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“Here’s your food, Ben. You need a refill or anything, Junie?”
“Nah, Karen, I’m good. Thank you, though.”
“Anytime. I brought you tea, Ben. But—”
“Tea is good,” I tell her waving her off.
“I figured. You haven’t had dinner inside in a bit, but tea is what you used to drink when you and Luna would come in, back in the day.”
Junie puts her fork down and I frown. I know Karen means well, but that reminder didn’t come at a great time.
“Did everyone in this town know you two were an item but me?”
“Well, you were new in town, so probably.”
She lets out a big sigh picking her fork back up, and I quietly breathe a sigh of relief. I’m not ready for this to be over. This is as close as I’ve gotten to getting Junie to talk to me, and I feel like I’ve won a damn war.
“You didn’t tell me not to call you Junie,” I murmur, more to myself than to her.
“I didn’t figure it would do any good,” she mutters and she’s right. “Are you going to ask your damn question?”
“Anxious?” I laugh.
“Just wanting it over with so I can eat without getting heartburn,” she responds with a smile that is totally fake and says she’d rather pluck my eyes out with her fork.Note to self, Junie can definitely be vindictive. That shouldn’t turn me on, but being that it is Junie, it does.
“You’ve been turningfools down left and right that have been chasing after you like a starving junkyard dog and you were a meaty steak. So, why did you finally say yes to Zeke?”
“Wow, quite the description you got there, Sheriff.”
“Just stating it like I see it. Hell, most of them have been drooling so damn much it’s a wonder Stone Lake hasn’t been a flood zone all year.”
Her eyes go large and round. Her fork stops out from her mouth, which is open in shock.
And then it happens.
She laughs. It’s a warm laugh, and it’s all Junie. Sweet, the kind that makes you want to smile, her whole body is into it, and she doesn’t give a fuck who is watching her. And those eyes. The twinkling blue that I always think about when I’m alone in my bed—usually with my hand wrapped around my cock—warm so deeply that I smile as she pulls me into the joy she’s showing.
Even if it is at my expense.
“Sheriff, I think you need to be put on medication,” she says finally, when her laughter dies down, and she finishes her bite of food.
I take a couple bites of my own, before admitting she’s right. “Probably, after all, I’ve been one of them.”
“Yeah, right.”
“You think I go to the bar all the time for any other reason than the woman behind it, Junie? If you do, you’re fooling yourself.”
“I don’t know why you do any of the things you do, Sheriff. It’s not like that is any of my concern.”
I frown, but I let it go. I keep telling myself that Rome wasn’t built in a day. Junie wants to bust my balls, and I probably deserve that, but we’re going to have to work past it soon, because I’m not letting her get away from me, especially to the likes of Zeke.
“Are you going to answer the question?” I ask, after a few minutes of silence. It’s strange how we can eat together and the silence not be… awkward. I’ve always felt the pressure to keep a conversation going on with other women I’ve dated… even Luna.
“You asked a question?” she murmurs, sounding bored and not even bothering to glance up from her plate to look at me.
“Why Zeke?” I remind her and finally her gaze finds mine again, even if it is to roll her eyes at me.
“Have you seen the way that man fills out the flannel he wears? What woman wouldn’t want to hold on to that in bed?” she asks, matter-of-factly.
