Free You Dropped a Blonde on Me by Dakota Cassidy Page A

little old lady for your crappy parenting. I think it’s time you roll, buddy.”
    “Was that a threat?”
    “Did it feel like one?”
    Fin’s eyes narrowed. “I think it did.”
    “I thought cars were your thing. Seems like maybe it’s rocket science.” Though Campbell’s face remained impassive and outwardly unimpressed, she felt his tension, saw the muscles in his back flex. That she took a moment to note there were two very different sides to Campbell Barker was a testament to how he’d affected her in just the matter of a day. He’d thrown a gauntlet down on her behalf, and it left her all atwitter.
    However, it was so on if the look on Finley’s face was on point. Maxine knew she had to step in and step in fast. It came naturally, saving the man she’d been married to for twenty years from all forms of kerfuffles. Finley’s temper was legend. She was keeper of the legend.
    She’d been smoothing things over to keep peace with anyone who got Fin’s goat for a very long time, and the habit was hard to break. “Campbell?” She wrapped her fingers around his upper arm, noting the bulk, fighting the urge to revel in its smooth texture. “I think we have to go. Isn’t Dog the Bounty Hunter on tonight? We don’t want to miss that. I mean,” she gave him a pointed look, “it’s Dog .”
    In an instant, Campbell was once again the man she’d been reunited with in the parking lot of the Cluck-Cluck Palace. His eyes cleared from the haze of anger, and his broad shoulders relaxed. With his free hand, he used an index finger to trail a gentle line down her nose. “You’re right. I’d be so disappointed if we missed Dog .” Turning to Fin, he smiled and said, “So I guess we’re out. I assume you know the way back to the gatehouse. And if not, I bet that fancy GPS can tell you.” Entwining his fingers with Maxine’s, they left a frustrated, red-faced Finley in their wake.
    While they plodded back up the hill to the tune of Fin’s car going in the other direction, Maxine had to fight to keep from sighing in girlish bliss. Campbell’s hand, callused, tanned, swallowing hers up whole, offered a security she was pretty sure she’d never quite experienced in this way.
    And she had to remind herself she wasn’t up for any more experiences just now. “You can let go now,” she said with a quick glance over her shoulder. “He’s gone.”
    But Campbell’s grip became tighter. “He’s an ass.”
    “Yeah. He’s an ass.” She showed her solidarity, quiet in tone, completely unconvincing, but solidifying nonetheless.
    “Any reason in particular you’re so afraid of him?” He asked the question with a ring of protectiveness to his voice.
    “I’m not . . . afraid.” Not at all. I’m careful.
    “You’re not exactly not afraid.”
    Her sigh was jagged and embarrassed. How could she possibly explain the kind of Vulcan mind meld her soon to be ex had on her? It made no sense to rational human beings of sound mind and body. She knew that, yet she couldn’t begin to describe the kind of uproar Fin left her stomach in every time she had to deal with him, during their marriage and in its current aftermath. “Finley’s imposing. He—I—”
    “Imposing isn’t the word I’d use. Showing his ass is.”
    “That’s more than a word.”
    “He’s more than a word, Max. He’s a lot of words. Some I probably shouldn’t repeat in front of a lady.”
    She giggled. “It’s okay. I say them in my head about him all the time.” If only she could use her outdoor voice when she thought them.
    Still holding her hand, Campbell stopped when they reached Mr. Hodge’s, handing over Jake’s leash. Dusk had begun to settle, the pink and orange sky reflecting in his blue eyes. “Then why don’t you say them out loud and to him? He needs a good verbal assault.”
    Looking down at her sneakers, Maxine fidgeted in his grasp. “You don’t know Finley.”
    “And I don’t think I want to. So why do you let