Page 24 of Sheriff's City Girl

Just in case things go wrong.

“All right.” He sounded reluctant but didn’t argue. “Whatever makes you the most comfortable.”

“Perfect. I’m ready to lock up and I’ll follow you there,” I said with a smile, disappearing to get my things. However, I stopped, turning back to him. “I guess I should probably stop by my house and grab some jeans? I don’t think I want to ride a horse in this dress.”

A chuckle escaped his lips. “Yeah, that might not be such a bad idea—though I have to admit I like the dress.”

A shiver of arousal ran down my spine, filling my cheeks with a hue of crimson. “Thank you. I’ll just meet you there in about thirty minutes.”

“Sounds good.” He tipped his hat, before unlocking and slipping out of the front door of the café. I grabbed up my things and followed him out, relocking everything before sliding into my SUV. As soon as I was backing out and was certain Mason wouldn’t notice, I pulled out my cell phone, calling up Lily.

“What’s up?” she greeted me, her voice sounding more fatigued than usual.

“Well… Mason stopped by the café this evening right around closing time…”

“Oh?” She perked up. “And why the impromptu visit from the sheriff? To talk to you or grab one of those delicious scones of yours?”

“Nope,” my heart fluttered at my own answer. “He totally showed up to apologize for everything, and…”

“And what?” Lily was on the edge of her seat—I could tell.

“He asked me to go for an evening horseback ride out at the ranch.”

“So like a date?” Lily squealed, sounding like a teenager all over again. “Because that is wild, Emma. I swear I haven’t heard of the man hanging out with a woman… like ever.”

“Okay, I’m sure that’s an exaggeration,” I laughed, playing off how giddy I felt about it. “But didn’t you say that he wasn’t a relationship kind of guy?”

“I just said that he hasn’t been with anyone publicly that I knew of—or that Jess had told Dara. And I mean, I feel like I would know, considering it took all of twelve hours for my daughter to inform me you went into the barn alone with him.”

“True,” I agreed, my hands feeling sweaty as I pulled into my driveway. Mason had gone ahead to the ranch, and I wondered just how much of a date this whole thing was going to be. Had he planned to come and ask me? Or was it spontaneous?

I shoved open my door, the phone still against my ear. “Just one more thing,” I said to Lily. “What the hell do I wear to a horseback riding date?”

Chapter Eleven

Mason

Iwaited for Emma to show up, tacking up both Jess’s horse as well as my own. I hadn’t intended to invite her out for the ride. I just got caught up in the moment back at the Sweets and Eats. There was something about the woman that made me lose my senses…

And now I was gonna go on a damn horseback ride with her.

However, it didn’t have to amount to much, and we could just ride down to the cabin and back. Given that the cattle were being kept on the other side, it was the safest route. We were getting nowhere in the cattle rustling investigation, and so it was better to steer clear. I didn’t want to put Emma in danger.

“So… Going on a ride?” Lucas asked me, his tone flat as he appeared from the office. “You know there’s nothing left out there to find, right? You’ve gotten all the evidence you could possibly find.”

“I know that,” I snapped, shaking my head. “I’m just taking Emma on an evening ride.” Things had grown tense between the two of us for some reason, and as much as I wanted to just pretend like he hadn’t… Lucas had changed on me. He was acting odd.

“Emma, huh?” My best friend raised a brow at me. “I haven’t heard you mention her in a while.”

“Yeah, I ran into her today,” I said, trying to avoid giving him a straight answer. “She was interested in horses when she was at the barbeque, and so I thought she might enjoy an evening ride.”

He nodded. “I guess you’ll just have to see.” With that, he spun on his boots and disappeared back into his office, shutting the door.

So weird.

I had mentioned it to Jackson, too, but he said that it was probably just the stress of everything getting to him. Losing a hundred head of cattle was well over a hundred grand, and so yeah, it was probably stressful… But it didn’t explain why Lucas was shutting me out. He never did that.

About the time that I finished getting the horses completely ready, Emma appeared in the doorway, a nervous smile on her face. I swallowed hard as I took in the sight of her in a pair of bootcut jeans, a V-neck T-shirt, and her dark hair pulled back in a low ponytail. The woman could make anything look good.

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