Page 2 of Loving My Enemy

She frowned and took another step back. “What business is it of yours?” Her arms were crossed, drawing even more attention to tits that didn’t seem to want to stay inside the dress. They were too big for her petite frame and the dress highlighted that fact to a tee.

With a heavy sigh, I pulled my badge out and showed it to her. “It’s literally my business. So who are you?”

Her shoulders relaxed a fraction but not much. “Then maybe you should have identified yourself first,officer.” She took a step closer and held her hand out.

“I’m not giving you my badge, lady.”

“And I’m not giving you my name. For all I know, that’s a phony badge and you’re some sort of highway rapist. I haven’t done anything wrong so if you can’t prove you are an officer of the law, we’re done here.” If the damn woman wasn’t so frustrating, I might have been amused.

But I wasn’t. Especially because she was right. “Officer Vargas. Antonio Vargas.” I held up the badge so she could see it clearly even though she refused to take a step closer.

“The name is Elka. Thanks for stopping but I’ll be fine.”

Alarm bells always went off when someone was a little too eager to get rid of me. Elka was a little too jumpy. “What’s the problem here?” I drew closer to the car to see if she had any other passengers or suspicious cargo that might give me a reason to search her.

“There is no problem, as I said. I’m fine.” She stepped back again only this time she didn’t realize her foot stepped over the solid white line that separated the shoulder from the road. She yelped when I yanked her back.

“Careful,” I growled, ignoring the way all those soft feminine curves felt pressed up against me. When it became too much, I took a step back.

“Right. Thanks.” She stepped back once again, her foot just about to land on the road when I shouted at her.

“Stop!”

Blue eyes went wide and she took a large step to the side, avoiding touching me and making sure she was out of my reach until she was right beside the passenger door. “Right. Well thanks anyway.” Elka jumped inside her car likeIwas the badguy, and tried to start her car, smacking the steering wheel when it stalled.

My guess was it wasn’t the first time because everything about this woman screamed flighty scatterbrain who needed someone to look after her. She was completely out of her depth and that was how people got hurt, dammit. I cursed Ty for making me take this damn call—even though it had saved me from dueling matchmakers—as I made my way to the driver’s side and tapped on the window.

She let the window down a few inches. “Yes?”

My lips twitched at her innocent question. She was feisty. “Need some help?”

“No thanks. I can handle it myself.” The window slid back up and I stood, stunned, as she dug through her patchwork purse until she found what she was looking for: a phone with a bright-yellow cover with sunrays darting out in all directions. She was probably calling the only mechanic in town—Rusty of Rusty’s Tow Yard. When her shoulders sank in resignation, I knew he’d told her what the rest of Tulip already knew: he was out fishing and wouldn’t be free for a while.

In Tulip, “a while” was an acceptable measure of time but she wasn’t from here. Doing my due diligence, I tapped her window again. “Care to reconsider that offer of help?”

One hand raked through her long silky hair and she blew out a breath. “I’ve spent my whole life waiting … what’s a few more hours?”

That was ominous and I wanted to ask more but I already knew I wouldn’t get it from her. She might be flighty and scatterbrained but there was a spine of steel underneath.

“I can give you a ride to town and get you to wherever you’re headed while Rusty finishes over at the lake.” It wasn’t an act of kindness so much as it was a way to keep an eye on her and maybe find out what or who had brought her to Tulip.

“No thanks. I’ll stay right here with my stuff. And wait.” She smiled and turned away before remembering her manners. “But thank you,officer.”

I hated the way she dismissed me, like I was nothing. I hated it even more that she said officer like it was a four-letter word, though I guess to a certain type, it was. The criminal type. “Suit yourself, lady.” I walked off before she could change her mind and before I said something I’d regret later.

Elka was a nice reminder of why I chose the single life.

Chapter 2

Elka

Just my luck. I hadn’t been in town for even ten minutes and I’d already made an enemy. It was my superpower according to my brother Austin, and it was almost comforting to see that not everything in my world had changed irrevocably. I couldn’t let it worry me. Officer Vargas had a stick shoved so far up his behind, it distracted me from the impact he had on my body. Those dark assessing eyes seemed to see far more than I wanted him, or anyone, to see. Worse, that assessing gaze seemed to find me lacking.

It was the story of my life and why I shoved away all thoughts of his dark Mediterranean features and broad shoulders as I watched him leave. The man was beautiful, that much was sure, but like all beautiful men, he was a bit of an asshole. That didn’t stop me from appreciating long thick legs that I just knew were hard with well-used muscles or that perfectly round butt that I bet would send a quarter flying right back at me. Even the slightly crooked nose made him more appealing.

To look at.Onlyto look at. I wasn’t in the market for any of that. My plan was to keep my head down and build a life formyself. One that I lived for me and no one else.Not even you, Austin.

I tried to tell myself that he would be proud of me, breaking free from our parents and choosing to live my own life. At least once an hour on the thirty-hour drive down to Texas, I tried to tell myself this was the right decision. That leaving had been the right thing to do, the only thing to do in order to live life on my terms. It was scary as hell being so far away from home, even a home that had never really been a home to me, for the first time in my life. Sheltered and alone, most people would think it was stupid to go so far away, but most people had a place in their families.

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