“Brody? Your cousin? He’s back in town?”
“Yeah. He and Rain bought the bar last year.”
She’d wondered if Dylan owned the local hangout. He certainly had the money to buy anything he wanted. She’d met his cousins, Brody and Owen, a couple of times back in the day. She had a vague memory of Rain playing softball in high school. Dylan’s life seemed so foreign to her now when once she’d known everything about him. Questions about his family, his life filled her mind, but she didn’t ask a single one of them. She had no right. He left her behind. He’d do it again if she told him the truth about all he’d lost. Better to keep things like this, all business. Nothing personal.
She sighed and scrubbed both hands over her face and focused on the problem at hand. For the better part of two months Jay caused nothing but problems. Small things really, but they added up to cutting corners and laziness. She had yet to put her foot down and show him the line never to cross. Today she’d make him understand what it meant to work for Jessie Thompson.
She picked up one of the hand radios from the table behind her. “James, bring Jay Bradley to the office, ASAP.”
“It’ll be a minute. He’s in the middle of something.”
“Put someone else on it and get in here. The sheriff is here.”
“On our way, boss.”
She set the radio back in its charger, sucked in a deep breath, and tried to ignore the ringing phone. Doing the same with Dylan was a whole other impossible feat.
The office door banged open and she expected James and Jay to walk in. Instead, Greg beamed a smile at her from the doorway. She caught Dylan’s scowl out of the corner of her eye.
“Hey, beautiful. Got time to have lunch with me?” Greg asked, his eyes on Dylan, not her.
“No. I’m dealing with the sheriff here and an unruly employee, who thinks he can bust up the local bar among other unseemly acts.”
“What else did he do?” Dylan asked.
“He thinks he can hit on his boss, slack off, and otherwise undermine my authority. It ends today.”
“Are you putting him on your special work detail?” Greg winked at her.
“That’s right. He’ll either become a loyal employee, or he’ll be dead by the end of the day.” She gave Dylan a very insincere smile. “I mean that figuratively of course, Sheriff.”
Dylan smiled and shook his head. “Not a mean bone in your body.” He gave her another appreciative sweep of his gaze over her. The heat washed through her and made her yearn for things she had no right wanting. Not after what happened.
“So, you two talked. You told him—”
“No.” She shut Greg up before he said too much.
“He knows,” Dylan accused, glaring at Greg because he knew the big secret, but she had yet to spill her guts to him.
“Yes. Now isn’t the time or place to get into this.”
“J.T., you need to tell him,” Greg coaxed.
“I’ll take you to lunch.” Dylan gave Greg a smug look.
James and Jay walked into her office, interrupting the tense situation. Jay glanced at the sheriff and immediately tried to defend himself.
“I swear J.T., that guy started the fight. I was having a beer after work, minding my own business.”
She surveyed all the men standing in front of her desk. Dylan stood with authority. His dark hair brushed the back of his collar. His stormy gray eyes watched Jay with a predatory stare, making sure he didn’t do anything stupid.
Greg, dressed casually in a pair of slacks and a dress shirt opened at the collar, his sleeves rolled up to his elbows, stood there enjoying the whole scene. As her best friend, Greg would like nothing better than to make Dylan pay for what he’d done.
James stood back, leaning against the wall, waiting for her to tell him what she wanted him to do with Jay after this meeting.
“James, did Jay arrive on time this morning?”
Jay cringed at the loud tone of her voice. His flannel shirt was half-tucked in, one sleeve slowly unrolling. Two days’ worth of beard shadowed his jaw, and his tangled hair stuck up on one side. Hungover, he’d regret that very soon.
“He arrived ten minutes late. He’s been out helping get one of the houses ready for the landscapers.” James knew exactly where this ended. Her kicking Jay’s ass.
“So he’s enjoyed a nice quiet morning.”
“Yes,” James replied.
“Why didn’t you tell me Jay’s been taking it easy?”
“Well, now, you seemed tired. I didn’t want to add any extra work to your day.”
Pissed, she snapped, “He’s supposed to Sheetrock one of the houses. Now, that crew is a man short. If he can’t pull his weight, I want to know about it.”