“Okay, now. Let’s all relax for a minute.” He spoke slowly, calmly, the way he might if he’d just been thrust into a hostage negotiation. Or a bomb scare. “No one’s getting arrested. And no one wants any trouble here tonight.”
“There doesn’t have to be,” Knox said. “If he apologizes.”
The sheriff glanced pointedly over his shoulder.
“Sorry,” came the muttered, insincere reply from the other end of the diner.
“Not to me.” Knox stared at the man, then nodded in Leni’s direction. “Apologize to her.”
“What the fuck for?”
The sheriff exhaled impatiently. “For God’s sake, Dwight, just do it.”
“Fine. I’m sorry, all right?”
Knox pinned him with a cold look. “Now pay for the coffees and get out of here.”
Dwight glared, but dug into the pocket of his jeans and withdrew a messy handful of crumpled bills and coins. His friend hurried to take out his money too.
“It’s two-fifty each,” Leni reminded them.
“Plus tip,” Knox added.
The men paid up then left, Dwight stomping out the door like an angry bear. The sheriff followed them out and paused with the men near the pickup truck outside.
“Thank you for doing that.” When Knox glanced Leni’s way, he found a small smile tugging at her expressive mouth. “I don’t think anyone’s ever stood up to him before.”
“You mean other than you?”
She lifted her shoulder. “Dwight Parrish doesn’t scare me.”
Knox scowled at the name. Parrish. No wonder the arrogant jackass acted like he owned the town. “What about his brother? Travis. Does he scare you?”
She stared at him for a moment, then dropped her gaze and shook her head. “It’s nothing I can’t handle.”
“You sure?”
She nodded. When her head came back up, her expression was one of pure resolve. “Yeah. I’m sure.”
He had doubts about that. He had questions he wanted to ask. Questions he had no business wondering about, never mind putting into words. And the longer he stood alone with her in the empty diner, the harder it was to ignore the frantic ticking of the pulse point at the base of her smooth throat. Or the desire he had to feel other parts of her under his mouth as well.
Damn. His first order of business as soon as he reached civilization had better be a feeding and a good, hard fuck. Because the craving he had for this intriguing, far too tempting female was licking through him like a wildfire.
“I should go now.”
“Okay. And thank you again.”
He inclined his head. “You take care.”
Her warm smile shot straight to his bloodstream. “You too . . . ah, I’m sorry, don’t even know your name.”
“Knox.”
“Very nice to meet you, Knox. I’m Lenora Calhoun. Most people call me Leni.”
She held her hand out to him. He took it reluctantly, bracing himself for the connection.
Not only because of the desire already spiking through him, but because touching her would also tell him things he had no right to know.
