Run to Ground(27)

He liked her Southern drawl. It was almost relaxing. “No.” Her cart, by contrast, was heaped with food, more than one woman could eat in a month. Interesting.

Although she must have noticed the direction of his gaze, she just shifted her weight and changed the subject. “Are you done for the day or just starting?”

“Done.” He looked pointedly at her cart and then back at Jules. “Feeding an army?”

He didn’t expect her to laugh. It startled him how it transformed her. Theo had thought she was beautiful before, but when she laughed… It took his breath away and made him forget his next question.

“You could say that.”

He blinked, looking down for a moment so he could get his thoughts in some sort of order again. What was he doing? He was interested in her as a cop would be interested in a suspicious stranger. There was nothing personal about it. Even as the thought passed through his head, he knew it was a lie. Self-directed irritation made his next question come out more harshly than he’d intended. “Who lives with you?”

She flinched, her fingers turning white as they tightened around the cart handle.

“Sorry,” he grumbled, rubbing a hand over his closely shorn head. He could be an asshole. Theo fully accepted that. He’d never been a bully, though.

Jules blinked, her grip on the cart easing. “Did you just…apologize?” Her accent gave “apologize” a few extra syllables, making the corner of Theo’s mouth twitch. She really was cute. Then her shocked tone penetrated, and he scowled again.

“Yeah.” He was capable of basic courtesies. At least, he used to be. “Why’s that so surprising?”

She studied him again, but it seemed different this time, more…thoughtful. “You just didn’t seem like a huge apologizer.”

“I’m not a huge one.”

Her smile returned as Jules tilted her head down a little, although she still held his gaze in a way that was almost flirty. “You look pretty big to me.”

He found himself leaning a little over the cart handle, as if his body was trying to get closer to her. He was fighting a smile again. His end of this back-and-forth felt a little stiff and rusty, but enormously good, too. It was like when he took an old, corroded engine and brought it back to life. He opened his mouth to respond, but another cart crashed into the side of his.

“Imagine bumping into the two of you here.” It was Hugh. Of course it was.

“Are you stalking me?” Theo demanded, glaring at Hugh, who just looked amused.

“Me?” he gasped, a meaty hand pressed against his chest. “Me stalking you? How do you know I wasn’t here first? Maybe you’re the one stalking me.”

Theo narrowed his eyes. His glare could convince armed criminals to back down, but Hugh just kept grinning.

“What were the two of you talking about?” Hugh leaned on the handle of his cart. “Were you harassing our nice, non-spitting waitress again, T?”

The smoldering anger that sat in Theo’s chest flared at the thought of Hugh trying to save Jules from him. It stung sharply that Hugh thought Theo couldn’t be trusted even to grocery shop, for Christ’s sake, without going on a rampage. It wasn’t just Hugh, either. Everyone at the station, from his lieutenant to the rabbity guy in charge of parking control, treated Theo with the same caution they’d treat a bomb about to explode. Theo was sick of it. Before he could verbally rip Hugh apart, Jules spoke.

“He’s not harassing me.” Theo looked at her in surprise, his mouth snapping shut. “He’s just telling me things I need to know. About the grocery store. Since it’s new to me and all.”

Theo cleared his throat to disguise his snort. Jules really was a terrible liar. And she’d lied to protect him, even though he’d been interrogating her earlier.

After a startled pause, Hugh leaned forward, focused on Jules. “Really? Tell me. I’ve lived in Monroe my entire life, and I didn’t think there was anything to know about the grocery store. C’mon, share. I’m dying to know the Monroe Market secrets.”

Shifting uncomfortably, Jules sent Theo a frantic “help me!” glance, and Theo suddenly understood the lure of a damsel in distress—especially a hot damsel who’d just lied to protect him.

“Don’t you have shopping to do?” Theo asked, giving Hugh’s empty cart a pointed glare. “Unless you’re here just because you are stalking me.”

Hugh grinned at him. “You wish you had a stalker as fine as me.” He looked between Theo and Jules, his pointer finger following his gaze, back and forth like a metronome. “And don’t think I didn’t notice this sudden disturbing alliance between you two.”