Page 2 of Need You
“And I thought I explained to you that I need to be close to the outlet to plug in my car.”
“Don’t you have one in your garage or near your garage?” The house had a security system that rivaled most banks’. Colt figured the builder hadn’t skimped on electrical outlets.
“I told you this already. Clearly you weren’t listening. It’s the only two-hundred-forty-volt outlet. It was installed on a fifty-amp circuit breaker. They’re not like your run-of-the-mill house outlets.”
Thanks for the lesson on electrical capacity, he wanted to say, but didn’t have time to argue with her. “Delaney, work with me here, okay? I’ve got to be somewhere.”
“What, are they having a special on donuts at Tart Me Up?”
He rolled his eyes. “Clever. Because I never heard that one before.”
She glanced at her watch and sighed. “Fine. But you do realize that you only have the easement because I allow it. It’s my land.”
“The easement has been on the books longer than either of us has lived here.” Before she and her husband bought the property and tore down the perfectly fine house that occupied it to build the Palace of Versailles.
“I can change that.” She squinted her blue eyes at him, then turned and went inside, giving him a good look at her spandex ass.
This time, he forced himself not to stare, raising his gaze to take in her black hair, which made him think of the song “Galway Girl” and laugh to himself. He was in no danger of losing his heart to Delaney Scott, not like the guy in the song. She might be beautiful but she was a royal pain in the butt. Besides, the last time he’d fallen for one of Glory Junction’s resident celebrities . . . Well, let’s just say he wouldn’t be doing it again. Ever. Not if he wanted to survive. Because while some men drank their blues away, he binged on BASE jumping, parachute skiing, cave diving, and other death-defying sports.
A few minutes later, she returned with keys. He followed Delaney and waited while she unplugged her car. At this rate, Colt was in danger of missing his meeting altogether. The mayor would assume that he was being insubordinate. Ordinarily, he couldn’t care less what the mayor thought. Colt’s job had always been nonpolitical. He’d served under two different mayors and had been largely left alone to run the department as he’d seen fit. But the Honorable Carter Pond had a thing for micromanaging—and promptness.
Maybe Colt was being paranoid—his brothers certainly thought so—but Pond seemed to be gunning for him. So strolling in twenty minutes after their scheduled meeting wasn’t going to help his cause. Not one bit.
“I’m probably missing a conference call right now,” she said, her voice clipped.
“I’m sorry.” He probably should’ve left it at that, but couldn’t help adding, “You wouldn’t have, if you hadn’t blocked me in.”
“You shouldn’t have parked so close to my house and outlet.”
“You have a driveway. Just use it.”
“So do you.”
They sounded like two little kids bickering in the sandbox. Most days, Colt was an easygoing guy. Sometimes, downright congenial. But the day had gotten off to a bad beginning—starting with the damned song—and he figured it was only going downhill from here. “We need to figure this out,” he said, not wanting to fight with her anymore. “But I don’t have time to do it now.”
Colt got in his cruiser and watched through his rearview mirror as she pulled the Tesla up her drive. Difficult woman. Why she’d moved to the mountains full time was beyond him. She was a big-deal fashion designer from LA. His sister-in-law, Hannah, carried some of her stuff at Glorious Gifts on Main Street. Delaney’s husband, according to town gossip, was no longer in the picture. Which was too bad because when he was, they rarely, if ever, came up, just letting that big house of theirs sit empty. And quiet.
Colt pulled out and drove to city hall. By the time he parked he was fifteen minutes late. By the time he made it to the mayor’s office, Pond was good and pissed off.
“Glad you could show up, Chief,” he said with derision.
“Sorry I’m late ... small emergency.” It wasn’t exactly a lie.
“With your family’s business?” Pond motioned for Colt to take a seat. “You seem to spend a lot of time there.”
Colt did, but never on the city’s dime. “It had nothing to do with Garner Adventure.”
Pond got up and came around his desk. He was tan and fit and Hannah said he had hair plugs. Colt wouldn’t know, but could tell the mayor put a lot of time into his appearance. Unlike the past two mayors, who wore khakis or jeans and boots, Pond opted for Italian suits and loafers. They probably went better with his Porsche. He turned a lot of heads in town, that was for sure.
To Colt, the mayor reeked of midlife crisis.
“You want a drink?” Pond reached into a mini fridge against the wall where old photographs of the town hung.
Colt was surprised he hadn’t taken them down. Carter Pond was a relative newcomer. He’d moved to Glory Junction from Silicon Valley seven years ago. Word on the street was he’d made a mint selling his start-up before the dot-com bust. He certainly lived like a fat cat with his sprawling estate and a membership at Glory Junction’s only country club. Though Colt was always suspicious of people who flashed their money a little too loudly. In any event, the mayor tended to ignore anything in Glory Junction that was BC—Before Carter.
“No thanks,” Colt said, and pointedly gazed at his watch, wanting the mayor to get to the point of this meeting. Colt had things to do.
Pond pulled out a bottle of designer water. That’s what Colt called it. Fancy bottle, hefty price tag, same damn water as the tap. He hoped the city wasn’t footing the bill for it. The mayor sat back down—Colt suspected he wanted the big, mahogany desk between them—and took a drag of the water.
