Page 72 of Liar's Point

“Don’t be dense, Emmet.”

“What?”

She rolled her eyes. “It’s just... this is why my mom didn’t want me to be a cop. She said I’d never meet anyone and never get married. Oh, and she’d said I’d get shot, too. That was her other lovely prediction. She always worries I’m going to get hurt in the line of duty.”

He smiled slightly. “My mom says that, too. She acts like it’s a curse that I’m a cop and Calvin’s a firefighter.”

He watched Nicole’s eyes. She wouldn’t look at him, and he could tell she was uncomfortable with this topic, which only made him want to press her on it.

“So... explain it to me. How is your job a liability? I mean, besides the hours.”

She took a deep breath and blew it out. “Men either think I’m gay or that I’m into some weird sex kink.”

“Men do not think you’re gay.”

She gave him a look as though he didn’t know what he was talking about.

“Trust me, Nicole. They do not think that.”

“Whatever.”

“Fine, believe what you want.”

“Well, they definitely think the sex thing. I get all these weirdos. They either want—” She glanced at him and stopped. “You know what? I don’t want to talk about this.”

He guzzled some water to cool his throat.

“What about Travis Bowman,” he said. “You guys dated for a while, and he seems pretty normal.”

“No, you’re right—he’s normal. And also a cheater.”

He frowned. “Bowman?”

“He went to his brother’s bachelor party in New Orleans and met some girl. And then he told me it didn’t count because it was a bachelor party, and I was overreacting.”

Emmet looked at her. “He ‘met’ some girl? You’re saying he slept with her?”

“Yes.”

“You’re not overreacting.”

“I know that. God. Can we talk about something else?”

He set his plate on the table and studied her expression. Her cheeks were pink, and he could tell she was embarrassed to talk about this with him.

“Sorry.”

She laughed. “Why? You didn’t fuck some random woman in New Orleans.”

“Yeah, I mean just, you know, sorry in general. That guys can be dicks.”

A knock sounded at the door, and they both glanced over the back of the couch.

“One sec.” He got up to answer it, pretty sure it was Calvin coming to catch the end of the game.

It was.

“Hey, you watching the game?” Calvin asked.

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