by Maren Lee
“I like the ball gag.”
Katie laughed. “You would.”
Ryan wrapped her up in his arms and pulled her close. Neither of them needed to say it. It was all around the room. But they said it anyway. “I love you, baby.”
“I love you.”
Epilogue
“We’re going to miss you here, Ryan. Good luck in Helena!” Brenden raised his beer in a toast to Ryan at the Cadillac. Everyone followed and clinked their glasses and beer bottles against the others. It was Ryan and Katie’s going away party. Smitty was pretty bummed that Ryan was leaving. Not that he didn’t get it. They all understood why. But he’d been such a great addition to the team. It was going to be hard to replace him.
Ryan stood. “I can’t thank you all enough for being great coworkers, but more importantly being great friends.”
Smitty looked over at his best friend Wesson. He thought he maybe saw Wesson’s eyes glassing over with tears, but he wasn’t going to give the guy crap for being sensitive. He knew that Wesson and Ryan had grown close since Ryan had joined the department.
“Katie and I are going to miss hanging out with everyone,” Ryan continued. “But we promise we’ll be back to visit. And we have Wesson and Molly’s wedding coming up too. We won’t be strangers.”
“Yeah,” Katie shouted from her seat. “I can’t stay away from this place if Lane and Bennett are here.” She grinned, conveniently leaving out her brother’s name. Jake reached over and put her in a brotherly headlock.
“I’m gonna miss you both,” Jake offered. Big of him considering how much he originally hated the idea of Ryan and Katie together.
“You’ll all be invited to our wedding, too!” Katie added and reached up from her seat and squeezed Ryan’s hand. A scowl crossed back over Jake’s face that made Smitty laugh. Perhaps Jake wasn’t quite ready to accept the seriousness of his little sister’s relationship.
A flash of brunette hair and sass hit Smitty in his peripheral vision. He looked over at the pool tables and saw her. Anne. Lane’s assistant. He didn’t even know her last name. He supposed he could ask, but he kind of liked having this gorgeous, feisty woman as a complete mystery to him. He wondered if she’d ever be interested in a guy like him. He had light brown skin, compared to her creamy peach. Dark brown eyes to her hazel. 6’3” to her…maybe 5’4” if she was lucky. She had curves for days. He was all hard angles. He was Imminence royalty, former starting quarterback and prodigal son who’d returned to protect the citizens of his home town and coach their high school football team back to its rightful glory. She was a transplant. Smitty was mostly a happy-go-lucky kind of guy, though he had his moments of broodiness. Anne mostly just had a scowl on her face and a shitty attitude to go with it.
Still. Anne fuckin’ did it for him. He wondered if any amount of flirting was going to work or if he just had to lay it out there for her. Smitty slapped Ryan on the shoulder. “Gonna miss you man.” They clinked the necks of their beers together.
“Thanks, man. I’ll miss you, too.”
“Gotta go see about a girl,” he said, as he tipped his head toward the pool tables.
Ryan laughed when he saw who Smitty was gesturing toward. “Good luck with that, man.”
Smitty leaned down and gave Katie a hug. “You take care of this old man, gorgeous.”
Katie gave him a gracious smile. “I will. Thanks, Smitty.”
Smitty tipped his chin to Justin, Wesson, and Jake and then walked his walk – swaggered his swagger – over to the pool tables. She was playing by herself. Fucking weird, but he supposed Anne didn’t have a ton of friends, though Lane had become one to her. She’d been to a few of Lane’s parties and always chatted nicely with the ladies in their crew. But she didn’t seem like she belonged.
He grabbed a cue and walked over to her.
“You just doin’ your own thing tonight, doll?” he asked.
She looked up in surprise. Fuck, those lips.
They quickly moved into a straight line. “Yep. Doing my own thing, thanks.”
Sassy thing. “Smitty.”
“Sorry?”
“Smitty. ‘Thanks, Smitty’.”
“I’m not calling you ‘Smitty.’”
“Why not? It’s my name.”
“It’s your nickname. I don’t do nicknames.”
“Well I’m not letting you call me by my full name, so you’re gonna have to use a nickname.”
“Then I guess we don’t have to talk at all.” She smiled, so quickly that it was going in half a second, and went back to her game. Against herself.
Smitty had to laugh. “Damn, girl. You’re harsh.”
She didn’t respond. Smitty just decided to keep going for it. “My name is Richard Smith Junior. I hated being called ‘Junior’ growing up. Really hated ‘Little Richard.’ ‘Richard’ is a little too formal. And I super hate ‘Dick.’ So I’m afraid you’re stuck with either Smitty or Rich.”
“Okay. Can you move please?” she asked, as she pushed him out of her way.
“And your name is Anne. You’re Lane’s legal assistant. You’re not originally from Imminence, but I have no clue what brought you here. You give off a total bitch vibe, but I don’t believe you actually are one. And I find you sexy as fuck whenever you blush when I walk into Lane’s office. That’s all I know about you. You gonna let me find out about the real you, Anne? Or are you gonna keep pushin’ me away?”
Anne blushed. She went to sink the eight ball in her game against herself.
Scratch.
Oh yeah.
“You wanna get to know me, Rich?” Anne turned and looked at Smitty, staring up at him with her bright hazel eyes.
Smitty smiled. Oh yeah.
“Yeah, I do.” He licked his lips.
“Rack up.” She took the last swig of her beer and gestured the waitress for another.
Tonight was looking up.
The End
And…to be continued in Book #5 of the Bounty County Series
Another Author’s Note (mostly I’m begging):
If you enjoyed this book, please consider leaving a review -- indie authors basically live to write another day with reviews. They can be as detailed or as vague as you have time for! Thank you thank you for taking the time to read my book!
Other Books by Maren Lee:
Ride-along: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01I48CGBA
Changing Lanes: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N9IWCSV
Gridlocked: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B074SJG8LG
The Change-Up (coming March 2013 as part of the Rounding Third Baseball Anthology)
Acknowledgments
I hate writing these because I’m always afraid my words don’t convey my gratitude. First, thanks to my husband who is showing more interest in my hobby than he has before. Your support is much appreciated.
To my friends, family, and framily, thank you for your valuable assistance in making this story readable.
Thank you to Laura, the Red Pen Princess, for editing my messes and getting my characters.
To friends who read unedited portions of this book to let me know if I was on the right/wrong track, I super appreciate you.
To my social media friends who make beautiful teasers, bloggers and readers who write reviews and spend time putting them all over the place, and friends who share all of my stuff and interact with me in all of my various accounts, THANK YOU! I can’t tell you enough how much I appreciate you all!
Special thanks to Indies Ink - my girls who make me laugh and tell me how to do things when I can’t figure it out. Love you ladies.
JB, thanks for your daily encouragement and friendship and college football camaraderie. I see big things for you this year!
To my fellow indie author friends: keep writing, because you’re amazing and I love your work.
Thank you so much to the coolest person in the world for making my cover with the picture I took of the porc
h of a cabin in Atlanta, Idaho. And for making me other things too. And for reading my crap before it works. And thanks being hilarious and letting me bitch about things to you.
About the Author
Maren Lee is a former bartender, current mountain woman, and contemporary erotic romance author. Her first novel, Ride-along, was written on a dare and she loved doing it so much, she decided to write a whole series based on the Bounty County Sheriff’s Department hotties.
Maren lives in the mountains of Idaho with her husband, her three dog children, and her one weird-ass cat. She loves all things outdoors, reading romance novels, and drinking wine (not necessarily in that order).
You can reach Maren in many places:
Email - [email protected]
Instagram - @marenleeromance
Twitter - @marenleeromance
Facebook Profile -- www.facebook.com/marenleenovels
Facebook Page -- www.facebook.com/marenleeromance
Facebook Badge Bunnies Group -- www.facebook.com/groups/1826597650922072
