Hearing my name, I stopped on the sidewalk and spun around. Crazy John stormed toward me, shaking his head with a scowl on his face. I threw back my head and laughed deep.

“Sassy, your skirt’s too fuckin’ tight,” he muttered when he got to me. His disapproving gaze hit my bare legs before narrowing back at me. “We’ve had this conversation numerous times, yet here we are having it a-fucking-gain.”

I swear he still saw me as the sixteen-year-old girl who’d just bought her first bikini and decided she needed to wear it with a pair of butt-cheek-showing shorts into her family’s bar. Damn right, I did that. I liked to call that my rebellious period. Crazy John and Dad were not impressed. Dad displayed his disappointment by giving me the silent treatment, whereas Crazy John blew up. We had a major fight. I’d given him cheek and thrown teenage attitude at him. He got all of my frustration and hurt that day. It had been less than a year since my mother left. I picked fights for the sake of feeling something, anything. I was sick of feeling numb. That day, I attempted to storm off, but he grabbed my hand, pulled me in for a hug, and told me that I was going to cause him to go grey, but that I was still and would always be the prettiest thing he saw. That day he nicknamed me Sassy, because apparently I liked to spray my sass around. The nickname stuck, and from that day he’d only called me Sasha a handful of times.

“My skirt’s meant to be like this. How am I meant to strut through Monroe without wearing something tight and scandalous?” I teased, nudging him in the shoulder.

His eyes squinted. “It’s too fucking tight. Go and buy some pants and quit with the strutting. I don’t need to hear or see that shit. Anyway, you’ve got a man now. He does not want his woman struttin’ around town.”

I laughed and linked my arm with his. “I don’t have a man.”

“You deserve a man like that Detective. I’ve got a good feelin’ about him.”

“Well, we are just friends, so don’t go marrying me off just yet.”

He gave me a look that I chose to ignore as we crossed the street toward Sass. He was the one person—well, besides Missy—who didn’t take my crap.

“You deserve it, you know.”

“What?”

“To find a good man. Someone to keep you safe. Treat you like the princess you deserve to be treated like. And Sassy, a man doesn’t do the shit Ben has done for you if you don’t mean something to him. Keep that in mind.”

“I don’t—” I started, but was cut off.

“I know. You don’t do relationships, blah, blah, blah. But Sassy, I can tell this is different for you, even if you can’t see it.”

“I don’t want to think of anything like that. Can’t I just be friends with a man? Hang out?”

“Fuckin’ women these days,” he said as he waited for me to unlock the door of Sass. “Fuck me, that shit is strong,” he grumbled, following me into Sass as I switched on the lights. “I love you, Sassy, like I’d love my own, but those candles you got me for Christmas were the worst gift I’ve ever got.”

I laughed and shot him a glare. “They were my masculine range.”

“It was girly shit. I don’t do girly shit.” He leaned over and kissed my cheek, then headed to the door. “Think about what I said. You deserve the world, my girl, so when the world offers itself to you, don’t fuck it around.”

Relationship advice from Crazy John?

What planet had I woken up on?

After I watched him disappear into Missy’s from across the street, I noticed the plain white envelope on the ground just inside the door. I crouched down, balancing on my heels, and scooped up the A4 envelop. I tucked it under my arm. Today was admin day, so I’d look at it when I disappeared into my office.

It had been seven days since Ben texted me telling me he had to go to Salt Lake City to finalize a case he’d been working on. As soon as I heard he was heading to Salt Lake, I thought back to the woman who tried to claim him the first time I met him at Missy’s. I’d be lying if I said it hadn’t caused my jealously to spike. It was obvious that she was a little crazy when it came to Ben. But what woman wouldn’t be? He was exquisite. He was all man. He was Ben freaking Hunt. It was as simple as that. I hadn’t heard from him since. In reality, he had no reason to keep in contact, and I had no reason to expect it.

So, I didn’t.

But secretly, I checked my phone way too much.

After lunch, Anna came in for the afternoon rush, and I took that as my cue to disappear into the office to dive into my least favorite part of owning a business: admin. I grabbed my coffee from beside the register, tucked the mysterious envelop and other mail under my arm, and made my way to my office. Admin afternoon required a routine to get through the work, and my routine hadn’t changed since day one. I turned on my laptop, lit my favorite candle, put on music, and grabbed a chocolate bar from the stash. Then I was ready. For the next hour, I answered emails, updated the website, checked out social media, and left the mail for last. Like I always did. There just wasn’t anything fun about opening work-related mail. I sat back in my chair, propped my legs on the corner of the desk, and crossed my ankles. Bills, resumes, and supplier contracts greeted me. After putting them in order of importance, I turned the envelop over in my hand and didn’t find a return address. The envelope was blank. It wouldn't be the first time someone had popped their resume under the door, so I didn’t think anything of it. My finger slid under the seal and I pulled out the documents.

What I found was not what I expected.

What I found caused unease to take over my body.