“Can’t I go anywhere without running into you? Are you following me? There are laws against that, you know.”

My head jerks back the minute I hear his voice. I close my eyes, cursing my own bad luck. Then I curse him, because really… How full of himself can he be?

“What are you screaming about now?”

“You’re following me!” he yells.

I briefly wonder how much time I’d get for hitting him over the top of the head with something heavy—maybe a baseball bat. I figure whatever time I get it would be worth it.

Too bad I don’t have a bat.

“Will you stop being absurd. I’m in a public park and can I just point out that I was here first. So technically, you are probably the one following me.”

“You’d like that wouldn’t you?” he asks and I look up at the sky—maybe the man upstairs could grant me some patience.

“Only if I can duct tape your mouth shut.”

“I—”

“Save it, Black. I’ll tell you what I’m going to do, just so this is easier for both of us…”

“What?”

“I’m going to leave you alone with your pissy attitude for company and move over to the other side of the park. Will that be far enough away for you?”

He looks me over for a couple of minutes and then he surprises me.

“I guess I am being a jerk,” he admits. I almost can’t believe my own ears. In my experiences guys never admit to that kind of thing, and I sure didn’t expect Black Lucas to.

“A big one,” I agree, not completely willing to let it go.

“Listen, I’ve been going through some crap and I took it out on you, and I probably shouldn’t have.”

“Probably?”

“I’m trying to apologize here.”

“You’re doing a bad job of it,” I grumble. I really liked Black and he’s been an ass. I don’t want to admit it, but it hurt.

“Do you always have to bust a man’s balls if he’s trying to be nice to you?”

“Were you trying?” I ask him, and now I find myself trying to hide my smile.

“I was,” he says. “Although right now I can’t for the life of me figure out why.”

For some reason that makes me laugh. I don’t even try to hold it back and when I look back up at Black’s face, he’s smiling and I like that even more.

“You want to sit down?” I ask him, sliding down the bench to make room.

“That depends. Are you going to keep raking me over the coals?”

“That depends,” I respond, mocking him. “Are you going to keep being a bastard?”

“Probably,” he says with a sigh, but he sits down. “Where’s your dog?”

“I left him at the groomers. I’m just waiting around here until it’s time to pick him up.”

“The groomers? The damn thing doesn’t even have any hair,” Black complains.

“You know, for a man who used to own this dog, you’re being kind of an ass. Even hairless dogs get shampooed and a conditioner applied to keep their skin from getting too dry.”

“They do?” he asks, sounding like he doesn’t quite believe me.

“They do. Didn’t you ever do that for him? He seemed well cared for…”

“He’s not really my dog,” Black says and I frown.

“Kong? But you… your mom…”

“He’s not Kong either,” he responds, and he seems agitated. He rubs the back of his neck and dodges my gaze. Then eventually he looks up and he looks almost… miserable. “Listen before I moved back to Mason, I lived in Dallas. I was a detective there.”

“And you didn’t like living in Dallas?”

“I loved it. I loved being a detective,” he says and I frown. I can sense there’s a lot to the story, but for some reason he’s having trouble telling me.

“Then why move back to Mason?”

“There was a woman,” he says and I frown. I get this weird feeling in the pit of my stomach. I don’t know why. I mean, we’ve shared a kiss… but, it’s not like we were dating heavily and even if we were, there were bound to be women in his life before I met him. It’s weird and stupid, but just hearing Black talk about another woman bothers me.

“I see…” I say like a dummy, because clearly I don’t.

“She was insane, and I don’t just mean that as in it was a bad break-up—which it totally was. I mean this woman would probably boil my rabbits.”

“You have rabbits?” I ask, blinking trying to picture that.

“No. I meant if I did. You know, like that old movie?”

“Uh… no…”

“No?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I tell him, and I really, really don’t.

“Where the guy had the affair and the woman was off her rocker and when he broke it off she boiled his little kid’s rabbit,” he explains. "I mean I didn’t watch it closely. Linda wanted to watch it so I did—which with hindsight should have warned me she was unstable. "

“When did this movie come out?” I ask and Black frowns.

“I don’t know, why? Eighties I guess.”

“I wasn’t born in the eighties. How old are you again?”

“Don’t you have cable?” he asks, obviously not going to answer the question, which again—makes me want to grin. When Black isn’t making me want to kill him, he’s making me laugh.

“Not for movies where innocent rabbits are boiled!” I grumble.

“Didn’t you go overseas? People eat rabbits you know.”

Guilt immediately hits me.

“I know. I cook them, but they aren’t my pets.”

“You cook rabbit? Is that because you’re a gardener?”

“What?”

“You know, you catch rabbits eating gardens so you trap and kill them and then…”

“You literally are insane. That’s not a landscaper’s job. But, I guess I should confess I’m not, nor have I ever been a landscaper.”

“I kind of figured, since your dad owns banks.”

“I don’t live off my father,” I complain.

“You live at home with him.”

“So? You live with your mother. Does she pay your bills?”

“Of course not.”

“Then why do you assume my father pays mine?”

“Well you’re—”

“If you say because I’m a woman, so help me God, Black Lucas…”

“We’re making progress, I guess.”

“What does that mean?”

“At least you know my real name now,” he laughs. “And I know you’re the mayor’s daughter, not his landscaper, that likes to cook rabbits on the side,” he jokes.

“I’m not a landscaper,” I whisper. “I’m a chef.”

“Looks like we have a lot more to learn about each other,” he says.

“Looks like we do, but I have to go pick up Kong…”

“How about,” he says, standing up and then reaching down for my hand, “I walk with you and tell you about my dog—my real dog.”

I don’t know what that means exactly, but Black is holding my hand and wanting to spend time with me and I’ve missed him. So I do what any sane woman would do who has any trace of hormones at all in her body…. I agree.

Honestly, I’d go wherever Black leads me for a chance to have him hold my hand and look into those eyes.