| |
They say that there comes a time in every man’s life when something happens that will change their life forever. After fifty-two years, it finally had happened to me. I was in love. I was a goner the minute I saw her, even if she obviously wasn’t that impressed with me. Yet.
“Now get the hell out of my store!”
Evie’s face was red with anger, but she was still the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen. And I’d seen plenty of women in my life. She was about a head shorter than my six foot one, with a curvy body that I couldn’t wait to get my hands on.
Evie was dressed in tight black leggings that showed off her muscled legs and thick thighs. She wore a loose floral-patterned shirt that was left open, showing the tight pink tank top beneath. Full breasts strained the fabric, and I could see the indent of her trim waist. She wore at least a half a dozen bracelets on each wrist, a combination of beads and bangles.
But it was her face that convinced me that love at first sight really existed. Her face was heart-shaped, with a pointy little chin just below full red lips. Evie had defined cheek bones and large brown eyes, clear of make-up, with eyebrows that arched just enough to look like she was asking a question every time she looked at me. Her hair was a chestnut brown, almost black, cut in a blunt bob, with several bright pink streaks. She was quirky, breathtaking, and soon -—she would be mine. She just didn’t know it yet.
If there was one thing I’d learned during my twenty years in the military, it was the value of a strategic retreat. I headed towards the door, sliding a business card onto the counter near the cash register.
“Give me a call if anything else weird happens,” I repeated firmly.
“Yeah, right,” she mumbled.
I stopped by the door and turned to face her. “Call me.” I ordered in my best authoritative cop voice.
She rolled her eyes and waved her hand towards the door. “Goodbye now.”
I couldn’t help but smile as I walked down the street and headed back towards the police station that sat right at the edge of the main street downtown. It was a great little town, and I liked it a lot. It reminded me of the town where I’d grown up.
After doing my twenty in the military, part of that as military police, I’d retired and got a job in law enforcement in Atlanta. I stayed there for a few years until I had enough time under my belt to get the job I’d always dreamed of: small town police chief.
I’d moved here about a year ago to take the police chief role, but somehow I’d never seen Evie Fontenot before. I wasn’t much of a reader, to be honest, so I’d never had a reason to stop by her bookstore. That was going to change real quick. My Evie was quite the spitfire. I couldn’t wait to get to know her better.
I entered the station and smiled at Marci, our dispatcher.
“Did you check out the break-in at the bookstore, Chief?” she asked.
“Yeah. Looks like a prank or something.”
Marci frowned. “I hope so. Poor Evie has been through enough, she doesn’t need anyone messing with her livelihood.”
Recognizing an opportunity to get information about my future wife from the gossipy dispatcher, I leaned on the corner of her desk. “What do you mean?”
Marci gave me a considering look, no doubt wondering why I’d shut down all of her other attempts at gossip until today.
“She had a rough childhood, from what I hear. She moved here with her husband after they got married. He was one of those who insisted that his wife needed to stay home with their kid, then he cheated on her for years before he dumped her for some chippy half his age. Left her with nothing but their house. No income, no savings, nothing.”
“Wow.”
“She bounced around doing odd jobs for a while, then the Petersons announced they were retiring and moving to Florida. Evie used to work for them when she was a kid, and she spent a lot of time at that store over the years, so she asked them to sell it to her. Our Evie’s a smart one. When she couldn’t get a business loan, she did a big fundraising thing online, and got enough money to buy the store and do the remodeling to add the café on top. I think everyone in town contributed. She also set up an online store, and I hear the business makes much more profit than it did when the Petersons ran it.”
“How do you know that?”
“My nephew is her accountant.”
I shook my head, wondering at the gossip network in small towns.
“So, um, she’s single then?”
The gleam in Marci’s eyes told me that this question would be all over town in half an hour. Maybe less. She leaned forward.
“She’s done a lot of dating, but never anyone serious, not since her divorce.”
Before she could ask me any questions, I thanked her and pushed off her desk, heading towards my office to do some paperwork. It was shocking how much paperwork was involved in being chief. And if I periodically stopped to daydream about Evie, well, that was my secret.
I spent a restless night trying to figure out how to get close to Evie. I knew instinctively that she wouldn’t make it easy for me. But I’d seen her eyeing my biceps and staring at me when she thought I wasn’t looking, and that gave me hope.
The next morning, I couldn’t keep myself from stopping by the bookstore. I told myself that it was just to make sure she didn’t have any more trouble, but I was lying. The truth was, I was dying to see her. I hadn’t stopped thinking about her since I saw her the day before.
When I walked into the store, the first thing I saw was Evie’s heart-shaped ass sticking up in the air. My dick twitched as I saw her on hands and knees, scrubbing at the floor. I had a sudden flash of me taking Evie from behind and had to take a deep breath to calm down before I was rocking a hard-on.
I cleared my throat and she looked at me over her shoulder. Her face hardened as soon as she saw it was me. I glanced past her to see she was cleaning red paint off the floor.
“What happened?” I asked.
She pushed up to sit on her heels. Today she was wearing faded jeans with a dark red short-sleeved knit top. Bracelets jangled on both wrists.
“Someone broke in again and spraypainted ‘get out’ on my damn tile,” she snapped. “It’s a pain in the ass to clean off.”
“Why didn’t you call it in to the station?” I asked.
“Because you did nothing yesterday, so why would I waste my time?”
I strode over to get a closer look. I could still see the faint outline of the words ‘get out’ on the tile despite what looked like vigorous scrubbing.
“Tell me everything.”
She sighed and pushed to standing, lifting her chin to meet my eyes. We were only like a foot apart, and for a second, I completely forgot what we were talking about. Her eyes were fascinating, dark brown but they seemed to have gold flecks that I hadn’t noticed yesterday. My heart sped up.
“I tripled checked the locks before I left last night,” she told me, her voice dripping with annoyance. “Both doors were still locked when I came in today, but there was this little love note.”
She pointed to the paint on the ground.
“Anything else messed with?”
“No.”
I pulled out my little notebook and took notes. “What time did you leave last night.”
“Nine o’clock.”
I looked at my watch, noting that it was just before ten a.m.
“Who else has keys?”
“Just me.”
“Your staff?”
She shook her head. “I have a few part-timers, but I’m always here to open and close.”
“When do you take a day off?” I asked curiously. I hoped she wasn’t working too hard.
“Not your business, Chief.” She sneered the last word, like it was a curse.
“It’s Jake.”
“Huh?”
“My first name is Jake. I know you said you think you don’t have any enemies, but what about any ex-boyfriends?”
“Maybe I date women,” she sassed. “Did you think about that?”
Actually, I hadn’t. I assumed she was straight based on what Marci had told me yesterday.
“Do you have any ex-boyfriends or ex-girlfriends who might be angry with you?” I amended.
“Nope, I don’t date anyone long enough to get serious.”
I was dying to ask more about that but forced myself to focus on my job instead.
“I’m going to ask the night shift to drive by a few times tonight and check on things,” I told her.
“Yeah. Okay.” Her voice clearly indicated that she wasn’t impressed with my offer.
I closed the distance between us and placed my hand on her arm. My palm tingled from the contact. Evie’s eyes widened and she looked confused, letting me know that she felt this attraction simmering between us as much as I did.
“Call me if anything else happens,” I ordered.
“Why? So you can write about it in your little notebook again?”
My girl had a mouth on her and damned if I didn’t like it.
“I mean it.”
She stepped back, her expression rebellious and stubborn.
“I’ve got to finish cleaning this up and I haven’t even had any coffee yet. You can show yourself out.”
And with that, she flounced towards the back of the store, leaving me staring at her shapely ass.
The next morning, I showed up just before ten, carrying two coffees. Amy at the Daily Grind had kindly shared what Evie’s favorite coffee was, even though I knew it would be all over town that I asked. But then again, maybe a little matchmaking would help me get my girl. She clearly didn’t like me. I was determined to change that and wasn’t above buttering her up with coffee to make some headway.
I headed into the store and found Evie sweeping up glass near a display case.
“What happened now?”
She jumped, so intent on her task she hadn’t heard me come up behind her. Turning, she gave me that annoyed look that made my dick take notice.
“What are you doing here?”
“Just checking to see if there were any more problems. Patrol didn’t notice anything weird last night.”
She waved at the broken glass from the display case that held rare books. “Well, your patrol clearly did a great job since the bandit struck again.”
“Damn it.”
I put the coffees on a nearby table and examined the cabinet carefully. The glass was broken, and someone had left a piece of paper on the shelf with the same message as the other ones: ‘get out’.
“Still think this is still a prank?” she snapped.
“I guess not.” I sighed. I didn’t like crime happening in my town. “I’ll add this to the report.”
She just rolled her eyes at me. I straightened and handed her one of the cups.
“What’s this?” she asked suspiciously.
“Nonfat caramel macchiato. Amy said it was your favorite.”
She took the cup, sniffing it before taking a careful sip. Her eyes closed and a look of pleasure crossed her face as she tasted the coffee. I was mesmerized by that look. I decided right then and there to make it my mission in life to put that look on her face every day for the rest of my life.