I had taken a step inside, hoping that he would follow, but he didn’t cross the threshold. All I got was a kiss. He left me with a kiss? That man wanted me, I could tell. Hell, I’d seen it, several times.

God, I was so fucked up, this was my fault. I’d been giving him mixed signals. Somehow I needed to show this man that I wanted more, well I wanted sex. I didn’t want a relationship, did I? Men were asses. They cheated, lied, and left you when you needed them the most. Fuck. Now, even I was confused. I needed help, serious help. Grabbing my phone I sent Stella a text.

Me: I need help.

Stella: Are we talking bail you out of jail help or bring a shovel and hide a body kind of help?

Me: Love you.

Stella: Ditto. Now, whatcha need?

Me: I want to have sex with Kayson.

Stella: Fuck yeah. But why are you telling me and not him?

Me: I need to go shopping for sexy stuff.

Stella: Then go.

I stared at the blank oval space where I could type a response. How did I ask for moral support? I didn’t want to go to the mall alone. Should I just admit I was afraid?

Stella: Fuck. Sorry, A. I’m off on Wednesday. Let me text and see who else is off, and we can all head out together. Maybe have some drinks to celebrate you getting some.

Me: Not getting any, yet. Just thinking about it.

Stella: Admitting it is half the battle.

Me: Bite me.

Stella: Pick you up around lunch on Wednesday. Ciao.

* * *

Stella was on my left, her fingers woven between mine. On my right, Piper was scanning the area as we walked, it was her day off, but she was a deputy to the bone.

“What color do you think Kayson would like best?” Stella asked, diligently trying to take my mind off the fact that we were in the same parking lot of my attack.

“You know, just the thought of helping you buy sexy lingerie to have sex with Kayson kind of weirds me out.” Piper shot me a tight smile. “If I get the motors position, he will be my boss.”

“What do you mean ‘if’? You’re going to get it,” I assured her.

“Even if Ariel has to use sexual favors to secure your promotion.” Stella bumped her shoulder against mine and smiled playfully.

“By the way, I never said that the lingerie was for Kayson.”

“You have met Stella, right?” Piper gave me this dumbfounded look as she asked the question. “You put it in a text. It became part of a group message to see who was available today.”

Stella let out a snort. “You said you wanted to jump his bones, ride his heat seeking love missile . . .” I punched her in the arm.

“That’s not what I said either.”

“Well, not verbatim. But you did text that you wanted to have sex with him.”

I needed to keep reminding myself that when Stella was around, this wasn’t fight club, there were no secrets, and everything was discussed and shared.

“Just a few more steps,” I whispered, looking up at the giant glass doors.

“We’ve got you,” Stella whispered back.

I was at the mall, I wasn’t alone, it was daylight, and Piper was a cop for fuck’s sake. But still I was doing it. My hands shook and a cold sweat broke out over my skin. Memories flashed across my mind of two masked men when the sound of flip-flops flopping behind me echoed like thundering hooves. I ripped my hands out of Stella’s and Piper’s, I needed to move, not be restrained. I suddenly felt caged. A doorman opened the large glass doors, and I rushed past him and slowed after I was sure I was safely inside.

“Let’s eat first,” Piper said, linking her elbow loosely with mine and steering me toward the Cheesecake Factory. “It will give us a chance to plot our strategy for shopping.”

We were quickly seated and ordered appetizers and dessert, they were the best things on the menu anyway.

I lost my appetite the second Brandon was seated at the table next to us. I had no clue what the fuck was up with him lately, but he was showing up everywhere. And let’s be honest, Cheesecake Factory didn’t exactly sound like his kind of restaurant.

I slid down in my seat, trying to crawl under the table before he noticed me. But as my luck would have it, I wasn’t fast enough.

“Ariel Beaumont, you look lovely. I’m a lucky man to get to see you again so soon.”

Brandon’s smooth words grated on my nerves. Why had I never noticed how smarmy he always sounded? When we first met, I found him eloquent, which clearly wasn’t the case anymore. Piper cleared her throat and shifted. Obviously, I wasn’t the only one picking up on his bullshit vibe.

“Hi, Brandon. It’s definitely a surprise.” See? I could have manners. “This is Stella and Piper,” I said, gesturing to each in turn.

“We’ve met,” Piper said as she extended a hand, and Brandon ignored it.

“Oh yes. Deputy DuPont. Ariel, it seems as if you’ve been busy making new friends. How did all of you meet?”

“How do you and Ariel know each other?” Piper asked, avoiding his question.

“Who are you?” Stella’s eyes were narrowed as she skipped over all the bullshit.

“Brandon used to be a friend. We went out a few times.”

“Oh, I would say we were more than friends.” He turned to Stella. “Ariel and I dated for a few months. We were very happy.”

Fuck. Shit. Fuck.

“If you were happy, why does Ariel look as if she’d rather chew on poison ivy than talk to you?” God, I loved Stella. Too bad Brandon didn’t take the very obvious hint that he wasn’t wanted there and slid into the seat next to me.

“We’re having a girl’s day out.” I glared at his glass, which he had set next to mine, and then back at his abandoned table. He didn’t get the hint. I always set my expectations way too high.

“Then let me pay for your lunch,” he offered.

“Let me order a bottle of their best wine,” Stella replied as the server delivered our appetizers of Thai wraps, buffalo blasts, and pot stickers. “Since you’re such a good friend of Ariel’s and all.”

I kicked her under the table because, although she was being a smart-ass, he would do it as a way to flaunt his money, and a bottle of wine would force us to sit there with him longer.

“Where are you headed after this?” Brandon asked as he slipped an arm around me.

I did that wave-sorta-thing with my shoulders to get his arm off.

“Shopping,” I said at the same time Stella said, “Sex toys.”

Brandon raised one eyebrow and gave me a disapproving look.

“I think you would need to go closer to where you work for those,” Brandon retorted, giving Stella an icy glare.

“Excuse me?” I narrowed my eyes at Brandon. “That was rude.”

“Stella. She’s a nurse at ORMC, correct?” All the faked innocence in his voice made me want to punch him.

“Yes,” I said, drawing out the word, finding a little discomfort at how he knew where Stella worked.

“ORMC is a great hospital, but let’s be honest, it isn’t in the most respectable of areas. You can buy just about anything or anyone around there,” Brandon explained. “That was all I meant. Isn’t that the area you grew up in, Piper?”

“No, I grew up in Tangelo Park.”

“Brandon what’s your problem? What are you doing here?”

“No problem, Deputy DuPont and I graduated together, just mistaken on where she grew up. I came to get my watch repaired.”

I would buy that excuse if I hadn’t already known that he only wore Patek Phillippe watches, and the authorized service store was on Park Avenue on the other side of town. A tiny knot of unease settled into my stomach at his lie and comments to my friends. His frequent appearances in my life were getting a little too . . . well . . . frequent. I’d gone months and hadn’t run into him once.

“Well, if you don’t mind, we’re going to eat and enjoy our girls’ day,” I told him.

“No worries. It was lovely seeing you again, Ariel. We need to catch up.” Brandon kissed my cheek, stood, and left without saying goodbye to Piper or Stella or ordering a single thing to eat.

“He fucking weirds me out,” Stella said. “I can’t believe you ever dated that douche. Who is he?”

“District Attorney Brandon Fagan,” Piper said without lifting her head from whatever she was typing on her phone.

“Don’t judge. I had just moved here, and I had been lonely. I forgot that men were asses. Brief lapse in memory.”

Stella picked up her fork. “Politician. Makes so much sense now.” She started eating, and that was the last any of us said about Brandon.

She was right, Brandon was a politician through and through. After lunch, we officially launched Operation Seduce Kayson. The name was Stella’s idea. After I told her about my mixed signals, she advised that I make the first move and jump his bones so we headed to Victoria’s Secret.

“This one,” Stella said to the first woman in a black jacket she found, “has caught a fucking hot man and needs some lingerie.”

The clerk accepted Stella’s brash behavior as if it were nothing at all and turned to me.

“I’d be happy to help. Do you know your sizes?”

I rambled them off as Stella and Piper decided that if a piece looked the least bit sexy, then I had to try it on. If it shouted it that was guaranteed to get me laid, then I needed it in two colors. This, of course, included garters, thigh highs, and corsets, none of which I’d ever worn before.

Our day went from comic relief to comic ruination when Piper mentioned the spa and waxing. I was more awed by the fact that the store employees permitted us to stay.

“If I had a hot number wanting in my panties, then I’d be at the spa getting all that down there,” Piper said as she moved her hands over her privates, “buffed and waxed.”

“Spa. We need to get you waxed,” Stella agreed.

“Excuse me? Do I look like I signed up to be on your reality show? This is not Ariel’s Bush Makeover.”

“You have a bush?” The completely appalled look on Stella face was hilarious.

“Shut up.”

“You said bush. Is it landing strip or jungle love?”

Piper hugged her middle while busting a gut laughing, and I tried to be the adult there, but it wasn’t working.

“Just so you know, I am well groomed, thank you very much. We can skip the spa.”

“Really? So, Brazilian not the jungles of Brazil?”

“Ignore her,” I said to the clerk as I followed the sales lady to the back of the store.

“You go into the dressing room, and we will bring you stuff,” Piper offered.

“Why don’t I just try on what I have here?” As it was, we would be there for at least an hour before I got through all the items.

“Come on, Ariel. We want to see you and Kayson make cute Kay-Riel babies.”

“No, just no. There are so many things wrong with that, not to mention, no one combines names anymore. How old are you?” Stella shrugged as I shut the door behind me.

I tried on bra after bra, nightgowns that the sales clerk called negligees. I couldn’t reconcile paying three hundred dollars for something that I would wear for ten minutes or a hundred dollars for thigh-highs when I didn’t even wear skirts or dresses.

Finally, I settled on five gorgeous matching bra and panty sets, two sexy nightgowns, one corset with garters, and several pairs of thigh-high stockings.

“Exactly what is Victoria’s secret? Has anyone figured it out?” I asked.

“No clue. But whatever it is, it must be top secret. That bitch has it locked up tighter than Piper’s legs,” Stella added.

Piper punched Stella in the arm.

“Do y’all ever ponder stupid shit like that?” I asked. “I’ll never understand why random thoughts like, what is Victoria’s secret, will enter my head just as I try to fall asleep. Then, BAM. I can’t fall asleep until I finally get up and google it.”

“Can’t say that has ever happened to me. Usually after working a twelve-hour shift, I’m either too hyped up on adrenaline to sleep or so exhausted that I fall asleep half dressed. There’s no in-between at my house.”

“You know, come to think of it, I’d like to know who let the dogs out?” Stella scratched behind her ear like she had a flea. “Or why in the fuck they let those dogs out in the first place.”

“Let’s go to happy hour. I know the perfect spot, not a lot of cops go there but a lot of local hot guys hang out there.” I had to give her credit she was working hard at ignoring the two of us and our bizarre thread of conversation. “I need a drink after dealing with the two of you.” Her smile gave it away that she wasn’t really mad.

“It’s Wednesday, there is no happy hour.” At least I had never heard of happy hour on any day other than Friday.

“First, any hour that we are drinking is happy hour, and second, this is Florida.” Stella thought that explained everything, so I looked to Piper for clarity.

“It’s always happy hour here. Tourists like to party.”

I looked at my phone to check the time and as much as I hated to admit it, I wanted to see if I had any missed texts. “Where we going?” I wasn’t familiar with the area.

“Rocco’s Tacos.” The name was echoed in unison.

When we walked in, it was instant love. I’d never been impressed by a wine room but an alcohol room, there was definite value. Rocco’s Tacos had three bars—one in the front room, one in the main room, and one in back with seating that overlooked a lake. Each one of them was stocked with top-shelf liquor.

Stella waved at a few people.

“Who’s that?” I asked.

“My old neighbor. She was awesome, but the bitch went and got engaged and moved in with her fiancé.”

“The place next to you is available?”

“Yep. She has it priced right. She’ll sell it quickly.”

“I want to see it. I hate living in an apartment.”

“Why? You’ll move in with Kayson and make little Kay—”

I threw my hand over her mouth to shut her up.

“Shut up, shut up, shut up.”

Okay, that sounded more like a temper tantrum, but seriously, enough already.

We grabbed seats. “You ought to invite Kayson. Maybe you can begin operation Kinky Kayson tonight.” Stella had a one-track mind.

I pulled out my phone and sent him a text.

Me: Stella, Piper and I are at Rocco’s Tacos. You’re welcome to come.

No bubbles telling me that he was texting back immediately appeared so I scrolled up to our previous messages. We hadn’t seen each other since the night at his parents’ house, but every morning and night he’d sent me a message. I cracked a smile as I scrolled through all the random photos he’d sent me.

“What are those?” Stella, who had been peeking at my screen, pressed the phone down on the table so Piper could see as well. “Apples at the grocery store, cherries, red Jeep, an FSU shirt. Don’t get it? Okay, maybe I can understand the cherry, wait? You aren’t . . .”

“No. Nothing like that.” I laughed. “He has this game where he sends me different pictures every day of red things until he can find the exact shade of the color of my hair. He said it was impossible because I’m one of a kind. I reminded him that most people were grateful that there weren’t more than one of me around.”

“Ahhh.” Piper and Stella put their heads together in mock cuteness.

When the waiter came around, Stella and I ordered a round of margaritas. Piper, who had to work later, opted for a coffee. No matter how many times I got on Stella about her ribbing me about Kayson, I still grabbed my phone almost as soon as the text beeped.

Kayson: I love that place. Sorry, sweet, I’m working late, or I’d come crash girls’ day.

When I looked back up, the disappointment must have been painted across my face.

“Kayson?” Piper asked.

“Yep. He’s working late, again. Do you always work past your twelve-hour shift or get called in all of the time?”

“You have no idea. Don’t be so hard on him. He likes you. But things are hard right now, he’s the interim sergeant, and it isn’t even like he was taught the ropes. He’s trying to figure it all out and discover where the previous motors sergeant kept everything.”

“There wasn’t a passing of the torch, so to speak?” I always thought that was how things were done, at least on television they were, whoever got promoted taught the person who took their place.

“But it’s different, the sergeant was Haines, one of the deputies killed earlier this year. There’s an entire pomp and circumstance of protocol. Haines’ motorcycle is on display for one year, for that year, his position is left open, but someone still has to do the work. There isn’t the budget for another deputy but that leaves us a deputy short as well. So, technically Kayson is doing his old job and the new one. I know the other guys on the squad, Carter, Aiden, and Max, are trying to pick up some of his workload, but there is only so much that they can do. When the year is up, they will fill Kayson’s old position, which is what I want to interview for, and Kayson will be the official sergeant.”

Well, damn. I felt like a total jerk for being annoyed that he seemed to work all the time. The guy was putting in the hours of two men.

After our round of drinks, we headed home, and I had a plan formed in my head. I was going to take Kayson out on a date.

Stella dropped me off, and as I walked to the main door, my mind was so consumed with ideas for my date that I didn’t see Brandon until I was almost right next to him.

“I want to talk with you,” Brandon said from his spot in the shadows.

I narrowed my eyes and clutched my keys tighter. “What are you doing here? Talk about what?”

“Ariel, I’m concerned.”

“It isn’t your place to be concerned about anything that deals with me. Or have you forgotten that we broke up.”

He reached for me, and I wasn’t fast enough to dodge his hands before they landed on my shoulders.

“Ariel, I care about you. I want us. I’m willing to prove that to you.”

“There’s no point. I gave you a chance. You blew it, Brandon.”

“But you jumped to conclusions,” he said.

“One time okay, but a second time? The third time? I doubt it.”

“You need me. I can take care of you. I have money. We make a great team. I adore you. My friends adore you.”

He rummaged in his suit jacket pocket.

“I’ve been carrying this around with me since before we broke up.”

He pulled out a red velvet box. A small square box. It was Cartier. Brandon didn’t do Robin’s egg blue. No, you’d never see him holding that famous shade that could only mean one thing: Tiffany’s. It was too common. Everyone else did Tiffany’s. Brandon had to be different, stand out.

My mind tried to process what I saw, and one word rang out over and over—no, no, no. NO. There was no fucking way. Brandon and I only dated a couple of months, and he couldn’t even be faithful in that short period of time.

“Brandon, don’t.”

“Give me one good reason why not?”

The anger leaked out in my words as I spoke to him. Lately, Brandon had a creep factor, but he’d never hurt me. He was just spoiled and wanted what he couldn’t have. I was probably the first girl that didn’t fall at his feet, so I became his biggest challenge. I knew that was all I was. Men always had an ulterior motive, Brandon just tried to hide his a little better.

“Besides the fact that we come from different worlds? How about the fact that we don’t love each other.”

“It doesn’t matter that you come from hillbilly Alabama or that you’re poor. In fact, the public loves a good rags-to-riches story. As for love? It grows. You can learn to love me,” he said this as though he thought I wouldn’t take offense.

What. The. Hell.

Hillbilly?

Okay, Red Bay, Alabama was tiny, but that didn’t make us hillbillies. And, I wasn’t poor. I wasn’t rich, but I had enough money to take care of myself and buy what I needed.

“Contrary to what you just implied, my mama was not my cousin. I think it’s best for you to leave. Like, now,” I said as I pointed toward his car.

“Okay. I’m sorry. What I said was out of line. I’m sorry.” He had the balls to hold the red box a little higher. “I’m in love with you. You challenge me. You intrigue me.”

“What you mean is that you want me because you can’t have me. It’s the chase you want, Brandon, not me.”

“That isn’t it. You know how we were together. People used to comment on how great we looked together. I saw the way men looked at you, but you were mine. I’m sorry, I didn’t handle you right.”

“Handle? I’m not a dog!” I squared my shoulders. “I’m not taking the ring.” The idiot tried to hand it to me.

“Think about it. Really think about this. What do you know about that sheriff you’ve been hanging around with? Nothing. You are better than that. You deserve better than that. How much do cops make? Not nearly as much as I do. I’ll be able to give you more. You can’t trust him.”

My laugh was cold and incredulous. “Is that what this is really about? Someone else is playing with a toy you threw away? Get over yourself, Brandon. I’m not marrying you—not now, not ever. Now, leave before I call the cops.”

Yanking open the outer door to my complex, I left him standing outside holding his God damned ring.