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He frowns when I don’t contribute to the gossip he’s trying to get me to participate in.
He gives up when I narrow my eyes in challenge. I’ve had to tell the man more than once that Adalynn and I are great friends and nothing more. I’d never go so far as to say we’re like siblings, because that would make some of my late-night thoughts incredibly awkward.
“Will there ever be a time that you tell that woman you’re madly in love with her?” he asks, refusing to give up.
“Is there anything else you need, Officer Jacobs?”
He sighs, a frustrated sound and one I hear rather frequently around here. If I were to ever make any type of confession where Adalynn Tate was concerned, it most definitely wouldn’t be to someone in the office.
“From the look of that stack of papers,” he says, pointing to the bane of my existence, “it looks like I’m on patrol today?”
“If you don’t mind,” I tell him, knowing my position of authority means I could fully dictate what everyone does in the office, but I’m just not that type of boss. There are days when it’s just not a good idea for one of us to be out of the office. Off days, days where we’re distracted or have too much going on personally, don’t do the community any good. On the off chance that something crazy in town does happen, we need to be a hundred percent focused.
“Sounds good.”
“Keep an eye out for Margie,” I grumble as he turns around to leave.
He waves at me over his head.
We’re always on the lookout for Margie. If Prichard would do what we’ve requested, the damn bird wouldn’t be able to give in to her wandering spirit three times a week.
Despite the office growing silent with Chandler’s departure, he was here long enough to stir shit up in my head.
He’s wrong about some things, but for the most part, he’s hit the nail on the head where Adalynn is concerned. She’s all I ever think about. She’s utter perfection—from her long wavy red hair to the way her ass looks in her favorite pair of jeans. She’s the star in every fantasy I’ve had for as long as I can remember. She’s as sweet as pie and the most humble, generous person ever created.
But that’s the rub, honestly.
Her wholesomeness is what makes me throw up a huge stop sign every time I allow the idea of taking things further with her to sink into my head. She has to be the type that wants missionary sex on Saturday morning because she’s just too busy to consider it any other day of the week, whereas I’m more of the wear my hand around her throat type of guy.
We just aren’t compatible. There’s no way she’d be into what turns my crank, and I know, even with as much as I care about the woman, her idea of a sexual relationship and mine would cause too many problems down the road.
Having even the slightest taste of her in that way would lead to the destruction of our friendship, and I’d never risk it. She’s too important to me. She’s my waking thought and the last image in my mind before I fall asleep each night. Hanging out with her and her family is how I spend all my free time.
She’s the constant in my life, the first person to see me when I was younger who didn’t decide that I was worth less than others because my birth mother didn’t want me. She didn’t see me as a bad decision like my adoptive parents did after they were finally able to conceive a biological child.
I was just Cash Tucker, the weird kid in class who didn’t attempt to make friends. Although she’s denied it more than once when I bring it up, I was no doubt a charity case for her. She saw a boy who had no friends, and that just wouldn’t do. As she put it, everyone deserves friends. I bet she never imagined that I’d cling to her like debris floating in the ocean after the ship capsized, refusing to let go no matter how hard the waves pounded against me.
She claimed me and I claimed her right back. Not once have we ever crossed a line of more than just friends.
I’m not even on her radar in that way, despite what others say, and that’s a good thing. The temptation would be too muchto resist if I ever caught her looking at me with anything more than friendship in her eyes.
I mean, staying single for eternity while obsessed with my best friend isn’t such a bad thing, is it? I’m sure I’ll be able to survive it. What I won’t be able to handle is her finding someone she’s compatible with. I fully understand she deserves that, but seeing her with someone else would make me insane.
Thankfully, she doesn’t seem to have any desire to even date, so for now, I’m in the clear.
Chapter 2
Adalynn
“I thought I knew every one of your smiles,” I tell my closest female friend, Madison, as I point to the happiness on her face. “I’m not sure I’ve seen this one.”
“Chase and I—”
“Let me stop you right there,” I say, holding my hand up to silence her. “I don’t want to hear about it. The last time we chatted in here about what you and Chase were getting up to, it ended up online for the world to read.”
Madison scrunches her nose. Our privacy was invaded a couple of months ago, and a reporter recorded a conversation we had at my bakery about Madison’s relationship with Chase. That article, along with an unhealthy amount of miscommunication, led to a very difficult time for Madison and Chase. They’ve been back together for a little over a month now and are living together with Chase’s twin boys, Cale and Cole, thanks in no small part to the meddling of Madison’s parents and Chase’s father.
“I’m not going to share that kind of stuff here ever again,” Madison whispers, despite the two of us being the only ones currently in the bakery.
