Page 38 of Returning Your Love
Good thing I’d worn briefs beneath my khakis or I’d have been in trouble. My entire body vibrated with the need to kiss his mouth and claim him for the world to see, but now wasn’t the time or the place.
I winked and turned away, counting the days until I would have Chaz in every way.
Nine, so just over a week.
Dexter walked into Frenchie’s, but Dad didn’t follow on his heels like usual.
I ambled over to my dad’s best friend, and he flashed his grin, pulling me in for a quick bro-hug.
“Heard your kids played their hearts out tonight,” he said, stepping back.
“Yeah. I’m bummed they didn’t get the win. Maybe next time.”
“Maybe,” he agreed, but like everyone else, I was sure he didn’t hold onto hope. “Buy you a beer?”
“Not sticking around, but thanks.”
Dex nodded and glanced around the bar as though scoping out the possibilities for a hookup. Guess that was why he hadn’t dragged Dad along for a night on the town. We sure didn’t have much to choose from though. He’d have been better off using an app, which included men from down in Berlin.
Dex’s gaze caught on someone, and his mouth twisted like he’d bitten into a lemon.
“You okay?” I asked with a chuckle, trying to figure out what’d set his grimace in place.
“Yeah—new guy just hired.” Dex shook his head, disgust clear on his face. “He’s a punk. Gets on my last goddamned nerve.”
Surprised raised my brows. “Seriously? You like everyone.”
He huffed a sarcastic laugh and turned back toward me. “Almost everyone. Christian Cole can go pound sand for all I care.”
I had no clue who the fuck he was talking about, but Dex strode toward the bar a few seconds later and bumped not so subtly into a dirty blond on the stool beside him before ignoring the fuck out of the guy. Sexual tension filled the space between them. It was as obvious as Iris’s blue hair where she stood behind the counter filling a pint glass for Dad’s best friend.
Whoever that Christian guy was, he did more than get on Dex’s last nerve, that was for damned sure.
“Going home already?” One of Dad’s officers snagged me by the front door—Davidson. The single playboy the local ladies swooned over.
“Yeah, I’m done with the noise.”
He chuckled. “I hear that. Been a long as fuck day. Looking forward to my bed.” I doubted he slept in it by himself all that often considering the talk on the town.
“Trouble at work?” I asked.
Dad hadn’t mentioned anything, but I’d only seen him at home for a few minutes before heading out the door for the high school.
“Nothing out of the ordinary,” Davidson said, running long fingers through his thick, wavy hair. “Just the usual bullshit of a small town.”
Which meant petty stuff. Calls about bears in trash cans. Skunks walking down the road in broad daylight. The occasional domestic issue between screaming partners. Our town drunk slumped over on the park bench and needing a place to sleep off the alcohol since he couldn’t remember where home was. I’d pretty much seen everything imaginable while doing ride alongs with Dad. Nothing serious but exhausting all the same.
“Take it easy, Officer Davidson,” I told him, clasping his shoulder.
“Plan on it.”
Like Dad’s co-worker, I too looked forward to my bed. But mostly because the sooner I slept, the sooner the next day arrived. Then the next and the next, until Sunday dawned, and like Chaz had said, I could come whenever I wanted.
Can’t fucking wait.
Chapter 14
Chaz
