“Maybe you were too busy tiptoeing around that Veronica bitch’s crocodile tears.”
“Ms. Lauren!” Saige rushed over. “I made this for you, special.” She handed Lauren a satchel of... She brought it to her nose and sniffed.
“Herbs,” Saige assured. “And a few crystals. When you return to review the business plan, I’ll tell you what they’re for and how to use them. The intrigue is to make sure you come back,” Saige smiled.
Lauren returned the smile and ignored the sheriff as she placed the satchel in her oversized purse and picked up her grocery bag. She walked to the front door and from the mirror chime hanging at the entry, she could see the sheriff watching the jiggle of her ass as she walked away.
She really should’ve put some panties on before leaving the house, but really, who slept in panties?
“Don’t worry Saige,” she said, emboldened by the interest the sheriff gave. She’d worked hard with the weights in her old gym to keep her glutes high and firm at her big age. Derrick hadn’t ever acknowledged her attempt to be healthier. Hell, when was the last time they’d even had sex? It had to have been well before she’d gone to the East Coast conference. She’d met up with her best friend Reese while she was there, and they’d discussed the absence of their sex lives for the last few months. He hadn’t desired her for all that time? Why couldn’t he just tell her? Why had he asked her to marry him, why had he pushed her into moving in with him, buying a house together…?
“You okay there, Batgirl?” the sheriff called out. She turned her body all the way around to gaze at him.
“Lauren,” Saige said, trying to divert her attention from the fire growing inside her but her attention wouldn’t be diverted.
“Is that your roundabout way of calling me crazy?” Lauren asked the sheriff, took a step forward as she wrapped thegrocery bag handles around her hand, tightening the slack. She advanced on him slowly.
His hand reached toward his hip, and she practically vibrated with rage.
“I wish you would,” she growled out.
He smiled.
“Your wish is my command.”
He was on her in a blink. The world spun and she felt both her bags fall to the ground. She screamed in rage when he smacked her on her assyet again, this time his hand lingered, burning into her flesh, branding it, igniting something, causing her sex to throb. It had to be the fire of vengeance burning through her body. But it felt like something else.
This time she refused to make a spectacle of herself. Instead, she lay over his shoulder and propped herself up on her elbows, digging them spitefully into his back and cupped her face between her hands.
“Can you have my groceries delivered to Ms. Lina’s bed and breakfast?” she asked Saige.
“Uh, sure. I’ll just…I’ll just get your purse and put it in the car with you.” She followed them to the police car. “I’ll see you when you get out,” Saige called and waved as the car pulled away.
His last rational thought while watching that woman’s ass bounce in hypnotizing rhythm was…them dukes, them dukes. Then she was in his face, challenging him. Again. Like it was his fault her bouncy ass painted decadent images in his mind—him grabbing handfuls of each round sphere…burying his face in?—
I wish you would.
Her chaotic anger shoved the rebellious little shit he’d once been out of his walled-in and nearly impenetrable shell. Her mouth had the power to breach decades of military control. His only defense was to flip the switch, seal that destructive adolescent energy in before it burned down his world all over again.
Now back in the driver’s seat, literally and figuratively, he drove toward the station, sunglasses dimming his overly stimulated senses. He was lulled by the familiar rhythms of the road.
He looked at her through the rearview mirror and frowned. She quietly observed the scenery outside but there was a lost, wounded expression on her face. And he didn’t like it. Not one damn bit.
“You all right back there, rump shaker?”
She swung her head around so fast, air currents seemed to move within the enclosed space frenetically.
Pure rage darkened her face, and he was glad there was a barrier between them. He had no doubt that she would’ve lunged and flayed his face with her manicured claws.
He’d only intended to prod her anger; it was easier to take than that look of despair, but the hellion didn’t seem to know how to do anything in half measures.
There were a lot of things he’d walk away from, but a challenge wasn’t one, not today. Not from her.
She shifted her position, extending her legs along the back seat and dug through her gargantuan purse. Dismissing him.
In the less than five minutes it took him to drive to the station, she hadn’t said another word, so he didn’t say anything about her failing to put her seat belt on and sit in the damn seat correctly.
By the time they arrived at the station, Audrey was standing at the station entry, arms crossed and Roan beside her. Cutterrolled up in his cruiser, early for their shift change briefing before he ended his night shift.
