Doris slammed the gate shut on the trailer. The sound of hoof meeting metal rang out. “Quit acting up, you big ninny.”
“Maybe it’s time to sell Heathcliff to a farm with higher fences,” I suggested.
She shook her head as she limped around to the driver’s side door. “I’ll keep that in mind. Thanks for your help, Chief, Officer Bannerjee.”
We waved her off as she maneuvered the truck and trailer onto the property’s driveway and headed for the road.
The stallion let out an earsplitting whinny.
“I think he just put a curse on you,” Tashi teased as we headed for my dented vehicle.
“Like to see him try.”
My phone buzzed in my pocket and I pulled it out.
Lina: You won’t believe what the town grapevine is reporting now. According to a not-so-reliable source you spent your afternoon herding a horse around town with your SUV.
Me: It wasn’t just any horse. It was Heathcliff the Horrible.
I attached a picture of the horse in question and another one of my dented door.
Lina: You better not smell like horse when you pick me up for dinner.
Me: I’ll see if I can squeeze in a shower between now and then. Have you picked out what dress you’re gonna torture me with?
THIRTY-EIGHT
FIRST DATE
Nash
“This is so cliché,” Lina said when she opened her door.
“A first date is not a cliché.” I was glad I got the words out because the second I clocked what she was wearing, my power of speech vanished.
Her red lips pursed in a flirty pout. “It is when you’ve already had sex.”
I needed a minute to catch the breath she’d knocked out of me.
She was wearing a short black dress. The sleeves were long, but the skirt showed off so much leg I wanted to back her up and bend her over the first flat surface I could find just to see what color underwear she was wearing. Her fuck-me stilettos had a crocodile pattern that proudly said “man-eater.” She’d gone heavier on the makeup, adding some kind of smoky bronze to her lids that made her eyes look even bigger and more sinful.
She was beautiful. Confident. And vaguely annoyed that I was taking her to dinner instead of bed.
I was the luckiest son of a bitch in the world.
“You shaved,” she said when I remained silent.
I ran my hand over my jaw and grinned. “Thought it would make for a smoother ride.”
Her eyes sparkled wickedly and a pink tinge warmed her cheeks. “I don’t mind it rough,” she reminded me.
“I’ve got the scratches to prove it, Angel,” I teased.
“Why don’t we skip this whole date thing and go straight to testing out that baby-smooth face of yours?” she suggested.
My dick reacted like a puppet with its master at the strings.
“Nice try, baby. But you’re getting the full first date experience.”
“Ugh, fine, but I’d like to point out that society says I’m not supposed to sleep with you on the first date,” she reminded me.
“Since when do you follow the rules?” I teased.
“Only when it suits me.”
Which was exactly why I couldn’t afford to play fair.
I produced the small gift box I’d been hiding behind my back. “Got you something.”
She eyed the box like she might a bomb.
“Go on now. Don’t be scared.”
“Scared?” she scoffed and snatched the box out of my hand.
Her face went soft for a second when she pried open the lid. Then her careful mask slid back into place. She was letting me in, but only in inches, and I wasn’t about to lose any ground.
“I’m not supposed to sleep with you on a first date and you’re definitely not supposed to give me jewelry.”
I’d swung by Xandra’s again to talk to her about the initiative I was rolling out and to drop off a toy deputy badge for Alex.
I glanced down at the earrings nestled inside the box. Delicate gold chains ended in sharp, sparkly sunbursts. “I saw them, and I thought of you. Made by the woman who saved my life, worn by the woman who reminded me it’s worth living.”
The mask slipped away again and I saw nothing but pure female enjoyment. “Well, how am I supposed to say no to that?”
“They’re just earrings, Angel. Not a wedding ring. Besides, a portion of the sales go toward a local autism foundation.”
She took a breath and handed the box back to me. “Why do I get the feeling you’re playing me?” she asked as she removed the hoop from her right ear, then liberated an earring from the box.
She expertly found the hole and secured the earring in place, then did the same with her left ear.
“How do they look?” she asked, giving her head a shake.
“Fucking beautiful.”
I chose a swanky Italian place in Lawlerville. Not because they had the best homemade bread in the tricounty area or because I was hoping to keep the whole “us” thing secret. I just wanted a quiet dinner without any distractions. If I’d taken Lina out in Knockemout, we’d be dealing with a whole town of gossips, and if I’d cooked for her at my place, we wouldn’t have made it past appetizers before I’d gotten her naked.
Unfortunately, this meant I had to bribe Nolan with his own dinner at the bar since the marshal wasn’t willing to take the night off.
But at least he was far enough away from our table that I could pretend he wasn’t there. We’d been given a circular booth tucked away in a quiet corner of the dining room, which meant instead of sitting across from each other, we were next to each other on the bench. Beneath the pristine tablecloth, my thigh was pressed intimately against hers. Her foot was hooked companionably behind my ankle.
“Are you immune to the fact that every man in this restaurant watched you walk in and sit down?” I asked her as she dragged a piece of bread through the plate of olive oil.
She glanced up, a sparkle in those beautiful eyes. “If you’re wondering if I notice attention, I do. If you’re asking if I like it, it depends on the situation. Tonight I didn’t hate it.”
I liked that she didn’t pretend. I was starting to understand her brand of honesty. She didn’t lie or tell the truth. She either opened herself up to you or closed herself off from you. And I was starting to get the difference.
“You’re so goddamn beautiful, sometimes I can’t look directly at you,” I confessed.
The slice of bread tumbled to her plate and landed olive oil side down. “Damn it, Nash. Stop sneaking up on me.”
I smirked and reached for my own slice, surprised when I didn’t feel the familiar twinge in my shoulder. I hadn’t really noticed it at all the night before either. It looked like Lina’s miracles weren’t limited to mental health.
“I thought of something else that I need from you,” she announced.
“Name it.”
“I don’t want to sit on the sidelines while you and the boys have all the fun. I want to be on the team. I want to help find Hugo.”
“Angel, you’ll get your car,” I insisted.
Her eyes narrowed as she picked up her glass and sipped. “I know I’ll get the car. What I want to make sure of is that you get your man. That you don’t have to live with the fear that at any point, Duncan Hugo could wake up one morning and decide today’s the day he’s going to eliminate witnesses.”