by Jenny Penn
“Soon enough?” Konor snorted. “Try already.”
“Already?”
“Already.”
That had Alex pausing as he shot Konor a slightly annoyed look. “He didn’t mention anything to me.”
“Yeah?” Konor handed the last plate over and began scooping up the silverware to drop into the soapy water. “That’s probably because you haven’t spent much time with him.”
“I spent all day with him,” Alex shot back, not the slightest bit mollified by Konor’s comments.
“Speaking of, how’d the fair go?”
“All right, I guess.” Alex shrugged. “Taylor seemed to be having lots of fun...especially with the little redheaded girl. What was her name?”
“Her name is Dakota and she has blonde hair,” Konor corrected him, easily reading into Alex’s attempt to needle information out of him.
“Oh, no. No blondes around.” Alex shook his head as he began handing clean plates back for Konor to dry.
“Even if she had been, you wouldn’t have noticed him talking to her. This is kind of a love from afar situation, which is actually something you know quite a lot about, isn’t it?”
Alex shot him a dirty look for that one, but Konor only grinned back. “What? You’ve been in love with Heather since you were... What? Eight? And you still haven’t admitted it.”
“Whatever, man,” Alex muttered, still clearly not comfortable talking about his feelings. Konor wasn’t worried, though. He was headed in the right direction.
“And what about my plan? Are you willing to admit it will work?” Konor needled, wanting it noted that he was the one who had steered them in the right direction even though he knew it was hopeless to wish for any real gratitude from Alex.
Alex didn’t disappoint him when he snorted and shot Konor a dirty look. “Your plans? I’m the one who called in the allies.”
“Allies?” Konor snorted at that choice of words. “What allies? GD?”
“And her dad.”
“I’m the one who set you up with her father.”
“To eat ice cream and keep an eye on Taylor.” Alex smiled, the gloat as clear in his eyes as his tone. “I’m the one who co-opted him, along with my parents, and organized this entire offensive.”
“It was a dinner!”
“It was an offensive.”
“You’re offensive,” Konor snapped, giving up the battle over diction to take up one he knew he could win. “What was all that crap about sticking it in her ass?”
“It was honesty, and I believe that was your idea,” Alex retorted with a smirk, clearly enjoying antagonizing Konor.
Konor wasn’t enjoying it. “Yeah? Well, I got another idea. How about you finish the dishes on your own? While, I go out there and charm our fiancée.”
Not waiting for Alex to respond, Konor dropped his rag on the counter by the sink and turned to saunter off.
Chapter 26
Tuesday, May 27th
The next morning dawned bright and full of possibilities, at least for Alex, if not for the rest of the world. It didn’t even matter that he had just completed a grueling eleven hour shifts. Nothing could dim his mood.
Heather was his.
The deal was as good as done, even if there were some details still to be worked out, like the proposal. Konor thought they should do something big... And not too soon. For having set everything into motion, the man was not in any rush to take the next step.
Then again, he hadn’t been waiting a lifetime for this moment. Alex had, and he didn’t plan on waiting much longer. Hell, he was all set to move Heather and Taylor into their house while the boy was out of town. That way Heather could get settled first and make all the changes she wanted, but Konor wasn’t hearing any of it.
He insisted that they were not moving Heather into any rental. He didn’t even want to ask the woman if she minded moving in. On that, they actually agreed, even if Alex had argued the opposite at the time. After a little consideration, though, he realized that asking Heather would open the door to her saying no.
There really wasn’t any reason to take that risk when they could just move her in. She might get a little uppity, but she’d get over it. After all, hadn’t she already proved that she couldn’t really stay mad at them?
All it took was a few kisses and the woman melted like hot butter all over him. If Alex had known that a few years ago, she’d already be moved in... Well, not to the rental. That was no place to build a family.
They need a house. A home. On that, Konor and Alex agreed, but Konor wanted to build and Alex wanted to buy, having no interest in waiting months to claim Heather’s bed as his own. Instinctively, Alex knew that she wouldn’t be sharing the one she had under her father’s roof and would probably never agree to spend the night in his or Konor’s while Taylor was asleep at home.
Konor had disagreed on that point, but he hadn’t gotten the chance to argue it before he’d been called away on emergency as all off-duty firemen were called in to assist with a blaze down in Dothan while the on-duty firefighters remained at the station house watching over Pittsview. Alex had joined the noble cause of keeping Pittsview safe after cake with his new and expanded family.
Sandy had shown up with her husband and Alex’s nephews. They were several years younger than Taylor, but that didn’t stop him from following them outside to discover the tree for Alex’s dad had built over two decades ago for him.
For her part, Sandy was coolly polite to Heather, though the effort was wasted as his mom monopolized Heather’s attention with the endless litany of wedding details popping into her mind. Heather just sat there, nodding along numbly and looking torn between shock and panic as she shot him desperate looks across the table.
Alex ignored them all along with the glare he earned when he announced that he had to get to work. Then he’d walked right up, dropped a kiss on her lips in front of everybody, told her he loved her and then abandoned her to his family. He walked away without a backward glance.
He didn’t need to look back. He knew what he’d see. Heather with her mouth open and cheeks flaming red. That’s just how he’d left her, with a priceless look on her face, one he’d be savoring for years to come. He’d have years to savor it, because it took only one kiss and she couldn’t deny him anything.
That was just the way it should be between a man and his wife.
His wife.
That concept was a lot easier to him now. In fact, it felt damn good. The only thing better was the way Heather felt when she wrapped that soft, sweet body around him and pumped those lush curves against him. Hell, just the memory of how she ground herself against him when Konor and he had cornered her last night had Alex hard enough to walk funny as he headed out of the station house.
For a moment, Alex considered heading straight down the street to the bakery and sweeping Heather right off her feet. He could cart her back home with him where he could finally give her a proper fucking, followed by a gluttonous orgy of all other types of fucking. That’s just what he would have done, too, if he hadn’t remembered that Heather was driving Taylor down to the airport in Dothan.
His plans would have to wait until tonight, but the extra time did give him the chance to prepare. Changing course, he headed for his truck and then home to catch a few winks and plan for the evening ahead.
Konor arrived not seconds after him, looking worn out with sweat and soot darkening his brow. Alex didn’t have to ask how his friend’s night had gone. It was obvious. Even if it hadn’t been, the gossips had assured that all the details were well known.
A furniture warehouse had caught fire, and thanks to a faulty sprinkler system, it had raged out of control, spreading quickly to the other buildings around it. Thankfully, nobody had been seriously hurt. That didn’t change the devastation that was going to be caused by so many businesses being taken out.
From what Alex had heard, at least, five other buildings were no longer standing. More probably would have been ta
ken out if not for the firefighters who had worked all night long to contain the blaze. It had been a hard-fought battle, which showed on Konor’s features.
He barely spoke a word, trudging slowly toward his room where he crashed, face down and fully clothed on to his bed. That’s just how Alex left him five hours later when he went whistling back out the door.
Rested and freshly bathed, he was shaved and ready to take on Heather again. Before he got to any sweeping-off-feet, though, Alex had to stop by the station house first and check on the morning shift. He ended up having to handle a few issues they had. There was always a few, and more paperwork than that.
Alex was just finishing up signing the last of the requisition orders his assistant had left on his desk when Deputy Whendon stuck his head through the door and asked for a moment of Alex’s time.
“Yeah.” Alex nodded toward the chair across from his desk as he restacked the papers before him. “Have a seat.”
“Thanks.”
Adam pushed the door the rest of the way open and crossed Alex’s small office to settle down into the uncomfortably hard seat that assured nobody lingered for too long. Not that Adam would. He didn’t even bother with polite pleasantries before launching into what sounded like a well prepared speech.
“I know we’ve had our issues lately—”
“Is this going to be about Rachel?” Alex cut in, not interested in hearing another lecture about her. “Because you do know that I’m all but engaged to her friend, Heather Lawson.”
“I had heard a rumor…” Adam hesitated, casting a prying look over at Alex before continuing slowly. “Then I heard another one about Gwen…”
“There is nothing between Gwen and me,” Alex stated firmly and causing Adam to break into a smile.
“So then you’re going to let bygones be bygones, right?” Adam tacked on that question, his tone becoming more uncertain as Alex broke into a grin.
“There really are no bygones, deputy,” Alex informed him, finally letting Adam in on the big secret. “I never really was that upset about losing Gwen. I just enjoy screwing with you.”
“Oh.” Adam frowned, appearing to consider that for a moment before coming to the obvious conclusion. “So, you’re still planning on messing with us then?”
It was on the tip of Alex’s tongue to assure Adam that was always the plan when it occurred to him that Adam and Killian could be a little more useful than amusing. After all, they were dating one of Heather’s best friends and Alex could use a recommendation like that.
“Oh, I don’t know.” Alex shrugged. “I guess it depends on how busy I find myself. I mean, who would choose to focus on petty games with co-workers when I could be focusing on starting a family, right?”
“No offense, sheriff, but if I were you, I wouldn’t get too smug,” Adam warned him instead of jumping at the offer Alex had just offered.
“And why’s that?” Alex narrowed his eyes on Adam, wondering if his deputy was actually going to try for some payback but Adam’s grim tone held a different kind of threat.
“Because the women…” Adam swallowed as if fortifying his nerves before growling over the rest words. “They’re running wild.”
“They are, are they?” Alex bit back his snicker, working hard to keep the laughter out of his tone as he studied his deputy’s sour expression. “And you want me to do what? Hand out lassos to all the other deputies and organize a round up?”
“Ha. Ha. That’s very funny.” Adam shot him a dirty look for that crack. “Laugh it up now, sheriff, because when you hear what Patton and Hailey have dragged my poor Rachel into, you won’t be smiling.”
Alex snorted at that prediction, knowing there was nothing Patton, Hailey, or Rachel could do to ruin his day. Nothing could. Not today.
“Please don’t tell me you and Killian need my help in managing your woman?” Alex asked in a tone insulting enough to assure Adam went flushed and puckered up with a fresh wave of indignation.
His jab did not, however, have his deputy storming off in a huff, which went to prove that the situation was quite dire. A man’s pride, after all, didn’t just bend with the wind.
“No. We don’t need anybody arrested,” Adam sarcastically shot back. “Actually that’s what we’re trying to avoid here—Cole ending up arrested.”
“Cole?” Alex frowned. “What the hell has he gotten himself into now?”
“Hailey Matthews,” Adam answered succinctly, shocking Alex with his revelation.
Cole and Hailey weren’t exactly known to get along. In fact everybody knew that the man had sworn vengeance against her not but a month or so back. Not to be outdone, Hailey had taken Cole’s challenge seriously and, apparently, come up with a plan that was both twisted and humiliating…at least for Cole.
Alex listened in amazement at Adam explained about the notes Rachel had left out on her desk. They detailed a master plan that ended with Cole being arrested and Rachel getting an exclusive on a prostitution ring being run down in Dothan. That’s where Alex came in.
More importantly, that’s where his leverage came in, and Alex knew just how to wield that kind of power.
* * * *
“This is not good,” Heather murmured to Tina as she joined her manager on the other side of the counter to fill the drink orders she’d just taken.
The Cattlemen were back, only this time her bakery wasn’t full of just the young bucks Konor demeaningly referred to as the junior squad. They were joined that day by a group of older, much more dangerous Cattlemen, who gathered in the corner of the dining room, clustering into a tight huddle around the tables they’d pushed together.
Even more ominously they kept their voices pitched low and fell silent whenever anybody came to near. It wasn’t hard to figure out that they were plotting, or who they were plotting against. Heather suspected that whatever Rachel had done, the chickens had finally come home to roost.
“I don’t think they’re the ones you have to worry about,” Tina assured her, catching Heather’s eye and nodding to the big window that overlooked the sidewalk. Through the thick, etched plane of glass she could see Alex storming toward the front door.
He didn’t look happy.
“This is not good,” Heather repeated, feeling the dire nature of that sentiment twist her stomach into knots as Alex slammed into the bakery, clearly on a mission.
A wave of tension swept in with him, carrying undercurrents that cut through the noisy confusion filling the bakery and had one and all the Cattlemen present falling silent as they tracked Alex’s progress all the way to Heather, who stood there feeling an overriding sense of doom thickening around her. It was damn near suffocating by the time he came to a stop on the other side of the counter. Heather’s breath caught as she wondered if it was her father or her son who had been hurt, because clearly somebody had.
“Pack a bag.”
Heather blinked up at him, confused by that command when she’d expected something a good deal more ominous to come out of his mouth. “What?”
“Taylor’s gone. Your time is up,” Alex informed her with a presumptuous arrogance that normally rubbed her raw. Right then she was too shocked to be pissed as he ordered once again to, “Pack a bag.”
He had to be joking. There was no way Alex honestly thought that attitude was going to work on her. The very idea was laughable. That’s just what Heather did.
“I’m not joking,” Alex warned her. “Call somebody in to cover the rest of your shift, sweetness, because I’m doing waiting. It’s time for you give me mine.”
“Give you yours?” Heather arched a brow at that crude command, aware of the pointed sarcasm crisping the edges of his smug tone. “You are ever the romantic, sheriff.”
“Romance is wasted on a woman who insists she’s only good for five minutes,” Alex retorted, confirming Heather’s long-held suspicion that Konor and him were conspiring against her.
“That’s four more than I intend to spend on you,” Heather infor
med him haughtily, playing the role of the offended prude and knowing that it drove him a little nuts.
So did walking away from him, which was just what she did as she picked up her tray and went to bus the dirty tables. It took him a moment, but just as Heather suspected, Alex came chasing after her, all flushed and annoyed now.
“Heather—”
“Nope.” Heather cut him off, rudely refusing to even look in his direction. “I’m sorry, sheriff, I’m a single working mother. I don’t have time to dally away my time…unlike some government employees.”
“Heath—”
“Of course, who am I to point out that as government employee you’re paid with my tax dollars, which if you think about it means that I am kind of like your employer…I guess that’s why you’re technically considered a public servant, huh? Sheriff?”
“And that’s what I’m here to do—serve…on my knees…for hours,” Alex explained, his voice deepening and softening as he crowded her back against a booth. “And really, you don’t need clothes for what I got in mind, so maybe we should just forget the bag and I’ll carry you out of here now.”
He was serious, but so was Heather.
“I agreed to have a fling with you,” Heather reminded him, keeping her tone just as soft as his, assuring nobody overheard her. “But flings are for the night. Right now, I got a life to live, which includes a business to run because I got bills to pay.”
“Forget the bills.” Alex waved away that concern as if it was nothing, which it probably was for him. After all, he didn’t have a kid to support. “If they’re that much of a concern to you then I can help out.”
“Excuse me?” Heather stiffened up as her gaze narrowed on him. “You’re offering to pay my bills so I’ll have more free time to have sex with you…do you know what that would make me?”
“Mine.”
“Nice try.” Heather rolled her eyes and slid around Alex move on to the next booth and another set of dirty plates waiting to be collected.
