Page 2 of Warrant

Her eyes swung back to me and I tried to figure out if they were the same color as the fog that rose over my fields each morning, or the misty color of the sky near the coast before a good rain. Either way, she was drawing me in.

Well, damn.

I didn’t normally obsess over a woman as quickly as this, but what the hell? I smiled at her.

“Into my filing cabinet?” she asked, crossing her arms over her chest. She was in one of the uniforms with the short sleeved shirts, and her arms were toned, with just the right amount of muscle. I loved chicks who lifted. It was clear she was strong, and it made me want to test her skills.

“That’s right.”

She snorted in disbelief, then nodded at Owen. “Sorry to interrupt your dinner. See you at muster tomorrow.”

I watched her ass as she walked away. She thought I’d been kidding, but getting into places I shouldn’t be in happened to be a specialty of mine. Drove Owen, and all his fellow deputies, insane, because they were usually the recipients of my pranks when I was bored and no area was off-limits or sacred to me. None of their areas anyway.

Owen scowled at me. “You’ve got to be shitting me.”

“What?” I grunted, flipping the steaks before they burned. I might have overdone them. Nothing worse than well-done fucking meat. Served me right for getting so damn distracted. Though it wasn’t my damn fault a gorgeous female had just waltzed onto my property like she owned the place.

“You realize she’s my new boss?” he asked.

“Uniform kind of gave it away,” I muttered, glaring at my likely ruined steaks.

“And you’re in a one percent club,” he continued.

“Your point?”

“We’ve known each other since we were shitting our pants, Warrant. I know what that look you gave her means.”

I grunted again, ignoring the fact that my best friend was right. I was into her.

“She’s a cop,” he echoed.

“So are you and you’re still my friend.”

He shook his head. “Against my better judgement.”

“Naw, we’re just lucky your moral code doesn’t outweigh your common sense. I work for a legit security firm. We’re on the same side.”

He snorted at that and grabbed the plate I offered him. “There’s zero chance you follow the law.”

I thought about that then gave a decisive nod. “We’re work adjacent.”

“What the fuck does that mean?” He headed inside my house to get the potatoes he knew were baking in the oven. “What about the vegetables?”

“Meh.”

“You can’t just eat meat and potatoes, War,” he grunted as I heard the oven door open.

“Potatoes are a vegetable.”

“They’re a starch.”

“Vegetable,” I argued.

“I’m putting this asparagus in,” he announced.

“When did you become a woman?” I yelled. I wasn’t going to point out the reason I had the asparagus washed and cut was because they were going to be on our plates tonight. I’d let him think he’d convinced me to eat something green. It’d make him feel good.

Owen had been on a health kick lately. Not surprising. We weren’t kids anymore. How the fuck I’d hit thirty years old, I’d never know. But I couldn’t survive off fast food and MREs any longer. Made me wake up feeling like shit the next morning. Not to mention I had to keep my abs ripped so the ladies would love me. Or very soon a certain lady. My eyes strayed down the driveway even though the Tahoe was long gone. I had plans already running through my head for the sexy sheriff.