Page 23 of Seducing the Sheriff (Charming Butte #2)

Chapter Twelve

Cash

Dreaming about being in bed with Greg while in meeting with the mayor maybe wasn’t my finest hour.

But I’d left a warm and naked man behind, and instead of making him lose his freakin’ mind as I fucked him (or the other way around, I wasn’t fussy), I’m arguing against budget cuts with the mayor and the grey suits.

I stared out the window. I wanted to be with Greg, feeling his hard, muscular body against me.

“Sorry to interrupt your thoughts, sheriff,” Liam said dryly.

I blinked, dragged unwillingly back to the present. “Huh, sorry?”

“You seem to be distracted.”

Of course, my cheeks heated. I couldn’t remain cool, calm, and collected. Oh no. I was preoccupied, and it had nothing to do with the job, and everything to do with the gorgeous man I’d left asleep. Next time, we’d fuck in my bed. I was getting too old for air mattresses and sleeping bags.

“Sheriff Lawson!”

I stared at the mayor, noting his scowl, and apologized hurriedly. Upsetting the mayor and his advisors, who looked at me as if I’d just grown horns, wasn’t going to help the sheriff’s office increase their budget.

“Are you feeling all right, sheriff?” Doug Seaton asked.

He worked in the county planner’s office. I didn’t have much to do with him except when residents lost their cool and threatened the staff. He was a nice enough guy. Married with three kids and a menagerie of animals.

“I’m sorry, Doug. I didn’t get a lot of sleep last night and I had a busy day yesterday. It’s caught up with me.” I forced a smile. “What were you saying?”

As the man launched into his explanation again, I caught Liam’s smirk out of the corner of my eye.

I didn’t know how, but he’d put two and two together and definitely caught up with the one-on-one time Greg and I had shared.

If he knew, that would mean Meyer and Dex would know.

I sighed inwardly. It was going to be a long day today.

It felt like an eternity, but I finally managed to escape from the suits with a tentatively agreed budget. As I walked out, I spotted Meyer in full uniform lounging in one of the chairs outside the conference room.

“Your turn to beg?” I asked, as I reached him.

“My turn,” he agreed, rolling to his feet and scowling at me. “I don’t know how Jim Brannigan managed to keep his temper in these meetings. I’m an easygoing man as you know, but budget meetings reduce me to a quivering wreck.”

“As you long as you keep your mind on the job, you’ll be fine,” Liam said, from somewhere behind me.

I felt like a small kid being scolded by the principal.

Meyer raised an eyebrow at me. “This sounds like a story.”

Liam snorted. “He was ‘distracted’ but didn’t say why.”

Amusement exploded over Meyer’s face, and he waggled his eyebrows at me. “It wasn’t the hunky builder, was it? I heard you were out with him yesterday. Did you spend all day with him?”

It didn’t take a rocket scientist to work out where he’d gotten that tidbit of information. Thanks, Jim.

“I’m going back to work,” I grumbled, ignoring the way both men smirked at me.

Liam turned to Meyer. “You can give me all the juicy gossip over lunch.”

I stomped down the hallway to the sound of their mocking laughter. Should I warn Greg we were the current news headlines?

Before I could make a decision, my radio crackled into life. It had been remarkably quiet while I was in the meeting.

“Sheriff?” It was the dispatcher, Benji.

“Lawson here.”

“Sheriff, we have livestock on the highway again.”

I held back a sigh. “What this time?”

“Three pygmy goats, two donkeys, and a llama.”

I heard a yell in the background.

“Sorry, an alpaca.”

I wrinkled my brow. “Are they from the Collins farm?”

“They are. The state troopers are on their way.”

“I’ve got another meeting.” With the coffee shop. “But call me if the troopers need backup.”

If I remembered correctly, the Collins animals were generally placid—docile enough that even the alpaca didn’t cause much fuss.

The state troopers could manage whatever minor ruckus was happening out there.

I was still nursing my pride after the debacle with old Buttercup, who had apparently decided I was public enemy number one the moment I’d danced with her out on the highway.

“And Rosie said Greg Harding, from the old Jenkins residence, called in to the office.”

I froze in place for half a second, then forced myself into motion again, striding out of the mayor’s office with a little too much urgency. I needed to get to my car before Liam or Meyer caught wind of that particular piece of information. They’d never let me live it down.

“What did he want?” I asked, careful to keep my tone as even as possible, though my pulse was doing a ridiculous tap dance.

“He wanted to know if you were free for lunch.”

I checked my watch. It was well past lunchtime now. “Tell Rosie if Greg visits again, he should call me on my cell.”

“Understood.”

The second the line disconnected, I had to grip the steering wheel to keep myself from dialing him right then and there.

Greg Harding wasn’t just any voice on the other end of the line.

He was the kind of man who made you forget how to think straight.

And right now, all I wanted was to drop every ounce of responsibility and point my car in his direction.

Instead, I caught sight of myself in the rearview mirror. My reflection looked far too telling—flushed cheeks, wide eyes, that ridiculous hopeful little curve tugging at my mouth. I groaned. “Get yourself together, Lawson. This is why you don’t date. You need to focus.”

I wanted to focus all right. Focus on Greg’s gorgeous mouth and hot bod.

No! I was not going to let myself unravel over this.

Not today. I had a job to do, animals to wrangle, people to manage.

I needed grounding, something solid. Coffee.

That was the answer. Coffee and a buttermilk bar.

Sweet, fried, and sensible—that would set me back on track.

At least, that’s what I told myself as I started the engine and tried not to imagine Greg Harding standing here, with that slow, devastating grin aimed at me.

The best buttermilk bars came from Bobcat Stump, but I didn’t have a lot of time before I needed to return to the office, so I headed to the Flying Saucer for a 20oz caffeine hit.

I needed it, okay? And the Saucer’s coffee was superlative.

I wasn’t sure who I was trying to justify that too, me or someone else.

Destiny’s blonde curls bobbed as I walked into the coffee shop. “Hi there, sheriff. How are you today?”

“In need,” I said fervently, ignoring the space-themed décor which made me feel as if I were being sucked into a black hole. I’d quickly understood that Destiny didn’t work on the less-is-more philosophy.

Her eyes widened and I guess I wasn’t usually quite so vehement.

“Hard day?” she asked, her tone sympathetic.

“Budget meetings,” I said.

“Oh.” Now she looked positively pitying. I didn’t even have to ask for what I wanted. She just reached for the big cup.

Honestly, if it brought me a huge coffee to snorkel, I didn’t mind laying on the pity party. My mom would be proud of me for trying to integrate.

“Here.” Destiny started the coffee. “You must be exhausted. The mayor always staggers in here after a day of meetings too.”

“He does?”

I could imagine that. The mayor was that type of person. I hid in my office, he made sure he was visible.

I smiled at her. “And a buttermilk bar, please, Destiny.”

“Sure thing.”

A moment later, a bag slid across the counter. “I’ve popped an extra two in, one for Rosie and one for Greg.”

I stared at her. “Gr-Greg?”

Destiny beamed at me. “After his introduction to Charming, he could do with a treat. You are going to see him later, aren’t you?”

“I…am?” I stumbled over my words.

I paid her while my brain went on a tilt-a-whirl. I was going to see him? Of course I was, if Greg wanted to see me. Would he want to see me again after last night?

I hoped so because I really wanted to see him.

“Sheriff, here’s your beverage.”

I glanced up to find Destiny waving a cup that was almost the height she was.

“Thanks,” I said, and took the cup, clutching it to me as if it were a defense against the world.

“Morning, Destiny. Morning, sheriff.”

I turned to see Mrs. Ruiz grinning at me. “Mrs. Ruiz.” I tipped my hat to her.

“Surprised you haven’t got two cups.”

“Two?”

“For you and your young man.” She winked at me. The old lady actually winked at me. I wanted the ground to swallow me whole.

Did all of Charming know about Greg and me?

“Y’all one of them queers?”

I turned to see a young man I didn’t know, his top lip curled in a sneer. He took a step back, blanching when he saw my uniform.

He held his hands up as if in surrender. “Uh, sheriff. Don’t tell my mom.”

I fixed my gaze on him. “What did you just say?” I enunciated each word in a low growl, watching the blood drain from his face.

Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately for him because I was ready to drag him outside and pound his face into the sidewalk, he didn’t get a chance to answer before Destiny glowered at him.

“That’s it, Billy, you’re banned from here. Out!” She made a dramatic stabbing motion toward the door.

Billy’s face crumpled. I suddenly remembered he was the kid of one of the women who worked in my office. No wonder he was panicking about me talking to his mom. She was a formidable woman.

“It was a joke,” he whined.

“I don’t see anyone laughing,” she snapped.

I could have intervened, but Destiny seemed to be handling it just fine by herself and I was too busy having a meltdown about being called queer in public. This was why I never dated anyone local. I didn’t need the whole world knowing my business.

“Mom’ll kill me when she finds out.”

“You should have thought of that before you opened your mouth,” Destiny said. “Now get out of here before I get the sheriff to throw you out.”