"Have a seat. Can I get you a drink? I've got water, orange juice or beer," Erin said after showing Jay into her living room.

"Beer sounds good. Thanks."

She left the room and Jay looked around. Her furniture and TV were in place, but there were cardboard boxes placed against one wall. Belongings that were yet to be unpacked, he realised. Most of the rooms probably had similar boxes in. The house smelled of cleaning products, which gave him a clue as to how Erin had spent her morning, and explained why she was dressed less attractively than she had been the day before. Not that she had to be dressed attractively at home, but he would have liked it if she had been.

With no photographs or anything on display as yet, there was nothing to give him any kind of insight into Erin's life. All he knew for sure was that she was a dentist and a meth cook, and that she was on the Ruzek payroll. He sat down on the couch to wait for her.

It suddenly occurred to him that Kim had told him the previous night that Adam had been picked up by the cops and they were trying to pin a murder on him. Yet Jay had just seen him at the house, seemingly in a relaxed mood. The police had been on a fishing expedition, Jay assumed. In any case, Adam Ruzek didn't murder people. He barely even had anything to do with the illegal side of the business. That showed how little the cops actually knew.

"Here you go," Erin said, returning to the room with two opened bottles of beer. She sat down beside him on the couch, rather than on the chair that was at a right angle to the coffee table. Jay was pleased that she didn't choose to put distance between them. He watched as she took a large hit from her bottle. "Ah I needed that after the morning I've had. Been cleaning this place for nearly four hours. The worst part of moving in somewhere new."

"I pay a cleaner to come to my place once every two weeks," he admitted, feeling a bit embarrassed about it.

"Why not, if you have the money? So, Kim told you about coming to work at my dentist office, I assume?"

He sipped from his beer bottle then nodded. "Um hmm. She's got me a job on the reception desk, although I know nothing about admin work or dentistry. What could possibly go wrong?"

Erin giggled, which he liked a lot. Any time he saw that stunning smile on her face did something to him that he hadn't experienced for quite some time. Although they were essentially only just meeting each other, he felt strongly attracted to her.

"Don't worry about that," she said. "Trudy, my receptionist, will teach you how to do your job. It's just booking appointments, calling patients with reminders, and taking payments after they've had treatment. I've no doubt you'll do fine."

"And I'll be able to keep an eye on everyone who comes in. That's why Kim wants me there, obviously."

"Obviously. To be my knight in shining armour if needed. I don't really believe the previous guy was killed as part of some kind of hit though. I think it was a carjacking that went wrong. That's how the witnesses described it anyway."

"Honestly, I don't know. Either way, Kim's making the sensible move by putting protection on you until she's confident she knows for sure what the deal was. I've got to ask this: How does a dentist find her way to cooking meth, then getting a job with the Ruzeks?"

Erin drank some more beer. "How did I know that was going to be the first thing you asked me? Alright, since you're also working for Kim and we're going to be spending a lot of time with each other for the foreseeable future, I guess you ought to know my story. Here goes. My dad knew Adam Ruzek before Adam met Kim, and obviously before they got this... organisation I guess you'd call it? Before they got started, anyway. My dad helped them a lot with making contacts and stuff, and he's worked for them from time to time ever since."

"Interesting," Jay said, and he meant it. Now he knew how a beautiful woman like Erin ended up on the wrong side of law – by following her dad's bad example. But cooking meth wasn't simply being on the wrong side of the law. "I assume your dad doesn't cook meth?"

Erin laughed, which made Jay tingle inside. "No, he sure doesn't. One time, Kim had someone's small time meth operation shut down. Dad got the job of getting rid of the lab out of the guy's house before the cops found it. He took me with him to help. Seeing all the chemistry equipment interested me, and it all went from there really. I studied how to cook meth, realising there could be a lot of money in it if Kim ever needed me. She had me learn the formula her guy used, the guy who just got killed. I did a few trial cooks for her that went well. Honestly, I think her plan was to have me replace him soon anyway. The timeline just got moved up, I guess."

"Damn," Jay said. It was notable how Erin clearly didn't care about, or hadn't even thought about, the damage the product she was going to make would do to people. She did it because she enjoyed the chemistry, and wanted the money.

She shrugged at his reaction. "With the extra money, I'll be able to retire way earlier than I could as a dentist. My ambition is to finish working sometime in my forties then travel the world and experience as many countries and cultures as possible before I die. I told Kim I want to get out in ten years, and she agreed."

"You're sure she'd let you walk away?"

"Sure," Erin said comfortably. "This isn't an action movie, Jay. Kim and I are close. I'm not someone low on the food chain who they might get rid of. I'm one of the people at the top of the food chain. And it's your job to keep me safe."

Damn, Jay thought again. Her attitude would have alienated some people, but he liked it, and respected it. Erin wasn't some good looking chick who happened to know a bit of chemistry, she was an alpha female. Very much his type. The only thing he didn't like was the possibility that she might see him as some employee she could order around. It was time to show his own alpha credentials.

"Well, good for you. But to be clear? Yes, it's my job to keep you safe. That means when we're together and I tell you to do something, you do it. No arguing, no debate, certainly no refusing. I'm the one in charge. Because if you get killed, it's likely that I do too. And that would mean my daughter growing up without her dad. She already lost one set of parents. I'll be damned if she's going to experience that pain again. Not for you, not for anyone."

He had noticed that Erin seemed to look him with more respect now that he had laid the law down to her. Maybe there had been a hint of attraction in her eyes too. But no, that was wishful thinking, he reasoned. Now though, she looked saddened by Clem's story.

"You adopted her? What happened to her parents, the poor little soul?"

"Car accident. They got taken out by a truck, and I mean taken out. Driver was on his phone and hit them head on going like sixty. They had no chance. Clem was home with a sitter at the time. She was four."

"Shit. Horrific," Erin said, her eyes damp with tears. "You and your ex did a wonderful thing adopting her."

"Yeah. The one good thing I came out of that relationship with. Hailey became really high maintenance, and just a nightmare to live with. We're civil now because of Clem, but we don't get along."

Erin finished her beer, eyeing him carefully. "There's no getting back with her then?"

Jay matched her by finishing his beer too. He found her question interesting. Why did she want to know that? "God, no. I'm best off out of that relationship, and she probably thinks she is too. How about you, are you with someone?" Since her dad and a buddy of her dad had helped her move in, he figured he already knew the answer.

"No. Not for about a year now. Another beer?"

"Why not?" Jay decided, not needing to think about it. He liked being around Erin way more than sitting in his own empty house.

"Be right back."

Jay watched her walk out of the room. Even in those jeans, her ass looked great. It had been a while since he had been with a woman, much less one as hot as Erin, which had his sex drive working at high capacity. Although having only just met her, he allowed his mind to try and imagine fucking her. He imagined her panting out his name in that sexy voice of hers.

"More beer," Erin said, returning to the room with two open bottles.

Jay took one. "Thanks. So, before becoming a meth cook... dentistry?" he asked, mainly for the sake of having something to distract him from thinking about having sex with her.

She sat down next to him again and took a sip from her bottle. "Yeah. I always wanted to be a dentist, for as long as I can remember. It's something I enjoy, and it pays well. Having my own office is something I've very proud of."

"What's the place called?"

"Sunny Smiles Dental Surgery."

Pretty cringe, Jay thought, not that he would say so. "Are you the only dentist there?"

"No. There's me and my dental assistant Amanda Rose. Mandy. And then there's another dentist called Bayley Martinez, and her assistant Alexa Bliss. Plus Trudy on reception, and now you as well. It's a lovely little business, and a perfect cover."

"I see," Jay said, nodding. "And you no longer working there Mondays won't seem odd? Kim told me Monday is cook day."

"We've never opened Mondays. We're open Tuesday through Saturday, but only Bayley works Saturdays, not me."

Jay nodded again. "That's ideal then."

"It's all been thought through in detail," Erin assured him. "So, how about you? How long have you worked for Kim? I've heard your name in passing, but not much about you."

"A few years," he said vaguely. "Since Hailey and I split. For me it's all about earning money for Clem. I was a single dad with a job at the docks which didn't pay much money. That was never going to put her through college and set her up for her life. I had no prospects of getting a better job legally, then a friend of mine offered to introduce me to someone who might be able to give me some work. That someone was Adam Ruzek. He took a liking to me from day one, and he and Kim have always looked after me. Thanks to them, I have a nice amount of clean money put away for Clem already."

Erin smiled. It was a kind, understanding smile. "Maybe a lot of people wouldn't get why you've done what you've done, but I do. You've been doing whatever you can to be a good dad. I respect that a lot."

"Thank you. Clem will always be my number one priority."

Erin's smiled became one with humour in it. "And now I'm number two."

"Yeah, I guess you are."

A/N: What do you make of the background we discovered for our two main characters?

Jay is already attracted to Erin, quite strongly. Do you think she is feeling anything for him?

Next time, it'll be Erin's first day at the meth lab, and of course Jay's too. How do you think that will go?