Free Head Over Heels by Susan Andersen

expression is ‘until the cows come home.’”
    â€œDogs, cows—whatever. Unless it’s an emergency, I still don’t plan on being there before nine.” Then she surprised him by sagging slightly and shoving her fingers through her hair. The action revealed a pucker of worry between her slender black eyebrows. “More than anything else right now,” she said, “Lizzy needs stability in her life. With Crystal d-dead and her dad a fugitive, I’m all the family she’s got left. Well, except for a stepbrother or half-brother, or some such shirttail relation of Eddie’s. But I don’t even know the man’s name, let alone how to get hold of him, and he’s obviously not all that worried about Lizzy’s welfare, or he’d have called to see how she’s doing.”
    Coop winced, but Veronica waved the statement aside as if it were of no consequence. “The point is: I admit I don’t know beans about parenting, but it seems to me that the most important thing I can do is be there for her as much as possible during her waking hours. I wanted to find a professional to help her deal with the fact that her father’s been accused of murdering her mother, but Fossil isn’t exactly a hotbed for child psychologists. So I’m not leaving for work until she’s tucked in and settled for the night.” Her chin racheted up in determination as she gave him a level look. “Work around it, Cooper. The bar rarely gets busy before nine, anyhow.”
    â€œAll right.”
    Veronica blinked, then narrowed her eyes. “That was almost too easy. So why does it make me suspicious as all get-out?”
    â€œBeats the hell outta me, sweetpea. But if it makes you feel better, I agreed because you made a valid argument. As long as it’s for the kid, you’ll get no argument from me. Start tossing your weight around just because you can, though, and you’ll find yourself looking for a new bartender faster than you can say Sex On The Beach.”
    â€œWhy would I want to say that? Oh! That’s a drink, right?”
    Coop merely gave her a heavy-lidded look, a smile of satisfaction tugging up the corners of his mouth when he saw her immediately bristle.
    Then she brandished a smile so sweet it raised all sorts of warning flags. “And as long as you’re being such a reasonable guy, I should probably also inform you that I plan to run a background check on you.”
    He’d actually been thinking he might have misjudged her, but her little bombshell exploded that fantasy in a hurry. “As in a police check?” he demanded. “The hell you say!” He stepped forward, looming over her.
    She tilted her head back and looked him straight in the eye. “I’ll tell you the truth, Cooper: I don’t honestly believe you’d ever harm Lizzy. But you’re a strange man living in the same house with a six-year-old girl, and I’ll be damned if I’ll risk her safety on a gut feeling. My gut’s been wrong before. So I’m telling you straight out, I’m going to make certain you don’t have an arrest record. And if I find out you do, you’re going to find yourself out on the street so fast your head will spin—and the lease be damned.”
    He couldn’t fault her reasoning, but that didn’t stop him from feeling insulted right down to the bone. He was an honest man. Hell, he was an ex-Marine—he’d spent thirteen years of his life keeping this country safe for people like her. He didn’t take kindly to her thinking he might be some pervert who’d prey on little girls.
    With a sound of disgust, he turned on his heel and headed for the door.
    Veronica’s heart tried to climb into her throat as she watched him go. It was her obligation to protect Lizzy, and running a background check on Coop was just good sense.
    â€œVeronica?”
    She turned to see Kody walking