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I spun around at the unexpected voice and saw a man in a uniform that clearly matched the car watching Cash and me.
“Oh! I’m sorry. We were just looking. He has a thing—”
“Peace man!” Cash practically screamed right in my ear, making me wince.“Look, Day-Day! It’s a peace man!”
“I see that, little bug.” I turned back to the deputy who was now smiling outright, and I couldn’t help but notice it was a very,verynice smile. “As I was saying, he has a real fascination with all things police related.”
He chuckled, the sound deep and velvety, as he removed a pair of mirrored sunglasses from his face. He had very nice eyes with deep creases in the corners that said this was a man who smiled often.
“It’s no problem at all. I’m Holton,” he said as he extended his hand to me.
I placed my palm in his, the sheer size difference not lost on me as his fingers wrapped around mine, practically engulfing my whole hand. He had really nice hands, no doubt about that.Big, strong, work-rough in a way that meant he wasn’t afraid to push up his sleeves and get them dirty if necessary. But where the slight, accidental touch between Laeth and me had left me feeling like I’d grabbed onto a fallen powerline, this handshake with this incredibly handsome man was just... nice.
“Deva. It’s nice to meet you.”
“Deva,” he repeated, rolling my name on his tongue like he was testing it out. “Pretty name. It suits you.”
A blush creeped over my cheeks, warming my skin. I’d read about flirting in those romance books, but I’d never experienced it before. Was that what was happening? Were we flirting?
“Thank you,” I said quietly as I extracted my hand.
“Are you new to town? I don’t think I’ve seen you around before.”
“Oh, um...” I wasn’t necessarily ashamed of my past. It wasn’t as though it had been my choice, after all, but I didn’t think the sidewalk in the middle of the day was the place to get into it all. “Do you know the face of every resident of Redemption?” I asked in a teasing tone, hoping to shift gears.
He smiled in a way that made my belly flip. “Not every one of them, but I most definitely would have remembered seeing yours.” When he finished that statement with a wink, my blush grew even hotter.
Yes, this wasdefinitelyflirting. I wasn’t so ignorant I couldn’t recognize that, and I had to admit, it was kind of fun.
“Yes, I’m new,” I said on an uncontrollable giggle. I hiked Cash up higher on my hip. “I moved here to take a nanny job for this little guy.”
That seemed to be answer enough for him. Holton turned his attention to the boy in my arms. “You wanna see the inside, buddy? That is”—he turned his gaze back to me—“if it’s okay with your Day-Day.”
I grinned down at Cash. “What do you say, little bug?”
“Yes!” he practically shouted.
Holton produced a set of keys from his pocket and beeped the locks on the SUV as we followed him around to the driver’s side. “Hop on in.” He opened the door and propped his arm up along the top of it as I placed Cash down on the driver’s seat.
He was in heaven, gazing around at all the different buttons and switches that did only lord knew what.
“Thank you for this,” I told Holton as I watched Cash have the time of his life. “I think you just made his year.”
“It’s no big deal. He’s a cute kid.”
My smile widened, pressing my dimples deeper. “He is.”
“So, New-to-Town Deva. What do you think of Redemption so far?”
I didn’t think it was important that he knew I’d already been somewhat familiar with the small town for years now. “I love it,” I told him honestly. “It’s beautiful and the people are so nice. And Hot Java has the best coffee I’ve ever had.”
He chuckled again. “Glad to hear it. Maybe one day soon, you’ll let me take you out for a coffee.”
My eyes widened in surprise. My heart flip-flopped and butterflies exploded into flight in my belly. “Oh. You mean—are—are you—?”
Before I could finish my sentence, another voice spoke up, this one gravelly and rusty in a way that sent a pleasant shiver up my spine. “Deva? What are you doing here?”
My heart jumped up and lodged itself in my throat as I whipped around and caught sight of Laeth standing on the sidewalk a couple yards away. The sun beat down on his dark hair, making it shine. His tattoos were on full display, all that ink complementing the swaths of golden bronzed skin along his strong arms.
