Page 49 of Need You
His glance dropped to her lips. “Clearly the attraction is mutual, but us . . . this”—he waved his hand between them—“I don’t like to get involved with local women. As the police chief it’s too complicated.”
“Exactly,” she said, but secretly wondered what was so complicated about it, and got up to go.
“I’ll walk you.” He followed her to the door and she turned and pointedly looked at his state of undress.Hello, you’re practically naked.
He grabbed the new pants off the kitchen table, put them on and closed the zipper, leaving the top button undone. “They feel great.”
They looked even better, but she kept that thought to herself. He crossed the easement road with her, waited for her to get inside, then went back home. She climbed the stairs, shut off the light in her studio, and headed for bed. But not before gazing out the window at Colt’s bedroom.
* * *
Colt didn’t know if he could fall asleep again. Delaney had him worked up pretty good. When she’d first shown up, he’d thought it was a dream. Her standing in his doorway, backlit by the full moon, so freaking beautiful it made his chest hurt. And when he’d kissed her ... Well, it had been a while since he’d lost his head over a woman. Maybe never.
It was for the best that they’d stopped it when they had, he told himself. He wasn’t interested in being her rebound guy until she moved back to Los Angeles. And while Colt wasn’t opposed to no-strings-attached sex, doing that sort of thing in Glory Junction was out of the question. Especially with a woman he could fall for.
At seven his damned alarm went off. Even though he wouldn’t be part of Team Garner at the races, he decided to go to the family meeting anyway. There would be pastries and coffee that didn’t suck. He also decided to wear plain clothes today, instead of his uniform. Pond wouldn’t like it, so it was Colt’s little F-you to the mayor.
Delaney’s pants were sitting on the top of his dresser. After his shower, he dragged them on with a polo shirt. The cargos really were fantastic. Lightweight but durable and as comfortable as tactical pants. He strapped on his gun belt and clipped on his badge. On the way to his cruiser, he checked out Delaney’s house for any signs of life. He couldn’t tell for sure, but it appeared that she was still asleep.
He tried to block a vision of her in bed, flushed and tousled. The image didn’t help his state of mind, which was still in the gutter after her early morning visit.
He drove to Garner Adventure and parked in front. Darcy, the new girl, was laying out the Danish in the conference room when he got in. He snagged a bear claw before the rest of his family arrived and poured himself a cup of coffee.
“How you liking the job so far?” he asked Darcy.
The question seemed to throw her, because she waited a while to respond and finally said, “It’s good,” then turned beet red.
Win came through the door and put his stuff down on the long burl wood table. Gray Garner had had it specially made for the room. He’d known a guy. . . .
“Hey, Darce,” Win said.
This time, the receptionist looked as if all the blood in her body had rushed to her cheeks. She was either incredibly shy or had it bad for Win, which wouldn’t surprise Colt. Ninety-nine percent of Glory Junction’s female population had it bad for Win. The rest were six feet under at the Glory Junction Cemetery.
Colt figured his little brother would eventually settle down with Deb. Poor Deb had been pining for him forever.
TJ showed up next. “I thought you weren’t coming,” he said to Colt.
Colt held up his Danish. “Food.”
“Did you take the only bear claw?”
“Yes I did.” He licked the whole thing, like they used to do when they were kids to claim dibs.
“What’s up with you and Delaney Scott? I thought you didn’t like her.”
“I never said I didn’t like her.”
“Weren’t you feuding over parking?”
“We’ve worked it out.”
TJ raised his brows. “And now you’re having dinner with her?”
“Yeah, so what’s the big deal? We live next door to each other and were both hungry.”
“And you took her river rafting. Seems like there’s something going on there.” TJ looked at him for confirmation.
“Absolutely nothing going on.” If you didn’t count the kiss, which Colt wasn’t. It was a one-time deal. No harm, no foul.
