I snorted a laugh. “I just don’t want it to be so bad that I piss people off.”
Liz threw her head back and laughed. “Never pass up an opportunity to piss people off, Elka. Thanks for the cake!”
Alone again with nothing but my thoughts, I turned the chili to simmer and did what all lonely soon-to-be spinsters did.
I buried myself in work.
Antonio
Standing on the doorstep of Elka’s cottage with two bags of groceries might be a big damn mistake, but it couldn’t possibly be worse than all the other things I’d already done to her. So here I was. Hoping today was the day she stopped pretending she couldn’t hear when I knocked. Rang the bell. Knocked even louder and called out to her.
The door swung open and Elka looked up at me with suspicion and fear swimming in those big blue eyes. Her hand never left the doorknob, giving me an unobstructed view of her hot pink bra under her mostly see-through tank top with a faded daisy on the front. “What do you want, Deputy Vargas?”
So we were back to Deputy Vargas. I deserved it but it still stung. I put on a smile and lifted the bags in my arms. “Practice. For the cook-off.”
She frowned. “I’m not doing the cook-off so you should find someone else to assist.”
I should have known she wouldn’t make it easy for me. “Is this because of us?”
She scoffed and rolled her eyes. “Yes, deputy, everything in my whole entire life is about you.”
She was right. I sounded like a complete asshole. “Sorry. Of course it’s not about us. Or me. Listen, I wanted to apologize about the other—”
“Not necessary. I don’t want to talk about it and definitely not with you.” She took a step back, ready to slam the door in my face, which I also deserved, but couldn’t allow to happen.
My foot shot out just as she closed the door and I roared at the pain as it slammed against me. “Shit!”
“Move your foot, please.”
Still so polite I pressed my advantage. “I’m trying to apologize.”
“I still don’t want or need your apology, deputy. I wouldn’t believe it anyway.”
“How in the hell are you a virgin, anyway?” I didn’t mean to sound so gruff but dammit, it’d been nagging at me since that night.
Elka laughed but it was cold and bitter. “That information is saved for close friends. Not enemies.”
“We’re not enemies, Elka.”
She laughed again. “We are, but it makes you feel like a terrible person to say so.” She laughed even harder at the frown on my face.
I was starting to get angry. “We’re not enemies.”
Her smile disappeared instantly. “Well, we aren’t friends. At best, we’re neighbors. And now, we’re done.” Her hand was on the door, ready to slam it. Again.
“Dammit, Elka. I want to tell you how sorry I am, for everything. And I thought we could start over. While we make chili.”
Elka might be a liar but she wasn’t a practiced one; every thought she had flashed across her face. She wanted to tell me to go to hell but something stopped her. “I already have my recipe for the cook-off.”
“But the cook-off will be timed and having an assistant will help. If you want a chance at winning.” The moment her smile flashed, I knew I messed up. But I didn’t know how.
“I don’t care if I win. I’m only participating because I said I would.”
“If you’re participating, you might as well try to win. Winning is awesome, especially the five hundred dollars worth of gift certificates for shops around Tulip.”
“Fine. But we’re not talking about anything but chili.”
“Great.” It was a lie but I’d deal with the consequences later. I stepped inside before she changed her mind and kicked the door closed before following her to the kitchen. “Where do we start?”
“With what’s in the bag.” Elka didn’t look pleased to have me in her space but she kept grinding her jaws to keep her comments to herself. “Well?”
“Right.” I set the bags on the counter and unpacked, watching as she eyed every ingredient like it might offend her. “What do you think?”
“I think that I can chop everything in fifteen minutes so if you want to help, you have to be faster than that.” She turned towards the stove, giving me a long glimpse of her round ass in those denim shorts with the little threads skimming the tops of her thighs. She paused for a minute, then grabbed a knife, a cutting board, and two bowls. “Chopped vegetables and trash,” she said, pointing at each one before turning away from me. Again.
I took the hint and washed my hands before I got busy chopping the vegetables. Silently. “My mom used to make me be her sous chef whenever she had a lot of cooking to do. I hated it at the time, but some of my favorite memories with her were in our kitchen.”
“That’s nice,” she said eventually. Nice. Nothing more.
“Did you do anything like that with your mom?” She never talked about her family.
“Nope.”
Okay. “Seriously, Elka, how are you a virgin?”
“I’m not.” Her tone said I’d crossed a line but I was never all that good with boundaries anyway. “And my life is none of your business.”
“That’s where you’re wrong. We didn’t use any protection and given what I know about you, I’m guessing you’re not on birth control.” She could deny me the details of her life but she couldn’t deny that.
The moment it registered on her face, she paled. “If that happens, I’ll figure out how to handle it.”
“That’s not good enough, Elka.” I knew I should have kept my fucking mouth shut, but she couldn’t shut me out of this. If there was a this. I got in her face, willing her to ignore the heat between us and accept my damn apology. Instead, she took a step back. A fearful step.
It was like a knife in the damn heart. “That’s too damn bad, deputy, because that’s how it is.”
I knew when to push and I’d pushed enough. For today. So I flashed a disappointed smile and got back to chopping. Silently.
Elka
Early morning in Tulip was absolutely stunning. The sun lit up the sky like a rainbow—if a rainbow were made up of gorgeous jewel tones and fell over the most beautiful landscape ever created. I sighed the way I always did when the beauty of this place took me by surprise, and reached for my coffee only to find it cold. Again. A small smile touched my lips and for a moment, it felt like everything would be all right. It had to be if the view was so incredible, I forgot about my coffee.
“So you really do smile at everyone and everything but me.”
Another sign that the view was too gorgeous was that it allowed him to sneak up on me. “Good morning, deputy.” Why did he have to look so good even first thing in the morning? It just wasn’t fair. “Have you been exercising already?”
He flashed that stupid panty-melting grin and held up two coffees. “I went for a run. It’s nice and quiet this time of morning.”
“Yes, it is.” I eyed the coffee cups longingly, wondering if there was a way to accept one without inviting his company.
“Want one?” He smiled and I squeezed my knees shut against the pulse of desire that shot unexpectedly through me.
“Um, no.”
“Was that a question?” A smug Antonio was somehow even hotter—or maybe it was the coffee, because it certainly wasn’t the long golden fingers wrapped around the cup.
I snatched the coffee from him, ignoring the way his laughter sent goosebumps dancing over my skin. When that didn’t work, I blamed the coffee. “Thank you.”
“I figured you for a tea drinker.”
“You figured wrong,” I told him and took a sip of the hot black liquid. “Is this some sort of test, then?”
He frowned as if that would be so far out of the realm of possibility. “No, but I figured if anyone could change your mind about coffee, it would be Big Mama.”
“Well I’ve found that I love coffee and I drink it whenever I can.” Th
at spark of interest in his eyes was my first clue that I’d shared too much with a man on a mission to run me out of town. Or maybe arrest me. At this point, I wasn’t sure anymore.
“Are your parents hippies or something?”
“I wish.” I snorted, having a momentary flash of what my life would have been like running through dirt and playing outside. I couldn’t imagine anything but the sterile environment that was my childhood. “They were very conscious of my health,” I said diplomatically. “But I’m sure you know that too.”
He ignored my last words, his gaze lost to the view in the distance. “Because of your brother?”
“Yes,” I sighed. “Because of Austin.” He was their reasoning but I never blamed Austin because I would have done anything for him. And I had.
“That must have been tough.”
It was moments like this that I resented my parents most because I couldn’t tell if Antonio was being genuine or taking a smoother attempt at getting information out of me. “It wasn’t easy.”
“I don’t think I could have made it after my dad died if it hadn’t been for my mom.” And there was my answer.
I stood, determined that my learning curve would be a small one. “You almost had me, Antonio. Thanks for the coffee.” The day was too early to be so soundly ruined, so I finished my coffee and sweated it out to a Zumba workout video before I headed downstairs and got to work processing more orders.
If nothing else, business was good.
* * *
“Your chopping time has improved.” I sat down at one side of the kitchen table to taste our third attempt at cooking chili together. Antonio refused to sit at the place setting on the other side of the table, choosing instead to sit right beside me.
“Thanks. I’ve been practicing.” He flashed a smile that was all boyish innocence that I didn’t buy for a second, but damn, it sure was nice to look at. “And if I hadn’t improved, you would have stop letting me come over.”
“Probably. But then I’d have to do the dishes all by myself.” Not that I minded doing the dishes; it was a mundane task that gave me plenty of time to think.
“So you’re using me? I’m wounded.” If I hadn’t seen Antonio pretend to pierce his own heart, I wouldn’t have believed it.
I didn’t believe this transformation for a second but I was choosing to accept him at face value until he gave me a reason to think otherwise. “I’m sure your ego is rock solid. The whole town does nothing but sing your praises.”
“That’s growing up in a small town for ya. Everyone knows your business and they spread it around, good or bad. But they’re quick to come help and everyone knows who you are. Everyone.”
“You say it like it’s a bad thing but I can see in your eyes that you love it.” I would have loved to have all these people looking out for me as a kid. Or even just the two who brought me into the world.
“I hated it as a teenager when I just wanted to do dumb shit and kiss pretty girls.”
“Only kiss?”
He rolled his eyes but I detected a faint blush on his cheeks. “Sometimes more than kiss.” He shrugged. “It was like having a hundred brothers and sisters.”
“That doesn’t sound so bad.”
“It wasn’t.” His lips curled into a grin that did strange things to my body that I tried to ignore. “You know how that is, don’t you?”
“I do, actually. One year for New Year’s Eve, Austin and I were left alone while our parents went to a party. We bought a UFC fight and ordered pizza. The pizza was delicious because it was something we weren’t allowed to have, but the fight was gory and brutal and so bloody. We had so much fun.” The pizza hadn’t made him sick like Mom and Dad had insisted and that begun a monthly fight for pizza, which was, of course, my fault.
“Sounds like you two were close.”
The question didn’t seem probing but I opted for honesty. “We were. Losing him nearly broke me.” I still wasn’t sure it hadn’t.
“But it didn’t.” That sympathetic smile made me want to get to know the guy the rest of the town seemed to know. I liked the brief flashes of the nice guy I’d seen, but I hadn’t seen nearly enough of him.
“Austin would have hated it if I had. He even threatened to haunt me if I stopped living.” Said he’d cockblock me during lady time if I didn’t live for us both. “Some days I’m tempted to stop just so I can see him again.” It still hurt like hell to be without him and I didn’t know how long it would be until it started to hurt less.
Instead of offering trite words of comfort, Antonio ate a few spoonfuls of chili and groaned. “It’s perfect without the fixings, but this is Texas and we like our chili dressed up.”
“Kind of like your cowboy boots?” He laughed and, dammit, that sound—it was like a warm hug that quickly turned to something more.
“Not quite, but close.” Antonio winked and again it sent a shiver of awareness through me. I chose to ignore it, at least as much as I could.
We dressed our chili, me with sharp cheddar and jalapenos, and him with scallions, avocado, and lime. “How come you’re not the sheriff? I mean, other than your excellent people skills.”
He quirked a smile. “When I came back to Tulip after working homicide in New Orleans, I just wanted to work the everyday job of keeping people safe.”
“Homicide. That makes sense, actually. Everything about you has a ‘serious vibe’ to it.”
“It’s a pretty serious job and what passes for humor is dark. Really dark.” He shrugged it off, but I was starting to see the demons he carried. “What about you? Did you always want to do what you do?”
I laughed at the way he didn’t even try to put a name to my work. “No. I wanted to do something with computers, but I hadn’t decided yet, and then Austin got sick. It was my sophomore year and I never went back.” There was a look. It was there for only a second, but I saw it. “You assumed I dropped out or no, wait … failed out?” He didn’t answer, but the flash of guilt was unmistakable.
“I didn’t—”
“Oh, but you did. If you really want to know the truth Deputy Vargas, I had to leave school to give my brother a kidney to keep him alive. It’s the only reason why my parents wanted me around, and after that, they were terrified I’d pick up mono or something in the dorms, which meant I wouldn’t be well enough to help Austin. They said I could go back but I’d have to pay for it myself.” I stood and pushed away from the table, feeling tears well in my eyes even thinking about that day. The day I couldn’t keep pretending that my parents gave a damn about me. My feet moved and kept moving until I was in the safe confines of my bedroom, where I stayed until I was sure Antonio was gone.
Hours later, I found the kitchen cleaned, with the chili still cooling on the stove. I smiled. Maybe now that he knew the truth, Antonio would stop snooping into my life and accusing me of things.
Antonio
“Your chopping skills have improved.” I sat at the kitchen table with a cutting board right in front of me with a pile of tomatoes on it and a stack of onions to my left.
“Thanks. I’ve been practicing.”
She looked over her shoulder, a knowing look on her face. “With Elka?”
“Mom, don’t.” The last thing I needed was for my mother to start matchmaking. “Please.”
“What? She’s a nice girl. Beautiful. Polite. And she has that entrepreneurial spirit.” Another smile, overly innocent this time, crossed her face. “It’s the truth.”
“Entrepreneurial spirit, really?” She’d stopped by thirty minutes ago with groceries and a determined look on her face, knowing I couldn’t pass up her cooking. She fooled me into thinking we wouldn’t talk about anything heavy.
“It means life will never be boring.” She turned back to the stove just as the butter started to sizzle. “Onions first, please.”
“What are you making anyway?”
“Something you won’t be able to resist. Finish those tomatoes while you tell me about what�
��s going on with you and Elka.”
“There’s nothing—” Thankfully the bell rang and prevented me from answering her. “What the hell are you guys doing here?” Preston, Nate, and Tyson stood on my doorstep, wearing the biggest damn smiles in the world.
“We heard that beautiful mother of yours was cooking and our stomachs led us here.” Nate was brave to dare talk about my mother that way. “Can we come in?”
“Of course you boys can come in!”
I groaned and took a step back, waving the intruders inside. “You heard her. Come on in.” Maybe it was better they were here, this way Mom wouldn’t bring up Elka.
“Thanks for the invite, Mrs. Vargas.” Tyson was the first to drop a kiss on her cheek and offer up a compliment. “Traveling agrees with you. A lot.”
Mom blushed and if I didn’t know Ty was screwing with me, I would’ve knocked a tooth out. “Save that fresh talk for your women.” She waved Ty on and accepted a kiss on the cheek from the others. “Set the table and get drinks from the fridge, boys.” It was just like old times, all of us sitting around the table with Mom shoveling food down our throats. When the food was ready and everyone was seated, she went in for the attack. “Okay, now that we’re ready to eat, Antonio can tell us what’s going on with him and Elka.”
“Oh yeah, tell us everything.” Nate leaned forward, chin resting in his hands and a wide grin on his face.
I glared at him. At all of them. But it didn’t matter. “Nothing is going on with us. There is no us.” Except it seemed like there could be; I didn’t even know if I wanted that. I understood her now, a little, but I didn’t completely trust her. “She told me something and I don’t know what to make of it.” It had been eating at me since she told me about her parents and her abbreviated college experience.
“Well don’t leave us hanging,” Tyson urged, holding his hands up defensively.
“Maybe you shouldn’t tell us, if she told you this in confidence.” Preston was always the voice of reason. It was both his best and worst quality.
Mr. Cop: An Enemies to Lovers Romance Page 11
