“Yes. Is there a problem?” Please fucking say no. Wait, Katie is here. She can deal with them. They both giggle, the sound reminding me of a bunch of hyenas and transferring me back to that three weeks of hell I did in the Sahara Desert when I was still in the Army.
“You know—” The redhead speaks next. “You could totally double as a cop stripper.” Strange thing to say, but maybe they’re joking because of the bachelorette party. Who fucking knows.
“We do have a room over at Mulberry Inn.” Why is she telling me this?
“That’s great for you. Why don’t you go back there?” They both scowl at me.
“Both of you get to the front or head out for the night.” Travis comes up behind me to shoo them away. They both glare at me when they pass.
“Not sure what I did to them, but thanks.”
“They were hitting on you, and you shot them down.” I shake my head. That wasn’t what was happening. Travis chuckles. “It’sactually funnier because you don’t have a clue.” I don’t have time for this.
“I have to go.” When I step outside, I have to fight a smile because she did, in fact, find the lights. The blue and red flashes across the parking lot. Travis is going to love that.
“Cupcake,” I say when I open the door. “Told you to be good.”
“But it feels nice being bad.” She gives me a wicked smirk.
“What am I going to do with you?” I mutter, placing her bag on the floor and draping her coat over her legs.
“You’re going to take me home with you. That’s what you are going to do.”
“Am I now?”
“The night is young, and I don’t want to sleep yet.”
“Your wish is my command.”
I promise myself that I’ll keep my hands to myself. She’s drunk, but I can’t pass up seeing her in my home. I finally got it fully completed a month ago, and she hasn’t been out to see it.
“This thing got music?”
“Babe, don’t be pushing buttons.”
“I love pushing your buttons. You called me babe.” I glance over at her. We’ve hit the edge of town and are on one of the back roads into the mountains.
My place isn’t far from town, but it is nestled back with trees shadowing it, so you can’t see it from any road. I got lucky with the spot. I think the luck was partly because of the price of the land.
With it being close to town and a mountain view in the backyard with a pond, they wanted a nice chunk for it. It was worth every penny. I knew that when I’d taken both Kindred and her brother out to see it, wondering what they thought of it. They were locals so they’d know better than me. I also wanted to see Kindred's reaction to it, and when I did, I knew I would pay whatever it took to get that land.
“I have to take babe off the list with cupcake?” I tease her.
“That depends. You call anyone else that?”
“No.” That would be weird. I don’t even care to call people by their first names.
“Okay,” she chirps happily.
“That would bother you?”
“Yes.” That’s all she gives me, not expanding on it. I suppose it doesn’t matter. I’ll keep calling her, and only her, those names if it keeps that smile on her face.
Chapter Twelve
KINDRED
Not sure what came over me and not sure I care. At least for tonight. All I know is that when I saw the beautiful new deputy eye-fucking the hell out of my Cash, I might have overreacted. I climbed the man like the giant tree he is and kissed him, and he kissed me right back.
