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drinking instant coffee?” Lacey asked from behind her.
    Startled, Sydney spun around, sloshing hot liquid down the front of her robe.
    “Please don’t sneak up on me like that!” She grabbed a sponge from the sink and dabbed up the stain. “Why aren’t you at school?”
    “Why are you drinking instant?” Lacey crossed her arms over her wrinkled blouse. Her hair, streaked green today, hung limply over her shoulders and looked like it could use a good washing.
    Sydney dumped her coffee down the sink. “Because we ran out of the other kind.”
    “What am I supposed to drink?” she asked, as if the world revolved around her getting coffee in the morning.
    “I’ll stop at the market today.” She dropped the jar in the recycling bin under the sink, and, turning back to her daughter, gasped. “Good God, what have you done to your face?”
    “Isn’t it cool?” Lacey reached up to press a finger to her slightly swollen, newly pierced eyebrow.
    Breathe, Sydney. Don’t kill her, just breathe. It was Lacey’s way of taking control of her otherwise chaotic life. And it wasn’t permanent, that was all that mattered. Although she couldn’t help thinking tattoos would be next.
    She tried to remain calm. “Honey, you already have ten holes in each ear. If you keep puncturing your head it’s going to deflate.”
    Lacey rolled her eyes. “Ha-ha.”
    “Why aren’t you in school?”
    She touched her brow and cringed. “I have a headache.”
    Yeah, right. “Tough. Take two aspirin and get your butt to school. If you want to mutilate your body, you’re going to have to live with the consequences.”
    “Fine,” she grumbled. “I need a note for the office.”
    After Lacey left, Sydney showered and dressed, and because she’d forgotten to buy a gift yesterday, whipped up a quick chicken casserole to present to her new neighbor.
    Call her manipulative, but if she was going to have to live next door to a cop, she might as well try to get on his good side.
    Sydney stepped outside and cut across the grass to the house next door. She knocked and barely ten seconds passed before Deputy Valenzia appeared in the doorway. He hadn’t shaved since yesterday, and the thick dark stubble made him look…dangerous. In her experience, most cops were.
    He folded his arms across that impressively wide chest and said, “Don’t tell me you hit it again.”
    She forced a smile and held out the casserole dish. “I brought you a housewarming gift.”
    He opened the door, stepping out onto the porch, and she instinctively took a step back. Holy cow, he was big. Tall and trim with just the right amount of muscle in all the right places.
    Perfect.
    He took the dish from her, their fingers barely brushing. There it was again, that annoying zing of awareness.
    “I didn’t introduce myself yesterday,” he said, holding out a hand for her to shake. “Daniel Valenzia.”
    The absolute last thing she wanted to do was touch him, but she couldn’t be rude, either.
    “Sydney Harris.” She slipped her hand into his and he clasped it firmly. Possessively.
    It was the stupid badge he wore. That was the only reason she felt so nervous. It wasn’t his rough palm against hers or the sexy grin that heated her blood. Or the fact that he seemed in no hurry to let go.
    She pried her hand from his and gestured over her shoulder toward home. “Um, I should probably—” She was interrupted by the unmistakable howl of a crying baby. Deputy Valenzia had a baby?
    No way.
    “Shoot, she’s awake.” He yanked the door open. “Don’t go anywhere. I’ll be right back.”
    “But—”
    “Give me two minutes,” he called as he disappeared into the house, then added in his cop voice, “Don’t leave!”
    She should have left right then, but curiosity got the best of her. Two more minutes wouldn’t kill her, right?
    She knew Deputy Valenzia wasn’t married, so he must have been babysitting for a friend, although he didn’t exactly strike her as the