Page 5 of Second First Kiss

“I can’t talk about an ongoing investigation,” he said, and she gave a dramatic eye roll for his benefit. “So why don’t you head on out before I call the tow truck?”

“No can do, Ranger,” she said, knowing full well that he was an officer for the US Forest Service, who was usually armed to the teeth and took down bad guys who did bad things on federal land. “I’m in the middle of a stakeout and I can’t turn back now.”

“Boyfriend?” he asked.

“Curious about my dating status?” she asked and immediately regretted it.

“My interest in you is becoming a problem.”

“That sounds like a you problem.”

He let his gaze purposefully fall to her lips, then met her eyes and this time when she shivered, it had nothing to do with the chill in the night.

“Kitten, by the way you’ve been tracking me every time I enter the bar, it’s starting to sound like an us problem.”

How had he noticed? She’d done her best to play it stealth mode, hiding behind her bartender facade, but he’d somehow noticed. Of course he’d noticed. His job was literally to suss out people’s secrets. And she had a big one. Even though she couldn’t stand the guy, she couldn’t stop staring when he wasn’t looking. It was becoming a problem.

Damn the man.

“I’m here for my sister.”

His eyes softened with understanding and something too close to empathy for her liking. It wasn’t a secret that Tessa was staging a rebellion against the world. And while Kat couldn’t blame her, she wasn’t about to help her sister light the fuse.

Abe drove big rigs to help pay the bills and took on as many hauls as he could get to chip in, but Kat wondered what would hurt Tessa more, losing the family home or losing the last few precious years with her dad before she headed off to college and, according to her sister, never stepping foot back in Sierra Vista.

“If she’s at the party, I will get her home safely,” Nolan said. “I promise. But you staying here isn’t an option.”

There was a strange urgency to his voice that she didn’t understand. “And I promised to kick my sister’s ass if she snuck out again, so my promise eclipses yours.” She held her head high. “I’m not leaving here without Tessa.”

Nolan studied her for a long moment, and she wasn’t sure what he was thinking but she didn’t like it. “Well, I hope she gets here before the tow truck.”

She pushed off the car and walked right into his space, craning her neck so she could meet his gaze—which was dialed to amused.

“Seriously? I’m parked in a sea of cars and you’re harassing me?” She poked him in the chest and her finger bounced back. The man was built like a Viking—imposing, indestructible, and so sexy one might call him irresistible.

“They’re next.” Nolan turned to look behind him as a chant of “chug, chug, chug” filled the night sky and Kat let out a defeated breath. “Is your sister at the party?”

Kat’s shoulders drooped with exhaustion. “She’s supposed to be at the library, but her Find My Friends dot mysteriously vanished. Which means she’s up to no good.”

“How did you know to come here?”

“This is exactly where I’d be if I were up to trouble.”

He chuckled. “If?”

She crossed her arms defiantly. “I’ve actually grown up.” Some. And not by choice.

He looked her up and down, pausing in specific places—places that began to tingle. Treacherous tingles. He was as strait-laced as they came, and he carried a badge. Badges made her palms itch. But he filled out the ass of his uniform like nobody’s business, not that she’d tell him that, because for as much as she found him attractive, she wasn’t looking for the kind of long-term relationship that guys like Nolan deserved. Her life was too chaotic, and her past was too questionable for that.

Plus, his morality barometer was set to judge and jury. And she hated judgy people almost as much as she hated badges.

“Trust me, I know,” he said quietly, and those tingles went from treacherous to straight-up traitors. “Every time you take out the garbage in those itty-bitty pajama bottoms, I’m reminded of just how much you’ve grown up.”

She gasped and looked him in the eye.

Sure, three months ago they’d shared a drunken kiss. To clarify, she’d been drunk, he’d been as uptight as ever. It had been a dare—and she never turned down a dare. The kiss had been awful—like swallow-a-gallon-of-bleach awful. After, they’d both parted ways, but there had been a crackle lingering between them that refused to dissipate.

Before that, he’d never shown much interest in her. Even in high school she’d had a massive crush on him, but he’d kept her firmly in the friend zone. More like the “I’m the golden boy and you’re the bad girl” zone. And it had become their thing. Then the kiss happened and suddenly there was this vibe. He’d tease her, she’d flip him the bird, then they’d go back to ignoring each other.

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