Fireball (Cheap Thrills #1)(56)

And the Sheriff proceeded to blow my mind, twice, right there on his desk. He only just managed to keep me quiet, but I was too busy groaning into his hand as I came to help him stay quiet in return. They might not have heard me, but they sure as hell heard his loud groan when he came.

And now he had another thing to think about when he saw the color pink. And his desk. And his desk chair. And his office…

One and a half hours later…

Holding the door open so that Jose could enter the shop, I avoided eye contact and instead watched Liv take in the new world around her.

“What time do you call this?” Ellis called, standing up from behind the desk.

“It’s called dirty stop out ho time,” Jose snickered, lifting Liv’s car seat up and resting it on top of the counter.

Like he did every time he saw her, Ellis swooped in, unbuckled her, and pulled the baby out and brought her close to his chest. “Hey, little princess. How are you…” he stopped as he got a good look at what she was wearing. “Who the hell bought her that?”

“Uh, that would be Hurst and Linda Townsend. Apparently one of their grandkids has a shirt with I love Cumming Georgia on it, so Hurst took a great interest in what other places had names like that,” Jose explained, trying her hardest not to laugh.

Me, I couldn’t do it. From the second I saw the neon pink t-shirt with I love Climax Georgia on it, I’d been a goner. This had also inspired an internet search by my good self, and now Liv had two more winging their way to her – the Cumming one, and an Intercourse PA one.

“Isn’t it awesome?” I snorted, getting a huge deal of satisfaction at the look of horror still on the man’s face, his eyes not leaving the words.

Finally he huffed and brought her back down to his chest, but this time she was leaning upright on it meaning she had her face next to his chin. Proving just how special and precious she was, Liv did her best to raise her head up, and plonked her mouth on it in a baby kiss.

“Oh my God,” Jose whispered, reaching over and grabbing my arm.

“Is she kissing me?”

Both of us nodded unable to look away from them. Ellis was a great guy and I’ve got to say, if you were into making judgements on people based on their appearance and profession, you’d probably take one look and think he was a gruff macho man. And by that I mean – immune to showing soft emotions, probably a womanizer, hard talking, motorcycle riding, eats nothing but red meat, and awkward AF with kids. He wasn’t though, at least not that I’d ever seen. Yes, he had those tendencies in him, but whenever he was around Liv and Jose he showed soft emotions, like he was doing at this very moment.

Slowly closing his eyes, he leaned into Liv a bit more, spreading his hand wide across her back, and absorbed the baby loves. At the same time, Jose’s hand spasmed around my arm and she took a deep breath in. The bell over the door ringing snapped the three of us out of it, but Liv wasn’t done with his cheek so she stayed where she was.

“Yo,” a deep voice rumbled behind us. “Is that baby sucking on your chin?” A quick glance over my shoulder showed one of Dave’s deputy’s walking in, Raoul. Behind him was the man I’d just left – the one who’d told me he had ‘shit to do’.

“It’s a kiss, you prick,” Ellis snapped, glaring at Raoul. Eager to see what was going on, Liv pulled back and tried to turn around, wobbling wildly even though he had her anchored to his front because she was nowhere near being able to do that yet. “Wait, princess,” he told her quietly, and then turned her around so that her back was to his front, with one arm under her rump and the other on her stomach now.

“I see,” he chuckled, stopping beside Jose. “How’s the little princess doing? Is she…does her t-shirt say I love Climax?”

At the same time, we all said the one word that would explain it. “Hurst.”

“Uh hum,” he sighed, still staring at the garment in question. “Anyway, I came in here to see if you had an appointment,” he started, and then stopped. “No, that’s a lie. The big ass behind me wanted to see what this one was doing. Sorry, DB,” he shot over his shoulder. “I’m not getting a needle stuck in me because you’re a nosy prick.”

The glare Dave aimed at him would have had a lesser man’s balls shrinking, Raoul’s were apparently made of titanium though because he just shrugged his shoulders.

“Well, tough luck, buddy,” I said, poking him in the chest and almost breaking my finger. What the hell do they have on under there? I was sure he said they wore their protective vests over their shirts when they needed them? Or did I get that wrong? I couldn’t have, he’d have to take it off when he got undressed at night, and I wouldn’t have missed that.

Pulling me into him, he gave me a smooch on the lips and grinned down at me. “Can’t blame a man for trying.”

“And you’re very trying,” I snickered, resting my chin in the center of his chest.

“As cute as this is,” Jose interrupted. “Can we get this moving before people think I brought my daughter in here to get ink needled into her skin?”

Raoul swayed slightly at the description she used for getting a tattoo, and I remembered hearing that he had issues with needles. Which made no sense because I was sure I’d seen a tattoo on him.