Page 50 of Bad Boy in Her Bed

Tugging his own phone out of his back pocket, he scanned them over, zeroing in on the second one.

I need to print this one out,he thought, pinning the idea onto his mental to-do list and refusing to acknowledge the rest of the thought whispering in his mind.

So I can have it with me in the cell.

Jocelyn had a radiant smile on her face, her steel eyes holding the sexy-as-sin glint of desire he craved every time he exited the elevator and saw her standing in her doorway.Her blond hair caught the morning sun, giving her an angelic aura beside his darker skin and unshaven jaw.The picture perfectly captured her light.

And his irresistible draw to it.

She’d managed to catch the moment he’d glanced down at her, the hardness he knew his hazel eyes always held gone.While he kept his standard sullen expression for the other pictures, in this one he was smirking at her, his own face almost unrecognizable from the one he saw in the mirror every morning.

He was happy.

And for the next fourteen hours, he was going to hold on to it.

He looked over at her as she got comfortable in one of the chairs that he’d hauled over from the shop’s waiting area, her arm on the small folding table she’d borrowed from her parents.

“Come on, stud,” she sang, wiggling her fingers.“Turn me into a walking advertisement.”

*

Jocelyn sauntered overto Birch’s booth with another collection of Epson’s finest festival foods, keeping out of his line of sight while he finished up matching rose tattoos for two giddy grandmothers.She bit the inside of her cheek as the women compared the artwork adorning their shoulders, praising thehandsome, young artisteand slipping him five dollars each despite his protests.

Cutting in front of the dozen others waiting their turn to sit in Birch’s chair, she handed him a burger.“Eat, my handsome, young artiste.”

He glanced at his phone.“Grey should be here in five minutes.I’ll do one more then I promise I’ll take a quick break.”

“Good.Because my parents are over at the horse corral and they want us to stop by.”

He visibly paled before he nodded and motioned for the next person in line to sit down, listening while the guy explained the skull and roses combo he wanted.

Leaving Birch to his new fans, she stocked the dwindling business card pile and wandered over to the ice cream booth across the way to scope out the options for later.

“Good afternoon, Ms.Carter.”

Turning, she gave Bill Fogerty a tight smile, unable to forget the voice she’d heard on the cassette tape Birch stored in the rafters of his garage.“Sheriff Fogerty.It’s a pleasure as always.”

He accepted his banana split from the woman working the stand, glancing over at the banner fluttering across the front of Birch’s tent.“How is work going on the Serpent’s Tongue account?”

“Slow and steady.”

Nodding, he stood awkwardly beside her for a moment, his ice cream already melting in the heat.“Well, I should finish this up.I’m on duty in an hour.Enjoy the festival.”

Catching sight of Grey in the crowds, she waved at him.“You too, Bill.”

Grey grinned at her, walking her way until his brother hollered out to him.With an apologetic shrug, he changed his trajectory and joined Birch.She turned back to the ice cream menu, her heart almost jumping out of her chest when Ryder Drayson stepped in front of her, blocking her view.Taking a deep breath to steady the spike in her pulse, she smiled up at him.“Hey Ryder.It’s nice to see you again.Are you here to help out with the booth?”

He glanced over her shoulder.“Just stopping by to see how it’s going.Jocelyn, right?Birch’s girlfriend?”Before she could reply, he leaned in a little closer.“You’re an accountant.”

Backing up a fraction, she nodded.“That I am.”

“Maybe once you finish up on your current project we can get together and talk shop,” he conversed, undeterred by her attempt to put some distance between them.“Preferably before you bring any more intel to Sheriff Fogerty, that is.”

Hands in his pockets, he strode off in the opposite direction, leaving her staring absently at the ice cream board and knowing nothing good would come from telling a tense, overprotective Birch that his business partner was on to her.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Birch slipped pastthe line at his booth in time to overhear two pretty young women discussing their appreciation of Grey’s fitted Serpent’s Tongue tee.

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