Chapter One
Mac let the door to Katz slam shut behind him.
“We’re closed,” said the voice from somewhere deep inside the near darkened room. The place was empty. No stragglers or hangers-on. He’d waited outside until he saw the last of them leave.
“Not for me.”
Jackie’s head popped up from beneath a table in the far corner. Mac could only see the outline and the movement. “Most definitely for you.”
Mac laughed and flipped the lock on the door. “You shouldn’t leave the door unlocked after hours.”
“No kidding. Anyone could walk right on in as though they were welcome here.”
“When are you going to stop lying to both of us?”
“When are you going to stop thinking I’m lying?”
Her head disappeared again beneath a table. She was out of sight for only a moment, before she stood and the noise of the vacuum cleaner filled the air. Mac shook his head, though NAME didn’t see it.
He wove his way between the tables and chairs. His boots echoed across the parquet of the dance floor.
Silence filled the cavernous room once more as he pulled the cord from the outlet in the wall. Jackie sighed. “That’s not a safe thing to do, you know.”
“Neither is ignoring me.”
“Sheriff —”
“Don’t you dare finish that statement.”
“I was only going to say your name.”
“Off duty, I am not Sheriff. You know my name, Jackie. Say it.”
She huffed and waved him off. “This is pointless. I have work to do.”
“You always have work to do. Say. It.” Jackie shook her head this time and stepped toward the wall to plug the machine back in. Mac’s hand circled her wrist.
“That’s all? If I say your name, you’ll let go?”
Mac nodded. “Yep. That’s all.”
She lifted her eyes to meet his straight on. She was the only woman who could stand face to face with him, and the only one since the local election who still dared to do so. Of course, she had to have on heels to do it, but that was completely beside the point.
She sighed, put out and on the spot. She hated when he pushed. He loved that she hated it. He loved that he got under her skin the way she was under his.
“Mac.”
The end of his name trailed off her tongue with her gaze still glued to his. He saw the flash of heat that she banked immediately. He knew she hoped he hadn’t seen it, but one of these days she’d learn that he saw everything when it came to her.
She was both bold and shy, in your face and timid, especially when it came to him.
She was a flirt with every man who walked through the doors of her club, but she either picked a fight or ignored him. Mac had been good with that once upon a time. Not anymore.
He was done waiting for her to realize what was between them. He was done waiting for her to drop her guard.
He was going to drop it for her.
Mac eased his hold on her wrist, but didn’t move away from her.
“I have work to do.”
“So you said.”
“You can go.”
“I don’t think so, Jackie. Not this time.”
“Please?”
Mac chuckled low and the heat rose in her eyes again. He loved having an effect on her. Any effect at all. “Question or request?”
“Request.”
“No.”
“Why not? Why are you making this difficult?”
“It doesn’t have to be.”
“I don’t get involved with anyone.”
“I know. I want you to make an exception.”
“I can’t.”
“Can’t or won’t?” Not that it mattered to him. He’d never force himself on her. He knew she’d had it rough. That when she'd come to town, it was to start over. She was the sexiest woman this side of the Tennessee state line and sold the best damn food, too.
He also knew, by the way she looked at him, that if there was a man she wanted, it was him.
“Both.”
“All right. Then … How about one night?”
“I …”
Mac raised a brow. “Jackie?”
“One night?”
He wanted to grin, but didn’t. One night was all it would take. He wasn’t cocky so much as confident. He’d never had a complaint, in or out of bed. “One night.”
“That’s all?”
She nibbled on her lower lip the way she always did when she was either thinking or nervous about something. It was probably both in this case.
“That’s all,” he confirmed.
“And then we can end this little dance around each other? We can be friends or business owner and law enforcement or whatever?”
No way in hell. “Yep.”
“I see.”
She didn’t. Not yet, at least. But she would.
“Can I think about it?”
Mac wanted to say no because he didn't know what there was for her to think about. They both knew what the answer would be in the end. But he did know the decision had to be hers, on her terms.
At least that way, she couldn’t blame it on him when she had to admit to being in love with him.
“Take all the time you need.”
“Do you mean that?”
Mac slipped his hand in his back pockets and rocked back on his heels. “I do.”
“O-okay.”
“Okay.”
“Is that all?”
“Sure.”
“I’ll … I’ll call you?”
“I’ll be waiting.”
He gave her a lingering look, searching her gaze for a hint of what was going on inside her head, but in the dimness of the room, he couldn’t see clear enough. Her lower lip disappeared between her teeth. She didn’t know what she did to him when she showed that vulnerable side.
She was the strongest woman he’d ever known aside from his those in his family.
He’d grown up with strong woman. His mother had been a single mother, same for his grandmother. He had incredible respect for them and for Jackie knowing her background the way he did.
The women he’d known in his life depended on no one, especially a man. They took their pain and lack of trust in others and put it into themselves. If they didn’t know something or needed help, they learned it.
It was that tenacity, independence, and drive that attracted him to Jackie in the first place.
He gave her a slow nod and turned to leave, measuring his steps.
“It’ll never work, Mac,” she said when he was halfway to the door. He stopped, but didn’t look at her.
“Why not?”
“You’re a cop.”
He did look then. “So?”
“I’m … I’m me.”
“You are. That’s why I want you.”
“I have a record.”
“I’m aware of that. I arrested you once, remember?”
“That’s why it can’t work.”
Mac inched in her direction again. He didn’t want to spook her into retreating behind silence and negatives. He wanted her reasons. “I’m still not following. You having an arrest record doesn’t mean you can’t date a cop.”
“I was a prostitute.”
“Years ago. That’s not who you are now. There isn’t anything I don’t know about all that. You told me. Those arresting officers told me. You’re not going to scare me off.”
She studied him and he let her, keeping his facial expression neutral.
He wanted to kiss her. To press her back against the wall and kiss every doubt away that was turning her into knots. To take her face between his hands and hold her as tender as he knew how. He wanted to show her how special she was to him.
He didn’t give a rat’s ass that she once sold her body to stay alive. He was just happy she was alive. That she’d landed in his little town and never left.
Finally, she blinked and nodded. “I’ll call you,” she said.
Mac offered her small smile and nodded back.
She was scared and one of these days real soon, he was going to show her there was nothing at all to fear. Not as long as he was around.
The warm Southern spring air hit him as soon as he exited the building. Stars hovered above and the moon hung like a Christmas ornament against a backdrop of white, twinkling lights.
“What the hell is wrong with you,” Mac groused to himself. “When did you get so poetic?”
He shook his head. It was something she brought out in him. Only her.
He loved her.
He’d been in love with her since he arrested her and she backtalked when he told her to keep her mouth shut. He hadn’t wanted to hear why she’d been trying to get into the tattoo parlor at three in the morning. He hadn’t wanted to hear that she’d forgotten her key and couldn’t reach Jaz to get him to let her in.
He hadn’t wanted to hear shit from her lips. He’d only wanted to kiss her, to taste her, to take her home and not leave her bed for a week.
She hooked him right then and he never let go of the lure.
He’d been a cop for three years on their five man police force at the time. He was the sheriff now and he still wanted her. More than ever.