Hissy Fit (The Southern Gentleman #1)(68)

See, there weren’t many things that I was afraid of.

Dying while a large piece of plate glass falls on me from eighteen stories up, logs rolling off a log truck, being accidentally hung, and an airplane crash—all thanks to watching Final Destination at an impressionable age—and by a dog attack were all on my top five list.

Why was I worried about a dog attack?

Because when I’d been fifteen, an officer had brought a K-9 officer into my house on a search warrant that’d been issued on the wrong house, and when I’d tried to run like any rational human being that’d had someone slam into their house while they were minding their own business enjoying their evening. I panicked and the K-9 police dog had tried to apprehend my fleeing form.

I had a once-broken and a fear of dogs in general to show for it.

Flint sighed and put his dog back into the cruiser that he’d already moved to the side of the road, and I chose to dive into my car before he changed his mind.

After moving my vehicle over, I remained inside for a few long seconds as I tried to calm my erratic heartrate.

God, I wasn’t sure if it was Flint’s nearness, or his dog’s.

Either way, I wasn’t sure that I could get out of the car again.

My legs weren’t working properly.

“Let’s go, Ms. Sims,” Flint drawled from outside my window.

I opened my eyes and saw him standing there glaring at me through the cracked window, and wondered how in the hell I was supposed to function with that much hate aimed toward me.

***

Flint

I crossed my arms and gave the woman my most patient look, and saw her shiver.

After a few more long seconds, she exited the car once again and stared at me like I was about to hit her at any second.

Then again, she always did that and I wasn’t sure what the hell I’d ever done to deserve that behavior.

Honestly, being around her was a test for my patience.

She acted like I was going to throw her down on the ground and rape her if I got within five feet of her, and I wasn’t sure what in the hell to do to make her feel more comfortable around me.

It wasn’t like I really wanted to be as big and intimidating as I was.

I was just built strong and sturdy.

I was six foot five to her five foot one.

Honestly, if I thought hard enough, I could probably knock her backwards with a well-placed burp.

She was cute.

As long as she wasn’t staring at me with fear in her eyes like she was doing right then.

Long, strawberry-blonde hair, wide blue eyes, and soft skin that had the most adorable freckles on it—I wanted her.

Which pissed me off because I was already seeing somebody—as was she.

The jerk currently standing behind her asking her if she was all right.

Speaking of the devil, my phone rang and I grimaced as I pulled it out of my pocket.

“Hello?” I answered shortly.

“Why did you hang up on me like that?” Nivea asked. “Seriously, would it fucking hurt you at all to just say, ‘Nivea, I gotta go. Call you back in a sec?’”

I gritted my teeth. “I’m busy, Nivea.”

She growled in frustration, and I wanted to slam my phone onto the hood of my car until the phone stopped working and Nivea couldn’t bitch me out any more today.

“Yes, I’m okay,” Camryn said to the man at her side.

The man who was placing himself between me and Camryn as if I was about to do something stupid like beat the shit out of her for running into me.

Instead, I hung up and switched the phone onto silent.

I gave it ten minutes tops, and then she’d be calling me back.

“What the hell was that?” Carver rounded on me. “Did you have to be so mean?”

I blinked, surprised to see the kid had a spine. Ninety nine percent of the time he didn’t act like he did.

“I wasn’t being mean,” I disagreed. “I was pissed because she wouldn’t move her car and we had twenty-five people backed up behind us trying to get to work. If I hadn’t gotten her to move her car, that line would’ve only gotten longer. And then people start acting like dick heads because they’re late, and that’s when an accident happens.”

Carver narrowed his eyes, but Camryn’s hand on his arms stilled the words that were about to spill from his mouth.

“Carver, it’s okay,” she said softly, lifting her hand off his arm. “I’m fine. I was just startled. The dog scares me.”

I frowned.

The dog scared her?

The dog didn’t just ‘scare’ her. The dog terrified her. Which pissed me off even more because the dog, Dooley, was my K-9 partner. He was the sweetest thing ever, and wouldn’t harm a single hair on Camryn’s pretty little head.

But, every time I tried to explain that to Camryn, she only got even more scared.

Honestly, it was quite annoying.

Having her look at me like I was about to pull out my service weapon and blow her away was getting really fucking old.

“There’s no damage,” Carver said, surprising me.

I hadn’t seen nor heard him move, but that likely had to do with the fact that I was staring at Camry’s shapely thighs rather than paying attention to what was going on around me.

“There’s yellow paint on my bumper,” I pointed out.