Page 19

“Call Paxton in to take a look.”

“He ain’t in town. He went out to Joslin to visit his girlfriend.”

“Then Bowen.”

“Sheriff, you’re the only one on duty today.”

So?

I’m like the babysitter and the watchkeeper of the damn town, and no one around here knows how to call a friend for help.

They just call me.

Inhaling, I exhale with, “I’m on my way, Ruby. Thanks.”

“Anytime.”

Rubbing the back of my neck in aggravation, Adeline points out, “Ya need a woman to take care of you and manage all the shifts ya pick up. Bowen is in town. I saw him at Buttercup & Brioche this mornin’ on my shift.”

“Says the woman with three jobs.”

“Part-time,” she corrects. “And when needed. Just savin’ enough money for the flower shop and to be a helpful hand.”

“Looks like I’m ’bout to go play the same thing.” I step forward to go around her, but my feet don’t move any further than that. They’re glued to being close, and I smell her lavender scent mixed with something potent but soft. “And you need a man to keep ya safe in that house you claim is tryin’ to kick you out.”

“It’s just testin’ me,” she claims like the thing is alive. “There’s a lot of history in there.”

“Mhm.”

Adeline stares up at me, and I take that moment to tell myself to leave, but my body has other ideas.

The damn thing doesn’t want to leave.

“Why aren’t ya married, Dodger?”

“Why aren’t you?”

“And marry who?” she pushes back with ease. “There hasn’t been a new guy in town since Colton Drake.”

“Not into men who work with their shirts off?”

Because that man is known in town to not have a damn t-shirt on when he’s outside. More of the women in town frequent the seed and feed in town because William Drake’s—the owner’s—grandson came into town. I didn’t realize there were so many cougars in town since he arrived.

But he’s made a splash everywhere he goes and gets free stuff all the time.

“No,” she replies matter-of-factly. “I like men in uniform.”

This woman…

I’m half-tempted to detain her for the commentary, on the premise of sexual harassment of an officer, but it’s bullshit at its finest.

“Careful, sweetheart,” I drone evenly. “I’m on duty.”

“And in uniform.”

Everything in me demands to show her exactly what I can do in this uniform, but I’m alongside a baseball field, there are parents around, I’m always being watched, and kissing Adeline Kerrigan in public isn’t on my to-do list.

Kissing her without watchful eyes, where I can allow my hands to roam, that’s on the to-do list.