Page 4 of After All

“I’ll give you my supervisor’s number after we talk,” Scott told her, slamming the door behind her.

Yeah, Scott didn’t have a supervisor. Well, maybe the mayor. But that was TJ Bennett. Peyton’s brother-in-law. And no way would he take her side over Scott’s. TJ was a great guy. He really cared about her and would always have her back. But he also thought Scott was “good for her”. Which meant he appreciated and encouraged Scott’s always-there-for-her-no-matter-what thing.

Always there for her no matter what. Well, Scott was definitely that. And after twenty years of being more or less left alone—even more than she wanted to be—she thought it was probably normal to oscillate between loving it and getting the heebie-jeebies when it reminded her of her father’s unwavering-devotion-to-the-point-of-crazy to her mother.

Scott escorted Peyton to the back of her truck with his big, hot hand around her upper arm.

She worked on hanging on to her annoyance. He was so damned bossy. She wasn’t used to being bossed. She was shocked that she liked it. Sometimes.

He stopped in the space between the front of his car and the back of her truck. He planted his hands on his hips and Peyton took a second, as she always did, to appreciate the view.

He was so hot in that uniform. She didn’t know if it was the badge or the gun or just the way the whole thing fit… Yes, she did. She’d known cops before Scott. She knew firefighters and guys in the military too. And while she admired them, she didn’t find any of them hot the way she found Scott Hansen hot. And that had beenbeforehe’d pulled his handcuffs out on St. Patrick’s Day.

“Knock it off,” he told her firmly.

She put her hands on her hips too. “Really? I can’t look at you now?”

“Could you put just a tiny bit of contrition in your expression at least?” he asked, with the very familiar you’re-trying-my-patience-Peyton tone in his voice.

“Nowthere’sa Scrabble-winning word,” she said dryly. “What am I supposed to be feeling contrite about?”

“Speeding?”

“You didn’t pull me over because I was speeding. That’s your excuse for pulling me over. But only because it won’t read well on your report that you pulled me over because you think I should have told you about Baltimore but didn’t.”

She could practically hear his teeth grinding.

“Baltimore? Really?”

“Heather needs me.”

“And there’s a blind date?”

She watched him closely. Ah. This was partly about the trip. Her last trip out of town had ended with Scott coming to her rescue. But this was also about the other guy.

“There’s a blind date,” she confirmed. Would he tell her not to go? It wouldn’t change her plans, but it really might cure her of some of her Scott fever she was suffering from. She was not going to hang out with a guy who thought he could be jealous and controlling. “A friend of a friend,” she added. “A wedding. Last-minute change of plans on that end. Heather doing him a favor and I’m doinghera favor.”

“Do you have your mace?”

She widened her eyes. “My mace? We’re going to a wedding.”

He handed over a canister of mace he must have been holding all this time. Peyton fought a little grin. It wasn’t exactly funny. Scott absolutely meant for her to mace first and ask questions later. But she couldn’t help but appreciate that he gave her mace instead of a lecture.

“The big city is different than Sapphire Falls. Even than Vegas,” he said.

Okay, so they weren’t skipping the lecture entirely. “I know. I’ll be with Heather and her friends the whole time. She’sfromthere.”

“Just be aware of your surroundings. And keep your purse close. And the mace in hand.”

“Yes, sir.”

For a second his eyes narrowed, and she knew he was trying to figure out if she was being serious or if she was messing with him. She knew he liked when she let him boss her around. But she’d been clear about the fact that that would be a bedroom-only kind of situation.

“What’s the guy’s name?”

“What guy?”

His frown deepened. “The one with the wedding.”

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