Page 5 of Tempting Fate
Raylene grabbed Gabe and covered his mouth with hers, fisting his shirt in her hands. Her lips were full and soft and giving. And without thinking, he kissed her back. When she twined her hands around his neck, he felt his body leap to attention and tried to shut it down.
They were in a public place, and Raylene was Logan’s sister—not to mention nuts—but she tasted good and felt even better. Small, compared to him, but the woman had some curves. Her long blond hair tickled his neck, and her firm breasts, breasts he distinctly remembered being much larger the first time he’d met her, smashed against his chest.
“Is he gone yet?” she asked.
Gabe snapped to attention and slowly turned his head to look. “Yep.”
And just like that, she pushed him away. “Thank God.”
He glanced around the room to find that most of the diners had gone back to their meals and private conversations. Nothing to see here. But by tomorrow it would be all over town that he and Logan’s crazy sister had been sucking face in the middle of the Ponderosa. He’d come to learn that that’s how it worked here in Nugget. Everything was up for public scrutiny. They were probably over at Owen’s barbershop talking about it now. He didn’t care what the townsfolk thought, but Logan was protective where Raylene was concerned. To say he’d be pissed was an understatement.
“A little extreme, don’t you think?”
“It was your idea, not mine,” she protested.
“It was a joke, Raylene. Something to lighten the tension.”
“Well, it worked.” She shrugged.
“What happens the next time you run into Lucky?” With a population of less than six thousand, it was bound to happen. Besides, Lucky and his wife, Tawny, were invited to the wedding.
She huffed out a sigh. “You know about it then?”
“Ray, this is Nugget.” He pinned her with a stare and she turned away, unable to hold eye contact with him.
“I’m only here for a few days, a week at most.” Long enough to find Levi’s Gold.
“Okay.” He pushed his empty cup away and reached for his wallet. “Just don’t turn Logan and Annie’s wedding into your personal drama.”
“I wouldn’t do that.”
Right. The first time he’d met her, she and her husband stood in their driveway, embroiled in an epic screaming match in front of the entire neighborhood. He and Logan had had to pull her out of there before one of them went to jail. Granted, the ex was a real jerkoff. But Raylene was no angel. “Good, because it would really suck if you did. Let’s go.” He handed her her scarf and jacket.
She followed him out to the square. His SUV was parked in front of the police station, and he took the long way around so he could walk Raylene to her truck. “I’ll meet you at the farm.”
She nodded and unlocked her door.
He trailed her to the main road out of town, but she hung a right instead of a left, heading in the opposite direction of Logan and Annie’s house.
“Goddammit! Where the hell is she going?” Hey, it was her business, he told himself. The woman could drive wherever she wanted.
Back at the farm, Gabe found Annie at the kitchen table studying a seating chart. “Do you think it’s a bad idea to put Owen next to Donna?”
What did Gabe know about seating arrangements? “Maybe. Where’s Logan?”
Distracted with her chart, Annie motioned toward the living room, where Logan was messing with a set of speakers.
“What you got there?”
“They’re supposed to work with voice control. But they’re pieces of shit.” Logan lifted his head. “Where’s Raylene?”
Gabe hitched his shoulders. “We were both headed here from town, but she must’ve forgotten something, because she went the other way.”
“Back to Nugget?” The farm where Logan and Annie lived, which was also the home of L&G Security, was fifteen minutes away from town.
“It looked like she was headed to Reno, but who knows with her.”
Logan pierced Gabe with a look. “Why Reno?”
