Page 12 of Crazy for You (Loco, Texas 1)

Finn punched Gunn in his gut when Deana wasn’t looking, then led Deana back toward the gym, ignoring the coughing laughter behind him.

Deana was quiet, and he didn’t like it. One thing Deana had never been with him was silent.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” He slid his hand up to cup her elbow, noticing that her limp seemed worse. Are you in a lot of pain?”

She didn’t answer right away. It wasn’t until they were almost to the back entrance when she said, “He thinks I’m lying.”

“What?” Finn’s voice rose with indignation. “He does not. Why would he think that?”

“Come on. When is the last time Loco had a knife-wielding maniac stalking its citizens? He thinks I’m out of my mind.” She stopped outside the door and crossed her arms, a protective gesture he hated. What had happened in the last eight years to make Deana so closed off?

He faced her, staring down into her sad expression, and wanted to make her smile. He wanted her to laugh the way she used to, that belly laugh that was almost indecently loud but infectious. He wanted her to be happy again, because the Deana he’d seen so far had no joy. Only anger, pain, and sadness.

Maybe he’d been thinking too much lately about his own unhappiness, and that was why Deana’s misery was getting to him.

“Isn’t the town called Loco because one of the original town founders went crazy and killed a bunch of people?” He brushed an escaped pink curl back behind her ear.

She snorted at him. “No, that’s just a ghost story teenagers tell their younger siblings to make them pee their pants, although they usually add that he comes alive every Halloween and starts offing people.”

“Hmmm… So is it the water? Does it make people crazy?” His gaze drifted toward her lips, still teasing him with their fire-engine red color. How were they still so bright?

Her lips split into a wide smile. “Legend says that the founders called it Loco because people who settled here were crazy. Between the Callahan Brothers Gang and the Banditos, the men who raised cattle here had a hard time keeping cows, let alone convincing a woman to move here. Before too long, men outnumbered women three to one, and I guess from there, the people that stayed were just loco in da cabeza.”

He returned her smile and touched his finger to her lips. “That’s what I’ve been waiting for.”

“What?” she asked, her smile dimming.

“That smile. I haven’t seen it all night.” Gently, he ran the digit over the plump flesh of her bottom lip, relishing the soft whoosh of breath over his finger.

Her eyes widened. “I guess I haven’t had a lot to smile about.”

Stepping into her, he dipped his head. “Well, honey, that’s a damn shame.”

His mouth brushed hers softly, savoring her. She leaned toward him, and he gathered her close, kissing her like she was honey on a biscuit and he wanted to capture every last drop of her sweetness.

The clearing of a throat had Finn lifting his head to stare into the disapproving eyes of an older man with a silver handlebar mustache.

“Miz Sawyer, we have been waiting for you to arrive.”

Finn didn’t even try to stop her as she spun around, spluttering, “Principal Thornton!”

“If y’all are done, do you think you might step inside?”

With a mumbled good-bye, Deana practically ran for the door, and Finn caught one last scowl from the tight-ass in the white butcher’s apron. The red on the front of Principal Thornton looked an awful lot like blood; the guy acted more like he should be a tax auditor for Halloween than a homicidal meat cutter.

Finn headed back to the main stretch of booths, and while he absently nodded and smiled at the people around him, he let his mind wander back to Deana’s mystery attacker. Was it a crime of opportunity? A Halloween prank?

Deana’s words haunted him though. “He said he’d been waiting a long time for me.”

If it had been planned and Deana was the target, the guy might try again. She was going to need a protective detail.

And here he thought he’d escaped the crazies when he left Atlanta.

Chapter Four

As he watched the cop round the corner, he was tempted to attack now, to just run across the alley like a berserker and punish the cocky son of a bitch for touching what was his.

His gaze shifted toward the closed door. Little Red, with her bright hair and shy countenance. Deana. She was an outsider. Like him. She would understand him. She would love him.

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