Lord Have Mercy (The Southern Gentleman #2)(40)

“He was on a date,” she countered. “And he hated me. That was the night that I realized that what I thought I had when it came to Croft and what I really had were two different things.” She paused. “And if it makes you feel any better, I might’ve masturbated to you in the shower that night.”

My mouth fell open. “You what?”

She shrugged. “You were in the newspaper. It was laying out on my counter where I’d left it that morning, and your face was glowering at me. I remembered what you’d said to me earlier that day about how I wasn’t exempt to parking like a normal human being just because I parked at the back of the lot, and so…yeah. It just deteriorated from there.”

I was laughing my ass off right around the time that my phone started to chime and ding like crazy.

I frowned and looked at it. “I’ve never heard it make that sound.”

She pulled up the phone and let me see the screen. “Everybody thinks we’re cute.”

We were cute.

Apparently while she’d been sitting in my lap, she’d put us on my Facebook profile page. She’d also put another picture on the CrossFit page.

There were already thirteen likes in about a minute of it being posted, too.

“Ummm,” I hesitated. “What is this accomplishing?”

“I already told you, sweetgums,” she teased. “Driving Nivea crazy.”

I didn’t bother to argue. Instead I let her do what she wanted to do.

And four hours later, I thought that maybe I should’ve taken the phone away from her when I had the chance.

That, and paid more attention to the real shit—like the party that got raided because of the kid’s anonymous tip.





Chapter 11


The sound of snapping fingers is your finger hitting your palm and not your fingers rubbing together.

-Now you’re snapping your fingers to confirm it, aren’t you?

Flint

“What are you doing?” my sister asked me.

“I’m going to pick the crazy chick up and take her out to eat,” I said. “I’m just waiting on her to tell me where she is.”

“I…”

My phone dinged, and I looked at it with a frown.

“What is it?” Mikey, my pain in the ass sister, asked.

“I got a map with a pin sent to me,” I said. “Where is ‘Turtle Park?’”

“Isn’t that a park that’s connected to that cemetery?”

I didn’t know, but I was about to find out.

Inputting the map into my phone, I got it ready to give me directions, then winked at my sister. “Have fun teaching those classes with Croft tonight and thank you again for taking them over.”

My sister waved me away. “Trust me when I say, it won’t be a problem.”

Rolling my eyes, I headed out to my motorcycle and got on it, starting it up and heading in the direction that my phone pointed me.

And Mikey was right. I ended up at a cemetery.

I also saw Camryn running around the farthest curve that circled around a man-made pond in the very middle. Graves circled the point, pushing out for about half a mile in all directions.

She had a set of headphones in her ears, and she was running, making fairly good time if I did say so myself.

I leaned against my bike, legs crossed, and watched her for another fifteen minutes before she stopped underneath the shade of an oak tree.

She sat down, then fell backward into the lush grass, her hands up high over her head.

My eyes went to the skin-tight spandex pants that were slicked onto her lower body, and then to her breasts that were heaving with each breath.

I stood up straight and walked to where she was lying on the ground, stopping only when I was a few inches away from her face.

“Why are you running in a cemetery?” I asked curiously.

Her eyes opened and she smiled up at me tiredly.

“It’s well lit, peaceful, paved, and nobody ever comes here,” she answered honestly. “Plus, it’s about a half mile from my house, so I can walk it and loosen up my muscles.”

That was fairly good reasoning.

“Oh, and an added bonus is that there’s always a grounds maintenance guy here working, so I’m never truly alone.”

All very good points.

“Those are good.” I paused. “And honestly, I’m surprised that you even put that much thought into your runs.”

I could tell she was working herself up to a good snit, and I started interrupting her before she’d even gotten a word in edgewise.

She frowned, and I waved my hands slightly to the side. “No, that’s not what I meant. You’re thinking that I think you don’t think. That’s not what I meant. What I meant was that I feel like you put more forethought into running than a lot of other female runners do. It’s actually a very good habit to have.” I looked around the cemetery. “Technically you could run around here at night and still be safe. Honestly, this is one of the best places you could find.”

I was honestly jealous that she’d thought of it. I’d seen this cemetery hundreds of times since I’d started as a cop. I’d made arrests almost everywhere, but not one single one had taken place in this cemetery.

“Okay,” she sighed and blew her hair out of her face. “You’re forgiven before I’ve even given you a good talking to.”