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Because she’s fucking mine, that’s why.
But she didn’t let me speak. “Because he saw my scar and was concerned. He wanted to know if I was okay and…who did this to me.” She swallowed hard but put on a brave smile. “It seems our new sheriff wants justice for all his citizens.”
“That right, Sheriff?” Masterson asked, skepticism thick in his voice.
Lexa turned her back to her uncle, her eyes pleading with me to agree with her. I couldn’t deny her. “Yes, sir. Actually, I’d like to take the bastard who did this to her and give him my own form of justice.”
His lips twitched, but he only nodded. “Wouldn’t we all.” Bending, he kissed the top of Lexa’s head. “Glad you’re home, sweetheart. Come by the house when you get the chance. We’ve all missed you.”
“I’ll do it soon,” she promised as she faced him again. “I’m covering for Mom this week at the shop, though.”
“Then I won’t keep you. If you need anything, just let me know.” He shot his eyes to me, drilling into me as if he could see everything as clear as day. “Sheriff,” he half growled as he passed me.
“Masterson.”
Lexa waited until the door to the diner closed behind him before letting out the breath she was holding. Glaring at me, she jerked open the driver’s door. “You don’t even know how close that was. Stay away from me, Ben. For your sake as well as mine, stay far, far away.”
I caught the door before she could yank it closed and leaned in. She stopped pulling her seat belt across her chest, staring up at me in surprise. “I can’t stay away, beautiful. Can’t—and won’t.” While she was still surprised, I kissed her quick. That small taste wasn’t nearly enough, but I knew she was going to come to her senses soon, and I wouldn’t put it past her to deck me. Pulling back just enough so our gazes locked, I stroked the backs of my fingers down her cheek. “Drive carefully.”
Stepping back, I closed the door myself. Lexa stared at me for several long moments through her window, her mouth gaping open slightly. Then she seemed to shake herself out of the little daze I’d put her in and started her car. I waited until she’d pulled out of the parking lot before going inside for my staff’s food orders.
As I walked up to the counter where Quinn was rearranging six large bags, I noticed Masterson sitting on one of the stools. Lifting his coffee, he took a large swallow, his eyes assessing me.
“I see you, Sheriff,” he said in a low, deadly voice. “I see you.”
“Good. Nice to know your eyes work, Masterson.” Sliding my card across the counter to Quinn, I paid for all the food together.
“Stay away from Lexa.”
“No,” I told him point-blank. Not happening. She calmed the rage monster that not even the marines had completely tamed in all the years I’d served. I wasn’t giving her up now that I had found her.
“Stay away from her, or this town will have to find a new sheriff.” He said it casually, as if he were discussing the weather, but there was no mistaking the venom in his eyes, telling me without words there was nothing casual about what he was saying.
I didn’t even blink at him. He probably scared the piss out of grown men on a daily basis with that deadly look in his eyes, but I wasn’t shaking in my boots. No doubt he could bend a man like a pretzel with ease, but I hadn’t survived the darkest bowels of hell without mastering a few skills of my own that would leave him crying for his mommy. “Threatening the law now?”
He shrugged. “I see it as more a warning. If you want to stay healthy, keep your hands to yourself.”
Grabbing all six bags, I tipped my chin at him, grinning. “I’ll be sure and keep that in mind.” But my eyes were challenging him.
Bring it, motherfucker.
Chapter 3
Lexa
Ben’s kiss still had me flustered as I locked up the shop at just after six that evening.
By the time I’d gotten back with everyone’s food, I’d mostly snapped out of it, but the lingering tingle of my lips had distracted me as I’d dealt with customer after customer all afternoon. People had asked questions I couldn’t remember if I even answered correctly because I was lost in my head, thinking about how good Ben’s lips had felt against mine, how good that tiny taste of him had been.
Knowing I needed to pull myself together before I got home and my parents noticed my absent-mindedness, I mentally chastised myself as I walked toward my car.
“Night, Lexa,” Trigger called as he put on his helmet and climbed onto his motorcycle. He was always the last to leave, and my car and his bike were the only two vehicles left in the parking lot. “Be careful driving home.”
I smiled and waved as I climbed behind the wheel. “Night, Trigger.”
He was already pulling out into traffic before I’d even started my car. Hitting the push-start so I could get the AC going, I took a moment to glance at my phone. I had a text from Mom telling me they were having pizza for dinner, so if I didn’t want any, I needed to grab myself something on the way home. She knew I wasn’t a fan of pizza after some kid at the local pizza place had been eating a freaking Snickers and then made our pizza when I was eight. That trip to the emergency room that night had aged Mom a good twenty years, and I’d avoided pizza ever since. So I decided to stop for a sandwich in town on my way home.
When I pulled up in front of Patty’s Deli, the place was pretty deserted, but it was that way more often than not at dinnertime. Traffic down this street was always relatively sparse this time of the evening since all the other small businesses were already closed. Patty’s wasn’t as popular as Aggie’s because she didn’t have a large variety of things to choose from, but she made a killer sandwich and everything was allergen-friendly, so I tended to eat here more often than anywhere else.
