“‘Morning’?” he repeated, his tone incredulous. Sweat dotted his forehead, though it was still cool outside, and he swiped his sleeve across it. Someone was getting a little stressed. Good, it served him right. “Like I told you yesterday, you can’t be here.”
I snorted, gesturing to the chains that bound me to the probably hundred-and-fifty-year-old tree at my back. “I assure you, I can, and I am. Obviously.”
His face reddened even further—which, to be honest, I hadn’t thought possible. “You need to unlock thisright now,” he spat, his voice rising with each word, spittle forming at the corners of his mouth.Ew. “We’re on a tight schedule, and you’re halting the progress!”
I shot him a wide smile. “Ohdarn. I had no idea that would happen.”
He ground his teeth so hard, I heard it from my perch on the ground. “Don’t fool yourself, sweetheart. You’re not doing anything noble here. People need this shopping center.”
“Animals need their homes more,sweetheart.”
Was there anything worse than a pompous man who talked down to you because you were a woman? Yes, apparently. A pompous man who talked down to you because you were a woman and who also happened to be in charge of demolishing twenty acres of wildlife.
“Animals don’t pay the bills, lady. They’re going to have to mooch elsewhere. Andyouneed to leave. Now.”
“No can do. I seemed to have misplaced the key. Whoops.” I shrugged, giving him my best contrite smile, despite the fact that said key was safely nestled between my breasts, tucked into my bralette right next to the amethyst I’d placed there this morning.
“Fine,” he said, pulling out his phone. “You’ve given me no choice but to call the sheriff again.”
“Oh, good. Let me know when he gets here,” I said, placing my palms back on my knees and closing my eyes. “We’re on a first-name basis, you know.”
The foreman didn’t need to know the reason for that was because Sheriff McKenzie had arrested me more than once. He’d done it so many times, in fact, my rap sheet had nearly doubled since I’d been in this sleepy little town. I’d never met a man more controlled by the law—more controlled, period—than Brady. Never met one more gorgeous, either.
At the first arrest, I’d been annoyed. Then irritated. But after my fifth time in his cuffs, I’d started to find it downright amusing. If he wanted to waste his time running the paperwork on little old me, then who was I to deny him something that obviously brought him delight? Besides, it wasn’t exactly a hardship to look at him.
Looming nearly a foot taller than me, he was gorgeous, with his dark, tousled hair and pale-green eyes, close-cropped beard that couldn’t hide his chiseled jawline, and a body that just wouldn’t quit. He wasstacked, with tree-trunk legs, biceps the size of my head, and an ass I wanted to sink my teeth into.
So yeah…as long as he kept his mouth shut, I had no problem getting up to some good trouble and enjoying the view when he showed up to ruin all my fun.
* * *
Brady
The last thingI should’ve been doing was bringing food to the enemy, but Beck wouldn’t drop it, insisting theLuna Specialwould work wonders in smoothing her ruffled feathers and cinch what we needed to happen—namely, keeping her away from trouble.
Still. I was the goddamn sheriff of Starlight Cove. I wasn’t about to show up to a call with refreshments for the lawbreaker. At least, not unless she gave me no other choice.
I stepped out of my car, taking stock of the witnesses. Hopefully, this hadn’t gotten out of hand already and word hadn’t yet spread like it was wont to do in our little town.
“…coming to you live from the Williamsons’ old place where, for the second day in a row, newcomer to Starlight Cove, Luna Lancaster, is taking a stand against corporate greed.” A small, older woman sporting a hot-pink sweatshirt and matching sweatpants, her gray hair still in curlers, stood off to the side, phone held out in front of her as she spoke.
I groaned, scrubbing a hand over my face as I changed directions and headed toward her. “Mabel. Can you not do this right now?”
She pinned me with a scowl, turning her phone on me. “Sheriff McKenzie. Are you saying the good people of Starlight Cove don’t deserve to know what’s going on in their fine town? I have an obligation to report the news, you know.”
I snorted, using all my restraint not to shove the phone away from me. “I think you can relax. It’s Facebook, not the Associated Press.”
“True, but we’ve got one of those here, too.” Mabel grinned, as if she was delighting in that fact and the shocked look on my face. “Showed up about five minutes before you.”
I shot my gaze around until it landed on the only person out of place. Tall, blond, and statuesque, with an air that said she didn’t belong here but was gracing you with her presence anyway. Harper Davidson. She’d spent summers at the resort in her teen years. She’d been inseparable from Levi and his best friend back then, but I hadn’t seen her here in years. “Harper? Since when do you work for the AP? I thought you wrote for some lifestyle magazine.”
“I don’t work for the AP,” she said, coming to a stop next to us.
Mabel blew out a raspberry and swatted the air between them. “Oh, you’re no fun.”
Harper rolled her eyes. “But Idofreelance for several lifestyle magazines who’d probably be really interested in the protestation of a new shopping development in Starlight Cove.” She pursed her lips. “Too bad that angle won’t be a good look for the feature about the resort…”
I froze, my eyes widening a fraction at that bomb she’d just dropped. Fuck. Of course, this couldn’t have been easy. “You’re writing the piece on the resort?”
