Page 15 of Irresistible

One second he was yelling at a woman in public, and the next second he was acting like the mayor of the highway. “Drew,” he said as he tipped his head. One thing he’d always lacked was the ability to pretend he liked someone when he didn’t. Faking civility with Drew was going to be challenging at best. The slow burn of anger sat in his gut, and he prayed that nothing would ignite it.

“Hell of a way to spend an afternoon,” Drew commented as he approached.

“At least we had no fatalities.”

Drew nodded. “Figured that when we didn’t see a helicopter land.” He thrust out his hand. “Good to see you.”

Brock had no choice but to shake hands. He was on duty and had to behave professionally. “Been a long time,” he finally managed to get out.

“This is my girlfriend, Tina.”

“Ma’am,” Brock replied as he tipped his hat. So this was the woman responsible for the lawsuit and the stack of complaints. For such a small woman, she had stirred up a lot of problems. A couple of days ago, he’d taken the time to read through the reports and found that she filed a complaint for just about everything. Not surprisingly, at the center of those complaints was Lilly. Somehow Tina had managed to accuse Lilly of being responsible for flattened rosebushes, a scratched car, and missing mail.

“I’m too young to be a ma’am,” Tina shrilly responded.

Keeping his expression blank, Brock remained silent. How in the world Drew lived with that voice was beyond him. Seemed like karma was working out after all.

“Can I file a complaint, since you’re here?” Tina squawked.

Seeing the flush of anger on the woman’s face confirmed that she and Drew deserved each other. “I can take additional notes to add to your statement regarding the accident. Anything other than that should be done down at the station.”

“My tires were slashed last night and I know who did it. I didn’t have a chance to call the department this morning, so I thought I could do it with you.”

Had this woman really graduated from Tulane with a law degree? Based on what was coming out of her mouth, he found it hard to believe. Maybe her daddy had bought the university a building or something. He couldn’t figure how else she would’ve managed it. “That is something you’ll need to file at the station.”

“Lilly Bertrand did it. I can almost guarantee it,” Tina said firmly. “That woman is out to get me.”

Ten, nine, eight…Counting silently, he tried to control his response. “Like I said, you can give your statement at the station. It might not be wise to suggest that Lilly had anything to do with it, though. We were together the whole evening, and I can guarantee that she had no time to be worrying about you or your tires.” Tipping his hat, he stepped away. “Excuse me. I need to get back to work.” The expression on Drew’s face was priceless. He went from being self-satisfied to annoyed to downright furious in the space of a minute.

Saying anything to Tina was unprofessional, but too damn satisfying for him to resist. No way was he going to get away with it. Best case would be that his name would be included in the complaint that Tina filed. Worst case…he’d stirred up a hornet’s nest.

Either way, it was going to move the conflict forward. It had seemed to him that Drew and Tina were drawing things out as much as they could. To what end, he couldn’t tell. Maybe it kept everyone in the dance. Which, if he had to bet, was Drew’s motivation, but with Tina he had no idea.

As he moved toward the next group of motorists, the wind kicked up and rain splattered across his face. It would be interesting to see how mad Lilly was going to be when she heard about what he’d done. What he’d said to Drew could be interpreted only one way, and Lilly might not be real excited about him implying they’d spent their time together between the sheets. In fact, he could almost guarantee that she was going to have his head on a platter.

But seeing Drew’s expression was going to make it worth it. At least now Drew knew that Lilly had not only her family in her corner but also Brock. That should scare the shit out of Drew if he had any brains.

---