“He used to be FBI,” Franny murmured, clearly considering this new information more than what she was saying.
She lifted her gaze, noted Lia and him staring at her. She shrugged. “I did an internet search. It’s no secret.”
Royal had been so distracted by the case—and maybe Simmons being married to Daisy Delaney—he hadn’t looked into him any deeper than making note of what all he owned in Hope Town and how long he had.
“Who else did you internet search?” Lia asked.
An interesting shade of pink crept into Franny’s cheeks. “Look. Isn’t it clear the Feds and the sheriff’s department aren’t sharing information? Why would that be?”
“I don’t know,” Royal said irritably. He knew the sheriff didn’t know either.
“It’s why you’re here, isn’t it?” Lia said, nodding her chin across the way. “Why Zach let you lease that place.”
He eyed her, wondering how much she knew. How much Simmons knew. It didn’t matter, he supposed. The point was to pay attention to the Feds.
“Listen, if either of you see her again, you give me a call. A text. Let me give you my cell number.” He rattled it off for them as they put it in their phones. “I don’t care if I’m on duty or not. You see her, you let me know ASAP.”
They both agreed.
So he moved for the door, held it open for Franny who stepped out with him. Lia locked the door behind them.
For a moment, Franny didn’t start walking for her apartment and he didn’t start working to continue his foot patrol.
He glanced down at her. He knew he should just say goodbye and move on with his day. But he couldn’t quite resist… “Did you internet search me, Franny?”
She stared at him a full beat, her cheeks getting pink again. Then she shrugged. “For a unique name, there isn’t a whole lot about you online.”
He grinned, couldn’t help it. There was just something about a woman who doubled down.
“And just so we’re clear, I wasn’t spying on you last night.” She said thisveryformally as the blush on her cheeks just deepened.
He could not figure out for the life of him why she entertained the hell out of him. “I didn’t say you were.”
“I just happened to look up and…there you were.”
“Same.”
“Okay. So. Okay.” She took a step away, then turned around to walk away. He could only categorize what she was doing as ascurry.
Which for some reason had him opening his mouth when he should keep it shut. “You know, you owe me a cup of coffee.”
She stopped, turned. “I…do?”
“Sure. I bought you one yesterday, now it’s your turn.”
She opened her mouth, shut it, drew her bottom lip through her teeth—which wasn’t fair considering he was on duty and had to keepsomesemblance of his attention on work not…her.
“I… I’ll be at the bakery in the morning then,” she said. She smiled.
So he smiled back. “Good.”
Chapter Nine
Franny had a bit of a struggle getting into the swing of things once she got back to her apartment.
If she was back at the ranch, she’d be dissecting that moment outside the bakery with Royal second by second with Audra and Rosalie. Except Rosalie didn’t live at the ranch anymore and Audra would be cozied up to Copeland where she belonged.
So Franny only had herself to go over that moment outside the bakery. He’d been flirting with her. She wasalmost certainhe’d been flirting.
