by Rachel Lacey
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“That plant isn’t going to be shut down, Olivia. Even if it was, the chickens would still be slaughtered somewhere else. Halverson Foods is a lot bigger than you, and the town needs those jobs. Why don’t you push for changes to their worksite practices instead?”
She sighed as she closed her laptop. “Because Dogwood is my hometown. We’re better than to be known as a place where chickens are slaughtered.”
He smiled. Not patronizing, much as she wanted to be annoyed by him, but more like he understood, even appreciated her. “We’re not known as a town where chickens are slaughtered. We’re known as the charming little town that half of North Carolina wishes it could be. Dogwood is a wonderful place to live, and like it or not, Halverson Foods employs a lot of our citizens.”
“Agree to disagree?”
He nodded and turned his attention to the football game.
She sat, staring at the TV but not watching the game. He was right. The realization spilled over her like a bucket of ice water. She was fighting the wrong battle. Even if she got the plant shut down, those chickens would be slaughtered somewhere else. People would always eat chicken—hadn’t most of the people in town told her that at one time or another?
But if she focused all of Citizens Against Halverson Foods’ energy into a push for revamped workplace practices and elimination of the abuse shown in those undercover videos? That could actually work.
“You’re right,” she said.
Pete gave her a sideways glance. “I am?”
“About Halverson. I’m fighting the wrong battle.”
He smiled smugly. “I like the sound of those words.”
She punched him. “That I was fighting the wrong battle?”
“No, that I was right.”
“You’re a jerk.” She rested her head on his shoulder, exhausted by the day. Also…starving. “What did you order for supper?”
“Vegetarian pizza from Gino’s,” he answered.
“Thanks.” Her heart melted a tiny bit more. He’d ordered vegetarian. He hadn’t even complained about it, and she knew he would have ordered meat if not for her. She’d dated a lot of men who’d given her grief for her beliefs.
Pete never had. And when he disagreed with her, he did it with respect. The truth was, she felt right at home here on his couch.
“I’ll stay,” she whispered.
* * *
Pete tightened his arm around her shoulders. “Good.”
“Just until we get things sorted out,” she said.
“Right.” He hadn’t defined exactly what needed to be sorted out before she went home, and neither had she. He’d never lived with a woman other than Rina. No need to change that, certainly not with Olivia.
“I’ll have to bring Hallie.”
Shit. He’d forgotten about the kitten. “Can’t you just stop by the house and feed her?”
She tilted her head to give him a dirty look. “Not unless I want her to rip my house to shreds in the meantime.”
“I’d rather she not rip my house to shreds.”
“She’s pretty well behaved as long as she has people to play with.”
Clearly he’d lost his ever-loving mind because he heard himself saying, “Fine. You can go get her tomorrow.”
After they ate, he brought her out back and lit a fire in the fire-pit on his patio. Olivia brought out a blanket, and they sat in front of the flames.
“This is nice,” she said with a sigh, snuggling closer against him. “Like camping from the comfort of home.”
He’d hardly used the fire-pit since he bought it, but he could imagine sitting out here with Olivia every night. They sat and talked. They roasted marshmallows. And when they went upstairs, they slept together, in both meanings of the word. Because with Olivia, he actually slept. Deep and dreamless.
“Wake up.”
He heard her voice, filtering through the fog of sleep. He grunted. Her hair tickled his chest, and he reached out and yanked her closer against him.
Her fingers wrapped around his cock. “I woke you in time for this,” she whispered.
Sweet Jesus. If he’d still been half-asleep before, he was wide awake now and rock hard in her hand. He cracked open an eyelid to peer up at her. “Mornin’.”
“Good morning.” She slid over, straddling him. Behind her, the sky was still a deep purple.
“What the hell time is it? Did I happen to mention today is my day off?”
“It’s six o’clock. We’re going to MacArthur Park to watch the sunrise.”
“We are?” He slid his hands down to cup her ass. Olivia Bennett was officially like no other woman he’d ever known. She absolutely boggled his mind.
She nodded. “We are. We both need to find our center again after everything that happened yesterday.”
“I think I’ve found my center.” He rocked his pelvis against hers.
She narrowed her eyes at him. “I’m being serious. Your dog almost died yesterday.”
Yeah, he knew that. The knowledge weighed heavy in his chest. He was more fond of Timber than he cared to admit. “You’re right.”
Her lips twitched. “I like the sound of those words.”
He bent his head and kissed her. She reached into the bedside table for a condom, and they made love in the predawn light.
After a quick shower, she hustled him to the car, and he drove them out to MacArthur Park. It was peaceful. He could see why she came here to watch the sunrise. To meditate. To find her center, whatever that meant.
But he didn’t need all that. The unsettling truth was that he felt centered whenever he was with her.
He was getting the hang of this meditation thing though. He sat beside her, relaxed and quiet as they watched the sun rise over the treetops. The last time they’d been here, Timber had been with them, frolicking in the field. Pete hoped he’d done well overnight, that he could come home today. He missed his dog.
When he and Olivia left the park, it was just past eight o’clock.
“I’m going to call the vet for an update,” he said.
“I’ll call. You drive,” she answered. He put the Forester in gear and drove, subconsciously pointing the car toward Dogwood Animal Hospital. He wanted to see Timber, wanted to bring him home.
She spoke to someone at the hospital, answering with too many “mm hmms” and “oh reallys” for his taste.
“Well?” he asked when she hung up.
“He’s doing well overall, but he’s not able to eat without the feeding tube yet so they want to keep him a few more days. They said we can stop by to see him though.” She smiled when he turned into the parking lot.
“So let’s go see him.” He swung out of the car and followed her inside.
A vet tech greeted them in the lobby and promised to be right back with Dr. Johnson. Pete slid an arm around her shoulders, because it was chilly and she wasn’t wearing a jacket, not because he needed to feel her close against him.
The vet came out a few minutes later. “The bone left behind quite a bit of irritation in his esophagus. He’s having difficulty swallowing. I expect he’ll be feeling much better in a day or two, but in the meantime, we’d like to keep him here so that we can keep the IV and feeding tube in.”
“Okay,” Pete said. “Thank you.”
The vet motioned them to follow him into the back. Timber lay on his side in his crate, his head up and alert. He whined when he saw Pete, his tail thumping loudly against the wall behind him.
Pete opened the crate and rubbed his head. “Hey, buddy. It’s awfully quiet at the house without you.”
Timber whined, thrusting his head into Pete’s lap. He sat with his dog for a while, petting him while he and Olivia talked. Timber was overjoyed that Olivia had come to visit him too. And while it tore Pete up to leave him there, he knew his dog was in good hands and would be home soon.
Didn’t stop him from wanting the punks who’d done this to him to pay
.
“I’ll call this afternoon with an update,” Dr. Johnson promised when they stood to leave. “I expect he’ll be ready to go home on Monday.”
“Thanks,” Olivia said.
“We appreciate it.” Pete put his hand on her shoulder as they walked through the reception area and out to his car. “I’m starved. You dragged me out of the house this morning before I even got a cup of coffee.”
“But I gave you something better than caffeine.”
His blood heated at the memory. “That’s true. But I’m running on empty now. Let’s get something to eat. We’ll stop back by here to get your car on the way back to my place.”
“Okay.” She slid into the front seat of the Forester, and he climbed in beside her.
“The diner?” he asked.
“Sounds good.”
He cranked the engine and pulled onto Main Street. “I’ll call the sheriff’s office later, find out what’s going on with the investigation.”
She scoffed. “I bet they won’t laugh when you call.”
“We’re going to get to the bottom of this, Olivia, I promise you.”
He turned into the parking lot of the Dogwood Diner, a tired looking building with blue clapboard siding, and pulled into an empty spot near the back.
“I applied for a job here yesterday,” Olivia said.
“Really?”
“I’ve applied most anywhere in town that’s hiring.”
“Any leads?” He followed her through the front door.
Inside, the hostess led them to a booth by the front window and handed them each a menu.
“Thank you,” Olivia told her, then turned to Pete. “Not really. Truthfully I don’t want to wait tables anymore, but I’ll take whatever I can get to pay the bills until I find something better.”
“You’ll find something.” He looked down at the menu in his hand. He was hungry enough to eat everything on there.
“I will. So today’s your day off, hmm?”
He met her eyes across the table, completely captured by their chocolate depths. “Spend the day with me.”
A soft smile curved her lips. “Well as it happens, I’m free today too.”
A million ideas tumbled through his head, most of them involving Olivia naked and writhing beneath him.
“We should go hiking,” she said.
His mind went blank. “Hiking?”
She nodded. “I know some great places.”
Yep, Olivia Bennett was one of a kind. And he’d follow her to the moon if she asked. Their waitress arrived, and he ordered a bacon, egg, and cheese biscuit and grits with a large coffee. Olivia ordered a bran muffin and water with lemon.
“A bran muffin?” He didn’t try to hide the disdain in his voice.
“A green smoothie would be better. They make great ones at the café.” Hurt shone in her eyes.
He resisted the urge to cover her hand in his. “No offense, but that sounds disgusting.”
“I’ll make you one sometime. They’re delicious and so good for you. It’s much better fuel for your body than the greasy breakfast and coffee you ordered.”
“We’ll see about that.”
“I need to stop by my place for some more clothes and to get Hallie after breakfast.”
Right. Because he’d agreed to keep the cat. “Okay.”
He was seriously rethinking that decision an hour later as they entered Olivia’s bedroom. One of the curtains had been shredded and the picture frames on her dresser were knocked helter-skelter, while the kitten herself lounged in the middle of the bed, giving them a wide-eyed innocent look.
Olivia pinched her lips together, a poor effort at hiding her grin. “She, um, gets a little crazy when I leave her alone for too long.”
“Jesus Christ.” He ran a hand through his hair and glared at the kitten.
In response, she raised her rear leg in the air and started licking her ass.
“You are a little heathen, aren’t you?”
“She’ll be good,” Olivia promised. She went into her closet with a duffel bag.
Pete sat hesitantly on the edge of the bed, remembering the way the little fiend had attacked his fingers yesterday morning to wake him. How things had changed in a day. Hallie crept toward him. Her butt wiggled, and then she pounced, landing in his lap in a mixture of teeth, claws, and wild purring. After he’d disentangled her from his fingers, she rubbed her head against his chest, purring louder. “I do not understand you. Not one bit,” Pete told her.
Olivia flitted in and out of the room, packing. Finally, she set the duffel bag on the bed, fully stuffed. “Looks like you two have bonded.”
He looked down at the kitten asleep in a tiny ball in his lap. “I decided this was safer than risking her claws.”
Olivia gave him a knowing smile. “I’ll just go get her things.” She returned with a large reusable shopping bag and a cat carrier. She lifted the sleeping kitten from his lap and placed her inside the crate. “Okay, we’re ready.”
“All right then.” He led the way downstairs.
Hallie mewed all the way to his townhouse.
“Poor thing,” Olivia said as she carried the kitten inside. “This is already the second time I’ve had to cart her off to someone else’s house to stay. It’s a wonder she’s as well behaved as she is.”
He let that one go rather than debate the kitten’s manners, or lack thereof. And then he let Olivia convince him that Hallie should stay in the master bedroom with them, on the somewhat questionable assumption that the kitten would get into less trouble that way.
Once she’d gotten Hallie settled, he pressed her up against the wall. “Now let me tell you what I think we should do with the rest of our day.”
“Oh yeah?” She went up on her tiptoes and kissed him.
“That’s an excellent start.” He lifted her off the floor so that his pelvis matched hers, his cock pressed between her legs.
“I like what you’re thinking, but hold that thought.” She unwrapped her legs from around his hips and slid to her feet.
“Hold that thought?” He sat on the edge of the bed and watched her.
“I’ll make it worth your while, I promise. You change into something comfortable for hiking while I get a backpack ready.”
So she was serious about this hiking thing. “Babe, I don’t think anything’s going to be comfortable right now.” He gestured to his lap.
She grinned. “Sorry about that.”
“You could take care of it for me.” Because the last thing he wanted to do was go hiking with a hard-on.
She shook her head. “Incentive. We can do it in your bed anytime. This will be special.”
So she had more than just hiking on her mind, and he liked that. He really liked that. But— “I can’t do what you’re thinking of doing.”
Her brow wrinkled. “What?”
“Public indecency. I’m a cop, Liv. I can’t break the law.”
She sighed dramatically. “Your job can be such a downer sometimes.”
“You know, surprising as it may be, most women find my job to be a turn-on.”
She gave him a long look that made his dick even harder. “Well, I am pretty turned on right now.”
He grabbed her and pulled her into his lap. “You drive me absolutely crazy.”
“Wait—” She pulled back. “What about in a tent? Is that legal?”
“You want to have sex with me in a tent?”
“I really want to show you this place. Come with me?”
He rolled her beneath him on the bed. “Baby, I can come with you right here.”
He thrust his hips against hers, rewarded by a whimper of need from Olivia.
“You’re not playing fair,” she protested.
At that, he fell still. True, she’d been trying to plan something special for their afternoon, and he was too busy trying to get in her pants to listen. “I’m sorry.”
“So, yes in a tent?” She looked so hopeful that his h
eart clenched.
How could he ever say no to this woman? “Yes, in a tent, as long as it’s legal to camp there.”
“It is. I’ve camped there before. I packed a picnic for us while we were at my house. We’ll just need to stop back to get my tent.”
“I have a tent.”
Her eyes lit with interest. “Really? You go camping?”
“Yeah. I like being out there under the stars.” He liked the solitude. Usually. Now all he could think about was getting Olivia in his tent. Naked.
“Me too,” she whispered. “So let’s go.”
She slid off the bed and went downstairs. He went into his closet to change into hiking boots, then followed her down.
She was in his kitchen, shoving things into her backpack.
“You bringing Bailey?” he asked.
“Ordinarily I would, but she’s supposed to take it easy today while she gets all that chicken out of her system, and besides, she might get in the way of what I have planned.” She winked.
Pete pulled her in for a lingering kiss. “Wish we could stay the night.”
“Me too. But I need to get back to Bailey, and you need to check on Timber.”
“And I’m on duty tomorrow morning at eight.”
“Right.” She pulled free, put Bailey in her crate, and led the way to the front door. “Let’s get going so that we can be home by late afternoon.”
“And where are we going, exactly?” he asked.
“Loblolly State Park.”
He nodded. He knew it, had even camped there before. It was just outside Dogwood, with miles of scenic trails and plenty of loblolly pines. Swift Creek ran through its center.
The drive took about twenty minutes, and they were hiking by eleven.
“It should take us about an hour,” she told him as she led the way down the Dogwood Trail. She carried the backpack. He carried the tent.
“Incentive, huh?” He repeated her earlier words. He’d never gone to this much effort to get laid, but neither had he felt the intensity of anticipation she’d created. She was right. This was going to be special, an afternoon they would always remember. So much more than a quick romp in his bed.
She smiled over her shoulder. “You brought condoms, right?”
He paused, drawing a total blank as dread crept its way up his spine.
