Chapter 4 Calvin
CALVIN
Grace captures the end of the straw in her slick pink lips. Strawberry milkshake hurtles up the straw, and she gives a satisfied moan as it hits her taste buds. I grip the handle of my coffee mug, black, no sugar, as a rush of heat inflames my body and makes my dick twitch.
Damn, it’s been a long time since I had a woman, and now watching one sucking on a straw has me thinking all sorts of inappropriate thoughts.
Get it together.
The straw pops out of her mouth, and her pink tongue flicks out to lick her lips.
“This is a good milkshake.”
My dick strains in my pants, and I shift uncomfortably in my seat.
We’re sitting outside a cafe in Hope, the tourist town on the other side of the mountain, because I had a call out here as soon as we left the bar.
Grace sits upright in her wedding dress, her bare feet tucked under the table, a spot of milkshake on her chin.
“You’ve got a bit…”
I gesture towards her chin and she extends her tongue, searching for the milkshake.
“No, other side.”
There’s an intense look of concentration on her face as her tongue swivels around.
“No, it’s...”
I lean forward and swipe my thumb over the spot of cream. Her skin is smooth and soft and my thumb lingers, not wanting to break the contact. Her wide eyes find mine, and this close I notice the flecks of light green, which is what makes them appear to be sparkling all the time.
I sit back abruptly, wiping the cream on my pants.
“I’m coming off shift soon. I need to take you back to your family.”
I need to get her out of my sight before I do something stupid like kiss her. But Grace looks away, taking the straw in her mouth and drinking.
“I’m not ready to go back,” she says quietly.
I haven’t pressed her about her circumstances, but a thought occurs to me.
“Are you in danger? Was someone forcing you to do something you didn’t want to do?”
It’s not unheard of for women to be forced into bad situations, and if that’s what’s going on here, I’ll hunt down who’s responsible and make them pay.
“Relax.” She smiles and shakes her head slightly. “It’s nothing dramatic like that.”
“Then what was it like? Because I’m failing to find a reason why I can’t drop you off with your family.”
She shrugs her shoulders. “Then don’t drop me off.”
My eyebrows pull together as I stare at her. There’s no way I’m leaving a woman alone with nowhere to go, and especially not this woman.
“I’m not leaving you alone with no plan, no money, and nowhere to go.”
She grins and takes another sip of milkshake. At the sight of her lips closing around the straw, I have to look away. The last thing she needs is a creepy sheriff fantasizing about where to put her lips, but goddamn. How did I ever survive as a teenage boy going to cafes?
“You’re a good man, sheriff, but I’m not your responsibility.”
My fingers drum on the table, and a vein in my neck jumps. She is my responsibility. Everyone on this mountain is and especially a woman on her own.
An image of a mangled car jumps into my head, and I close my eyes to block out the memory of a body bag in the morgue, photos of lacerations, and the coroner’s report showing too much alcohol in the bloodstream.
My chest tightens, and blood pounds in my ears.
A hand falls on my shoulder and I open my eyes to find Grace standing over me, her expression full of concern.
“Are you all right?”
I push back the memory and focus on her green eyes.
“I’m fine.”
She drops her hand and slides back to her side of the table.
“You’re on my mountain, you’re my responsibility.” I let a woman down once. I won’t do it again.
She stares at me for a long time, and I wonder what’s going through her head. How she sees the uptight sheriff who’s just trying to keep her safe.
“It was a small wedding, just family.” She talks quietly, and I lean in to hear her. “It’s not like there are loads of guests I’m letting down. I only met Tim three weeks ago.”
My eyebrows shoot up my forehead, and my mouth drops open.
“You’re marrying someone you only just met?”
She looks away. “I knew you wouldn’t understand.”
“Damn straight I don’t understand. How can you possibly know you want to spend the rest of your life with someone when you’ve only just met?”
Of all the ridiculous things Grace has said and done in the six hours I’ve known her, this is the most ridiculous. The woman has no grasp on how life is supposed to work. “You don’t make huge life decisions after knowing someone for three weeks.”
“Don’t you believe in love at first sight?” She regards me curiously as if I’m the crazy one.
“Absolutely not. I believe in lust at first sight.” My gaze darts to her full lips. “I believe that sometimes you meet someone, and their pheromones cause a chemical reaction with your pheromones, and…”
She takes a slow sip of milkshake, and my cock twitches and my heartbeat speeds up. “And that can feel like love, but it’s really evolution’s way of saying that this is a person you should…”
The straw pops out of her mouth, and it’s hard to think when all I want to do is jump over the table and kiss the milkshake off her lips, because she’s somehow managed to get it all over herself again.
“You should do what, sheriff?” Her eyes sparkle, and she’s laughing at me again.
“…you should procreate with,” I finish.
She tilts her head back and laughs, deep and throaty. “Procreate? Wow. Not the romantic huh?”
My dick’s hard as stone for this woman, and my chest heaves up and down. I wish I was romantic; I wish I could sweep her off her feet, whatever the hell that actually means.
I sit back in my chair and take a sip of cold coffee, trying to calm my body, which seems to be reacting to her pheromones like a teenage boy at summer camp.
“It was love at first sight with Tim?” I ask.
She screws up her face. “I thought it was. You read about it in books, instalove. They meet, and there’s an immediate attraction…”
She looks away. “I thought that’s what we had. I felt lightheaded around him, and my heart raced. But I realize now that was probably because we’d just jumped out of a plane together.”
It takes me a moment to catch up with what she’s saying. “You skydived?”
She waves her hand dismissively. “I’m a skydiving instructor.”
My mouth drops open. Grace is one surprise after another, but this one, this one takes the cake.
“You do that for a living? You jump out of perfectly good planes with a parachute strapped to your back?”
“Yeah.” She nods. “I told you I worked at the resort.”
I thought you were a fucking waitress, not a skydiving instructor.”
She snort laughs. “Why would I want to wait tables when I could jump out of planes? It’s much more fun.”
There is nothing fun about jumping out of a plane. “It’s dangerous. Anything could happen.”
Come on, sheriff. You can’t tell me you’ve never done anything adrenaline seeking before?”
I love riding my bike, but that’s not in the same class as this stupidity. “I sky dived when I was in the military.”
“You’re an ex-soldier?” Her eyes widen in surprise.
“Sky diving was part of the training. I wouldn’t do it now. I had to then, but I was young and stupid. Now, I wouldn’t throw myself out of a perfectly good plane.”
“Now that you’re old and boring?”
Her remark catches me off guard, and I bark out a laugh. I must seem old and boring compared to Grace.
Her mouth drops open. “Oh my god. Did you just laugh?”
Jesus, I must come across as a miserable bastard if she’s calling me out on laughing.
“Don’t tell anyone. I’ll lose my job.”
Her jaw drops further, and her eyes widen.
“Did you just make a joke?”
She clamps her hand over her mouth, and I laugh at her mock surprise. She makes me laugh, this eccentric woman in bare feet fleeing a wedding that should never have happened.
I like being with her. I like the banter, the way she playfully mocks me. Maybe I am too serious these days.
“I’m not ready to go back to my family.” Her expression changes, and she’s suddenly serious. “I’ve let my dad down, and I don’t want to face him yet. I’ve always found it’s better to sleep on things with my father.”
I know where she works, and I can guess that the wedding was at the resort. It would be easy to drive her over there. Deposit her with her family and let her face whoever she’s let down.
But there’s something in her pleading green eyes that makes me pause. Or maybe it’s the way my heart beats quicker when she smiles, the way her eyes dance with mirth, or all the times she’s made me laugh today even if I haven’t let her see it.
She’s not ready to go back, and I’m not ready to give her back yet.
“Okay,” I agree.
She claps her hands together and bounces up and down in her seat.
“Thank you! I’ll be the best house guest. I’ll make you dinner. I’ll…”
“Whoa. Hold up.” I hold up my hand as what she’s saying sinks in. “Who said anything about staying at my place?”
Her expression drops. “Oh, sorry. Of course you’ve got a wife…” Her gaze flicks to my empty ring finger, and I shake my head.
“Or a girlfriend?”
I shake my head again.
“A boyfriend?” she asks curiously.
“No. I’m single.”
There’s a flash of relief across her face. My heart leaps at the expression, then turns to disappointment when I realize she’s only relieved because it means there’s no reason for her not to stay.
“Are you always this presumptuous?”
She winces. “Sorry, but you know I have no money, and you’re the only person I know on the mountain, and you’re the guy who wants to keep everyone safe, so…”
She shrugs her shoulders, waiting for me to confirm.
“You can stay at my place.”
“Thank you!” She jumps up and runs around the table to give me a hug. I’m engulfed in a sea of sweet perfume and soft fabric.
As we walk to the car, Grace chattering away about what she’s going to make me for dinner and me unable to take my eyes away from the way the fabric hugs her backside, I wonder if I’ve just made a huge mistake.