by Roma James
“Nora,” I mouthed.
“But Isaac, dear,” she was saying. “You know this is for the best. It’s… temporary…”
I couldn’t hear well enough to make out everything she was saying, so I eased the door open just a little more.
Just enough to make it creak way too loudly.
“Fuck,” I muttered as the talking suddenly stopped. I’d blown our cover. There was no point in trying to sneak around now. Cole sighed as I fully opened the door and stepped inside. “Good afternoon,” I said. “Sorry to barge in like this, but ah… we have a little problem.”
The sight that greeted me as my eyes adjusted from the midday sunlight to the comparatively dimly lit office was a curious one. There was an old metal desk covered with maps and other papers. Two long tables nearby were similarly covered.
Behind the desk was a man staring at me with his mouth hanging open like he’d just seen a ghost. Nora Statler was right next to him and looking equally surprised as she took a step back.
“Prescott? Cole?” Her brow furrowed. “What seems to be the problem here?”
The man cleared his throat and straightened his glasses. “Is there, um… is there something I can help you with, officers?”
Yes.
Plenty.
Starting with whatever is going on here.
My curiosity about the man and Nora Statler would have to wait, though. We had a more pressing issue at hand.
“I hope you can help me,” I said, crossing my arms and relying on my height, my uniform, and my deputy by my side to provide a little intimidation. I didn’t want to scare the guy—or Nora, for that matter—but I didn’t want them asking a bunch of questions, either. “It seems we’re in need of your services. I need a test. And I need it done quickly.”
Isaac and Nora exchanged a look, then she excused herself. He waited until the sound of her high heels had faded from the stairs that led down to the real estate agency before he turned his attention back to me.
“Yes, sir,” he said, sighing as he rummaged through the papers on his desk. “Let me just get my notepad and I’ll be right with you. I’ll just need a few more details and—”
“I’m sorry,” I said, interrupting him. “There really isn’t time. We need you to test the water in a stream a few miles from here. Gather whatever you need to conduct your test and come with us, please. We can give you whatever other details you might need on the way.”
He paused, then blinked. I thought for a moment he might argue or try to refuse my order as he looked from me to Cole and back again. He must have thought better of it, though, because all he could muster was a tired nod and another long sigh.
This clearly wasn’t what Isaac had planned for his afternoon, but that wasn’t my problem. Whatever he had going on with Nora Statler would have to wait.
Right now, he was going for a ride with us.
It was a couple of hours past lunchtime when we finally made it back to the station. Our trip out to the Josephsons’ ranch with Isaac had taken a little longer than I’d anticipated, but at least the preliminary testing he’d done indicated that the town’s drinking water hadn’t been contaminated.
We’d have to wait until God only knew when to get the official results back from his lab, of course, but the immediate danger had passed.
“What a crazy fucking day,” Cole said as we got out of the car and walked into the station. “All these damn poisonings have me on edge. And what was that business between Nora and Isaac? That was just… weird.”
“Really weird,” I agreed. “I can’t picture Nora going for a guy like that, but…”
I thought back to her deceased husband, Zachary. He was quite a bit older than Nora—she had been what some people had unkindly referred to as his “trophy wife”—but they’d seemed to have a nice marriage. A loving marriage. And while this Isaac guy fit the bill as far as being older, he was certainly no Zachary Statler. Still, there was no accounting for taste.
People would probably think the same thing if I went out with a girl as young and pretty as Daisy Lynn.
But fuck those people.
And anyway, I wasn’t some scrawny pencil-pusher from the USGS. I might be almost twenty years older than Daisy Lynn, but I was still in good shape. Damn good shape, if I was being honest.
“You’re not thinking about Nora and Isaac anymore, are you?” Cole asked, pulling me from my thoughts.
“What?” I snapped. “Why do you—oh, fuck it.” I scrubbed a hand down my face. “I don’t have the energy to go through this back and forth again. Not after this fucked up day.”
“No reason to go back and forth.” He shrugged. “I think we both know what you’re going to do.”
I considered denying it for a moment, then stopped myself. He was right. I had already made up my mind. “I’m going to ask her out,” I said, making it official. “I have to. I can’t get her off my mind.”
Was it a shitty thing to go after a girl my friend was interested in?
Yeah, probably.
Had he done the same damn thing to me before? More than once?
Yeah. It was something we’d both been guilty of a few times. Which was probably the only thing keeping him from objecting now.
And would I have tried to back off if he had asked?
Well… I would have tried.
But there was something different about Daisy Lynn Morton. Something wild and sexy that was almost impossible to resist.
So, it was good that Cole hadn’t asked me to back off. Because that was one promise I couldn’t make.
Chapter 4
Daisy Lynn
My heart was racing as I stood outside on the front porch and scanned the driveway for the vehicle that should be arriving any minute. I still couldn’t make sense of why the sheriff needed to speak with me so urgently. He’d called Janessa’s home phone to track me down—not that I would have been anywhere else in this tiny town—and then asked if I could talk.
But then he confused me even more by insisting we talk in person.
He wouldn’t say what it was about, so my brain was busy trying to fill in the blanks.
Was it the poisonings?
Did he need another statement from me?
Was it my date with Cole?
Was I going to get arrested for breaking some law I didn’t know about?
I took a deep breath and then nearly passed out when I finally saw a big, black SUV speeding up the driveway. That wasn’t the sheriff’s patrol car. There weren’t any police markings on it at all, as far as I could tell. But I still knew it was him. It had to be him.
Once the SUV was parked near the house, I walked down from the porch to meet him. I knew Janessa and Becca were probably glued to the upstairs window watching me, but I didn’t dare turn around to check.
My heart felt like it was going to beat out of my chest as the driver’s door opened and a shiny black boot hit the ground. That thud could have actually been my heart stopping. I wasn’t sure. But I was still walking—my body moving in slow motion all on its own—so I couldn’t actually be dead, right?
“Daisy Lynn.” His low voice was quiet but serious, carrying an air of authority that must automatically come with being a sheriff. “Thank you for agreeing to see me on such short notice. I apologize if I’m keeping you from anything.”
I shook my head. “No, sir. Nothing at all. I was just—”
“You can call me Prescott,” he said, smiling. Smiling. And wow, what a nice smile he had. I hadn’t noticed it before, but now it was all I could see. His teeth were white and sparkling and thankfully made him look a lot less gruff and serious. “I’m off duty, so no need for formalities.”
And… right. I hadn’t even noticed until he’d mentioned it, but he wasn’t wearing his police uniform. Just a nice button-down blue shirt and dark denim jeans.
“Okay, Prescott,” I said, trying the name. It felt a little strange to be so familiar with him, but he had insisted. “Can I ask why
you’re here?” I felt my skin flush as the words escaped. That wasn’t what I’d intended to ask, but it was the most pressing question on my mind. Still, I probably could have phrased it better. “I mean, is there, um, something I can help you with?”
His smile grew a little wider as he inclined his head. “I’m here to see you, Daisy Lynn. I’d like it if we could get to know each other a little better.”
“Oh.” I nodded, then felt my eyes go wide as my brain finally processed what he’d said. “Oh. I… okay. You want… wait, what?” I took a deep breath and tried to focus on something besides the thundering sound of my own heartbeat. Could he hear it from where he was standing? Was I seriously about to have a heart attack? “You’re here to talk to me? Like… just talk?”
“I’m not asking as the sheriff,” he said. “Just as Prescott. Just a man asking a woman if she’d like to go out and have a cup of coffee, maybe dinner if you haven’t already eaten…”
I felt my face flush again, but this time for a different reason. Cole had been right. The sheriff really was interested in me. And now that the other half of my fantasy was sort of coming true—we might both still be fully clothed, but he was asking me out on a date, at least—I wasn’t sure what I should do.
“But… will it be okay?” I asked.
His brow furrowed. “That’s completely up to you. I don’t want you to feel pressured—like I said, I’m not here as the sheriff. Just a regular guy. I won’t carry any hard feelings if you ask me to leave, but I hope you won’t.”
“No.” I shook my head. “That’s not—I don’t want you to leave. I just meant…” I sighed, frustrated that my tongue and my brain were apparently refusing to work together. “What about Cole? Will he be upset?”
The sheriff’s smile slipped a little. “He knows my intentions. I haven’t tried to hide anything from him. I was under the impression that the two of you had just gone on one date, though. Nothing exclusive or anything like that, right?”
I nodded. “That’s right. Nothing exclusive. We didn’t even talk about that. It was just dinner.”
“And that’s all I’m asking. Just a little time to talk and see where things go. No pressure. We can even call Cole right now to see how he feels about it if that would ease your mind a little.”
My heart stopped beating for the third or fourth time in as many minutes. God, no. Talking to Cole about going on a date with Prescott—in front of Prescott—was literally the last thing I wanted to do.
“N-no.” I swallowed hard and shook my head. “That won’t be necessary. I do want to go with you, but not for dinner. I just finished eating with Janessa and Becca.” Mentioning my friends’ names made me want to turn and look up at the window, but I resisted the urge. They had to be watching, though… right? I might need confirmation later that this really happened, that I hadn’t just imagined the whole thing. “Is there, um, something else we could do instead?”
I saw a surge of heat in his eyes as he quickly looked up and down my body, and I hoped my question hadn’t given him the wrong idea. It only lasted a split-second, though—so quick that I probably wouldn’t have even noticed if I hadn’t been staring at him so intently.
“How about ice cream? Coffee?” He shrugged, thankfully keeping his suggestions a lot milder than the look in his eyes a moment ago would have indicated. “I’m afraid there isn’t much to do in town, but I’d honestly just like an opportunity to get to know each other a little better. Like I said, though, no pressure. I know it’s sort of last-minute.”
It was very last-minute, but I felt like that sort of added to the excitement. I mean, it was sweet that he felt like he had to come talk to me in person so urgently just to ask me out for ice cream.
And even though I still felt a little funny about possibly causing friction between Prescott and Cole—or worse, somehow getting caught in the middle of that friction—it was just a simple date. Simple and innocent. Couldn’t get more innocent than coffee or ice cream, really.
“Okay,” I said, smiling. “I’d love to. Give me a couple of minutes to change clothes?”
It wasn’t like I really needed to spend much time talking myself into the date. It was something I’d already been fantasizing about for a couple of days. And since I was only going to be in Bliss for a little while longer, I didn’t see why I shouldn’t enjoy myself. Live a little. Date two guys. Two friends. Two peace officers.
“Take as much time as you need,” he said, his smile back in full force. “I’ll wait here. And I promise not to keep you out too late.”
“Such a gentleman.” I winked, turning back toward the house. “I’ll be right back.”
Was I teasing? Maybe a little.
Could I feel his eyes on me as I walked back to the porch?
Definitely.
Was I thankful that the jeans I was wearing were maybe a little too tight?
You’d better believe it.
I never thought I’d be seeing the inside of the Main Street diner so many times during my stay in Bliss, but here I was again. I definitely wasn’t complaining, though. Because sitting across from me and looking at me with those intense eyes was the sexiest sheriff I’d ever met.
And okay, maybe the only sheriff I’d ever really met, but that was beside the point. He was still so hot. Just the way he carried himself—that quiet authority that made me lightheaded and seriously made me consider breaking the law every time I was around him.
Was there a support group for that?
Probably.
I wasn’t sure if I wanted to be cured of my sheriff addiction, though.
“You seem to be enjoying that ice cream sundae,” he teased, his low, gravelly voice doing something to me that was definitely not appropriate for the family diner. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you smile like that.”
“Oh, um…” I swallowed the bite I’d been savoring and felt my face flush with heat. “I was just, um…” Thinking about you. Undressing you with my eyes. Wondering if you had an extra pair of handcuffs. “Just enjoying this ice cream. Just like you said—best in the county, right?”
He quirked an eyebrow. Oh, God, could he read my thoughts? Was I that transparent? Was it some sort of police officer super power?
“That’s right. Makes your mouth water, doesn’t it?”
I nodded. Pretty sure an ice cream sundae wasn’t also supposed to make my panties wet, though, no matter how good it claimed to be.
“I’m glad you agreed to come out with me tonight,” he said, his tone light and conversational as if we hadn’t just shared some sort of sweet, frozen, orgasmic experience. “I wasn’t sure if you would. It’s a shame you won’t be in town for much longer, though.”
“Yeah, I’m trying not to think about it too much,” I said. Which was the truth, since I’d much rather think about being wined and dined by two sexy lawmen, even if it was just at the local diner. “I wouldn’t mind staying a little longer if I could, though. I’ve really been enjoying my time here.”
“Is that right?” He quirked that eyebrow again, giving me a look that made me feel warm and sexy and seen. “A young and beautiful woman like yourself should be able to do whatever she wants. Within reason, of course. But you’re only young once, right? Might as well enjoy it.”
Before I could do more than nod, the ringtone from his phone startled an embarrassingly high-pitched noise from the back of my throat.
He fished the phone from his pocket and frowned. “I’m sorry, but I need to take this. I’ll make it quick.”
“No problem,” I said, feeling slightly worried by the look on his face. Was it official police business? He was supposed to be off duty, but that probably didn’t really apply in a small town like Bliss. If something bad happened, there was just one sheriff.
I tried to listen in on the conversation, but it was quick, and Prescott’s clipped answers weren’t giving me much to go on.
He hung up the phone after a few seconds with a heavy sigh, then gave me an ap
ologetic look. “I’m sorry, beautiful, but we have to go.”
“Is everything okay? I understand if we need to go back—if you need to drop me back off at the ranch, I mean.”
He stood up and threw down more than enough money to cover our bill and a generous tip for the waitress, then shook his head again. “I wish I was asking this under completely different circumstances, but I need you to stay with me for a while. There’s an emergency at Derek Winslow’s ranch, and there just isn’t time to make the drive back out to Triple J right now.”
He was already ushering me out the door and helping me up into his big SUV before his words truly sunk in. “Oh, wait, what?” I looked at him wide-eyed as he sat behind the steering wheel and fastened his seatbelt. “You want me to come with you? On… police business?”
“Yes, unfortunately.” He frowned, glancing over at me as we sped away from the diner with lights flashing and sirens blaring. “I’m sorry about this. It’s not quite what I had in mind when I said I’d treat you to a nice, relaxing date.”
“It’s okay.” I tried to keep my voice from trembling. I wasn’t sure why I was so nervous—aside from the fact that I’d never been to a crime scene with a police officer before. Still, it wasn’t like I’d have to do anything but sit in the SUV and be scared, right? God, I didn’t even want to think about it. “I just hope everyone is okay,” I said, pushing those other thoughts aside and trying desperately to calm my nerves.
He didn’t answer, but I wasn’t sure if that meant things really weren’t okay or if he was just focused on getting us there in one piece as we flew down the bumpy, winding roads.
I didn’t have to wonder too long. With a turn that would have made most racecar drivers jealous, we zipped into a driveway that I hadn’t even noticed from the road and pulled up to a stop in front of a plain but well-kept brick house.
“Stay here,” he growled, all business as he opened his door and stepped out into the night air.
