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Looking down between my thighs, I watched her mouth on me, her pink tongue working hard and fast to make me come as she squeezed the two fingers together, pinching my nipple between them, and I broke apart. Shattered like glass at her expert touch.

Devo sucked my clit into her mouth at just the right moment, still licking quickly with the tip of her tongue, and my entire body became galvanic and full. I felt one-hundred-percent present in the moment. It was a place I’d never been before.

My back arched, my toes curled, and my head rolled back on the floor. I opened my mouth to let out the scream that had been building inside me, but I clamped it shut at the last second. I held the scream inside, and I breathed my release silently, like I usually did.

’Cause when all the action you got was from your own damn hand, and your family and the people around you had been telling you that you were a sinner your whole life for wanting exactly what you currently had in those hands…

Well, you tended to be quiet when you came.

CHAPTER FOUR

ABEY

One Month Later…

“You want the job or don’tcha?”

My boss stared at me, his auburn eyebrows raised, waiting for me to finally give him an answer. I did want the job, but it wasn’t so black and white.

The Wisper sheriff’s station ran like a well-oiled machine, so Carey wanted to spend more time in Jackson and other much needier parts of Teton County, and that meant there needed to be somebody in Wisper who knew what the hell they were doing.

Apparently, he thought that person was me.

Acting Sheriff? Me? Was he high?

I fiddled with his name plate on his desk in his office and said, “I think I want it, boss, but… I dunno. Y’know?”

“Abey, just make a damn decision.”

I picked up the name plate, flipped it around in a circle in my hand, then set it down again. “Why aren’t you offerin’ this to Frank? He’s way more organized than me.”

“Yeah, he is, but Frank’s got a lot goin’ on in his personal life. He’s here, but his mind is at home with Sam and the kids. It’s what he wants. Besides, you’ve been my right-hand man now for years. I want you to take the job.”

“Okay, well, I mean, can you just give me, like, maybe a week to think about it?”

“I’ve given you a month already!” he argued. “What’s the holdup? It ain’t like you to waffle back and forth.”

“It’s just that I’m… y’know. I’m a woman.”

Would anyone even listen to me? That was kind of an important factor to be weighed here. The sheriff needed to be someone with authority, someone with clout who held the respect of the people.

He rolled his eyes. “You don’t say?”

“C’mon, Carey. It doesn’t bother you, but you know it’ll bother a lot of other people.”

“Like who?”

“Like some of the other deputies.”

“Frank’s the only guy you see on a regular basis, so who cares? Let me deal with any pushback. That’s part of my job.”

“Yeah, I guess, but you know there’s a lot of people, residents of Wisper, who won’t like to see a woman in charge.” Like my mama.

“And you care about that all of a sudden? What’s really goin’ on here, Abey? These things have never held you back before. Why now?”

My daddy’s voice boomed through my head. “How dare you? You tryin’ to shame your family? How could you do this to your poor mama? I raised you better than this.”

“I dunno. I guess it’s just that the LGBTQ thing hasn’t ever been a part of the conversation around here, but with Ace’s House openin’ up and more and more people talkin’ about it, it’s bound to be an issue. I don’t wanna make your job harder.”