“Setting yourself up as an orgasm pusher with me as your junkie. Well, that’s a first.”
“Would it have worked?”
She laughed despite herself. “Might have.”
He pulled her back on the bed. “Then forget everything else I said and let’s go back to plan A.”
He tickled her, dragging her on top of him, making her giggle—giggle, for God’s sake!—and also giving her the perfect out to a situation that had started as sexual and somehow turned serious. As serious as it gets.
But he’d risked a lot by being honest. It was only fair that she do the same. So she snagged his teasing hands and waited until he was looking directly at her. “Okay. You got yourself a deal.”
“Orgasm pusher?”
She shook her head. “Relationship instigator.”
He stilled, then his face split wide in a grin like she’d never seen. But hoped to see again. He rolled her to her back. “I promise I’ll go more slowly from now on.”
“And ruin everything?” she joked, only her throat had somehow gone tight. His eyes were all dark and serious, and he looked like a man who was about to—
“Okay, then I love you. There. How’s that for fast?”
She couldn’t breathe. “A minute ago you were falling in love with me.”
“I landed.”
She swallowed. Hard. “Oh.”
“Yeah, I know. Scary doesn’t even come close to describing it. But what’s a guy to do?” His smile faded and he pushed the tangle of curls from her face. “It’s just how I feel. You take your own time, do this your own way.” Then he grinned and this time it was purely sexual. “But be warned, I don’t play fair.”
“Why Sheriff, whatever would the citizens of your fair land think?”
“That I do whatever I have to to get the job done.”
“So now I’m a job?”
He laughed. “Oh no, you’re pure adventure.” And then he was kissing her, teasing her, proving to her exactly how he intended to wage his campaign of winning her heart.
What he didn’t know—and she didn’t intend to tell him, not just yet, anyway—was that he was closer to succeeding than he knew.
But she could save that little announcement for later.
He slid down her body, kissing her navel on the way.
Much, much later.
18
“NO. ABSOLUTELY NOT.” Dylan felt like a broken record. “Because I said so.” He sighed and held the phone away from his ear for a moment. “I know she went with you to get the rescue birds, and it went fine. And I know she’s become fond of them and I’m glad she’s helping you out, even though I’m not fond of her putting you in jeopardy.” He clenched his jaw as his mother continued fighting her case. “I don’t care if the agents are there, it’s not the same as keeping her safe, and you safe by default. Just because the—” He widened his eyes and looked at the phone.
“Hang up on you again, did she?” Liza asked.
He just glared at her and replaced the receiver with a sharp click. “None of you seem to grasp the importance of keeping Pearl close at hand where we can best control her surroundings. Maybe we should all drive by what’s left of Mims Motel on a daily basis as a reminder.”
Liza stood and walked around his desk to knead Dylan’s shoulders. He tried to remain stiff and unyielding, but, damn, she knew just where to—
He stood up, making her hop backward. “Oh no, you’re not going to get around me so easily this time.”
She smiled sweetly. “Why? It’s worked so well all the other times.”
Dylan didn’t even bother to argue. Mainly because she was right. “When did I lose control of this relationship, anyway?”
Liza laughed in shock. “Exactly who carried me upstairs last night and deposited me in a tubful of warm water and made me sit and sip a glass of wine—slowly—before forcing me to submit to being tortuously washed with an incredibly soft washcloth?”
Dylan tried not to smile, really he did. “I’m such a cad, I know. You had a screaming headache after that town council meeting, which, by the way, I tried to tell you would be a nightmare. But would you listen to me?”
“No,” she agreed readily, “I didn’t listen. But I got my way in the end, didn’t I? Avis and her friends will be able to have that salsa-eating contest and the board of health is okay with the booth setup. Everyone happy. So what if I had to endure four hours of mind-numbing debate over the color of the table swathing and who will give the first speech of the day? It was worth it.”
“Because you got your way in the end.”
Liza smiled. “You know me so well.”
It had been only a week since the first time he’d carried her to his bedroom…and she’d never exactly left. With the agents in place, Pearl hadn’t seemed to mind, and Liza still spent a good deal of time with her every day. God knows Dylan wasn’t complaining. At least not when Liza and he were both home. Away from home? Well… “That’s what scares me,” he grumbled. Because the more he knew her, the more he couldn’t stand to be away from her.
She wove her arms around him from behind and toyed with his badge. “You didn’t seem too scared when you pulled me out of that tub and took me up against the wall of your bathroom.” Her hands drifted downward. “And I surely enjoyed the way you sipped your wine off of me.”
Jesus. His entire body stiffened, some parts more painfully than others. He carefully removed her clever little hands and stepped away. Before he ended up risking his badge and taking her right on his desk. “Don’t you have some part of this town you haven’t run roughshod over?”
She gave him a wide-eyed, innocent look, then laughed and reached up on her impossibly high heels and kissed him on the cheek. “I only stopped by to say hi on the way to getting my nails done.”
“Didn’t you just have them done last week?”
“And your point is?”
He shook his head. “None, apparently. Except to be thankful I was born a man.”
She stepped closer. “I’m thankful, too.”
He laughed, but held her away. “You can show me your appreciation—with those shiny red nails, if you want—but later. I know you’re already running half the town, but I have to keep the rest of it safe.”
“And don’t think we don’t appreciate that. In fact, I plan to show you just how appreciative I can be. But only after I get these cuticles attended to. You know, Minnie is a dream find for a manicurist. She does makeup, too. She could be raking in a fortune in Hollywood. I even offered to help her out.”
“No kidding.”
Liza just looked at him. “But she’s happy here. Go figure.”
Dylan knew she was tweaking, but it wasn’t the first time he’d wondered if someone like Liza, who was used to moving in distinctly faster circles, could ever truly be happy in Canyon Springs.
“Anyway, Minnie was saying last week that she’d really like to expand to the space next door, but the guy who owns the place, Dick Harbert, was giving her a hard time about paying for the repairs herself. I spoke to Tom Connelly about it and he’s going to meet me at Minnie’s later to see if he can help her out.”
“Tom is an estate attorney. How is he going to help…?” Dylan held up his hand. “Never mind. I don’t want to know. Can’t you even get your nails done without taking over something?”
Liza stepped closer, straightened his badge, gave him that look that made his already hardened body jerk a little harder. “I like helping people. Can I help it if I’m good at it?”
He couldn’t deny she was right. It was almost terrifying how embedded in town matters she’d become.
“Not bad for a former showgirl from Vegas, huh?”
Dylan did smile then. Ever since Avis had let it slip that Liza used to work with Very Famous People, she’d been the buzz of the community. It had only made it easier for her to insinuate herself into just about anything she wanted to insinuate herself into. Which seemed to be every damn thing.
And yet the energy she’d created, just by, well, being herself, was undeniably affecting everyone in a favorable way. Himself included, no matter how much he grouched. He did that mostly for effect, anyway. Someone had to keep her balanced. “By the time Pearl gives her testimony, they’ll be erecting a statue in the town square in your honor.”
She laughed. “Don’t be silly.” She ran her hands down over his belt buckle and stroked him swiftly with those perfectly fine looking nails of hers. “Your town square’s not nearly big enough.”
She left him as she usually did—speechless and hard as a rock. “I’m sure you’ll find a way to rectify that little injustice before dinner,” he muttered, then found himself smiling as he sat down behind his desk. She really was something else. And she was his. At least for now. Just thinking about what came after dinner, when it was his turn to make her crazy…well, suddenly he didn’t mind so much how she filled her days.
He snatched up the phone and punched in a number. But that didn’t mean he was going to roll over and play dead regarding all of her little schemes. “Patterson? Sheriff Jackson here. Any chance we can move Ms. Halliday and your two agents closer to your home base in Tucson? We’re slated for a number of festivities here shortly and I’d appreciate it if— What? Oh. Yeah, I see. No, no, I understand. I’ll find the additional security necessary.” Dylan swore under his breath as he hung up, then lifted the receiver again. He wasn’t the only one with troubleshooting capabilities.