Ben’s heavy boots clomped down the wooden stairs as he yawned his way to the kitchen the next morning. Thank God Belleville County had become a little more progressive regarding its Sheriff’s Department uniforms. Instead of the hot as shit polyester uniforms that Sheriff Lumberg had enforced on his people, Ben had managed to update his department toward cargo pants and breathable collared shirts in varying beiges, blacks, and hunter greens. These uniforms were more practical and a hell of a lot more comfortable.
The smell of freshly brewed coffee had an audible groan rising up his throat—
Olivia’s messy ponytail snapped around at his entrance.
Ah, Jesus.
She had the pad of her thumb in her mouth, clearly in the middle of licking something off it. He glanced down at the counter in front of her—cinnamon rolls. She was in the process of icing them. And she was licking fucking icing off her thumb.
He really should have risked the hepatitis and booked a room at Todd’s Fleabag Motel. Or The Sapphire, even though he didn’t need all those extra amenities. Because every day at the B&B was a new hell. Each day brought a new discovery about his long-time nemesis, something he’d never known about her personality or her life. And to his dismay, each and every piece of new information only improved his opinion of her. Not to mention, made her that much more attractive.
Dammit, he didn’t need to like her.
“Good morning.”
His voice was still groggy with sleep. Not surprising that six o’clock had come early, considering his mind had been consumed by a deluge of perplexing thoughts well into the early hours of the morning. All of them centered around one woman.
Three guesses who.
“Morning,” she murmured in a husky voice. “Breakfast is almost ready. Coffee?”
“Please.”
She inclined her head toward the next room. “Have a seat in the dining room. I’ll bring it out to you.”
He couldn’t move. Because right then, she rose onto her toes as she opened the cupboard where the coffee mugs were. The action drew his attention to her slim legs as they flexed, and of course, to that perfectly rounded ass. The woman wasn’t even aware of the seduction powers she possessed. Then again, she probably didn’t expect her messy morning hair, well-loved college T-shirt, and denim cut-offs would do it for him.
But they did.
In a big way.
Her petite frame and fresh face had always presented a temptation to him, despite how hard he’d brushed aside those feelings in high school. Denial was a powerful coping mechanism, indeed. But she had a lot more curves as an adult than she’d had as a teenager. If he thought he’d resented his attraction toward her back then, that didn’t come close to skimming the surface of it now.
He found himself frowning at her complexion. At this point in the summer, he would have expected her skin to have a darker golden hue and noticeable tan lines. Was she not getting outside enough? What did she even do in her downtime? She may have been at the Kickoff Carnival and The Clumsy Clam the other night, but she always seemed to be late to everything, arriving much later than her friends. Exactly how much of her life was the B&B sucking up?
She looked back over her shoulder, surprised to see him still standing there. “Did you need something else?”
He mentally wiped the drool off his chin. “Uh, just some orange juice if you’ve got it.”
She grinned. “I’ll bring that out, too.”
He hightailed it out of that room before he made an even bigger jackass of himself.
They were officially in peak summer season, but the B&B was only at about sixty percent capacity. He figured The Sapphire had eaten up a lot of their business, but Olivia and Rita still had a steady flow of guests. At one of a dozen round tables scattered around the dining room sat a young couple, who were talking in hushed tones and shooting each other knowing looks. Young love. Ben didn’t know if he wanted to be happy for the pair or pity them. An older couple, probably in their late fifties or early sixties, were seated at a table by the windows, pouring over a map and a few pamphlets. Ben sat at another table by the large windows that offered an unobstructed view of the ocean. No wonder Olivia had such a soft spot for the place, or why the Paradise Cove B&B had such glowing online reviews. The stretch of beach the building sat on was pristine, with rolling dunes dotted with seagrass and powdery sand decorated with scattered seashells.
A plate with a homemade cinnamon roll the size of a manhole cover was placed down in front of him, along with a steaming mug of coffee and a glass of orange juice. He didn’t even care for the juice—it had just been an excuse to cover up the fact that he’d been avidly staring at her—but he was going to damn well drink it.
“Thank you. God, I missed the South. Can’t find a better breakfast anywhere.”
He had to do a double take when she actually smiled—genuinely and non-sarcastically—at him. “Biscuits ‘n gravy tomorrow. You won’t wanna miss it.”
His eyebrow lifted. “Sausage in the gravy?”
“So much you’ll need to get your cholesterol checked afterwards.”
His exaggerated groan pulled an actual giggle from her and shit, he almost keeled over at the sound. He’d never made her make such a noise before, and he really fucking liked it. It blew his mind how she could go from oblivious temptress to unassuming girl-next-door in the blink of an eye.
While she attended to her other guests, he dug into the cinnamon roll that was so warm and fluffy and rich with flavor that he almost came in his pants. Gazing out at the white caps, he mentally went over everything that was waiting for him at the station. There was a lot of disorganization within the department he wanted to correct. Sheriff Lumberg had been a good officer, but he’d been serving Belleville County for over twenty years by the time he retired. Anyone would get a little lax in certain areas of the job after that long. On top of that, Ben was in the process of updating all of their computer systems so his deputies actually had resources from this century at their disposal. Christ, the department had switched from dial-up to Wi-Fi only six years ago.
“I noticed the back porch light is out,” he mentioned when Olivia came back to freshen up his coffee.
An annoyed line formed between her brows. “Yeah, I’ve been meaning to get to that. The bigger repairs around here have been taking up most of my time.” She sighed, long and deep. “Feels like it’s never-ending.”
He wiped his mouth with his napkin and spoke without thinking. “I can help. I mean, I won’t go near any electrical issues, but I can do some of the more minor things.”
He didn’t know which one of them was more shocked by his offer. “I can’t ask you to do that.”
“It’s no problem.”
“You’d actually have the time?”
Truthfully, his days were going to be pretty full for the next several weeks as he got settled into his new role. But for Olivia Knight, he was finding that he would carve out the time with a hammer and chisel, if necessary. And if it made her smile at him like she had earlier, any further loss of sleep would be completely worth it.
“I’ll try to fit in whatever I can when I’m not at the station. It’ll save you money in the end.”
With every doubtful frown she shot his way, he became more and more determined to see this through.
Conflict shimmered in her eyes. “I’d have to pay you something.”
I know exactly how you can pay me.
He needed to chill the fuck out and quit sounding like such a perverse asshole. He would never actually suggest she pay him for his troubles with sexual favors. He wasn’t a complete schmuck.
“Let’s wait until after you’ve inspected my work and then we’ll talk.”
She chewed on her lower lip for a while, but eventually conceded. “All right. I guess that’s fair.”
He couldn’t explain why her agreement felt like another victory. Another step toward a destination that currently had no name. His morning was certainly starting out better than last night had ended. Tormented by his own fantasies as he lay twisted up in freshly washed sheets that held no trace of her scent.
He pushed back his chair and rose to his feet. “I’ll start with the porch light tonight after I get off work.”
She looked like she didn’t know what to say except for, “Okay, thanks. Um, have a nice day?”
The fact that she phrased that as a question instead of a statement had his hands clenching at his sides. Granted, it was his own fault that cordiality between them was a foreign concept to her. Niceties weren’t common in tumultuous relationships like theirs. Insults, on the other hand…
“You too, Liv.”
When he brushed past her, he deliberately placed his hand on her elbow, like he was lightly nudging her out of the way. Even though there was plenty of space for him to walk without grazing their bodies.
He was just looking for any excuse to touch her.