“Was tonight the first time you’ve seen Tucker?” he asked without looking up.
The heat flash abruptly cooled. “Yes. The first time I’ve seen him in person.” She wrapped her hands around the beer bottle and peeled the damp wrapper. “I called him when I got back from the cabin.”
The chopping continued, slow and steady. “How did that go?”
“I told him I saw the photo of him and Madison.” She cleared her throat. “He didn’t deny it. He said that it ‘wasn’t planned,’ like that somehow makes it better.”
Rush scraped the vegetables into a pan and reached for the carton of eggs. “What did you say?”
“I told him I hope they’re happy. And I told him I never wanted to hear from him again.”
“Good.” Rush nodded, stirred the eggs in the pan, and fixed her with one of his direct looks. Man, he had the cop thing down pat. She tried not to squirm under all that intensity. “Have you been okay since the cabin?”
“Okay? Oh, you mean—”Not pregnant. Not thinking about the best weekend of my life. Not hoping you might stick around.“Yes, I’m fine,” she said.
“Good,” he said simply. He cut the omelet in half and slid the pieces neatly onto two plates, popped up the toast and buttered it generously. Settling onto the stool next to her, he slid one plate her way.
She smiled her gratitude and dug in enthusiastically.
“So,” she said between bites, “tell me about the new job.”
“It starts in February. I’ll be working at a private security firm. Grant Clairmont set it up for me. Theo’s brother—your brother-in-law, right? Grant and I served in the Marines together.”
“Oh, that’s right. We met at the wedding. Grant, Ford, and Lieren, and their grandma Georgie, right?”
“That’s them.”
“That’s a big change—sheriff to working security,” she observed.
For the first time, his gaze slipped. “It’s work,” he said dismissively.
“Well,” she said, setting down her fork, “thanks again for stepping in tonight. I knew I’d run into them eventually.” A sigh slipped out before she could stop it. “Now we have to explain it was all a misunderstanding—that we’re not actually together.”
Rush finished the last bite on his plate, stood, and collected their dishes. He rinsed the plates, wiped down the counter with his usual efficiency, then dried his hands and turned back to her.
He didn’t speak right away. Just watched her. His gaze dipped to her mouth, lingering there before meeting her eyes again. The frank interest in his expression hit her, hot and dark, pulsing low in her stomach until her breath stuttered.
Rush’s energy, when he let her see it, took her breath away.
“We don’t have to do that,” he said.
Surely her ears had glitched.“What did you just say?”
“We could make it true,” he said.
That smile. Those damn crinkles at the corners of his eyes that softened the whole stoic-sheriff thing and made him look so unfairly handsome her heart actually throbbed. For one unguarded second, elation shot through her. More of SheriffSexy? Her body did a little shimmy of delight before his next words landed like a stone.
“A temporary arrangement.” His voice dipped lower and a little rougher. “No more god-awful blind dates. My sisters stop hounding me, and in the meantime…” His eyes dragged over her again, slowly moving from the soft rise of her breasts to the curve of her waist, and then lower. She hadn’t realized how much she missed that look—how much she’d missed feeling like a woman someone couldn’t take his eyes off.
Rush’s unapologetic appreciation sparked something wild in her, something reckless and overdue. She was tired of playing it safe. Tired of being pitied. She wanted to want things, and take them, just because she could.
“We both get exactly what we want until I leave for Boston,” he finished.
“Temporary…” she said thoughtfully, testing the word. It didn’t scare her. If anything, it felt… perfect. No promises. Not forever. No more shrinking herself to fit someone else’s life. Just fun, freedom, and maybe a few firsts she’d been too busy being the good girl to even imagine. “Temporary I can do. But what exactly do you think I want?”
He cocked his head, studying her. “I think you should be the one to answer that question.”
“I’ve spent a long time doing what I was supposed to want,” she said slowly. “I think I’m ready to figure out what I really like.”
