Page 40 of If It's You

“What was this?” She hit him again. She’d hit him six hundred more times to make them even.

Christian nodded to the papers she’d just signed. “You just agreed to go to the grad night dance with me. Jayce told me I had to ask you, and then he told me his plan. And how could I resist?” His eyes twinkled with amusement.

“I’m not going anywhere with you.” She pounded his chest, his rather hard chest, until he took both of her wrists and held them at her sides.

“It’s that or the court,” he said, his voice so deep and rich that it would have been sexy if she hadn’t been daydreaming of his murder.

“That’s a joke.”

“No ma’am, it’s not,” the burly, and only real, officer said at her side.

“You’ve got to be freaking kidding me.” Maizie stomped her feet, the only thing she could do right now. “I’m talking to my uncle about this. Impersonating an officer is a crime.”

Christian raised an eyebrow with a smirk. “For the record, I told you my real last name. When you declare war, you really should know your enemies better. And where do you think I got the uniform from? Dan signed the paper too.”

“Dan?” Had he really just referred to her super scary, law enforcer uncle as Dan? What in the Sam hill was going on here? “Why on earth would he do that?”

“He needed more help manning a bike race in town today,” he said and pointed to his chest where instead of a real badge and number were the words “Volunteer Police Officer.”

Ugh.How had she missed that? Maybe because she was so sure she’d be spending the next five years in prison for a crime she didn’t commit.

“And he actuallywantedyou?” Maybe if she were lucky, Dan would put him out in front of the competing bikers and he’d be too slow getting out of the way—

“What’s it going to be?” Christian interrupted her beautiful daydreams.

“Fine. I’ll go with you. But it’s going to be the worst night of your life.” She turned her angry eyes on him.

He wrinkled an eyebrow. “No surprise there.”

“Gah!” Maizie ripped her arms free and ran to her truck. The crowd departed, and she purposely avoided everyone’s stares. She would get that stupid city boy back if it was the last thing she did.

Eleven

Maizie had pawned off all her chores on Jayce and Christian for the last week of school. She was annoyed at them both. Because of them, she was now a popular meme around school. Most of them were funny. Except for the one when Christian had taken off his glasses and someone had gotten a shot of her looking at him like a lovesick puppy. Which, for the record, she never did.

The sun had been in her eyes.

That one had garnered the most attention, though. Of course. Not the one where she punched him. It was all one big joke that wasn’t funny no matter how many times Maizie’s family and grandparents laughed about it. Even uncle Dan had gotten a kick out of it. If he wasn’t the sheriff, she’d toilet paper his house.

Her dad had thankfully let her off the hook for chores, but her mom refused to let her off for the dance tonight. It was going to be miserable.

Anytime she’d seen Christian this week, she’d purposely gone the other way or shut herself in her room. She didn’t have a hope of doing that tonight, though.

“It’s just for the night, and all your friends will be there. You’ll barely have to talk to him.” Her mom attempted to comfort her while she curled Maizie’s hair.

“That’s the worst part. All my friends will be there.” Who knew what other rumors would fly when Maizie showed up with “the sexy cop,” as he’d been referred to by many of the girls at school. Those pictures must have been tampered with, though, because even she could admit that the devil had a good side. The low cap that hooded his eyes and the way he so easily filled out the uniform. . .stop.

“It will be fun. This is your last dance. Next week, you graduate, and twenty years from now, you’ll wish you had enjoyed it more.”

Her mom’s eyes got the far-off look that always happened before she started reminiscing.

“Didn’t you marry your high school sweetheart?” Maizie asked.

Her mom smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “Yes, I did. And it’s been everything I’ve ever wanted it to be. But I didn’t realize how little I had to worry about back then.” Her voice caught at the end, and Maizie held onto one specific moment in time with her.

“I wish I was seeing your brother off tonight as well,” Maizie’s mom choked out. She put the curling iron down and dropped her head.

Every event, every significant moment was so hard without Mack. Wondering what he would have said when he saw Maizie all dressed up, how he would have intimidated the guys she dated. It wasn’t fair that she only got to experience the ‘what-if’s’ for the rest of her life.