With an awkward wave, I hurried over to Rhys’s truck.
“Here’s the keys if you wanna start it. I need to talk to Wolfe for a second.”
I nodded and took the keys from his hand.
Once I was inside, the door closing behind me, I noticed Wolfe was watching me. A thrill shot through me, but I managed to ignore it. Mostly.
The temperature in the truck was scorching, so I shoved the key in the ignition and started it, my attention lingering on the two men.
Rhys walked over to Wolfe, stepping right into his personal space.
I couldn’t read their lips, but based on their body language, they weren’t talking about anything serious. Wolfe’s smirk was one I'd seen before, one he’d given me. And the way Rhys was looking at Wolfe…
Damn.
Maybe I'd misjudged Wolfe altogether. Maybe he wasn’t interested in women the way I thought. It was almost as though Rhys and Wolfe were engulfed in some powerful sexual tension. Again, I found it incredibly hot to watch, although a little disappointing at the same time.
“Probably for the best,” I mumbled to myself, turning away when both men glanced over at me.
And it was. For the best.
The absolute last thing I needed right now was to let my guard down. It was one thing to hang around a few men who could provide a measure of protection, but it was something else entirely for me to let my guard down.
I'd done that once.
I would never do it again.
Ten minutes later, we were heading past the solar-powered gate at the entrance to Wolfe’s ranch. The truck was silent except for the steady hum of the air conditioner blasting cold air that did little to fight off the suffocating heat.
I did my best not to fidget, but it wasn’t easy.
“Can I … uh … ask you a question?” I blurted, realizing that the silence was making me far more nervous than talking would.
“Anything,” he answered, his tone soft.
“What made you wanna be a sheriff?”
His smile was warm as he stared out the windshield, his eyes darting toward the rearview mirror every so often.
“I don’t think that was ever my intention.”
“No?”
“Nah. Deputy, yeah. Since I was a kid, I knew I’d be a police officer.”
“Did somethin’ happen to make you decide that?”
Rhys sighed, his gaze swerving toward me briefly, then back to the road.
“When I was a kid, the cops were constantly bein’ called out to my grandfather’s place. I grew up there. I’ve got a big family and they were always hangin’ around, too. Probably got a little rowdy from time to time.”
“Probably?” I teased, my mouth clamping shut as soon as the word came out.
Rhys chuckled. “Okay, definitely.”
He pulled up to a stop sign, glanced both ways. “Anyway. They were always comin’ out for one reason or another. The old couple livin’ next door liked to bitch and moan, although there were about fifteen acres between the two houses.” He sighed. “There was this one hard-ass deputy who’d gotten caught up in his power trip. Pissed me off the way he treated everyone. Lookin’ down his nose like he was better than us.
“One day, my aunt’s smart mouth got the best of her and she said somethin’ she shouldn’t have. He got rough with her. My cousin stepped in, ended up goin’ to jail for protectin’ his momma.” Rhys glanced over at me. “I didn’t assume all cops were assholes. I knew better. But I also knew there were some out there. Told myself that day that I would become a deputy in this county and I wouldn’t put up with shit like that. The people livin’ here don’t need to be hassled by the cops. No reason for all that nonsense.”
