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“I really hate these people,” I said to Hank as we drove out of Dallas. “I might have to get some revenge for myself.”
He grunted. “I brought that little gun for you. The one my mom’s been hiding in her bedroom.”
“Yeah? Well, my daddy taught me how to shoot. Thanks.” I stared out the window, crossing my arms.
He reached over and put a hand on my shoulder. “It won’t be forever. I’ll see to that.”
We didn’t make it all the way to Albuquerque. Instead, I picked the nicest hotel I could find in downtown Amarillo and booked it on Hank’s phone using my new LLC credit card.
He’d relaxed a little. As long as I wore the ball cap with sunglasses, he reluctantly agreed to do a little shopping with me. I bought a cheap phone to use until I had time to get something better.
When we walked past one of those quick hair cut places, still open for another hour, I pulled Hank to a stop. “Time for a makeover,” I said.
He raised his eyebrows. “You sure?”
My long blonde hair had always been my superpower and I was ridiculously attached to it. Sure, I wasn’t a totally natural blonde, more of a light brunette, but regular appointments at my salon took care of that.
Hank pushed me inside. “I didn’t mean to give you cold feet—this is exactly what needs to happen. Come on, sweetheart, it’s just hair. It will grow back.”
I sniffed and let him drag me inside. Barbie doll had always been my ideal, even if I wasn’t quite tall enough to be a ringer. When all the nonsense with the death threats had started, I’d seen this coming and had spent a whole lot of time considering my options.
An hour later my hair was a rich coffee black, cut above my shoulders in an A-line bob. No bangs. I pulled out the fake glasses I had stashed in my bag and put them on. They had big black rims. Sally MacCullen was gone.
Hank’s eyes were wide as he stared at me. We held hands and walked down the street to a brewery for dinner. I smiled at him. “I’m still in here. I just seem smarter now.”
“You look like a different person. I’m really attracted to this Sally. It’s freaking me out a little.”
I sighed, shaking my head. “I thought I’d go for a frumpy style as well, clothes to blend in. Baggy floral tops and knee-length skirts. Possibly blazers…and flat shoes. Serious college student that reads Victorian romances and shops in funky boutiques. Maybe I’ll collect lanyards, for my glasses. And ride a bicycle.”
He tugged me off the sidewalk into a little green space with a view of water. We stood next to a burbling fountain. He drew me into his arms and kissed me.
How long had I been waiting for Hank to kiss me? Years. Nearly a decade. His hands were on either side of my face. First, he gazed into my eyes, then he leaned in slowly, his lipslanding softly against mine. I pulled him in tighter, pushing my hands up under his shirt to run along his back. He tilted his head and our tongues touched.
He moved away first, leaning his forehead against mine. “I’ve wanted to do that for a long time.”
“Really? All you did was scowl at me when we were teenagers.”
“Sally.” He sighed. “You’re tearing out my heart.”
I stared up at him. “I’m a brunette now, not a harpy.”
He gave me another peck and then we went to dinner. All day I’d been considering whether or not I should have sex with him. My knee-jerk reaction was YES, of course. Then my second thought was a blast of uncertainty…what was the problem?
Why was I thinking about it all day?Anticipation, I tried to tell myself. And, yes, that was true. Hank’s hard fit body flexed beside me as we sat down at our table. He was dark haired and dark eyed, olive skinned from being outside every chance he got and from a mixed heritage. With a faultless moral compass, he was good guy Hank. I trusted him in a way no other partner in my life had come close to. I’d liked teasing him, when we were younger, trying to tempt him to be just a little bit naughty. It had never worked.
He kept his arm around me during dinner, snuggled up close on the same side of a booth. I took a selfie of us leaning our heads together on his phone, then stared at the photo not recognizing myself. Bright red lipstick was what I needed—a brighter color palette would be a perk of going dark.
We drank, and ate, and held hands under the table. I told him a bit about my plans and wrote down the address of the house I’d offered for on a cocktail napkin.
“Why did you become a police officer?” I asked, watching him play with my fingers.
“I did some ride alongs as a teenager, with a really goodperson. I thought about it a lot after. There’s this whole other world of people out there that are struggling and the police are the first ones on the scene. We’re the people that show up when someone needs help. Most of it’s grim work, but I thought it’s where I could make a difference. Change from the inside as well—holding on to who I am no matter where I find myself. A lot of those guys need a peacemaker, somebody to pull them back when they lose their tempers. It isn’t an easy job. Not sure I’ll stick with it more than another decade or so.”
Perhaps what was holding me back was the emotion that ran so deep in him. He cared. I lived on the surface and knew it. How could a cold-blooded snake like me fit with this warm teddy bear of a man?I don’t want to hurt him.
At the hotel, though, as soon as we closed the door, we were on each other. I liked how straightforward he was, a million miles from Josh—who I was determined not to think about—and all of his complicated kinks. Hank kissed me and stripped our clothing off and laid us down on the bed. I found myself being the aggressor, climbing on top of him and sliding on because he seemed content to lie on the bed and kiss all night.
His head arched back, his body straining, as he waited for me to get there. A wave of pleasure burst on me and I moaned his name. For a moment, it cleared my head of some of the dark crap that had been lingering in there. Sex with Hank was simple and unlike anything I’d experienced in a long time.
