Page 22 of Enforcing the Rules

“Am I wrong?”

Goddamn, I liked her directness. “Ballbuster. Definitely.”

She rolled her eyes.

“For the record, no, you’re not wrong. Most are trouble, especially those two I saw you with the other night.”

She fiddled with her cocktail napkin. Obviously, she didn’t want to talk about them. I did, but I knew this wasn’t the time to push her on it. Not if I wanted things to progress with this girl, and I suddenly realized that’s exactly what I wanted. So, I changed the subject.

“So, Kate with the pretty smile, what do you do for a living?”

“Filing, mostly.”

I nodded. “So, office work?”

“Yep. And you?” Again, she met my eyes directly, no shyness, no batting her eyes. And I fucking loved it.

“This and that. I could tell you…” I leaned closer and whispered. “But then I’d have to kill you.”

She huffed out a laugh. “You see? Trouble. I was right.”

“I won’t deny it. But I’d never give a girl like you trouble.” I made an X over my chest. “Cross my heart.”

She rolled her eyes. “Please.”

“You don’t believe me?”

“You keep many of these promises, do you?”

“Damn, girl. You’re tough.”

She shrugged. “I guess it really doesn’t matter, does it? I doubt we’ll cross paths again.”

“I don’t know. I’ve already seen you three times in the last few days.”

That had her tilting her head. “Three?”

“Saw you walk out of Hansen’s Hardware earlier today.”

“Really?” She frowned. “I didn’t see you.”

“I was sittin’ at the light.”

“Oh.”

“Didn’t look like you bought anything.”

“I didn’t.”

“So, what were you doing up there?”

“None of your business.”

“Is it a big secret?”

“I was… looking for screws. They didn’t have the size I needed.”

I huffed a laugh. “Sure.”

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