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What a freaking mess she was making of things.
“You’re right,” she said on an exhale, taking in the man before her. “I am picking a fight with you, and I’m sorry. I’m not being fair to you and—” Wincing, she pointed at his hand. “Uh, Quinn, you cut yourself.”
Glancing at the blood dripping from his palm, he muttered a creative obscenity. With a growl, he excused himself.
A few minutes later, he returned with his hand bandaged. A young, uniformed man with bright-red hair and a face full of freckles accompanied him.
“Alex, this is Deputy Chase. He was at Roxie’s place earlier today.”
She rose and shook the deputy’s outstretched hand.
“Chase will be helping out in our investigation. He’s looking into the flower delivery and checking with the phone company on all the calls to your landline since you’ve arrived. Thanks, Chase. That’ll be all for now.”
“Nice to meet you, ma’am.” He flashed her a smile, then gave Quinn a nod before taking his leave.
Once again seated behind his desk, Quinn said, “It’s almost noon—”
At the same time, Alex asked, “Why aren’t you—”
“Sorry,” he said. “What was that?”
“No, go ahead,” she urged.
He gestured with his bandaged hand for her to continue.
“Well, it’s kind of a stupid question, but why aren’t you wearing your uniform? Everyone else is. Day off?”
With that lopsided grin that made her heart ping, he shook his head. And just like that, all their earlier tension evaporated.
“No, it’s not my day off. It’s pretty simple, really. The way I figure it is that I’m the boss and, as the boss, if I don’t want to wear a uniform, then I don’t have to. See, simple.”
“Don’t you mean, ‘pretty arrogant’?” She gave him a saccharine smile. No way was she buying what he was saying. Not only was he usually in uniform, but he was the last person to act like he was better than anyone. Boss or not.
“Semantics, darlin’.” He shot her a wink and stood from his desk. “I’m totally kidding about the uniform, by the way. I almost always wear mine in. You have to lead by example, have to have pride in what you do. And I do. It’s truly an honor to wear the uniform and—”
He stopped abruptly, and she could have sworn she saw a flicker of surprise and embarrassment cross his face. Like he’d said more than he’d intended.
She stared at him. He was a man who obviously took pride in his position but didn’t go on and on about it. For some reason, that fascinated her.Hefascinated her.
“Truth is, I was at the gym this morning and ended up running late. I didn’t have time to swing back to my house to grab my uniform. Luckily, I had these in my gym bag”—he indicated his outfit—“or else I’d still be in sweats and a T-shirt.”
Nodding toward the door, where a garment bag hung from a hook, he added, “I always have a couple extra uniforms here. I planned on changing, but the morning... got away from me.”
She grimaced. “Imagine that...”
“Yeah, imagine that.” He chuckled. “Care to join me for lunch? We can go over what Chase finds when we get back.”
“Sure,” she said, rising from the chair. She snuck peeks at him as she put her jacket on.
“What?” he asked, noticing her observation.
“I can’t figure you out,” she said. “One minute, you’re the tough Sheriff O’Conner who’s all professional and bad-cop mean—”
“Mean?” He laughed. “I’m never mean. I’mdirect. If you think that’s mean, then you need to toughen up, sweetheart.”
She rolled her eyes. “And then the next minute, you’re back to being easygoing and flirty. I can’t figure you out.”
He opened the door and placed his hand on the small of her back. “I don’t think anyone has ever described me as easygoing before. I’ll take it, though. And, for the record, Idon’tflirt.”
