Page 6 of Warrant
Narrowing my eyes on him, I let my hand drift off my service weapon as I scowled at him. “Very funny.” Everyone in Wyoming had a gun. So, it wasn’t that he had one that had shocked me, but that he’d pulled it out like that.
“Shoulda seen your face,” he said, tossing a grin my way, then moving closer so he could study the filing cabinet.
“You have a concealed carry permit for that…right?” I asked.
“Course I do. What’d ya take me for?”
His eyes landed on mine and my mouth went dry. What was it about this guy? Back home I was friendly with everyone. Grew up with them all, but I’d never had this kind of reaction to any of the men there. Hell, even at the academy, despite being surrounded by gorgeous men, they hadn’t affected me quite like this.
I wasn’t a virgin. I knew what lust was when it hit me, but this seemed like…more. No. That was stupid. I stepped aside as he brushed closer, looking at all the different locks on the beast he was studying. “A key would be easier,” I muttered, irritated thatI had to ask for help at all. That Denison had ‘forgotten’ to leave the damn keys here. Something told me it wasn’t a mistake. It was a last ditch effort on his part to have control over something.
“Would be, but Mrs. Denison has been waiting on her Bali vacation for fifteen years,” he said, amusement tinging his words. “They aren’t coming home any time soon.” He turned his head and stared at me. “So you want me to open it? Or not?”
“You some kind of locksmith, or something?”
“Or something,” he said with a chuckle. “But I can get you in there. Wouldn’t take much to get the old locks out, then I can head over to the hardware store and get you new locks with their own keys.”
He’d bent down to examine one of the lower locks and I let my eyes wander down a little too far. Men weren’t supposed to have nice asses like that. Most of them were flat as a piece of board and seemed to only get flatter as they aged. Not Warrant’s.
My eyes darted back to his face as he straightened and focused fully on me. “I don’t want to waste your time,” I told him. “I can call the local locksmith.”
He huffed out a laugh. “Gerry is three sheets to the wind by now and won’t be answering your call for about a week.”
“How do you know?” I asked, looking at my watch. It was eleven a.m.
“Everyone knows Gerry runs a week behind. Always.”
Sighing, I placed my hands on my hips, just above my gun and my radio and scowled at the cabinet. “Fine. What do you charge?”
“A favor.”
I stared at him incredulously. “I’mnotowing you a favor. I don’t even know you.” My eyes drifted down to the tattoo on his throat. “You could be some criminal for all I know.”
“Well,youmight think of me as one, but I wouldn’t consider myself a criminal.”
“What does that even mean?” I asked him.
“Fine. Dinner,” he countered without bothering to answer me.
“Same thing,” I growled at him. “I don’t know you.”
“That’s the point. Gives us a chance to get to know one another,” he said with another one of those charming smiles that threatened to have my damn panties going up in flames.
“How about I just pay you money,” I said from between gritted teeth. “Like normal people.”
He cocked his head and studied me. “Normal people tend to go on dates.”
Crossing my arms over my chest, I stared at him with my most unamused look.
“Dinner,” he insisted. “Or you can wait on Gerry. He might pick up in a day or two.”
Sighing, I tipped my head back in agitation. “Fine,” I muttered. “If you can get me into this thing, I’ll go to dinner with you.”
“Nice doing business with you, Sheriff,” he said with a grin as he sauntered out of my office.
“Where are you going?” I asked.
He paused at the door, his eyes sparking with amusement. “Miss me already?”
