Be Mine(23)

“Shut up, B.”

“Whatever you say, freak.”

Jenny had always appreciated that Benton was like a pain-in-the-ass little brother to her. That appreciation was being strained tonight. She started away before he could say more, but not quickly enough.

“Hey!”

She turned warily back.

He tipped his head in the direction of Nate Hendricks’s table. “I’ve got condoms under the register if you’re making a move on that guy.”

“Shut up!” she repeated. “It’s not like that. He’s my...um...deputy.”

“Ah. Of course he is. That girl over in the corner there is my librarian. I still use condoms when she invites me over, though. When you sleep with one public servant, you sleep with every public servant. Or something like that.”

“I hate you.” Her face felt as if it were the color of the maraschino cherry Benton popped in his mouth. “I really do.”

“Go get ’im, tiger.”

She’d get Benton back somehow, she thought as she made herself walk toward Nate. The problem with Benton was that he was utterly shameless. Even Rayleen, the dirty old woman who owned the saloon, couldn’t embarrass him, not that she ever stopped trying.

Speaking of...Jenny kept her eyes straight ahead and didn’t look toward Rayleen’s table. Hopefully the old lady wouldn’t look up from her game of solitaire long enough to notice anything.

“Hi,” she said stupidly when she reached his table and took a seat.

Nate immediately poured her a beer. “I thought you were the bartender here.”

“I am, but I serve on pitcher night. I’m quick and I like the change of pace.”

“You’re good at it.”

“At what?” she asked.

His eyes locked on hers and pushed her nerves to another level of chaos. “Being charming.”

“Oh?” What did that mean? It sounded as if it could be a compliment, but his voice was faintly cool and his eyes assessing.

“Did you call about the class?”

Oh, crap. That was what he was here about? “I’ve been really busy, but I’ve got it right here....” She patted the front pocket of her jeans, then stuffed her hands into her back pockets. Nothing there. By the time she patted her breast, thinking maybe her shirt had a pocket, she realized she was doing some obscene sort of macarena. His cool eyes slid down to the hand cupping her boob.

God. “It must be in my apron,” she said weakly as she unclasped her breast. “I’m going to call today.”

“It’s seven p.m.”

“Right. I meant... The afternoon slipped by.”

He reached into his pocket—not cupping any sensitive body parts, she noted—and withdrew...

Not handcuffs, please. Not handcuffs.

...another card.

“I have the card!” she insisted.

“Just take it.” He sighed.

She took it, noticing the warmth of it seeping into her fingertips before she set it on the table. “I’m going to call. The day just got away from me.”

“Why don’t I believe you, Ms. Stone?”

“It’s Jenny,” she said automatically. “And I’ll call you Nate.”

She glanced up when he didn’t respond. But he couldn’t take it back now. She knew his real name. She’d said it. And it felt surprisingly sweet on her tongue. It was so human. So easy. Nate. The man himself, on the other hand, was so intimidating she felt nervous saying it out loud.

“I’m honestly going to call. I appreciate what you did for me. You didn’t have to. Nobody else would have.”

He sighed. “You’re right about that.”

She started to smile, but in that moment she realized that she was right. No one else would’ve given her so many passes. No other cop would’ve tried to help her out the way he had. So why had he done it? And why was he here?

Warmth washed through her, trailing little sparks that settled under her skin. He liked her. As impossible as that seemed as he watched her with those cool eyes. He didn’t smile. He’d barely even blinked when she’d fondled her own breast in front of him. But he must like her. It was the only explanation.

She took a needed sip of beer. “I’m sorry I drive too fast,” she offered.

“You’re going to have to stop, you know. One of these days someone else will pull you over and that’ll be it.”

“I know.”

“Why can’t you just slow down?”

“I don’t know.”

His head tilted. His eyes narrowed. Finally, he shook his head. “You really don’t know, do you?”

“I don’t! I mean, I obviously know how to drive like a reasonable person. I don’t speed through town. I’m careful when the highway is crowded. I’ve never even had an accident!”

“I know. I checked.”

She looked down into her beer. “But when I’m out there alone, I just...lose myself. It’s not that I think about getting out there and seeing how fast I can go. I’m not racing. At least, I’m not racing anyone else. I just want to go.”

“Where?” he asked, the word just a quiet drop in the river of noise that flowed around them.

“I don’t have any idea,” she answered honestly. “Just away. Somewhere else.” She shook her head. “It feels good. To go as fast as I want to, even knowing I shouldn’t.”

“I get that. It can feel good. Doing something you shouldn’t.”

Jenny felt her cheeks go pink before she even looked at him. His soft words prompted her to peek at his ring finger. She’d checked it out before and knew he didn’t have a ring, but did he have a tan line? She was pretty harmless, so what else could he mean by something you shouldn’t do?

“Yes,” she finally said, raising her gaze to meet his. He was still unreadable, still giving nothing away. “But it’s your job to stop that, right?”

“If it’s illegal, sure.”

“And if it’s not?”

For the very first time in any of their encounters, she saw his mouth soften and almost—almost—smile. His lips weren’t so thin, she saw; he simply held them tight together most of the time. Or most of the time he spent with her.

“If it’s not illegal...” His teeth flashed white against his skin as he spoke. She realized she was staring at his mouth but couldn’t tear her eyes away. “Then it’s every man for himself.”

“And every woman?” she asked.

“Depends on who the man is,” he said. And then...Nate Hendricks smiled. “Hopefully you’d get some help with that.”

The jolt of it went through her like a shock wave before settling into her belly. This was the man named Nate. Charming. Wicked. Utterly adorable. The delicious feeling dipped a little lower in her body.

“Oh, shit,” she breathed.

The smile disappeared. “What?”

“Nothing.”

“What is it?”

Wow, she really knew how to play a flirtatious moment. He was frowning now, looking both suspicious and a little worried. With the thousands of people she’d watched flirt over the years, Jenny would’ve expected more from herself than a muttered scatological curse. Now he was leaning back, edging away from her.

“I’ve never seen you smile before!” she said quickly.

He frowned harder.

“I mean, usually when I see you, you’re really pissed off.”

“I take my job pretty seriously,” he said gruffly.

“You don’t have to tell me that! Whew. You’re Mr. Serious.” She was babbling and couldn’t stop. “Ha! You kind of scare me, you know.”

“Ah. Well.” He glanced toward the door. “I see.”

“I mean...not in a bad way!”

“I scare you in a good way?”

That sounded weird, but the words still pulsed through her. He did scare her in a good way. The good way that made her feel nervous and aware and a little too alive. Or just alive enough. It felt like driving fast, flying through the world.

“Yes,” she heard herself say. “In a good way.”

He stopped edging away from her.

When she was little, she’d tried ski jumping once at a tiny resort in Idaho. In retrospect, it had been the very smallest jump for the very smallest kids. No more than five feet high, but she could still remember standing at the top of that slope, trying to trust that gravity didn’t always have to be a brutal lesson. Her heart had beat so hard she’d felt her whole body pulse with it. She felt that now. She’d edged forward too far and there was no way to stop.

His gaze dipped down her body so quickly she almost missed it. “Are you scared right now?”