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“Be careful,” Cash called out. Would he always feel nervous every time one of his men drove into town? “Oh, and there’s a festival going on downtown. You’ll have to park in the field and hoof it.”
Rue flexed his right arm. “I’m fit. No worries.”
“I can’t wait for poker,” Nick said when they were alone again. “Rory told me Fin is the one I have to look out for, but he looks so innocent.”
Cash laughed as he dusted off his pants. “Let’s just say it’s a good thing we don’t play for high stakes. Fin would own it all. Ready to get cleaned up?”
“Hell yeah. Cleaned up equals getting my man naked.” Nick wrapped his arms around Cash’s neck and kissed him. “Thank you for the girls.”
“You’re welcome.”
They headed back to the house, hand in hand. Cash got a gate alert on his phone halfway there. He thought it might be Rueben leaving until he saw his truck still parked near the house. He pulled his phone out to check the camera when his phone rang.
“It’s Burke,” Cash told Nick. Was he at the gate? He answered the phone instead of checking the feed. “Hey, Seth.”
“Cash. Sorry for dropping by unannounced. It worked so well for that other guy. Thought I’d try it too.” There was something off in his voice. He’d tried to disguise his tension with a snarky comment, but it hadn’t worked.
“Funny man. See you in a few,” Cash said before disconnecting. He opened the gate with his app, and they waited for Burke to make the long drive down to the ranch.
“This can’t be good, right?” Nick asked.
“He’s never just shown up before, so I’m not optimistic.”
Burke pulled up to them and stopped. He killed the engine and stepped out of his truck. “Gentlemen,” he said with a tip of his white Stetson.
“Evening,” Cash replied.
Nick nodded at the sheriff. “Burke.”
The sheriff smirked at Nick’s lukewarm welcome before meeting Cash’s gaze. Burke’s brow furrowed, and Cash suspected he had bad news to deliver. He knew where all his people were, so this must have something to do with the prior incident. When Burke glanced at Nick but still didn’t speak, Cash figured out what made him uneasy.
“Nick already told me about his phone call to his friend at the FBI and the conversation you guys had at the diner on Tuesday,” Cash told him.
Boots crunched on gravel, and Cash turned to find Rueben walking from his cabin. His steps faltered when his gaze landed on Burke. Rue’s dark eyes widened, and his lips curved into a smile.
“Well, isn’t this a surprise,” Rue said as he veered in their direction. “Is the good sheriff joining us for poker night? If so, I’ll need to put on something a little nicer.”
“Poker?” Burke quirked a brow.
Cash rolled his eyes at his friend. “There’s no money involved. Otherwise, Rueben wouldn’t have said anything.”
“I wouldn’t count on that,” Rue said. “I made an awful criminal.”
Burke laughed and hooked a thumb toward Rueben. “I like him.”
“I like you too, handsome,” Rueben said. “I hope you’re still here when I get back.” Rue winked and headed toward Cash’s truck.
Burke turned sideways and watched him go. Rue looked over his shoulder and caught the sheriff in the act. Cash had never seen Rue give such a lurid smile, and he felt kind of dirty for seeing it now. He glanced over at Nick, who was getting a kick out of the exchange.
“What just happened?” Burke asked when Rueben drove off with a little wave out the window.
Nick sighed and shook his head. “The good people elected this guy as their top law officer in the county?” He tsked a few times. “That’s what the young kids call flirting, Burke.”
“Flirting?” The sheriff looked over his shoulder at the truck. “With me?”
So Rueben hadn’t been joking about the handcuffs and other things he mentioned. “Yeah, flirting,” Cash said.
“Huh. Interesting.” Burke glanced over his shoulder one last time, but the black truck had already disappeared into the pines. He shook his head as if to clear his thoughts and fixed his attention on Cash. “So Nick told you about my friend at DHS who is working on cutting-edge technology in facial recognition?”
