Page 31 of Chased

But it wasn’t Boomer. It was Sanchez.

All of the sudden she was completely conscious of exactly how much leg was showing below the hem of her t-shirt. And how big his shoulder muscles were, and how he’d shaved, which showed off the chiseled lines of his face even more.

He made an impatient gesture, and she raised the window sash again, trying not to spill her coffee. “What did Boomer want?” he asked.

Seriously? “Good morning to you too. He wanted me to help him pull a prank on you. And he wanted my coffee.”

She saw Sanchez’s nostrils flare—and saw the look he gave her legs. And her boobs, because she wasn’t wearing a bra yet and suddenly her nipples were standing up. On account of the cold, of course.

But all he said was, “The coffee smells good. What kind is it?”

Rolling her eyes, she told him. “Want to try it?”

“Sure.” He took the mug out of her hand, and tasted it. She watched his lips as he drank, and the thick column of his throat as he swallowed. And fought the urge to smooth down his hair, which had been ruffled by the wind.

Down, girl. No petting the wild animals.

“It is good,” he said, sounding surprised.

“Keep it,” she told him. Good thing she’d made a whole pot.

He smiled at her, which about stopped her heart. Then he said, “I knew Boomer was up to something. What’s he trying to do to prank me?”

She tilted her head, studying him. “I don’t know if I should give him away. I said I wouldn’t help him, because you were nice to me yesterday. But ratting him out is something else. That’s no way to make friends.”

He frowned. “Boomer’s a perv. He probably wants to get in your pants.”

“Mmm. And here I thought you were the dirty one.”

He looked up at her, the frown turning to a slow smile, his eyes flecked with gold. “Babe, you have no idea how dirty I can be.”

Madison swallowed hard. Her heart could absolutely not take this first thing in the morning. “You need to take your coffee and go,” she said. “Because I cannot be late to work today. Breanna really will fire me.”

“No, she won’t.” After a beat, Sanchez added, “I thought I heard Boomer invite you to that stupid watch party at Breanna’s on Saturday.”

He sounded almost miffed. She said, “I guess if it’s stupid, that means you’re not going?”

“Are you?”

“I might.”

He nodded. Just when she was waiting to see what he’d say about Saturday, from behind him came a plaintive call. “Hey. How come you get coffee and we don’t?”

It was Cisco and Matéo. Good lord. Was she now going to be the Outlaw Ridge free coffee window in the morning? On the other hand, she did owe the two of them for getting her car yesterday. And, friend-making was good. She sighed. “How do they like their coffee?”

Sanchez told her, looking amused, and she filled two more mugs and handed them outside. Cisco and Matéo sniffed the coffee suspiciously, but they drank it. Madison had the feeling, as she shooed them all away from her window, that the two younger Sanchezes were going to be a little harder to make friends with.

It wasn’t until she went to get her own coffee that she realized she’d given away all her mugs. Well, hell.

Luckily she had her travel mug from the road. It was from Zootopia, with the cartoon rabbit and fox on it, so it made her look kind of dorky. But coffee was coffee; she had to put it in something.

She made a mental note to ask Breanna if she could have more mugs.

Chapter 14

A little before nine, Madison dabbed on her bottled fox musk, poured the last of the Kona coffee into her Zootopia mug, and headed down the hill to the office. Her first day of work. She hoped she didn’t screw it up.

Breanna had cleared off Madison’s desk by the simple expedient of dumping everything onto the conference table. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I know you’re probably going to end up being the one to clean all that up eventually, but at least now you have space to work. If you need any supplies, just go to the storage closet and grab them.”