Page 11 of Four Steps to the Perfect Fake Date

“I’mfine.”

“Still stubborn as ever, huh.”

She glared at him, and Calvin felt his lips twitch at the corners. She’d always been easy to rile up, even though she tried to hide it. Tried to pretend she was levelheaded and bookish. Now that his blood had stopped thrumming so hard and he could think a little more clearly, he figured it made sense that Daphne had gotten her face in the way of the cashbox thief’s fist. Her temper was brittle and likely to snap, and those book smarts of hers didn’t seem to extend to the real world.

He let go of her face and leaned against the edge of his desk as he folded his arms. “What possessed you to get involved?”

“I don’t know,” she said. “He was robbing the jam man. I like the jam man. The thief was coming right at me, so I hit him with my purse. I wasn’t thinking.”

“Clearly.”

That earned him a glare. “I stopped him, didn’t I?”

“Next time, you let me handle it.”

“You weren’t there, genius.”

“I was on the way.”

“What if he got away? I slowed him down long enough for you to catch up.”

“Davis, I’m serious,” Calvin said through gritted teeth. “You can’t put yourself in the line of fire like that.”

“That’s a funny way of saying thank you.”

Calvin grunted and stalked out the door. She drove him crazy. There was no way he’d be able to do his job with her working in the building. Just the sight of her would send his blood pressure skyrocketing, never mind if she opened her mouth. And she would. The good-girl act was total bullshit, as far as Calvin was concerned. How she’d convinced everyone that she was the responsible sister was a mystery. At least Ellie was predictable in her unpredictability.

But the department couldn’t afford any wasted time finding someone else. Money was tight, and he needed to figure out if there were any snakes in the grass the feds had failed to sniff out. Daphne, for all her faults,wasan intelligent woman and an accomplished accountant, of which there weren’t many on the island. He needed her to stay here and tell him where all the sheriff’s department’s money had gone so he could do his job. It was seven months until the election, and Calvin had to know what was going on under the surface. He’d be damned if he left this place worse than he’d found it, even if he didn’t end up as the island’s permanent sheriff.

There was no way people would look at him, shake their heads, and say that they’d made a bad call in asking him to be acting sheriff. He wouldn’t give them the satisfaction. He’dchanged, damn it.

He needed Daphne, so he’d need to deal with her presence, as irritating as it would be.

By the time he got an ice pack and the first aid kit, his anger had dialed down a few notches. He cracked the ice pack to get it working and handed it over. “Put that on your face. You’re already swelling.”

“It’s a good thing you didn’t become a doctor, Flint, because your bedside manner sucks.”

“When you hear my bedside manner, you’ll know, Davis.”

She snorted and put the ice on her face.

“Now. Start at the beginning and tell me what happened.”

By the time Daphne was done, Calvin had paced the length of his office two dozen times. It was his day off. He shouldn’t have had to deal with this on his day off.

And every time he looked at Daphne with all the blood and swelling, he got a funny pinch in his chest. He should’ve been faster, or at least followed her down the aisle of the farmers’ market, like he’d wanted to in the first place.

“And the worst part is, I dropped my caramel sticky bun on the ground,” Daphne finished, “andmy multigrain loaf.” She reached into her purse and pulled out a mason jar filled with pink jam. “But at least this survived.”

“I’ll have to confiscate that as evidence.”

She clutched the jar to her chest. “Don’t you dare.”

A smile tried its best to curl at the corner of his lips, but he turned away so she wouldn’t see it. “Keep the ice on your face as long as you can manage. You’ll look like hell tomorrow.”

“You sure know how to make a woman feel good about herself.”

“Just telling you the truth so you’re emotionally prepared for it.”

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