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Deb gave me a bright smile from her place behind the counter. “Mornin’ sweetheart.” She took me in before asking, “You just come from a workout?”
I moved to the counter, hopping up on the barstool right beside the pastry case. “Yep. Yoga down at Lotus Flower.”
“That Aurora sure knows how to put you through your paces, huh?”
I let out a laugh, knowing just how right she was. Today’s class was different because of all the dogs, but I usually left Aurora’s classes feeling like I’d just been wrung out. She pushed her students to the point we thought we couldn’t do any more, only to exceed our own expectations. In only a handful of months, I’d become stronger, more flexible, and in better shape than I’d been in years. “That she does. Fortunately, her classes have done great things for my ass, so I’ll keep going back.”
Deb reached across the counter for a high five that I gladly returned. “You know what you want, or you need a moment to look at the menu?”
“I’ll start with coffee, but I need a minute.”
“You got it, sweetheart.”
I grabbed one of the laminated menus tucked in the middle of the condiments holder beside me and started perusing as Deb placed a coffee cup in front of me, along with a bowl of individual vanilla and hazelnut coffee creamers, and poured the steaming liquid gold into it.
I ordered the yogurt parfait and French toast, doctored my coffee, and had just lifted the cup to take my first sip when a raspy coughing sound drew my attention to the floor right beside me.
“Well, hello there,” I said to the familiar dog that had its front paws balanced on the bottom rung of my stool. “I know you, don’t I?” The dog barked again, the god-awful noise making me laugh. She pawed at the air demandingly, so I bent down to pick her up. “Are you causing trouble?”
“Always,” a deep, gruff voice said beside me.
My heart gave a start, and I slowly dragged my eyes upward until they landed on those all too familiar mossy green eyes that made my belly backflip like an Olympic gymnast.
Holton’s plump lips curled upward slowly, those straight, pearly white teeth coming into view, as he hit me with that heart stopping smile of his.
When he spoke next, his voice was low and rumbly, thick and syrupy... doing unimaginable things to my insides. “Hi, Little Dove.”
Damn it! Why did he have to be so freaking sexy?
ChapterTen
HOLTON
I’d knownthe moment she walked into the diner. It was as if a current shot through the air, charging it with electricity. I could practically feel the sizzle of it on my skin.
I had been sitting at a table near the front window, enjoying the slow pace of late morning before having to go into the station, when the bell over the door caught my attention. I looked up and all the air was immediately knocked from my lungs.
I couldn’t have ripped my eyes off her if I’d wanted to—not that I did—because,holy shit. I’d seen the woman naked, for Christ’s sake, but there was just something about the way she was wearing her yoga outfit that hit me straight in the dick.
The leggings were a deep plum color, hugging her from ankle to waist like a second skin, and the things they were doing for her ass were out of this fucking world. Her matching top sported long sleeves, but was cropped at her midriff, showing off a good few inches of toned, tanned stomach. Though not enough to show off the tattoo that had driven me crazy during our night together. It was also tight, molding to her breasts and accentuating every one of her delectable curves.
Her long, thick, curly hair was barely contained by the messy knot on top of her head, revealing the long, slender length of her neck that I’d spent the whole night kissing and tasting and smelling while I’d been buried inside her. The desire to bury my face in that crook to see if the memory of her scent was still accurate was nearly too strong to ignore. Would she smell the same as that night? God, I wanted to know.
Her cheeks had a flushed glow to them, like she’d just done something exerting, and my mind immediately shot back to our night together. She’d worn that same flush when she’d been on top of me, straddling my hips as she rode me hard. My dick stirred in my pants, growing hard as I watched her hop onto a stool and lean forward to talk to Deb, one of the waitresses here at the diner. I shifted in my booth, trying not to draw attention as I adjusted my stiffening dick, but she wasn’t making matters any easier when she tipped her head back and laughed at something Deb said.
Churro, who’d been snoozing beneath the table, jolted awake just then and noticed Lyric in an instant. She bolted out from under the table before I could stop her and darted right to Lyric.
Something in my chest stirred when she looked down at my dog, giving her a smile that lit her entire face.God, that smile.
When she bent to pick her up, my body set into motion before I could give it a second—or first—thought. I slid out of the booth and moved toward the woman who never failed to draw me in like a moth to a flame.
Her voice had a musical quality to it as she asked, “Are you causing trouble?”
“Always,” I answered as I reached her side. I wasn’t close enough to smell her—like I wanted—but we were in public, and something told me not only would invading her space so I could sniff her not go over well, but the town would be buzzing with that story before dinner time, so I forced myself to stay at a respectable distance, even though she was calling to me like a siren. “Hi, Little Dove.”
However, Iwasclose enough to see how that flush extended down her delicate neck into the collar of her top, and catch how her throat worked on a thick swallow.
I could see clearly how she schooled her features, slipping a mask into place as she said, “Deputy,” with a tip of her chin in acknowledgment.
