“Can I help you?” a lady at the front desk asks. I take off my sunglasses and blink as I adjust from the transition of coming inside after the bright sunlight outside. I look around the small lobby area that claims to be the home to the Mason County Sheriff’s office. It’s rather confusing because Mason County has only one real small suburb which is also called… Mason. Honestly, I’m not even sure how that works, but I’d venture to say a man was in charge.

“I’m looking for a Sheriff Parrish?” I respond, pulling on my dress. I’ve been feeling guilty about the way I treated the man. I mean, I don’t know him and I kind of jumped down his throat when I really shouldn’t have. I’ve just grown so accustomed to being made to feel inferior because I’m a woman chef that I leaped before I thought and took it all out on him. It doesn’t change the fact he was kind of an ass, but maybe if I extend an olive branch, he can too. Dad thinks we will like each other and because I want him to be happy, I’m willing to bury the hatchet.

Hopefully Sheriff Parrish doesn’t piss me off so that I bury it in his head…

“I’m sorry he’s not here right now. I’m afraid he’s gone to lunch. I can take a message or you’re welcome to come back. Or maybe someone here would be able to help you?”

I breathe deeply, more than a little disappointed. I kind of wanted this out of my way. Check it off and be done with it, really. It doesn’t look like that’s going to happen now—

“What are you doing here?”

I’d know that loud, grouchy snarl anywhere. It’s been two days since our fateful run in. I guess it was too much to hope for that he would have developed a personality.

This was probably a bad idea.

“I was looking for you. Oh wow you look better. I guess you weren’t allergic after all!”

“Uh… yeah. What do you want? I told you I’d turn the paperwork in. Your boss could have handled all of this,” Mr. Grumpy says and I fight to hold onto my temper. That won’t help the situation at all.

“Oh, this wasn’t about the little incident,” I say, waving off his words before he annoys me again. “I wanted to talk with you, I think we started off on the wrong foot the other day,” I begin.

“It wasn’t an incident! You tried to kill me.”

“I did not!”

“Uh, yeah. You did.”

“Listen buddy, if I wanted you dead, you wouldn’t be here yelling at me right now!” I huff.

“Did you just threaten an officer of the law?”

“What? Of course not!”

“You did!”

“Oh my God! Why did I think you’d actually be sane today! I just came here to ask if you wanted to have lunch together.”

“Why on earth would we have dinner together?”

“Not dinner, lunch. I thought since you would be working with my… boss that it’d be best if we get along well with each other.”

“Why?” he asks and it was question I wasn’t expecting.

“Why?”

“Yeah, Princess, why?”

“What did you call me?”

“Princess.”

“My dad calls me that…”

“That explains a lot.”

“I’m going to ignore you said that. Are we going to lunch or not?”

“You realize I don’t have any need to hire a landscaper? Especially one that is a menace to society on the back of a lawnmower,” he replies.

He’s so infuriating. I really want to slap him. At the same time, I’m only human—and a female human at that, one who hasn’t even seen a man who clicked all her buttons at once. This guy does that and then some. He’s hot. I can’t pretend he’s not. He has these buttoned up uniforms—that hide way too much. Not to mention, this Texas heat has to be a killer in those long sleeves. I think I’d break protocol and roll them up. I wish he would.

Still, around the collar of his neck and on his hand I can see hints of ink and even when I find myself screaming at him, I want to see the ink. Shit. Who am I kidding? I want to lick it. Then, there are those blue eyes of his. They’re like these pools of crystal blue that make a girl do all over body shivers. Maybe that’s why I ignore the urge to kill him, and put my sunglasses back on, and poke the bear.

Who knows?

“I didn’t realize you were that type of man,” I say with a disappointed sigh.

“What type is that?”

“The type to let fear make his decisions for him,” I say with a shrug, like I’m unaware I’ve hit him below the belt and exactly where I needed to, to get him to do what I want. No man likes to be looked at as weak. I might be young, but even I know that.

“I’m not afraid of you, Princess. Why would I be afraid of you?”

“I’m not sure, but it’s okay. I’ll go to lunch by myself,” I tell him, giving him an understanding smile. “I’m so sorry to have bothered you. You have a good day—”

“Fine we’ll go to lunch. But, we’re going to the diner. We can walk there. I’m hoping you won’t kill one of us just walking across the street.”

“How many girlfriends have you had?”

“What? Why are you asking that?”

“I’m just assuming it must be a staggering number with the way you sweet talk a girl,” I quip. He looks at me for a minute like he doesn’t understand what I’m saying and then he frowns at me and does this little growl under his breath that for some reason makes my nipples hard.

I’m probably playing with fire, but if I’m honest, the reason I sought this man out today has nothing to do with my father and everything to do with me. In fact, I’m not even going to tell him who my dad is. I don’t want it to change how he treats me. I want him to change how he treats me because….

Well I’m not going to think about that right now.