Page 25 of Seducing the Sheriff
“Hey,” said Cash, his voice lowering. “I haven’t exactly been the Belle of the Ball. I get it. I’ve sometimes wondered over the years if I kept too much to myself. But the reality is that we’ve stuck to our guns. We haven’t compromised ourselves to fit in with a group of so-called friends or desperately held onto a relationship that was never going to work out.”
I straightened in my seat. He had a damn good point. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”
Cash laughed. “I have my moments. And now, here you are. You’re making a home for yourself, and you’re even taking a day trip with someone who isn’t the complete opposite of you in every way.”
My chest swelled, and I stole a peek at Cash. Our eyes met for a split second before Cash darted his gaze forward again. This time, the emotion I felt was one I’d forgotten about. Genuine affection for a guy. Could it be I was finally ready to let someone into my heart?
“Well,” said Cash. “This is it. Once we see what the County assessor has to offer, we can decide whether it’s worth it to hit the library.”
“Sounds like a plan,” I agreed.
He shut off the engine, and we both stepped out of the vehicle. While he locked up, I took in our surroundings. Santa Maria was larger than Charming to be sure, but it still wasn’t exactly a bustling city. The welcome sign on the way into town indicated a population of a little over thirty thousand. Not skyscraper-worthy and still small enough that many of the residents knew each other.
“Do you have any change?”
I was jarred from my musings by Cash’s voice. As I turned around, I noticed a parking meter. No debit card options. Nope. Good old-fashioned dimes and quarters would be needed, or else the sheriff would get a ticket. I snorted out a laugh.
Cash was digging through his pockets, his brow furrowed. “What? You only carry cards?”
“Huh?” Meter. Right. “Sorry, I was thinking how you’d never hear the end of it if you got a ticket.”
“You’d keep my secret, though. Right?” He gave me a wink, and dare I say, an evil grin.
I grinned back. “I’ll never tell.”
Cash arched his eyebrows. “Good to know.”
I ducked my chin and put on a big show of retrieving quarters from my jeans. I hadn’t realized any were in there, but they were saving my ass. No way could I look Cash in the eyes after that comment.
“Will this be enough?” I opened my hand, palm up, offering him my tribute.
Cash regarded the four silver coins in my hand, then plucked them from my palm. “It buys us an hour. We can get more change inside if needed.” He dropped the quarters in, shaking his head as he did. “Could’ve gotten a whole hour for one of these babies back in Charming. I don’t think the city has given those meters a second thought for at least forty or fifty years.” He chuckled. “They’re even the old school drop and dial models.
We made our way down the sidewalk, toward the sweeping stone steps that beckoned the citizens of Santa Maria to the entrance of City Hall.
“Really?” I stole a glance at Cash, marveling over how the guy was as drool-worthy in profile as he was head-on. “I don’t remember seeing any meters.”
Of course, knowing me, I’d been parking next to them every time I came into town without ever noticing they existed.
Cash frowned, sticking out his bottom lip as if debating a serious topic. “Well, they’re really only by our city hall and the station. So… eight in total? Have no idea why they aren’t on Main Street.” He gave a small shrug. “There are still plenty of town details I haven’t learned yet.”
We jogged up the dozen or so steps, then, like the gentleman he seemed to be, Cash grabbed the brass handle of the heavy door, giving it a hearty yank before gesturing for me to go ahead. I mumbled a ‘thanks’ as I passed by him, our bodies close enough that my arm brushed against his. The hint of physical touch sparked my body to attention, and my breathing hitched.
Focus. I needed to wrangle my attraction into submission for the time being. Solving the mystery of a dead body in my house wasn’t a great combination in tandem with unbridled lust.
Neither of us commented on the moment, which totally worked for me. Instead, we perused the directory, which was enclosed in a steel frame and drilled into the shiny, taupe granite-covered wall. The interchangeable white letters against a black background outlined the location of each department in the historic, three-story building. If I had to guess, and I wasn’t too bad when it came to old structures, I’d place the era of the stone building somewhere in the early twentieth century. Which meant there was a good chance it would have the information we came for, given the age the medical examiner had given the body.
“Here we go.” Cash pointed to the assessor’s office on the third floor.
We strolled past elaborately framed, enlarged black-and-white photos from the city’s earliest years. Men on horses with long moustaches and cowboy hats, traveling on dirt roads, a wagon or two filled with hay or wooden barrels in front of ghost town-style structures, along with a muddled style of adobe and slatted wood structures sharing the landscape.
I didn’t have a chance to read the inscriptions beneath, as we’d reached the elevators. I pushed the decorative button to summon our ride, most of the topcoat of metal worn away. You couldn’t really call the conveyances a bank, more like a duo, since there were only two. But once we’d survived the journey to our destination in the clanging, banging cubicles of metal, I’d silently resolved to take the stairs on the return trip to the ground floor.
We reached the correct office, and after a short wait of awkward silence between me and Cash while a woman from a title company had her questions answered, it was our turn. Despite the fantasy of solving the mystery before we left the building, my expectations were much lower. As a contractor, I’d been through plenty of aggravating quests for info when dealing with old properties.
“How can I help you, gentlemen?”
The man behind the tall counter that ran the length of the room was anywhere from mid-forties to why-hadn’t-he-retired-yet. After folding his veiny hands covered in a carpet of sunspots and placing them on the surface, he offered us a friendly, if not exhausted, smile. Cash quickly introduced us, identifying himself as the sheriff of the county and me as the property owner of the land we were inquiring about.
