Summer bit her bottom lip then said, “It was something my boyfriend wanted to try. I’d read a few erotic romances by that point and wanted to try it, too. We didn’t really know what we were doing, I guess. It…just wasn’t as fun as I thought it would be. Could we maybe talk about this when we’re totally alone?”
Ace grinned at her. “Of course, kitten. I’ll want all the details later.”
Oh hell. She shouldn’t have told him anything. Now she’d have to tell him the whole humiliating story.
Showing his intuitive side again, Ace said, “Don’t worry, kitten. I just want to make sure we don’t repeat the same mistakes. I’m going to work now. We’ll try to stay out of your way and work around you. And don’t forget to call the sheriff.”
Summer smiled, thinking this was going to be one interesting day, especially if Ace and Kemp were inside when there were customers filling the store.
With her body still tingling, she returned to her desk chair and picked up her phone. She entered the number, and a few seconds later the man himself answered.
* * * *
Kemp adjusted the wall bracket on the surveillance camera that he’d just installed in the large main room of the boutique. He was currently up a twelve-foot ladder near the vaulted ceiling. Ace was on the back porch replacing the old doorknob and installing a new deadbolt lock.
Hushed conversations were going on at the sales counter and near the jewelry counter as both Summer and Teresa helped customers. Twice, Summer had looked up and caught him as he watched her move around the shop. She’d smiled at him both times and had even blown a kiss to him. Knowing how those lips felt against his had him wishing for another chance to be alone with her.
Summer was just finishing with a customer at the register when a man wearing a county law enforcement uniform walked in. Kemp watched the tall, rather young-looking man as he slipped his sunglasses off and removed his cowboy hat. He nodded and smiled to Summer and the other ladies. The man noticed the ladder and looked upward until he made eye contact with Kemp. Noting the surveillance camera in his hand, the uniformed officer nodded in apparent satisfaction.
The young man’s face looked vaguely familiar. Northup. His name was Northup, and he’d been a Tarkett County Sheriff’s deputy when Kemp had worked his end of the Reese McCoy case for Eli Wolf. Nice enough guy. Polite and efficient when he’d spoken with him.
Summer held out her hand to shake his. “Sheriff Northup. Thank you for coming by in person. You could’ve sent a deputy to take my report. I didn’t mean to make you come down here yourself.”
Kemp listened to the conversation with idle curiosity as he worked. Or perhaps not so idle, as he noticed the way Northup eyed Summer. Summer’s cheeks were rosier than usual as she said, “Why don’t you come with me to the office and I can give you my statement there?”
Kemp thought he saw more than just detached interest on the sheriff’s face. The look in his eyes as he glanced up at Kemp verified it. Northup was there because he wanted to be there.
Kemp installed the camera, consulted his checklist, and moved to the installation of the camera over the staircase landing pointing toward the back door. Installing that one put Kemp in closer proximity to the office door so he could hear some of what was being said. He just wanted to watch over Summer. He wasn’t in the hallway because he was jealous.
Summer gave Northup a basic rundown of what had happened, sharing the same set of facts with him that she had with them earlier. She laughed at something he said when she was finished, and then Kemp had to strain to hear the Sheriff’s softly spoken words. Summer’s reply was equally hard to hear, and Kemp wanted to growl in frustration. Ace had already moved on from replacing the locks on the back door, so he was not there to hear what was being said to Summer, either.
Northup’s words were indistinguishable, but his tone of voice was easy enough to discern. Kemp checked his watch and climbed down from the ladder after making sure the camera was installed securely and racked his brain as he strode the few steps to her office doorway and knocked on the jamb.
Think, think!
“Darlin’, I need to make a run to the hardware store. I’m going to get lunch for us as well. Would you like me to pick something up for you, too?”
She glanced at the clock, which read ten thirty, and said, “No, but thank you, Kemp. I brought my lunch with me this morning.” It was a little early for lunch but the best excuse he’d been able to come up with.
“Okay. I’ll be back in a few minutes. You sure you don’t want anything?” He leaned forward and kissed the corner of her mouth. Summer’s eyebrows drew together in the briefest of frowns as Northup’s gaze turned to him, and Kemp had a momentary sense of impending doom.