She clamped her jaw shut to keep all the words she couldn’t say from spilling out. Hottie didn’t order Graham to step back as he should. Famous football players could do whatever they wanted.

Fortunately, the cop only did a visual body search. Until he spotted a suspicious bulge in the pocket of her jeans. “Ma’am, I’m going to have to search you.”

She couldn’t say a word in her defense, not while Graham stood there taking this all in with sadistic satisfaction. She gritted her teeth as Hottie patted her down.

He was professional. He only used the backs of his hands. But it was still humiliating. Here she stood, at the mercy of two virile men—one of them touching her, while the other might as well have been, considering how closely he was watching.

The cop pulled the package of peanuts from her pocket, examined it, then handed it back to her.

“We sure appreciate the great job you officers do to keep us safe.” Graham’s cornpone sincerity made her want to puke.

“How long has she been stalking you?” Hottie asked.

“Hard to say. I didn’t realize it until a couple of days ago. That taillight gave her away.” While she gnashed her teeth at her own stupidity, Graham was tightening the vise around her. “She was a chatty little thing when I confronted her last night, but she doesn’t seem to have much to say now.”

Officer Hottie turned his attention back to her. “Do you mind if I have a look in your car?”

She knew the law. He couldn’t search her car without probable cause, but Graham’s accusation had given him that. And would Cooper continue to believe she was harmless if he knew about her Glock? She needed to disclose where it was before the officer began his search.

She started to cough, pounding her chest with her fist and doing her best to muffle her words so her lack of a British accent might go unnoticed. “Make him... go away... first.” More coughing. “Then you can... look.”

The fake coughing made her choke for real, and the cop took her words as permission to search, but he was enjoying rubbing shoulders with one of the city’s most famous athletes too much to tell Graham to step away. Instead, Hottie ordered her into the back of his squad car.

She watched through the smudged window with mounting dread as Hottie opened the passenger door with Graham observing. It took the cop less than ten seconds to find the Glock. Graham turned toward the squad car, and even through the window, she could see his fury.