Page 20 of Shortcake
The best sex of my life. The one-night stand that I was supposed to promptly forget about, but that I’d been fantasizing about for three years.
My jaw dropped, my mouth feeling suddenly like it was filled with cotton. I thought I’d never see him again. Despite our two-night-only unspoken agreement, I’d given him my cell phone number and I’d waited for him to text me.
He hadn’t.
Apparently, I was much easier to let go of than he was.
Which brought us back to the questions… What the hell was he doing here at my bar after closing? And why the hell was he in a Maple Grove sheriff’s uniform?
For a moment, I didn’t think he was going to recognize me, even though I looked pretty much exactly the same.
Him not recognizing me? I wasn’t sure my ego could handle that. It was one thing for our two nights together to end so abruptly. But it was a total other blow if for three years, I pined over someone who didn’t even remember my face.
Because I remembered everything about his.
But then, I watched as his expression shifted, the same realization dawning on him as his gaze locked onto my eyes. “Officer Cavitysearch,” he whispered.
“What are you doing here?” I was genuinely confused as I crossed the bar to greet him. “And why are you dressed like that?” My eyes swept down his tight, uniformed body. Muscles bunched and pressed against the seams of his clothes. I was met with a broad chest, thick biceps, and an ass so muscular, it could crack walnuts. There was a little more gray in his scruff than when I’d first met him, but otherwise, he looked more or less the same.Hell, even better in uniform.
Brawny was easily one of the hottest men I’d ever seen in my life, and in three years, that hadn’t changed.
What the hell was I thinking? I didn’t like men in uniform… unless we were talking about a motorcycle club vest. Ever since the disaster known as Dante, I’d never again gone for the suit wearing businessman. I’d had many firemen, cops, doctors, you name it, ask me out.
But I never said yes.
Dante wasthe nice guy.Even though he was older than me, he was the guy you brought home to meet your parents. He was the man who made a good living and opened doors and brought you flowers for no reason at all.
That was the thing, you fully expected the bad boy to break your heart. You were ready for it. No one in your family fell in love with your asshole motorcycle riding boyfriend. So when it ended, everyone moved on quickly… myself included.
But Brawny? For the first time in six years, I was more drawn to the uniformed man with a badge rather than the bad boy on the motorcycle.
“I—I just moved here. Took over the sheriff position.” He paused, pointing to his badge. “Do you live here, too?”
A breath pushed from my lips as I nodded. “I’ve lived here my whole life.”
Confusion pinned his features. “But I thought… your plane ticket was to Boston.”
“It’s just the closest airport.” Gulping, I ignored the swell of emotion rising like high tide in my throat. “I guess this means we should probably learn each other’s names, huh?”
Heat flashed in those endlessly dark pools of his eyes. “Sheriff Conrad Meyer.”
Conrad Meyer. For three years, I’d only known him as Brawny. For three years, he was my mystery man.
And now, he had a name.
He stood there, waiting. Waiting for me to offer my name in response. It was the normal thing to do. But I’d never been normal. And as seconds ticked on, I tried to open my mouth to speak, but words got lost somewhere between my lungs and my tongue.
And he seemed to know better than to push the issue.
He swiped a hand over his brow. “Look, I got a call about my daughter. Is she here?”
His daughter? His fucking daughter. Stephanie was my Brawny’s daughter? And she was close to my age. Probably closer to my age than he was.
Well, fuck me.
Enzo grinned and gave me a little wave as she opened the front door. “I can see you’ve got this handled.”
“Dad,” Stephanie groaned, head still down across her arm. “S’not what you think.”
