by J. S. Cooper
“I don’t think that sounds like a good idea.” Jeff’s voice was gruff. “Betsy is prone to accidents.”
“That’s why I’ll be there. To catch her when she falls.”
“Still not a good idea.” Jeff shook his head. “Surfing is dangerous.”
“Not really,” Nick replied. “Plus, I’m a professional. I would never put Betsy in danger.”
“You might not think you were putting her in danger, but you can’t be watching her every second.”
“If I want to surf, I can surf,” I interrupted them. “Maybe classes would be fun.”
“And I’d be a great teacher.”
“Maybe there are other things you could also teach her,” Nanna said then smiled. “Oh silly me, those words came out wrong.”
“Also, I’d love to take you on a date, Betsy.” Nick grinned at me. “I’m a lucky boy that you’re still single.”
“Isn’t fate funny?” Nanna beamed again. “Don’t you think so, Jeff?”
“What?” he snapped and then immediately apologized. “Sorry, Nanna. Was just thinking about something.”
“No worries, dear. I’m sure you must be stressed out fighting all the criminals in Canyon Beach.” I looked at Nanna to see if she was being sarcastic, but her expression was sincere. “So how’s your dating life, Jeffrey? Got you a nice girl, do you?” I held my breath as I waited for his answer. His eyes met mine for a few seconds and then he just shook his head. “No, I’m a confirmed bachelor.” He chuckled slightly. “I’m not made for relationships.”
“Well, that’s a shame, honey.” Nanna patted him on the shoulder. “Maybe you’ll be inspired by Betsy and Nick, here.”
“Nanna!” I glared at her. “There is no Betsy and Nick.”
“Yet.” Nick winked, and I blushed at his look. “I fully intend to buy all your kisses at the auction.”
“Oh …” I looked at him as he ran his hands through his hair and I wondered what it would be like to kiss him. I was a little surprised by Nick. He barely knew me, and I wasn’t really sure where any of this was coming from.
“I know you’re most probably wondering why I’m here and asking you out.” Nick gave me a rueful smile as if reading my mind. “But I’ve always had a thing for you, Betsy Montgomery. I can still remember you as a sweet girl of fifteen. I never got my shot then, but I’ll be darned if I don’t get my shot now.”
I gazed at him in surprise. “I never knew you even noticed me in high school.”
“Yeah, I always thought you were the most beautiful girl Canyon Beach had ever seen.” He nodded. “Never have been able to get you off of my mind.”
“Why, isn’t that sweet?” Nanna said. I looked over at her, but she was staring at Jeff. “It’s so important that a man knows what he wants and goes for it. Makes a girl feel ever so special, doesn’t it, Betsy?”
“Yes, I guess so.” I nodded, not knowing what else to say.
“I dare say that it’s the men who can commit and give a woman a future who are the happiest in life. Why, look at Nolan and Jules.” She beamed. “That’s a couple that was meant to be.”
“Some guys just know what they want,” Nick said meaningfully, and I noticed a thoughtful look in Jeff’s blue eyes as he gazed at Nick and then at me.
“What do you want, Betsy?” he asked me. His tone was light, but his eyes were piercing.
“What do you mean?” I asked him, my throat feeling blocked all of a sudden. I tried to laugh to lighten the mood and moved over to the cupcake counter. “What do you guys want? Cupcakes on the—” I cut myself off. Nanna was giving me a meaningful look. “We have a new special in the store now. Buy six cupcakes and get a free coffee.”
Nanna nodded and then walked toward me. “I have bingo this afternoon, honey. I’ll see you at your parents’ dinner this weekend.”
“Oh, sure, Nanna.” I gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. “Thank you once again for everything.”
“Stop worrying, princess. The store will be fine, and you’ll have your Prince Charming very soon.” She winked at me. “He may even be in this store.”
“No, Nanna.” I shook my head. “I don’t think so.”
“I know so.” She looked back at Nick and Jeff and smiled contentedly. “That man loves you with all his heart. I recognize true love when I see it. He will be your husband, you will see.”
I stared back at the two guys, and all I could see was Nick grinning at me, while Jeff scowled into his phone.
“The eyes, the eyes tell the whole story. You can’t lie with your eyes. Yes, yes.” She patted me on the shoulders. “Look at his face, dear, and look in his eyes.” And then she walked back to the two men. “It was great seeing you both. I hope that you both have a great week. Nick, take my granddaughter on a date, you will both have fun. And Jeff, stay safe.” She turned back and gave me a small smile. “Bye, my love.”
And with that, she was walking out of the store and I was left with the two men.
Jeff strode over to me with a glare on his face, his fist clenched. “We need to talk,” he hissed.
“I can’t talk right now.” I shook my head at him. “I have customers.”
“You have me and Nick.”
“Sorry.” I bit down on my lower lip. “Not right now.”
“Betsy, I’m not asking you. I’m telling you.” He pushed his shoulders back and stood tall. He looked intimidating and very hot as he stood in front of me. “You’re going to go and give Nick a cupcake and cup of coffee, and then he’s going to leave and you’re going to close the store and we’re going to talk.”
“Um, excuse me? I’m not closing the store. You already know the store isn’t doing well. I need all the money I can get.”
“I will buy out all the cupcakes you have left, and I will order coffees for all the staff and officers working at the station today.” He stared at me. “I don’t care about the cost. We can deliver everything before we talk.”
“I-I can’t do that,” I stammered as I glanced at him. “That’s crazy. You’re not rich, Jeff.”
“Betsy.” He blinked at me. “We’re doing it. Go and serve Nick.”
“You’re so infuriating.” I glared at him.
“You know you don’t want Nick.”
“You don’t know what I want.”
“I was in your bed last night.” He grinned at me. “I know what you want.”
“My nanna thinks Nick is going to be my husband,” I blurted out at him. True, Nanna hadn’t said Nick, but I was pretty sure she had been talking about him. I mean, he had been the one staring at me the entire time she had been in the store.
“Is that what you think?” He pinned me with his gaze, and I pursed my lips. How the hell did I answer that question with Nick standing right there? I wanted Jeff to be my husband. I wanted him to be my everything, but if he was never going to want to give me a commitment, then I was going to have to move on. I was going to have to find someone who would really and truly love me, and if Nanna thought that that person was Nick, who was I to disagree?
Chapter 13
Jeff
“You had no right to tell Nick to leave.” Betsy’s voice was sharp as we walked to the police station with four boxes full of cupcakes. She continued complaining to me about my need to be a dominant alpha male and how she couldn’t believe I had escorted him out of the store. I just grinned to myself. She hadn’t been willing to take care of the issue, so I did what I had to do. And I had no qualms about being high-handed and telling Nick it was official business. It wasn’t like she had disagreed with me when I’d said that.
“It’s fine, Betsy,” I said finally as we stopped outside the station. “He’ll live, and I’m sure that you will get a chance to talk to him again soon.” I stopped myself from rolling my eyes or banning her from ever seeing him again.
“Hmm.” She glared at me, her breasts heaving as she studied my face. “What is it you want to talk about then?”
“Can we deliver the cup
cakes first?”
“Sure.” She looked up at me. “It must be a pretty important conversation if you were willing to pay seven hundred and forty dollars for it.”
“With no discount, I might add.”
“I can’t give discounts anymore.” She smiled at me then, and I felt myself releasing a breath I hadn’t known I’d been holding in.
“Understandable.” I grinned at her. “I’ll survive without the hookups, but will Jules be able to?”
Betsy groaned. “You’re horrible.” She laughed, and all I wanted to do was kiss her. “What?”
“What what?” I asked as I stared at her lips.
“You’re looking at me funny. Do I have some frosting on my face or something?”
“Nah.” Then, because I wasn’t going to be able to stop myself from kissing her much longer, I added, “Let’s go inside.”
We walked into the station, and, of course, Max was standing at the intake desk chatting with Maria, one of the clerks. He looked up and burst into a grin when he saw Betsy behind me.
“Hey, sexy panties.”
“Max,” I growled at him, and he laughed.
“So gone, so gone.” He shook his head and raised an eyebrow at me. “What’s in the boxes?” He nodded his head toward my hands.
“I bought out the cupcake store, but you’re not having any, man.”
“Daammmn.” He let out a low whistle. “What sorta spell you put on my boy, Betsy?”
“I’m not sure what you’re talking about, Officer Fernandes,” she replied stiffly.
“Officer Fernandes, huh?’ He laughed. “Is that what she calls you, Officer Evian?”
“Max.”
“Bust out the handcuffs, do ya?”
“What?” Betsy said, her face bright red. “What are you talking about?”
“I like a little role-play myself. That’s why I always lead with the fact that I’m a cop when I meet the ladies. They love it. Eat it up.” He grabbed the top box from my hands, opened it up, grabbed a cupcake out of the box, and took a big bite. “And then they eat me up,” he added, licking the cream cheese frosting off of the top of the cupcake.
“Really?” I couldn’t stop myself from smiling as I shook my head at him. “Not appropriate in front of the lady.”
“I’m fine,” Betsy said, her back straight.
“Yeah, she’s fine. I don’t know what you heard, Jeff, but Betsy ain’t no lady with those crotchless panties. Easy access and all that.” Max threw his head back and started laughing. I inched toward him and shoved the boxes into his arms.
“Enough,” I growled at him under my breath. “One more crack like that and let’s just say you’ll have a hard time getting it up for the next six months, easy access or not.”
“Whatever, dude. Chill.” He rolled his eyes at me. “Never thought I’d see this day.”
“See what day?” I narrowed my eyes at him.
“The day that Jefferson Evian fell for a woman.”
The words crashed over me like the waves onto the rocks by the pier. I felt my entire body stiffening, and an uneasy feeling spread through me. I stared at him for a few seconds and he just laughed again. I turned to Betsy, who was staring at us both in confusion. Her beautiful face made me still. I stared at her, and for what felt like the first time in my life, I really and truly saw her. The way her eyes rested upon mine, challenging and trusting, her parted pink lips, the wave of her long blond hair, the darker eyebrows that framed her eyes, her long legs, her strong arms, and the tilt of her chin that indicated she was obstinate, brave, and not to be messed with.
She was beautiful in so many ways. She was everything I could have asked for in a woman and yet, I knew that there was no point in pursuing anything further with her. I knew that eventually, I would only make her cry. I knew because I saw the similarities between myself and my father. I looked like him, but more than that, we had similar temperaments, and while I thought that I would never shout and argue with Betsy the way my father did with my mom, how was I to be sure? I would hate to cause my Betsy the same pain my dad had caused my mother.
“Put the boxes down, Betsy,” I said looking away from her. “Maria, will you let everyone know that there are free cupcakes available? Courtesy of Betsy & Elsie’s Yummy Cupcake Store, and that they should show their gratitude by dropping by and buying some cupcakes and coffees. Not today, though. The store is closed for the rest of the day.”
“But you—” Betsy started, and I shook my head with a smile.
“I did nothing.” I grabbed the boxes from her hand and placed them on Maria’s desk. Maria looked at me, annoyed. I knew she would have at me tomorrow. It was not her job to give anyone any free cupcakes.
“Max, why don’t you help Maria here, yeah?” I slapped him on the shoulder and turned to Betsy. “Come, let’s go.” I grabbed her hand and quickly escorted her out of the station.
“Evian, aren’t you meant to be on duty?” Max called out after me.
“Tell the sheriff that I’ve taken the rest of the day off sick. Something’s come up,” I replied, and with that, I walked out of the door, Betsy looked up at me, curiosity in her eyes.
“What’s going on?”
“You’ll see,” I told her with a smile. “Let’s go back to my place first, so I can change.”
“Do you have to change?” she asked with a twinkle in her eyes.
“Oh?” I looked down at her and noticed she was licking her lips slightly in that sexy way that she did.
“I like the uniform.”
“Really?”
“It makes you look …” Her voice trailed off, and I took a step toward her, grinning down at her.
“It makes me look what?”
“Nothing.” She shook her head.
“It makes me look what?”
“Hot,” she admitted with a blush.
“You think I’m hot?”
“Duh” She rolled her eyes at me, “as if you didn’t know that.”
“I know. I just wanted to hear you say it.”
“You’re insufferable.” She hit me in the shoulder.
“I want you.” I grabbed her hands and pulled her toward me. “I want you so badly, Betsy Montgomery.”
“Then have me,” she answered breathlessly.
“We’ve been through this.” I shook my head. “We can’t do more than we’ve done already.”
“Why not?” She cocked her head to the side. “Because you don’t want a relationship?”
“I don’t want to hurt you.”
“Whatever, Jeff.” She rolled her eyes. “I’m a big girl.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means that if you’re not willing to man up, then I will find someone who is.”
“Who? Nick?” I glared at her. “That would just be perfect, wouldn’t it?”
“At least he wants me.”
“I want you as well.” I pulled her tighter so that she could feel exactly how much I wanted her. “I want you, but I can’t give you a commitment.”
“Who says I want one from you?” She pressed her lips lightly against mine. “Maybe all I want is for you to fuck me in your cop’s uniform and handcuff me to the bed and tell me what a naughty girl I’ve been.”
I stared at her in shock. Had she really just said those words? What was this girl doing to me?
“Is that what you want?”
“Yes.” She nodded, breathing deeply. “And to make you comfortable, we only have to do it once. That way you don’t have to worry about hurting me or whatever.”
“Once?” My heart was beating rapidly as I stared at her.
“Unless you don’t want to.”
“I could bend you over right here and now and fuck your brains out, Betsy. Trust me, I want you.” It wasn’t my attraction to her that was the issue. “What about Nick?” I wanted to see how she would react to Nick’s name.
“What about him?” She rested her palm on my hard cock through my
pants and rubbed. I groaned, not wanting her to stop. I wanted her to unzip my pants, make her drop to her knees, and take me in her mouth. I needed to feel her warm breath on my cock. Fuck it! She was going to make me forget my own name if she kept this up.
“Come on.” I grabbed her hand. “I’m taking you back to my place, and I’m going to fuck you so hard that you’ll be begging me to never stop.”
“In your uniform?”
“We’ll see,” I said. “I’ll wear the uniform if you wear something for me.”
“What’s that?” She looked confused. “I have no costumes. Asides from that pirate outfit I wore a few years ago for Halloween.”
“I want you to wear your crotchless panties.”
“Oh.” She blushed. “Really?”
“Yes.” I grinned. “Nothing but those panties.”
“Deal.” She grinned back. “But they’re back at my place.”
“So then let’s go there, then.”
“Now?”
“Yes.”
“But I thought you wanted to talk.”
“We can talk later,” I said, all thoughts of the discussion I wanted to have gone from my mind. “It can wait.”
“You sure?”
“Sure.”
“So we’re playing hooky just so that we can have sex?”
“I guess so.” I laughed, and she joined in. “Hold on, I need to stop by the store before we reach your place.”
“Oh?”
“Rubbers.” I winked at her, and she blushed. I reached out and lightly touched her lips. “You’re not on the pill, right?”
“Yeah, I told you that already.”
“Pity.” I leaned over and whispered in her ear. “I would love to really feel myself inside of you.”
“Jeff.” She blushed and I laughed.
“Oh, Betsy, I’m going to ruin you tonight.” I squeezed her ass. “I’m going to totally ruin you.”
There are times that the decisions we make change the entire trajectory of our lives. Often, we don’t know until much later how important those decisions were.
But as we walked toward Betsy’s home, I knew.
I knew that this decision was going to change the rest of my life. It was going to affect every relationship in my life. It was going to ruin the perfect balance in my life. It was the reason I had never made a move before. I had wanted Betsy Montgomery for over half my life. She had filled my dreams, my fantasies, and I’d compared almost every woman I’d been involved with to her in some way. I had always held off because one, Nolan was my best friend and I knew he would kill me if I slept with his sister, and two, Betsy had always seemed too shy and sweet to be the type of woman that would be down for some fun. And three, because I hadn’t thought she was ready.
