by Lauren Dane
Unreality slid into her. Did the man just ask her for coffee? Still, she managed to hang on to her flirty tone. “All right, if it’s that or go to jail, I suppose I’d better bribe you.”
They walked the two blocks to the Honey Bear Bakery. “Why don’t you grab a table and I’ll get the drinks and cinnamon rolls?” Maggie waved at an open corner table.
Shane blushed. “Oh no! I was just kidding. I’ll buy.”
“Nope, not this time. It’s my treat. Now go on, get a table, I’ll be over in a sec.” Maggie made shoo motions with her hands.
He hesitated for a moment and she could see him wrestling with how he could wrangle his way into paying but he soon gave up and sighed. “Fine. I’ll get us a table.”
At least being alone at the counter and getting the giant rolls and steaming cups of coffee to the table without spilling gave her the chance to concentrate on something other than the fit of his uniform and why in the world he’d be interested in her to begin with. But eventually, she arrived at their table and had to unload the tray and sit down.
“You know, when I went away to school, my dad would mail me these cinnamon rolls at my birthday and holidays.” The pleasant memory of her father cut into the happiness she’d been feeling.
“That was nice. Sounds like something my mom would do.”
“Your mother would bring them herself.” She laughed, thinking about Polly Chase and that mile-long car of hers.
He chuckled. “You know her pretty well then.”
“I happen to think your mother is an amazing woman. So old-world in many ways but she always surprises me with how modern she is. I have to laugh every time I hear the click clack of those heels coming down the hall when the Historical Society meets. Everyone stops messing around and waits patiently and quietly until she comes in. Every time she does the same thing—slams that massive purse of hers down on the table, gives her hair a primp and flops into the chair.”
“According to my father, she started out with a tiny purse back before she had me and it’s gotten bigger over the years. We all thought that when all of us moved out and it was just her and Dad again, it would get smaller.” He shook his head. “But I swear she needs the car just to cart the purse around.”
Maggie burst out laughing. “She came to my house you know—to apologize for you.”
“She’s the ultimate meddler but her heart is in the right place.”
“Hey, don’t complain, you could have Cecelia Wright as your mother.” She winced as it came out, more bitter than she expected. “Oh God, never mind, that just sounded awful.”
“How about this? Why don’t you let me take you to dinner tonight and you can tell me the whole story?”
Her eyebrow went up and a smile played at the corner of her mouth. If she’d been watching herself from a distance she wouldn’t even have suspected her stomach had just run riot with butterflies and she had a mental picture of herself doing the somersault of joy.
“Hmm, well, I’d love to do dinner but I’ll skip the whole my-mother-doesn’t-understand-me story.”
“How about a movie afterward?”
“Okay.” Okay? Yeah, soooo casual. She snickered mentally.
“I’ll pick you up at say, seven? Do you like Italian? We could go to Vincent’s and then, um, I’ve seen the action flick at the Orpheum but there’s a double feature at the drive-in, would that be all right?”
“Are you trying to get me to make out with you at the drive-in, Shane Chase?” Apparently, aliens had taken over her body. Flirty aliens with nerves of steel. She hoped they’d stay until he left or she’d die on the spot.
He turned pink and laughed. “You’ve caught me!” He gave her a grin, white teeth making him look a bit wolfish. “But of course you know I’m a total gentleman now that I took that civility class you recommended.”
She threw back her head and laughed at that. “Okay. I live on the corner of Fourth and Magnolia.” She stood up. “I need to finish my errands. It was nice sharing a cup of coffee and this nine-thousand-calorie cinnamon roll with you. I’ll see you tonight.” He walked with her to the sidewalk and they each headed opposite ways. She hoped the smile he had on was half as big as hers.
Still, she continued to grin like a fool back at home and mixing the bread. She was pretty impressed with the way she’d held it together and stopped herself from jumping up and down squealing with delight.
Her good mood held on until she noticed that she had some messages. Playing them back, a sick feeling replaced her happiness. There were six from Alex. And he’d already called twice before she left the house to start with. Each message she listened to got more intense. The way his voice had started off calm and friendly but turned into something like a sharp snarl on the last message sent a cold chill down her spine. Especially the part where he ordered her to call him immediately and chided her for being gone without letting him know her whereabouts.
It had to end. She’d decided that the night before but she wanted to do it face-to-face. Freaked as she was, she didn’t want to stop seeing him via voice mail, that seemed cruel. Picking up the phone with trembling hands, Maggie called him back but ended up leaving a message that she wanted to talk to him.
She ran the loaves of bread over to the retirement home. She sucked it up and stopped by her parents’ house and Janie’s as well. Best to just get that out of the way. As it happened, she had enough of an emotional high from her afternoon and upcoming date that the visits weren’t too bad and she escaped as quickly as she could.
Back at home, she called Liv and begged for her help to get ready for her big date.
Liv showed up breathless and eager less than five minutes later. “I can’t believe you didn’t call me immediately! Let’s go and get you an outfit while you tell me every last detail.”
Liv pushed Maggie upstairs and made all the right noises as Maggie told her about the afternoon coffee with Shane as she got dressed.
With her usually curly hair blown out straight and captured in a headband, the pleated skirt and sweater made Maggie feel vibrant and sexy too.
“Very collegiate and sassy. Damn I’m good.” Liv looked her work over with a critical eye.
“I know, without this I wouldn’t be going out with a man like Shane Chase at all.”
“Maggie, you need to stop this. You’re still you. I told you before, it’s not like I turned you into something you weren’t. So I added a bit of sparkle. Shane Chase has been mooning after you since that night at The Pumphouse. A night you were covered in chili cheese fries and had your hair in a bun.”
Ducking her head, Maggie hid her blush. She knew it was true but it was hard to overcome what she’d been told all her life. But she was too old to let her mother still make her feel inadequate. Taking a deep breath she stood up straight and held her head up. “You’re right. Thank you. He’s going to be here any minute. I’d better go downstairs. You going out with Shaun tonight?”
“No, I’m going out with Tom Maddox, he’s picking me up in an hour. I should get home now. Speaking of Shaun, what’s up with Alex? What crawled up his ass last night?”
“Oh my God! I forgot that I hadn’t told you about this yet.” Maggie related the whole story of how Alex had acted the evening before as they went downstairs.
“Major red flags are waving with this guy, Liv. He’s seriously creeping me out. He called me eight times today! This guy is seriously not right.”
“No shit. Why didn’t you tell me? You shouldn’t have even let him bring you home last night. You could have slept at my place.”
“I know. It just kept getting worse and worse and it wasn’t until I was sitting here in the dark, wondering if all my locks were working that I realized how truly freaked out I was. Anyway, the little voice said get away and so I am.”
“Well, that’s a good idea, Maggie.” Liv frowned. “Never i
gnore the little voice. Be extra careful around him, okay? You call 911 and then me if he comes around. You know you can come over any time if you’re feeling scared, too. You have a key for a reason.” Liv kissed Maggie’s cheek. “But for now, have a good time and I’ll see you at brunch tomorrow. I expect a full report!”
Grinning as she watched Liv jog down the block that separated their two houses, Maggie saw Shane’s truck pull onto her street. She ducked back into the house to check her hair and lipstick and grab her coat.
She opened the door as he walked up onto the porch and she wasn’t quite sure where her breath went. He seemed to steal all the oxygen from the area where he stood.
While she tried not to gawk, he looked her up and down and smiled. “Wow. You look beautiful.” He reached out to touch her hair. “I like the curls but this is nice, too. You can see all of the different colors of red better this way.”
She blushed. “You’re really good at that. Thank you. You don’t look so bad yourself, Sheriff.” Dark denim jeans hugged his long muscled legs. A black-and-gray sweater brought out the blue in his eyes and contrasted the color of his hair. Man, he looked so good she wanted to grab him and jump on him.
One corner of his mouth rose. “Thank you, Maggie. Shall we then?” He indicated his truck with a tip of his head and she nodded. He helped her into his ridiculously large truck and they drove to Vincent’s. They shared small talk on the way over. Maggie was surprised by how easy he was to talk to.
Heads turned as Shane led Maggie to a dark table in the back. But she soon forgot the scrutiny as they ordered. Dinner was good, conversation came easy and they finished and took off to get to the drive-in before the show started.
Shane parked toward the back as his truck was so high and big it would have blocked the view. He pushed the bench seat all the way back and moved away from the steering wheel and into the center. Bringing him very close to her.
“I brought a blanket. It’s been getting so cold in the last few days. I would have brought beer but you know, being the sheriff means I can’t do illegal things, even when they’d be fun. I did bring snacks, though.” Reaching behind the seat into the rear cab, he pulled out a sack of chocolate, Red Vines and some bottled water.
“You think of everything, Shane Chase.” Maggie moved in a bit closer. It was very nice to be there beside him.
The double feature, two action movies with Bruce Willis, was entertaining. It didn’t matter that the audio wasn’t that good if you could see things blowing up. It was easy enough to follow the plot. By the middle of the second movie Maggie had snuggled up against Shane’s body. Her feet curled under her, his arm around her shoulders, she felt utterly lazy and warm—and very turned on by the way he felt against her. It had been a year since she’d slept with anyone. She’d dated but none of them were people she’d wanted to sleep with. Shane Chase brought a level of physical desire into her life that she wasn’t sure she’d ever felt before.
“Shane?”
“Hmm?”
“I do believe you promised something regarding making out?”
He looked down at her, surprise on his face. She blushed as the surprise heated into something more. “Never mind. I can’t believe I said that out loud. It’s the sugar. I need to stop eating sugar, that’s all there is to it.”
“No way. You said it,” he murmured, moving his head down to her, “and I aim to hold you to it.” A gentle hand at her chin tipped her face to his just as his lips reached hers. Electricity sparked between them, firing her nerve endings to life.
He tasted so good she had to have more. Coming up to her knees, she moved to get better access to his lips. His growl of approval vibrated down her spine and he pulled her to him tightly.
The kiss deepened as his tongue swept out, tracing the curve of her bottom lip before taking it between his teeth and nipping it. She sighed into his mouth as desire roared through her. She didn’t recognize the sound of need that came from deep inside her but he matched it when she sucked on his tongue.
Those big hands caressed her back, leaving tingling, heated flesh in their wake. She wanted them on her thighs, sliding higher, wanted them palming the nipples that throbbed to be touched.
When one of his hands slid up into her hair and fisted, violent shivers racked her. So much need, she felt like she was drowning in it.
He’d been moving his hands down her back to her ass when his phone rang. Stiffening, he pulled back from her lips ever so reluctantly. “I’m sorry, that’s my work phone. I have to get it.”
Too desire-stunned to speak, she nodded her understanding.
“Chase,” he grunted as he answered.
She watched as he went into work mode and the gentle, sexy face turned serious. Straightening her clothes, she sat back down on the seat and reached to turn off the audio so he could hear better.
“Hang on, let me get something to write on.” He grabbed a pad and pen from his overhead visor. “Go,” he ordered and began to scribble information down on the pad. “Yeah, I’ll do it.” Sighing, he snapped the phone shut.
“I’m sorry, Maggie, but I have to go on a call. I’ll drop you home on the way.” Apology was clear on his face as he moved the seat back into place and slid back behind the wheel.
“Don’t be sorry. It’s your job.” She admired her ability to not sound disappointed. She certainly didn’t want the man to feel guilty about being a cop. “I had a really good time tonight. Thanks for dinner and the movies.”
“How about the making out?” He gave her that wolfishly wicked grin—the one that sent a ball of heat straight to her gut—and she laughed.
Before too long they’d navigated out of the parking lot and were on their way back toward her house.
“That too.” She tried not to grin so wide her face would split open. He made her feel giddy.
“So, did I pass?”
“Pass what?”
“Muster. As in, am I second-date material?”
“Ask me and find out.”
“Maggie, can I take you out again? Like say, for ice cream on Tuesday night?”
“Ice cream, huh? It seems you’ve found out my secret. Throw something sweet at me and I’m putty.”
He pulled up in her driveway and started to get out but she patted his arm. “No, go on your call, I can walk to the door.”
He rolled his eyes at her before getting out and walking around the car to help her down. “It’s not so urgent that I’d just throw you at your door.” At her door he kissed her quickly. “I’ll see you Tuesday then? I’ll pick you up at seven.”
“Okay, be safe,” she called out and waved at him as he drove away.
* * *
Maggie walked into the restaurant where she met Dee and Liv for brunch every Sunday and her smile was apparent from across the room.
“So?” Liv asked before Maggie had even finished sitting down.
Maggie looked at both her friends. “So, it was great. We had a lovely dinner and then we went to the drive-in. We watched most of both movies, had a major, major kiss but then he got a work call and had to go. He did ask me out again. We’re having ice cream on Tuesday.”
“Oh my God! Of course you said yes.” Dee grinned back at Maggie.
“Of course she did!” Liv waved her hand as if it were a done deal. “So, is he a good kisser or what? Details, Maggie, we want details.”
“Duh! I tell you I’ve been dreaming about kissing Shane Chase since I was in the fifth grade and he was in the seventh. It was better than any of the times I kissed my pillow, I can tell you that.”
“Dreamy. It’s so romantic, Maggie. You’ve got the man you’ve always wanted.” Dee sighed.
“I don’t have him. I’m dating him. Big difference, especially to a man like Shane Chase. I need to remember that superhot lust is not the same as love.” Maggie shrugged. She had a
tendency to wear her heart on her sleeve and she knew Shane Chase had warning signs all over his very delicious body.
Liv nodded. “I’m glad you said it. It’s good to remember that, Maggie. Sam was a dolt but Shane is big-league because he’s a player. Not in a bad way, he’s not a mimbo, but he’s not a one-woman man either. And he’s one of those men who’s sort of overwhelming with all that testosterone rolling off him. It’s really hot, but heck, it would fry my circuits, too!”
“I know. And I feel like a total hoochie for saying this, but I want to have sex with him. I don’t think I’ve been this horny. Ever.”
“You’re the farthest thing from a hoochie that I can think of. Jeez, woman, you haven’t had sex in a year! And this big old hard-bodied studmuffin strolls into your life. What woman wouldn’t want to have sex with Shane Chase?”
“Hey, if I didn’t have Arthur, I’d totally agree. But I do agree with the assessment that Shane is a nice boy to play with but he’s not the kind to set up housekeeping. You’re old enough to eat dessert first every once in a while, Maggie.” Dee laughed and turned to Liv. “And how was your date with Tom?”
“It was all right. I’d give the date a six and a half out of ten. Speaking of Chase brothers, I bumped into Matt this morning. He’s gotten even better looking since high school.”
“Yes indeed. He’s grown into his looks.” Dee waggled her eyebrows.
“Certainly doesn’t hurt that he works with his body a lot as a firefighter.”
“I’ve contemplated setting my back deck on fire to get him over to my place,” Liv said around a mouthful of waffle.
They all laughed at the idea of Liv in her backyard with lighter fluid and a negligee on, waiting for Matt Chase to arrive.
“Why don’t you just ask him out?”
“Nah, he’s the kind of guy that needs to be in the lead.”
“Hmm, well, I’ll have to think of something to bring the two of you together,” Maggie said thoughtfully.
