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“He’s not hurtin’ anybody physically,” I amended, “and I can’t arrest him for bein’ a dick. Wish I could.”
I walked away. I had to, or I’d kiss her again. I bet she had no idea how adorable she was when she got angry.
She scoffed and followed, her short legs scrambling to keep up. “Have you seen the bullshit hangin’ in his front window?”
“Not today,” I said, looking at her again. Her face was like a drug. I stopped walking. It was too difficult to keep going and stare at her at the same time without tripping myself.
My gaze lingered on the side of her mouth as she sneered and laughed indignantly, and then it moved to the high planes of her flushed cheeks and then the edges of her eyelashes and how they flared out at the ends like a faerie’s wings.
“Oh, well, go have yourself a look.” She shook her head. “I don’t get it. Why aren’t you offended? He’s openly hostile toward everyone. Doesn’t it piss you off?”
“Yeah, it does,” I said, knowing full well how much I was frustrating her, “but it’s not my job to get offended every time some old coot makes a shitty comment. Until he lays hands on someone or breaks a law, there is nothin’ I can do about it.”
“Whatever.” She rolled her eyes. “I thought I’d have an ally in this. I thought you’d be on my side.”
“Devo, I am on your side. It ain’t like I don’t hear this shit every day in my personal life. My own mama thinks I’m personally offendin’ the Almighty. She says I’m hurtin’ Jesus’ feelin’s every time I have”—looking behind me and then toward the front of the station, I made sure no one was around to hear me—“‘impure thoughts’ about a woman. But as much as I’d like to handcuff her and duct tape her mouth shut, I can’t. Just like I can’t do to Red. I’m sorry. Besides, I’m not convinced his behavior has anything to do with Ace’s House or anti-LGBTQ stuff.”
She scoffed. “Right.”
I really was sorry. I could see the hurt and disappointment in her eyes, and making her feel that way ate at me, but there really was nothing I could do.
She crossed her arms over her chest, and I had to concentrate really hard not to notice how that made her breasts push up and forward, like she was aiming them right at me.
“I heard you’ve been offered a promotion but that you’re thinkin’ about turnin’ it down.”
“Where’d you hear that?” Who the fuck was blabbing about that? Could nothing stay private in this town? It was Shelley. I knew it was. Freaking busybody.
“Around. Why would you turn it down? If the sheriff was a woman—a gay woman—don’t you think that might make a difference around here?”
I shrugged. I’d had the same thought, but I’d also had the thought that it could cause all kinds of trouble, which was why I hadn’t taken the job yet. Not officially. “That ain’t anybody’s business. Now, go on about your day.”
She shook her head again and turned to walk away.
I watched her go, trying not to notice how her hips swung from side to side and her ass cheeks jiggled in her jeans. “And Devo?”
“Yeah? What?” she snapped without turning around.
“Don’t you go eggin’ Red on. You I have no problem handcuffin’. Hear me?”
When she turned finally, I couldn’t hide my smile. She had to know how sexy the thought was to me. And she had to know that, despite the fact that I couldn’t do fuck all about Red Graves, I loved her tenacity—her fight. ’Course, that particular personality trait had landed her in a jail cell a couple times already, but nobody had pressed charges, and her boss usually bailed her out of trouble.
Did she know that no matter how many times I tried not to, I still remembered every pulsing second of the orgasm she’d given me? I remembered every thrust of her fingers inside me and her mouth on my body. And did she know that five times a day I looked at my phone and wanted to call her?
She narrowed her eyes at me, then spun around and stormed out of the hallway, huffing and puffing the whole way. Her hair was so cute the way it flicked out in all kinds of directions, and I wanted so badly to lick beneath the little ducktail on the back of her neck.
“So,” Frank nudged when I got back to my desk and plopped into my chair as the front door slammed shut behind Devo, almost hitting her in her sexy ass. Her jeans were the luckiest motherfuckers on the planet.
My chair spun toward Frank, but I stopped the rotation with my boot, trying not to watch Devo out of the corner of my eye through the big front windows as she stomped down the sidewalk toward Ace’s House. At least she hadn’t gone straight back to The Red Wild Outdoors across the street.
Focus on your job, Abey.
I needed food. Specifically, I needed some chili from José’s Diner. It always made me feel better. “So what?” I said.
“You takin’ the job or not?”
“Y’know, technically, it’s not a real position. I mean, it’s just an actin’ sheriff thing. A temporary thing.”
“Yeah,” he said, “but you never know what possibility it might open up.”
