He leaned in closer. “Well, that’s obviously not true. Because I’ve spent nearly every moment I’ve known you alternating between wanting to lock you up and throwing away the key and slapping these handcuffs on you and showing you how fun they can be.”
Gina’s breath hitched in her throat and heat spread to her cheeks. Rick smiled. Damn him for knowing the kinky thoughts running through her head.
“Yeah,” he continued, “it’s weird. And confusing. And distracting. You have no idea. But that doesn’t mean I’m not going to keep doing my job.”
“I’ll grab the registration,” Nat murmured, looking back and forth between the two as they stared at each other. Gina had forgotten she was even there.
Nat ducked into the truck and returned, handing Rick a sheaf of papers. “Is it okay if I get the truck off the street now?”
He nodded at her but didn’t take his eyes of Gina. Gina kept on glaring. Nat took her cue and left them to it. Gina barely noticed when the truck moved.
“I still need your license,” he said.
Gina’s stomach dropped. Handing over that license was going to get her in a world of trouble. A fact Rick was probably not going to overlook considering the dick he was being over the truck.
He cocked an eyebrow, waiting. Shit.
She grabbed her phone from her pocket and opened the wallet-style case, extracting her license. She debated mentioning her previous tickets to him, but maybe she’d get lucky and there wouldn’t be any info on file about them. No point in tipping him off, if that was the case. Not that she was ever that lucky. She sighed and handed it to him, then turned her back, going to lean against the now-parked truck to await her fate. Maybe he’d be cool about it. Sure. And maybe I’ll win the lotto and buy myself a unicorn. The odds were about the same.
He went to his car to run her license while his partner talked to Nat. Gina knew the exact moment the info came up on Rick’s little computer. The look on his face was priceless. Comical even. She could see him trying to figure out what the hell to do. She guessed that was something. He didn’t rush right over and immediately impound the truck or suspend her license for not only having two prior strikes for phone violations on her record, but also for the parking violations she hadn’t paid for, either. She had no doubt he would for anyone else. So maybe knowing him was working in her favor. A little.
He climbed out of his car and came toward her. And she could see by the wary but determined look on his face that knowing him wasn’t going to help her in the slightest. Not a surprise. He was way too much of a Goody Two-shoes for him to let it go.
She sighed and straightened up. “You aren’t going to cuff me, are you?”
Rick frowned and hesitated. “No.”
Her eyes widened. Well, well. Look who could bend the rules when he wanted.
Nat rushed over to her. “What’s going on?”
“Pretty sure our truck is about to be impounded and I’m about to have my license suspended. Isn’t that right, Officer?” she said, laying on the sticky-sweet tone.
“You aren’t going to impound the truck, are you?” Nat asked. “That’s part of the bakery’s business.”
“But it’s in her name,” Rick said, nodding at Gina.
Nat ignored that. “And driving the truck is her job. Suspending her license means she can’t work. You can’t do that. I mean, you guys are friends, right? Surely you can…I don’t know…do something. Or at least not take away her livelihood. That seems overly harsh, even if you didn’t know her.”
Gina knew Nat would find something for her to do in the bakery if the truck got grounded, but she appreciated the tug on Rick’s nonexistent heartstrings.
Rick shook his head. “It’s not that easy. She’s already got two phone violations and a total of $500 in fines she hasn’t paid.”
Nat gasped. “Gina!”
Gina shrugged. “I’ve been busy.”
Rick shook his head. “This is her third offense. That’s a minimum $600 fine, on top of what she already owes, and since she never paid the other two, her license can be suspended. And probably should be.”
“And of course you’ll turn me in. Because heaven forbid you do the decent thing and look the other way for once.”
He frowned at her again. “That’s not your biggest problem. Your license is already suspended. Which means you shouldn’t have been driving at all.”
Gina sucked in a shocked breath. “It was not. I got those fines for the phone thing but…”
“But you never paid them—sixty days,” Rick said. “So you were placed on the suspended list.”