Page 22 of The Sheriff & the Nurse

“Both. Ha!” Daisy hung up.

Lily smiled and went to get ready for bed. Hopefully she could pray, sleep, and figure things out in the morning.

Sleeping in the bedroom next to Clint Coleville was rough. Lily woke several times and imagined what he might look like stretched out and sleeping. Thankfully she hadn’t taken him up on the offer of touring his bedroom or the images would be even more vivid.

Finally, morning came. She showered and got ready to go to the ranch for the day. It might be argued that she dressed a little nicer and put on more makeup than she usually would. Would Clint balk at her plans? The ranch was safe. Except someone had gotten into her house last night. She’d stay close to Rose and Bennett. Bennett was a one-man army.

What if Clint wanted to stay by her side? Her breathing shortened, but she couldn’t imagine he’d insist on that. Her level of danger wasn’t that high. She appreciated him pretending to be engaged to her and having her stay here—she wouldn’t have felt safe in her house after knowing somebody broke in and hung that awful poster—but he had work to do and so did she.

She walked out of her bedroom and turned at the sound of footsteps coming up the stairs. Clint came into view wearing a T-shirt, shorts, and running shoes. No cowboy hat. His muscles bulged beautifully and there was a sheen of sweat on his face. His hairline was damp, and his shirt clung to his upper body.

“Mornin’, Lily,” he said, looking her over.

“Good morning.” Her heart raced, and the tachycardia made it hard to talk without sounding breathless. “Did you go for a run?”

“No.” He kept his distance, but the look in his eyes was potent. “I didn’t want to be too far away from you. I have weights and a cable machine in my garage.” He smirked. “Plenty of room in there with only my truck and Harley.”

She could envision him on that Harley. Suddenly she wanted nothing more than to ride it with him. “Oh, that’s … nice. Well, I’ll go make breakfast while you shower, and then can I beg a ride to the ranch from you? No car.” She lifted her hands and smiled.

“I can’t let you go to the ranch.”

“Excuse me?”

His blue eyes looked deadly serious. “Not unless you agree to talk to Bennett and tell him what’s going on so he can watch out for you and keep an eye out for anyone or anything out of place. Or …” A glint came into his blue eyes. “I stay by your side all day.”

She swallowed and let her gaze sweep over his muscular upper body again. She was a huge fan of well-developed pectoralis and deltoid muscles. He had both. In spades. And she needed to stop staring. “Don’t you have things to take care of?”

“I have a long list of things take care of,” he said. “But you, Lily Lillywhite, are at the top of that list.”

It should’ve sounded cheesy, but nothing could sound cheesy coming from Clint’s well-formed lips. She was at the top of his list? As someone to protect, a case to solve, or the woman he could love?

“If you would come with me, that would be fabulous.”

The glint in his eyes became more pronounced. Could he read her thoughts?

“Then I won’t have to tell Bennett, Rose, and my parents what’s going on,” she clarified.

Clint sobered and studied her. “This is all going to come out at some point.”

“I know, but if Aiden finds something nefarious about Dr. Hampshire, or Mark finds fingerprints that match somebody, or … something, then we’ll have proof and I won’t just look like a silly ninny.”

“Lily. Nobody would think of you as a silly ninny.”

Lily had never felt so validated. She wanted to run to him and hug him, sweat and all.

He folded his arms across his chest and leaned against the wall as if settling in to talk for a while. Her thoughts scattered and her fingers itched to trace the definition in those arms. Maybe biceps and triceps were as high on her list as pectoraland deltoid muscles. “Your lock being picked last night and that poster is plenty of proof that something is going on.”

She nodded. She’d never been one to cause a stir. Her sister Rose was similar; she’d hidden an attack by one of their security guards from their parents and sisters, and an attack in college from her sisters. Lily wanted to be independent and not give her parents any trouble. They were great parents and loved her and would help her, but things were going well for her family right now. Why stir up problems?

“I’ll go make breakfast. You shower, and then we can talk more,” she said. They needed to figure out how they were playing this fake engagement and she needed to beg him to pretend it was real for everyone, including their families, until they could resolve the issues with Dr. Hampshire and whoever had left that banner. The issues with Dr. Hampshire had lasted five years. Could she keep being fake engaged to Clint for that long? No. That wouldn’t be fair to him. He didn’t love Lily, and they had no relationship.

She couldn’t excuse stringing Miles along like she had, but at least they’d fallen in love as high school seniors and Miles had chosen to be in the relationship. Clint had been semi-forced into it by her claiming they were engaged. Though as she looked him over, she knew … nobody could force Clint into anything. Why was he doing this then? The need to protect and serve or could he be wanting to take a chance on her?

“Bossy,” he teased, his lips curving into an irresistible smile. He straightened away from the wall, looking glorious and a little imposing. “You do realize nobody bosses the sheriff around.”

She’d just thought something similar. Her breath came in fast pants. Did he realize how enticing he was? Even sweaty from his workout, she’d gladly kiss him for a very long time.

“I’ve seen Mama Millie boss you around.”

---