That Perfect Moment. Carmen Green

taking care of that.”

      She looked between the two Hoods. “You’re standing here with me, doing nothing. I’m trying to stop him from killing me, something you’re obviously incapable of doing.”

      “You’d have been shot whether I was here or not. Lucky for you I was here.”

      Ben looked around, covered his mouth as he was leaving and coughed stupid into his hand. “I’m going outside to talk to Xan. Stressed,” he said to Zach as he eyed Kim.

      They were alone now, and Zach had backed her up to her bedroom doorway. “What’s this really about, Kim? Are you stressed out?”

      “I was shot!”

      “You were grazed.”

      “It doesn’t matter. Maybe he’s the psycho who’s been leaving me notes. Did you interrogate him?”

      Zach shook his head. “He’s not our guy.”

      Frustrated, Kim crossed her arms over her chest. “How do you know? You only met him for five minutes. He has a gun, and he’s obviously got anger issues.”

      “I accused him of trying to kill you, and he wet his shorts.”

      Despite her frustration, her anger took a nosedive. She and Zach shared a moment of silence, and she tried hard to hide her smile. So did Zach.

      “Yikes.”

      “Yeah,” Zach said. “Not our man.”

      To keep her smile locked in, Kim curled her lips into her mouth. “Are the police already here?”

      “Yeah. They arrived just as the, uh, urine ran from the bottom of his khaki shorts to the top of his knee-high tube socks.”

      She nodded. That was Paul’s uniform. The seventy-eight-year-old man wore shorts even in the winter. He claimed he never got cold.

      “What will happen to him?” Kim asked.

      “We’re going to dissect his life to be sure he doesn’t have any crazy secrets, and then he’ll be cited for firing a weapon without a permit.” Zach no longer looked lethal or concerned. In fact, he looked disappointed. “You weren’t in the laundry room as we discussed.”

      Kim shook her head. “I couldn’t make it. I was scared. Like when I was a—I mean—I just couldn’t get there.”

      His gaze raced over her. Not like she was a client, either. “Finish your sentence,” he told her. “Like when?”

      They were now at the top of the stairs. His brothers were still outside with the police, and he wasn’t letting her slip of the tongue go. She’d never talked about her past to anyone. It was a secret for a reason, though no longer classified. But she liked to keep her past private.

      She put on her judge’s face for Zach. “I didn’t make it because I was afraid. Getting under the bed was childish, so what is the big deal? It was Paul. Can I get some coffee now, please?”

      “Zach, the police chief just arrived. He wants to talk to the judge. He’s angry,” Rob added from downstairs.

      “Hold him for five minutes, then bring him into Kim’s office.”

      “Let me check my face.” In the mirror, Kim saw the bruise and knew it would get uglier before it would go away. She’d been lucky. Damn lucky. She did have a lot to thank Zach for. Her hair glittered with the slivers of glass from the window. Today’s mishap would be an all day beauty correction she hadn’t counted on. Again, she reminded herself she’d invited Hood Inc. into her life, and now she needed to cooperate in every way, including controlling her temper.

      “Ready?” Zach asked, sticking his head into her dressing room.

      A shiver raced over her. She still wasn’t accustomed to having a man in her home, and in her life, but Zach was different in a more masculine, commanding way. She fanned her face, dabbed the wound that was only slightly swollen. “Yes, I’m ready.”

      The two headed down the stairs and Kim quickly got her coffee before sitting on her comfortable sofa.

      “Kim, don’t tell him too much.”

      “I don’t know anything.”

      “You know why you chose us.”

      She shrugged and nodded. “His office wasn’t taking my concerns seriously.”

      “Judge Thurman,” Rob said from behind them to get their attention. “The police chief would like to ask you some questions.”

      The chief had just celebrated his fifty-ninth birthday, his balding scalp ringed with what remained of his hair. He wasn’t a blustery man, but he was persistent in a silent, intense way. He made her uncomfortable in his effort to intimidate, only because he annoyed her. She normally excused herself from his circle at cocktail parties, but today she was his focus.

      She would make this quick and as pain free as possible. “What can I do for you, Chief Vorhees?”

      “Why would you go with Hood and not a law abiding group like, oh, say, the cops?”

      “Look here—” Zach started, when Kim reached over and squeezed his hand.

      “Hood Investigations is a law abiding group, and they do what your officers didn’t do, which is to believe me. I called your office Friday, the day my assistant and I were attacked and nearly kidnapped, and we were told that someone would take a report. Are you here to do that today?”

      He had the audacity to look insulted. “Hardly.”

      “Exactly why I chose Hood. They get results. While your officers were on my detail, someone has been trying, and rather successfully, to break into my house—”

      “That’s not true.”

      Zach nearly spoke and Kim raised her hand a bit, keeping her voice low and controlled.

      “—through my keeping room. And your officers, who have been on my security detail, have been sitting around with their thumbs up their asses, doing who knows what, as I’m about to be killed. Excuse me, Rob, for my bad language. But Chief, I’ve all but let the fox into the henhouse. Or are they the foxes?”

      “I can assure you that they are not.” He laughed uncomfortably. Alone. “I can guarantee your safety, Judge.”

      “Really? Even Hood couldn’t promise me that.”