“And in our underwear,” the other boy—Noah, no doubt—added. “But that didn’t work ’cause we both wear boxers. The packs slid out of them and went down the legs of our jeans. That’s how Mr. Sidler caught us.”
Yeah, that would have done it. Mr. Jay Sidler was in his seventies and owned the local grocery store. Unless the man had gone blind and deaf, he would have seen or heard a trail of gum packets falling out of the boys’ pants.
“A challenge?” Leyton repeated, sounding so much like a cop that it gave Hayes a nervous twitch between his shoulder blades. He’d never been arrested for anything, but that was only because he hadn’t gotten caught.
The boys bobbed their heads to answer. They didn’t offer anything verbal, anything that might have explained why they’d do something that stupid.
“And you did this challenge while you were cutting school,” Cait stated.
That brought shrugs from the boys, which was just as good as full confessions. They’d skipped, done something stupid and gotten caught.
Leyton gave a heavy sigh and handed them each a piece of paper. “Write down your parents’ numbers, and I’ll call to have them come in,” he grumbled.
Now, that got a response from the pair. “Can’t we just handle this without them knowing?” the first boy whined.
“No.” Leyton didn’t hesitate, either. He jabbed his finger at the paper. “Write down the numbers.”
Cait sighed, too, shook her head and murmured something to Leyton before she came out to reception. “A bribe?” she asked, motioning to the box.
Hayes thought about that a second. “Will a bribe work?”
“Depends. With just the right amount of sugar and fat, I can be talked into many, many things.”
“Talked into bed?” Hayes kept his voice low. And, yeah, he was flirting with her now.
“Depends,” Cait repeated. Fluttering her eyelashes at him in a gesture that told him in no way was she taking him seriously, she lifted the box and peeked inside. “Score!” She gave a fist pump. “Hayes brought bear claws,” she relayed in a louder voice to her brother.
Leyton acknowledged that with a little wave and continued his call. The boys continued to whine and protest.
“You’re having an interesting day.” Hayes tipped his head to the boys while Cait helped herself to a bear claw, one dripping with thick sugary frosting.
The dripping obviously didn’t bother her. She just licked it off her fingers. And sent his body into a heated spin. Hell. He shouldn’t have a reaction like that to mere licking.
She nodded. “Shoplifters who are learning that crime doesn’t pay. Of course, the crime doesn’t make sense, so maybe they’re too stupid to learn much of anything from it. I mean, if you’re going to skip school, make it count. Watch dirty movies and pig out on junk food. That’s what I did when I skipped.”
That made him smile, and Hayes realized this was why he’d come here. The arousal he got from her icing licks was just a bonus. “How dirty?” he asked.
“Dirty,” she verified with a wink.
Hell, now her winks were turning him on. Much more of this, and he’d have to limp out of there with a hard-on.
Trying to get himself back on track, Hayes handed her the box of sweets. “I thought there’d be more people around to help finish them off.”
“Oh, there will be. After Leyton and I have had our fill, I’ll leave the box out for the other deputies. They’ll be gone faster than those packs of gum glided through a thirteen-year-old’s boxer shorts.”
“Good. Then my job here is done.” He said it light enough, but she must have seen something not so light in his eyes.
Cait stared at him a long time and then poked the pastry against his lips. “Take a bite. The sugar high might help.”
It wouldn’t, but Hayes liked the idea of his mouth being on the spot where hers had just been. He bit in and watched her watch him. Oh, she was trying to figure out what was going on in his head, but Hayes thought he had enough of a poker face—
“Sunshine is still vying for Mother of the Year,” she stated. “Did your threat of releasing the sex tape do anything to get her to back off?”
So not a poker face after all. Then again, Cait would have heard about the family meeting from Leyton, and she would have easily guessed the primary topic of conversation.
“To be determined,” Hayes answered.
There was always a slim chance that Sunshine might do the right thing. Very slim. Of course, she wouldn’t do it because it was right but because she didn’t have other options. That was the way Sunshine worked.
Cait had another bite of the bear claw and gave him another one as well while she studied him. “So, did you come here to get your mind off Sunshine or to get your mind on me?”
“Both.” It was an honest answer, and at the moment, his visit was accomplishing both. Score one for him. “The mention of dirty movies helped,” he added, again aiming for light.
“Glad I could be of assistance.” There wasn’t much lightness in her tone. She was looking at him as if he were a bear claw ready to be gobbled up.
Or maybe that was dick-thinking.
Because he had to touch her—and that was definitely dick-thinking—Hayes reached up and ran his fingers over the tips of her hair. “I got some advice today,” he went on, then quoted Tony: “‘The heart makes better choices than the brain.’”
She frowned. “That’s really crappy advice.”
He laughed, and even though a cop shop was the last place he should kiss a cop, that’s what Hayes did. He leaned in, brushed his mouth over hers and got a full punch of lust. And more.
Mostly more.
He hoped that was dick-thinking. Because he didn’t like the alternative. It really was crappy advice about the heart making those better choices.
“I’m having trouble sleeping because I keep thinking about you,” he confessed.
She lifted her hand in a “me, too” gesture. “I’ve been up since three this morning, and other than my coffee, you’ve been the main thought in my head. It’s hard to compete with coffee, but you managed it.”
Hayes hated that her confession pleased him. Still, it was something they were going to have to deal with. “I go back and forth between trying to resist you and hauling you off to bed,” he admitted.
She didn’t raise her hand again, but Cait did lift her eyebrow. “What did you decide?”
“The second one.” He paused to study her reaction to that.
She smiled. And took another bite of the bear claw. “Come to my place after I’m done with my shift,” she invited. “We’ll watch dirty movies and eat junk food. But you won’t be hauling me off to bed. Not with your sore ribs.”
On a scale of one to ten, his disappointment was legion.
Cait paused a heartbeat, dropped a kiss on his mouth. “I’ll haul you instead.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
WITH HER SUGAR high long gone, Cait was thinking clearer now. Hayes had really known how to fuel her weak spots, and bear claws definitely landed in the weak-spot zone. The gooey goodness had given her a rush and had possibly made her issue that cocky offer to haul him off to bed.
Then again, bear claws weren’t needed for her to want to do that.
Nope. Hayes was plenty fuel enough, and even though her hauling offer had been spur-of-the-moment, it was what she wanted. What she’d wanted for days now. And her clearer thinking made her realize that.
Since she hadn’t given Hayes a specific time to come over, Cait didn’t dawdle when her shift ended. She drove straight to her house so she could freshen up and put on some sexy underwear.
Or maybe no underwear at all.
That would speed things along, and while speed wasn’t the goal when it came to sex with Hayes, her body was reminding her that it needed a fast fix that only he c
ould give.
The moment she pulled into her driveway, though, she thought the fix might have to wait. Shaw’s truck was parked in front of her house, and since he wasn’t on the porch, that meant he was inside. Maybe for a chat or to go over some other family business. Speed would count in this matter, too, because Cait intended to hear what he wanted and then get rid of him without raising any of his suspicions as to why she was hurrying him along.
She walked into her house, automatically tossing her keys and purse on the foyer table, and she froze when she saw the men milling around in her kitchen. Not only Shaw but also Austin and Adam. Shaw had helped himself to some coffee, and Austin and Adam were drinking Cokes.
Crap.
This was some sort of family intervention. One no doubt spurred because of Hayes. The two shoplifting, school-skipping teens were apparently blabbermouths and had perhaps seen Hayes and her kiss. Word must have gotten back to this trio of her kin. Ironic, though, that it hadn’t reached Leyton’s ears despite him being only yards away from where the kiss had gone down. Because if Leyton had heard about it, he would have given her a lecture about public displays of affection in the workplace. Then he would have doled out another lecture about why she shouldn’t be tangling with the likes of Hayes.
Frowning and without saying a word, she went into the kitchen, weaving through the sea of males, and grabbed a Coke for herself. She had a long sip, giving all of them a dose of her best stink eye.
“Traitor,” she grumbled to Adam, but since he was still looking a little shy and withdrawn, she also gave him a pat on the arm. She intentionally made the gesture awkward enough, though, so he’d know he was only getting partial preferential treatment.
“So, this is about me kissing Hayes earlier in the police station,” she threw out there. “And this is an intervention.”
The stares they gave her were of the flat variety, and the lifted eyebrows and “Huh?” told her that she was way off base. Well, heck. She’d spilled when spilling hadn’t even been necessary.
“You kissed Hayes in the police station?” Shaw grumbled.
His “big brother” tone set her teeth on edge. “Yes, and I plan on kissing him again as soon as he gets here.” Best not to mention the sexy underwear or “hauling” because of Adam. “Which should be any minute now. So, if this is an intervention about something else, speed it up.”
“Marty called, and he wants to meet tomorrow morning at nine,” Shaw said, clearly going with her “speed it up” demand.
All right, that was unexpected. But maybe it was a good sign, too, that he was finally going to do something more than write a check when it came to Adam. “Where does he want to meet?” she asked.
It was an easy question. One that was met with silence and hesitation.
“Crap,” she spit out. “What’s wrong now?”
“Marty doesn’t want Leyton or you there,” Austin supplied, and he watched her reaction from over the top of his can of Coke.
Cait’s reaction wasn’t good. She pulled back her shoulders, narrowed her eyes and wanted to say something significantly worse than crap. “Why?”
Shaw lifted his shoulder. “Marty didn’t say. In fact, he insisted I not mention the meeting to Leyton or you.”
It eased the knot in her stomach that Shaw had ignored that request and told her anyway. He’d no doubt be informing Leyton, as well. If not, she would. Marty didn’t deserve to cherry-pick which offspring attended a meeting. A meeting that none of said offspring actually wanted, but that was beside the point. Marty wouldn’t exclude any of them for whatever twisted reason he had.
“Leyton and me,” Cait said, giving that some thought. “It sounds as if Marty might be thinking about doing something illegal and he doesn’t want cops around.”
The nods and sounds of agreement confirmed they believed that, too. Though Cait had to admit that she’d never known Marty to intentionally break the law.
“It could be about me.” Adam spoke up. “Marty might want to do something to get me off the ranch.”
Austin sighed, gave Adam a brotherly pat—which was more of a brotherly poke to the arm. “It’s not that.”
Cait picked up the assurance. “Marty’s probably pleased as punch that you’re at the ranch and not insisting you stay with him.” Or do anything that would cause Marty to have to spend time with the boy. “It’s not you. It’s me and this.” She tapped the badge clipped to her belt. “He knows I’ll arrest his sorry butt if he tries to bend the law. So will Leyton. Our tolerance meters are rock bottom when it comes to Marty.”
Adam gave a slight nod, but Cait could tell she had in no way convinced him. Too bad the boy would have to wait until tomorrow to hear it from the horse’s mouth. Marty would almost certainly confirm this wasn’t about booting Adam off the ranch, because if it had indeed been about that, Marty would have insisted that Adam, too, be excluded.
“I’m coming to that meeting,” Cait insisted. “I’m sure Leyton will, as well.”
“Good,” Shaw grumbled, as if that was the only answer he’d expected. “Park out of sight, though, because I don’t want Marty driving off before we hear what he has to say.”
She could do that, but it was possible that once Marty realized there was the threat of an arrest, he’d just do an about-face and leave. If that happened, well, it would happen. There wasn’t much they could do to make Marty attempt to be even a half-assed parent, much less a full-fledged one.
“I’m also suggesting we keep as much venom as possible out of the meeting,” Austin added.
Cait knew this was the specific reason for their in-person visit. She did tend to strike first when it came to Marty, and if she did that, the about-face might happen right off. Still, it was hard to keep her cool around the man who’d broken her heart too many times to count.
“Minimal venom,” Cait agreed. “That’s provided Marty doesn’t say something totally stupid that—”
She stopped because saying something totally stupid was par for the course for Marty, and she couldn’t let that interfere with him actually doing something that might make a difference. After all, there was a slim chance that he might actually do something to help Adam.
“Minimal venom,” she repeated, and this time there was no added but. She would do her best to keep her mouth closed. That was doable when the stakes were this high. Adam deserved better than he was getting.
Shaw downed the rest of his coffee. “We’ll head out so you can get ready for Hayes.” He rinsed out his cup, put it in the dishwasher, all while keeping his eyes on her. “Do you need advice about that?”
The answer to that was easy. “No. I already got advice today. ‘The heart makes better choices than the brain,’” she quoted.
“Shitty advice,” Austin grumbled as Shaw said, “That’s a surefire recipe for getting knocked up. Don’t take that advice,” he added to Adam, who was already agreeing in a nonverbal way about the shitty part.
And with those opinions expressed, the three Jameson males left, got in Shaw’s truck and drove away.
Just as Hayes pulled up in Em’s truck.
She couldn’t tell, but Cait was reasonably sure that her brothers, maybe even Adam, too, shot warning glares at Hayes. It wouldn’t put Hayes off. At least she hoped it wouldn’t, but she did regret that she hadn’t had the chance to freshen up.
Hayes stepped from the truck and made his way to her house while she watched. He was wearing his usual jeans, black T-shirt and motorcycle boots and looked like the hot guy he was. All lean and lanky. His hair was rumpled as if he’d just climbed out of bed instead of a truck.
And then there was his mouth.
Oh, yeah. She took plenty notice of that since it was one of his best features and because she’d just had such recent contact with it. The man could do magic things with his mouth, but Cait thought the magic might not be limited to jus
t that one part of him.
“Everything okay?” he asked, hiking his thumb in the direction of her brothers’ and Adam’s departure.
“Same ol’, same ol’,” she answered.
Her tone was small talk, but Cait sent Hayes some signals with her eyes. Signals that she hoped he wouldn’t have any trouble interpreting. She wanted him. In case there was an interpretation problem, Cait looped her arm around his neck the moment he stepped on the porch, and she pulled him down to her for a kiss.
She doubted she was sparking any magic with her mouth, but there were sparks, all right. She could feel the heat trail down the front of her body and settle in a needy kind of way in her panty region.
He made a sound, a soft grunt that seemed to be part surprise, part pleasure. Maybe he’d expected her to change her mind about this. Or at least let him get in the house before she started up. But thinking and waiting time were over. She was about to have her first real taste of Hayes.
Apparently, he intended to get in on that tasting, too, and he deepened the kiss. He also latched on to her belt to pull her closer. Cait had every intention of getting extremely close, but she had to lay down the ground rules. Which she started as soon as she tore her mouth from his and regained her breath.
“You can’t touch me,” she insisted. “I don’t want you moving around and hurting your ribs.”
He leveled those scorching blue eyes at her. “Excuse me?”
“No touching,” she repeated. “I’ll do all the work.”
“While I’m sure I’d enjoy that, very much, I want to...move around. I want to touch you.” He used that tone she was certain had caused women’s clothes to evaporate.
Cait tried not to let the tone and just the sheer looks of him make her mindless. “You can touch me with just one finger,” she bargained.
His suddenly cocky grin let her know that he could do a lot with a single digit. She didn’t doubt that one bit, but in case he planned to argue with her, Cait swooped in for another kiss. She kept her arm around his neck, and walking backward, she moved him into the house and shut the door with her foot.
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