Page 7 of Sheriff's City Girl

“He didn’t,” Jackson’s voice commented from behind us. “I don’t think Sheriff has done a bad deed in his life. He complains if we just eat on our shift—like we ain’t being paid a salary or something.”

“That’s because your lunch turns into a two-hour conversation with your girlfriend,” I pointed out, my tone flat.

“She’s not my girlfriend… yet,” Jackson added with a grin.

“Women are only trouble,” Lucas muttered, causing Jackson’s smile to fade.

“You two really are the same kind of cynics.” My deputy shook his head at us both, before glancing down to his watch. “Ah, it’s that time.” He unbuttoned his pearl snap, revealing a black T-shirt with the word ‘security’ written across the back of it in bold white letters.

“Man, you take this real seriously,” Lucas snickered. “You do know that this is just a dinner and dance—and we ain’t ever had to do anything other than calm down a few drunk cowboys, right?”

“Yeah, but this way, they know that if they start throwing punches, I ain’t gonna be in trouble for hitting them back.”

My lips turned downward. “You better not be getting into any fights. We haven’t had a fight here, ever. And I don’t think we want to start that kind of environment. This is a family-friendly event.”

“I’m not gonna start anything,” he grunted, switching his radio to the ON position. “I’ll be on my best behavior… as long as everyone else is, too.”

“All right.” I ignored the amused look on Lucas’s face when Jackson shot us both a wink and headed off to some young blonde who I hadn’t noticed waiting for him. “He’s gonna be worthless.”

“We were both young like that at one point,” Lucas slapped me lightly on the shoulder. “Now, I need to get back to making my rounds, and you need to get something to eat now that you’re not playing security.”

“Deal.” With that, we parted ways and I headed to the row of food. There was enough left to fill my plate, and I let out a sigh of parental relief when I caught sight of Jess hanging with Dara, Lily’s daughter. I knew that Dara wasn’t trouble. She was a good influence.

“Mason!” a voice called from behind me. I turned to see just who I was thinking of, sitting there at the table. “I’ve been keeping an eye on the two of them.”

“Thanks,” I said to Lily as I took a seat at the table across from her. I sat my plate down on the standard red and white checkered tablecloths. I was pretty sure they were from the nineties, but I never asked—nor cared—about how Lucas threw this shindig every year.

I glanced around, wondering if her friend, Emma, was with her. I hadn’t been able to get the woman out of my head since I met her at the café, and then saw her a second time outside the florist later that night…

But I was also avoiding her like the plague.

I didn’t like feeling any attraction to anyone anymore—not that I didn’t notice beautiful women. I was still a man, but also, no one had caught my attention the way Emma had. She knocked me right off my feet.

“So is Jess ready to get behind the wheel and get her license?” Lily asked as she shoved a fry into her mouth. “Dara’s been driving for two months now, and I’m still not sure how I feel about it.”

“Yeah,” I grimaced. “Her sixteenth birthday is in December, but I don’t know about that driving stuff—so many idiots out on the road these days.”

Lily nodded. “But they gotta get out there at some point, you know? It’s so tempting to lock them away from the world, but we can’t shield them forever.”

I’ll sure as hell try to.

I pursed my lips instead of saying anything, opting not to enter this kind of conversation with Lily. She was an outspoken woman, and while I could appreciate that to some degree, I wasn’t willing to pit myself against her. She was a firecracker—and I wondered if Emma was the same…

“So I saw that the window is fixed at Doris’s shop,” Lily continued, sucking the BBQ off her pointer finger. “I thought that was really nice of you to tarp it up the evening of.”

“Yeah, that’s just part of my job,” I chuckled, taking a bite of the rib on my plate. “I couldn’t just leave it open like that.”

“They have insurance people for that,” Lily countered. Her eyes suddenly lit up as she looked past me to someone. “There you are! I thought you might not show!”

“Sorry, I just ran a little late.”

My heart flip flopped a few times in my chest when I recognized the sweet, airy voice behind me.

“You look amazing.” Lily beamed from across the table. “Like wow, look at those bootcut jeans on you! You look like you’re straight out of a Boot Barn catalog.”

Oof. My mouth went dry at the thought of seeing a better outline of Emma’s hips, the shape of her thighs, and well… her ass.

And the hang up was causing me to be rude.

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