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“Thanks,” I say, a little breathless.
“I can’t let you have a bruised ass, sweetheart. That’d ruin our night.”
“Of course that’s what you’d think of first. Not my safety.”
“Saving your ass is keeping you safe.”
“Mhmm. Whatever you say.”
Taking his arm out from mine, Ryan stops walking and slips his hand under my coat to grip my ass through my leather leggings, pulling me against him. “It is what I say, sweetheart,” he whispers in my ear, a little moan catching in my throat. “Got it?”
Nodding, my eyes dart up to his, and I’m met with the steely gaze I’m sure he uses to get his way at work. And I can guarantee they all do what he says, because it’s a look that’s causing my insides to simultaneously melt and twist in the most delicious of ways.
He’s pulling me in deeper, and I’m starting to realize I’ve already been sinking into the quicksand, and there’s no saving me now.
Another beat passes before he blinks and releases me from his grip. A rush of breath leaving my lungs.
“We’re almost there,” he says, taking my gloved hand in his as we continue on down the sidewalk, the lights of the shops guiding our way.
This man really throws me off my game. The sassy, quick-witted Ashley everyone–including me–knows, is reduced to a tongue-tied mess when he looks at me like that.
Only a few other people have braved the streets so soon after the storm, and all of them turn and stare at us.
“Uh, Ryan?”
“I know. It’s a small town. People stare, people talk. I’m sure the news that the lonely bachelor sheriff was out holding hands with a beautiful woman will be tomorrow’s fresh gossip.”
“What?” Hell no, I don’t want to be town gossip.
“It’ll be fine, Ash.”
Will it? because I really don’t need, or want, the attention.
“Lonely bachelor?”
He looks down at me and winks. “It’s what they all think because I’m never seen with women.”
Women. He said women. As in plural. As in many.
Not that I thought I was some new revelation to him, but hearing him say it like that…I don’t like it.
“So, you keep your hordes of women a secret from the town?”
Throwing his head back, Ryan’s deep, throaty laugh fills the air around us. “Yes, Ashley, I do,” he tells me, a wicked gleam in his eyes.
Is he joking?
“Are you serious?”
“About having hordes of women?” He smiles playfully. “Or about keeping women a secret from the town?”
“Uh, both?”
“I wouldn’t sayhordes.” He laughs. “But I’ve learned to be careful. I have to keep my reputation clean.”
“So, what I’m hearing is that you only date women who would sully your good name? And you have to keep them hidden?” I make sure it sounds like I’m joking, but even I can hear the insecurity in my voice.
“No, that’s not what I meant, Ash. I just meant that I have to be a poster boy for the town, for the county, for the state. I don’t need a bad breakup to effect my work, or have a woman who doesn’t know what it means to be with me causing a scandal.”
