“We’re not talking about this,” she said, low and quiet. “You’re under a lot of pressure at the moment. We all are. So I’m going to give you a pass today and forget you brought this up.”
“I should’ve asked you out before now. Is that what you’re saying? I tried to do the right thing by giving you some space, but I gave you too much space.”
She sighed. “Who knows? Maybe if you’d asked me out when I first got back, I might have said yes. Maybe I wouldn’t have. We’ll never know. It’s a moot point right now. I’m working. So are you. And I’m presently involved with someone.”
“Involved?” he snorted. “He’s passing through, Darcy. Don’t forget that.”
“I haven’t, but you seem to have or your boxers wouldn’t be in a twist and we wouldn’t be having this conversation. We’re going to collar our torch, Chris, and everything is going to go back to the way it was, then you’ll be embarrassed over this conversation. Let’s put it behind us.”
Jared walked out of the building. “Everything all right?”
“Everything’s fine,” Darcy said. “Sheriff Miller just wanted to offer his assistance.”
“You get Deputy Morales the list of part-time residents, Sheriff?”
Chris straightened and shoved his hat back on his head. “Your partner’s got everything she asked for.”
“Good.” Jared bared his teeth in a semblance of a smile. “Morales will let you know if we need anything further.”
She waited until Chris had driven away to say, “See? You underestimated yourself. You worked with him just fine…without your fists.”
“He managed not to talk too much.” He looked at her. “But he was laying it on thick for you. You handled that well.”
Shrugging, she moved to the truck. “That wasn’t his style. This case is really getting to him, I guess.”
“Or the thought of you with another man is.” He opened the passenger door and paused, looking at her. With one arm draped on the roof of the cab and the other resting on the window frame, he looked casual, relaxed, and extremely delicious. “You know, being so easygoing with your brush-offs make them harder to accept.”
“Why?”
“Because women are supposed to be emotional. Pissed off, vengeful, sad…whatever. Something. Brushing a man off like a gnat makes us realize we never got to you at all. Or that we were much too easy to get over.”
“That’s sexist.”
“Maybe. No one’s ever accused me of being PC.” He pushed his sunglasses up, revealing cool blue eyes that scorched her. “I want to go to Seattle, take a look around the area where the tipster placed his phone call. And I want to take you to lunch. Since it’s your day off, it’s not a problem for you to get away, is it?”
“No.” And she wouldn’t have to wear her uniform. She was looking forward to hitting him with something flirty. “I just need to change my clothes and my ride.”
His slow, sexy smile did a number on her. She stood there a moment, absorbing the sensation of being so highly attracted to a man. Not just physically, but in every way. He’d called her easygoing and she thought that was true. She’d long avoided drama with men and anyone who was high maintenance. But her irritable lover wasn’t scaring her away. She wanted more of him, the good and the bad, the rough and the smooth.
“Ready?” he asked.
“No,” she said honestly, “but that’s not stopping me.”
Chapter eight
Jared wondered what the hell he’d gotten himself into when Darcy came out of the house. She’d changed into a strappy, fitted red dress that bared toned arms and lithe legs that ended in heeled sandals. Her dark hair drifted around her shoulders, and she’d touched up her eyes and lips with a light application of cosmetics.
His breath caught. More than her physical attractiveness, it was her sultry confidence that riveted him, the indefinable essence of her that so perfectly aligned with something deep inside him.
“Are you still there, Cameron?” Supervisory Deputy Holt asked through his cell phone’s speaker.
“Yes, ma’am. Sorry.”
“We’ve pulled the photos and video from the surveillance cameras around the payphone. They’re not very helpful. The subject wore a hooded sweatshirt and kept his head down, but they’re being e-mailed to you. Maybe one of the locals will see something familiar in the body language.”
“We’ll run it through. Thanks.” He straightened as Darcy reached him. “I’m going to visit the location myself. I want to time the trip and see if something in the vicinity jumps out at me. It’s possible he picked the payphone at random, but just in case, I’ll check it out.”
“Send me an updated report by morning.”