Page 6 of Home Town Knight

“You too.”

She slid her fingers into my grip, her skin soft and slightly cool. Her pink thumbnail tickled my palm. My breathing hitched, my clever comeback lost between synapses.

Jen recovered faster than I did. Either that, or the touch hadn’t affected her. “So, why is your call sign Tex?”

“Because he wore a cowboy hat every single moment we weren’t in uniform,” Dean supplied. “And he grew up on a cattle ranch.”

I rested my elbows on the bar counter, settling in. “Spent my summers there. But my grandparents’ ranch is here in Colorado, not Texas. My buddies didn’t have the best grasp of geography.”

“Yeah, we did. ButTexwas funnier than any of the alternatives.” He wrinkled his nose. “Coloradois too long. And ’Radojust sounds weird.”

I snickered. “That definitely would’ve been worse.”

“Much worse,” Jen agreed. “But where’s the cowboy hat now?”

I adjusted the brim of my cap. “I like to mix it up.”

My favorite felt Ariat was sitting, crown down, in the backseat of my sheriff’s department SUV out in the parking lot. For some reason, I’d taken it off and grabbed the snapback instead. Couldn’t say why.

“What kind of writer are you?” I asked.

“Nonfiction.”

“Uh oh. Are you here doing research?”

“Something like that.”

“Am I going to end up an anecdote in a book? I doubt I’m interesting enough for that.”

“I might disagree with you there, but no. I won’t tell anyone about the handsome ex-Marine nicknamed Tex who sat next to me in a bar.” She sipped her beer and smiled coyly, which made my neurons misfire again. “What about you? What do you do?”

Wait, did she just call me handsome?

I opened my mouth, but Dean spoke over me. “He’s in wildlife management.”

“Oh? I’ve always wondered what that is.” Her eyebrows lifted, prompting me to explain.

Just great. What the hell was my so-called buddy doing?

“Means he tries to keep the local wildlife in line,” Dean went on, drying a glass. He was enjoying this. Thought he was so damn clever.

“Like the oafs who were getting wasted on Mai Tais?”

He pointed at her. “Exactly.” They both laughed, so I decided to let it pass. She knew he was kidding around.

And the truth was, I didn’twantto tell her I was sheriff. Not because I intended to mislead the woman. But it didn’t matter, right? She’d said not long ago that she wanted to get her mind off work tonight. After the shitty day I’d had, I needed the same thing.

It wasn’t just the stupid meeting with the reporter looming over my Monday morning. It was that trip to see my grandparents. My dad’s family. All the ways that visit had gone sideways. Like I’d known it would.

Thiswas why I’d taken off my signature Ariat and left it in the SUV.

For one damn evening, I didn’t want to be Sheriff Douglas. I didn’t want my family history and the weight of responsibility. I just wanted to be Owen.Tex. A thirty-two-year-old single guy with the night off. And with a gorgeous woman flirting with him from the next barstool over.

I wanted to find out where this night would lead.

CHAPTER THREE

Genevieve

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