Page 5

Chapter Five

GEORGIA

I glare at Danny as I pass the front desk. He couldn't give a girl a heads-up? Danny could have called the room or something. Literally anything!

Sorry , he mouths to me before making a call-me motion with his hand. I roll my eyes. I bet I still have to go on that date with him.

I spin around to face Neil when we make it outside the entrance of the hotel, and he almost runs right into me. “I’ll see you at my station.”

Not only do my cheeks still burn from being caught, but also from the entire lube incident. Why would he draw more attention to it? Unless he's back to seducing me.

“We can ride together,” he offers smoothly.

“Watch it,” I warn and point my finger at him. He freaking smirks.

“Oh, I'm watching.”

Crap, that might be the problem. Neil needs to stop watching. “I’ll meet you there.”

I don’t wait for him to respond as I spin back around and get in my cruiser. I hurry back to the station, wanting to get there before him and make sure the place is on the up-and-up.

When I enter, I see that it’s definitely not. I rush over to my desk and grab all the Hershey Kiss wrappers and toss them in the trash. Why is it necessary to wrap each one individually? I get the Dove chocolates. They have cute little notes on the wrapper inside, but the Kisses are ridiculous.

When I see Neil pull up, I hurry into the bathroom, checking myself over.

It should be me seducing him, not the other way around.

I pop open a few buttons on my uniform to show cleavage.

That's what they do in the movies, and I've seen Lola do it over at the diner, and it gets her really good tips.

I cup my boobs, wiggling them, and I think mine might be bigger.

Neil is sitting at my desk when I step out of the bathroom.

“That's my chair.”

“Getting it nice and warm for you.” He stands and holds it out for me to sit. “Sheriff.” Finally someone is putting respect on my name.

“Maybe I like my seats cold.” I drop down into my chair, and I notice that when I do, Neil's eyes go right to my boobs. “Nice, right?”

“What?” He blinks, lifting his head.

“The station,” I say coyly. “I added some of the touches myself.” I put out a rug in the entry and gave all the chairs adorable pillows. The Stitch ladies made them for me as celebratory gifts when I got elected.

“Who is this?” Neil picks up the frame on my desk.

“That's Yoda. Adorable, right?” The picture is of me with Yoda perched on my shoulder. “We grew up together.”

I love that dang bird. I’m not sure he’d return the sentiment, but siblings squabble.

“Yoda?”

“We used to watch Star Wars together.” I take the frame from him, putting it back on my desk. “He's green and wise like my own little Yoda.”

“He’s cute.”

“Don’t tell him that. It will go straight to his head.” My eyes glance down to Neil's crotch. “Like most males.”

“With you, a lot of things do go straight to my head.”

Although I was the one that started the joke, my face rushes with heat. I pretend to be annoyed to cover it so he doesn’t know how much he’s affecting me.

“Don't make your joke off my joke. That is joke leeching.”

“Sorry.” He smirks, not appearing sorry at all. “The place is cute, though.” Neil points to a desk I’d pushed up against the wall. “Can I use that?” He’s asking for permission, but he’s already moving it away from the wall and spinning it around. “Is there a chair for it?”

“Yeah, in the cell.” I point over to the single jail cell that has to be from the 1920s.

“Are those Christmas lights?” He walks over and inspects the bars.

“They were from Valentine's Day but I'm keeping them up.” I hit the button to illuminate the bright pink lights I wrapped around all the bars. “Gives the place a little pizzazz.”

“Nice touch.”

“Thanks.” I smile, sitting up straighter. If you ask me, I think I’ve really turned this place around.

“Are you going to lock me in?” Neil lifts a brow. I hadn't planned on it, but it’s an idea I could save for later.

“Not today. It sucks in there.” I realize what I’ve said and rush to cover it. “Not that I would know.”

“Of course not.” He steps inside, grabbing the chair and rolling it back over to the desk that’s now really close to mine.

“Make yourself at home,” I say and stare at what he’s done.

“Was planning on it.” He sits down in the chair behind the desk, getting comfortable.

“Fine, but so we're both clear, I'm the boss,” I remind him.

“Got it.” He winks at me, and I don’t like the way it makes something in my stomach flutter to life. “Now about the files.”

“Why don't you have the files from the state?”

“I do.”

“Then why do you need mine?”

“You were the first on the scene.”

“And it was gross.” I shiver. It was disgusting, and I think I might have seen brain matter too. I had to start eating my burgers well done. “I hate the sight of blood. Real blood.”

“As opposed to fake blood.”

“Obviously. I love horror movies, and those have lots of blood.”

“So the files?”

“Classified.”

He barks a laugh but quickly muffles it. “They’re not classified.”

“They are.” I reach into my desk, grab the file, and hold it up. “See?”

“You wrote that on there with a red marker.”

Yeah, because we live in a country town and Amazon couldn’t overnight the classified stamp. That’s not my fault.

“You have no proof of that.” I bang it down on my desk, making it shake. The red marker rolls off my desk and hits Neil’s shoe. “That’s a coincidence.”

“A cop knows there’s no such thing as a coincidence.”

“You’re not a cop,” I remind him. I totally thought an FBI agent would fall into the category, but Google told me I was wrong.

“You’re right,” he admits.

“I know,” I chirp, not hiding my smugness. He shakes his head, and I swear he might be fighting a smile.

“I’m an FBI agent. We have a different set of skills.”

“Like what?” I lean forward, wanting to hear this because I could pick up some tricks.

“We’re taught a lot about body language. How to know when someone is lying.” I sit up straighter. “Breathe, Georgia.”

I hadn’t realized I’d stopped, so I take a breath. Maybe if I don’t move, he won’t see my lies. Neil comes over to my desk and picks up the file. He opens it, and I watch his eyes do a quick scan before they come to me.

“I can explain,” I blurt out. “Just stop grilling me!” I jump up from my desk so quickly my chair goes flying back. “And stop reading my body.”

He doesn’t bother hiding his smirk as he looks me up and down. “Yeah, that’s not going to happen.”