Haven McAlister.

The question was: what should I do about it?

I had always been of the mindset that, with my job, not getting seriously involved with anyone was the smart thing to do. The demands of the job, along with the risks, would put a lot of stress on a relationship. That, in turn, would require a lot of time and effort to maintain that relationship and even more to make it grow. I hadn’t found a woman who had compelled me enough to consider all that extra time and effort was worth it.

Until now.

Haven was gentle and kind and hardworking. People, including me, were naturally drawn to her. She had a smile for everyone, and I had yet to hear her say an unkind word about anyone, even the jerks who stiffed her on tips. After dealing with the kind of things I dealt with every day, she was like a balm to my soul, a reminder of why I did what I did.

My problem was, I was spoiled. I had grown up with parents and grandparents who were still insanely in love with each other after decades of being together. Things weren’t always wine and roses, but there had never been any question that, when push came to shove, they were always there for each other, good times or bad. That was what I wanted. I just wasn’t sure it was possible.

Last night’s conversation with her brother further muddied the waters. My intentions were good ones, but Haven might see it as meddling. If things didn’t work out the way I hoped, it certainly wasn’t going to win me any points.

Joel hadn’t given up Slash or any of the others, but I hadn’t really expected him to. He was seventeen and trying to get through his last year of high school. I wasn’t so old that I didn’t remember what a tough time that could be, nor that being labelled a snitch would make things that much harder. Nobody liked a narc.

He had made a mistake in getting involved with those guys in the first place, and I thought he knew that. My gut told me that Joel was a good kid at heart and regretted it, but now he found himself between a rock and a hard place. No doubt word of what had happened had spread like wildfire. By now, everyone knew about his trip to the precinct and that he had been suspended from school. Slash and his minions were probably biding their time, waiting to see if Joel gave them up.

That was when I realized what it was—a test. An initiation of sorts.

Slash hadn’t gotten to where he was by not being clever. I wouldn’t be surprised to discover that one of the gang had called in the anonymous tip about the stolen goods in Joel’s locker, prompting the search and seizure. They knew there was nothing linking Joel, or the goods, back to them. If we pulled Joel in then started asking them questions, they would know exactly where the information had come from.

However, if Joel kept his mouth shut and bore the weight solely on his own shoulders, he would have passed the test. More challenges would follow, each more difficult than the last, until he eventually became a full-fledged member. I wanted better than that for him.

My time hadn’t been wasted, though. I had learned a few helpful things. The first was that Joel was very protective of his sister. He hadn’t said so, not in so many words, but it had been there, in his eyes, along with an unspoken statement that he would do whatever it took to keep her safe. I knew then that Slash had probably hedged his bets by implicitly or explicitly threatening Haven if Joel started having second thoughts. Intimidation was a strong motivator.

Frankly, I was feeling pretty motivated, too, but for different reasons. The thought of Slash, or anyone else, harassing Haven made me want to eliminate the threat with extreme prejudice. I wanted to keep her safe and erase those worry lines I had seen between her brows.

I also knew that coming down hard on her kid brother wasn’t the answer. If he was half as headstrong as I thought he was, he would dig his heels in even deeper. No, handling this situation would require some finesse.

Hopefully, I had laid some of the groundwork for that last night. I’d let him know that I had a personal interest in the case, and that I would be watching. I wanted him to understand that he wasn’t the only one looking out for Haven, and maybe that would take some of the pressure off and make doing the right thing a little easier.

I hadn’t bothered hanging around after dropping him off at Haven’s place. If Joel really wanted to sneak out, he would, and short of sitting outside his place twenty-four seven, there wasn’t much I could do about it. I had said as much, wanting him to know that one, he was responsible for his own actions, and two, doing so was ultimately a breach of Haven’s trust.

Guilt was a powerful motivator, too.

By midmorning, I was feeling restless. I still had a couple hours before my shift started, so I decided to head over to my grandparents’ bookstore for a visit. I saw them every Sunday at the restaurant for dinner, but I tried to stop by at least once a week, too.

My brother Nick was there, as usual. Nick was an author and spent a great deal of his time at the bookstore, drinking free coffee and crafting his next great novel. He grinned widely when he spotted me. Of course, the guy was always smiling these days, ever since he and Kat had found each other. He’d had a rough time of it there for a while after he had come back from active duty. It did my heart good to see him so happy, even if some tiny part of me was a little envious.

Maybe you could have that, too, a little voice whispered in my ear, with Haven.

The automatic, vehement denial that usually followed a thought like that didn’t come this time.

“Hey, Nick.”

“Hey, Vin. If you’re thinking of grabbing an espresso this morning, don’t,” he warned.

I glanced down at the cup beside him, still full. That was unusual. Our nonna’s espresso was the stuff of legends, strong and dark and rich, and like crack to me and Nick.

Before I could ask, I heard my grandfather muttering curses in Italian from behind the coffee counter. Nick’s warning now made sense. Nonno’s skills weren’t quite up to our grandmother’s level.

“Where’s Nonna Maria?”

“With Great-aunt Florence. Flo fell and broke her hip, so Nonna’s staying with her, helping with the cleaning and cooking and such.”

Another curse sounded from the left, this one particularly explicit, if you knew Italian. Nick and I chuckled.

“He’s having a hard time of it, huh?”

“Yeah. I tried to help, but apparently, I’m no more of a barista than he is.”

I thought of how many customers my grandmother’s coffee and homemade baked goods drew in. “How long is she going to be gone?”

“A couple weeks at least.”

“Well, that’s not good.”

“Know anyone who can make a decent cup of coffee?”

My mind immediately went to Haven. She would be perfect.

I wondered what Nonno would think of Haven. He was a notorious matchmaker and loved to play Cupido. He was the one who had told Nick straight-up that Kat was the one for him the first time he had seen her.

Unfortunately, Haven already had a job, but maybe she would be willing to pick up a couple hours here each morning after her shift at Lindelman’s. I had to admit that I liked the idea.

“I might.”

Nick stared at me, then the corner of his mouth began to curl in a knowing smirk. “You might, huh? That look on your face says a whole lot more than that, Vinnie. You’ve been holding out on me.”

I shifted my weight. “It’s not like that.”

He tilted his head and considered me thoughtfully. “But you want it to be, don’t you?”

“Is that my brother Nicholas talking, or Nick Penn?” Nick Penn was my brother’s nom de plume, the one under which he wrote his steamy romance novels.

His smile widened. “Both. You have to bring her in, Vin. Introduce her to Nonno.” A crash sounded from the left, followed by more cursing. Nick reached for his cup, then grimaced. “Not only will you find out if she’s the one for you, you’ll be saving us all.”