what?” he asked.
“That like almost every other girl in school, I had a crush on the golden boy, Peyton Cooper.” She shook her head and buried her face in her hands before setting her gaze on his again. “I swore that after…” She shook her head again. “Forget it. I’m not the same girl I was then.”
Peyton reached his hand toward her face, afraid he might spook her into leaving. But she didn’t move, so he tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear.
“And I’m not the same guy.”
She wrapped her palm around his wrist, lowering his hand.
Dammit. He’d spooked her.
“I still don’t agree with your views on the lights parade. Or what you think of Meadow Valley’s time and investment in its festivals in general,” she said.
He nodded. “Agree to disagree, then,” he replied. “I can live with that.”
“And whatever either of us felt in high school, that was then. Promise me you won’t bring it up again.”
He’d thought they’d made some sort of a breakthrough, realizing that their attraction had a history. For both of them. But the finality in her tone said otherwise.
He nodded once more. She hadn’t left yet. So he waited. He’d liked her then, even more so now, and hoped that he hadn’t blown it completely.
She let go of his wrist and blew out a breath before extending her right hand.
“So let’s start fresh. Hi. I’m Deputy Daniela Garcia. It’s nice to meet you.”
Peyton smiled and shook her hand. “Mayor Peyton Cooper,” he said. “But you can call me Coop. When it’s just you and me.”
She bit her bottom lip, and good lord, it made him want to do the exact same thing.
“Do you anticipate it being just you and me often?” she asked.
He shrugged, though his heart was beating a mile a minute. “I think that depends on how compatible we are when it comes to greetings other than shaking hands.”
She swallowed. “Are you going to kiss me, Mr. Mayor?”
“If you’ll let me, Deputy,” he said.
And she did.
Her arms wrapped around his torso, and he dipped his head. In the space of a breath, her lips were on his, and his hands were in her delicious-scented hair, cradling her head in his palms, and it was everything that had been missing from his hollow life for the past year.
Her lips parted in a smile against his as he savored the taste of her on his tongue, the cherry-almond air that enveloped them.
“Just for the record,” he whispered, barely taking his lips off hers. “You said I was cute before I said you were beautiful.”
She laughed softly. “Less talking and more kissing, please.”
He rested his forehead against hers, unable to erase his own smile from his lips. “Call me Coop again,” he said softly.
He liked his nickname when she said it. It made him feel like part of the old him was still there. It made him feel like he wasn’t alone, simply trying to get through what was once his favorite time of the year.
“Coop,” she said, then kissed him again.
“Dani,” he answered back, their kisses moving from sweet and patient to somewhere more urgent and full of a shared need.
“Coop, I…”
He waited for what came next, for her to kiss him again and again. Hell, he could kiss this woman until the sun came up if she’d let him.
But she let go of him and took a step away, her lips swollen and cheeks flushed.
“I can’t,” she said, and then grabbed her jacket from the back of one of his chairs, threw it on, and bolted through the door.
He stood there stunned, not moving for several long seconds.
She’d called him cute.
She’d initiated, so he knew she wanted to kiss him when they started.
She’d called him Coop. Twice.
He grabbed his phone from his desk, readying himself to call her—then realized he didn’t have her number. She’d said she lived with Casey over the tavern. He could show up at her apartment like some stalker. And then what?
You’ve been out of the game too long, Coop. You have no idea how to do this.
So he collapsed into one of the guest chairs facing his desk, in a room framed with bright white lights, and scrubbed a hand over his jaw.
What had he done wrong?
He had absolutely no clue. All he knew was that he had kissed Deputy Daniela Garcia, and he really wanted to do it again.
Chapter Five
Dani slapped the crisp twenty-dollar bill into Deputy Crawford’s palm.
“So, are we completely done with coin