Craving Country

by Gorman, A.

  Slamming the window closed against the night air, Dee ran to the front hall and slipped on her red heels. Grabbing her purse, cell phone, and car keys, she caught sight of the wadded-up card Sheriff Collins had left. Snatching it up, she dropped it in her purse and ran out to the car. Once she sat in the driver’s seat, she sent Mikey a text, asking him where he was. After a full five minutes of waiting for a reply, she pulled her car out of the driveway.

  After driving up and down the main road in town twice without success, Dee drove to the high school. Maybe there was a football game or something going on that Mikey had decided to go to. The fields were dark and the lots empty when she pulled in and looked around.

  “Oh, Mikey, where are you?” She leaned her head against the steering wheel. She so wasn’t cut out for this.

  For the hundredth time since she’d discovered her nephew was missing, Dee checked her cell phone. Nothing. She pulled up his number and sent yet another text.

  Where are you?

  It took a full sixty seconds for a reply to come in, but at least he answered this time.

  With friends.

  Where?

  She waited for almost five minutes, but no response ever came. What did she do now? Dee had zero experience in the kid department, and she was far from a natural caregiver.

  When she dropped her phone back in her purse, she spotted the crumpled card she’d tossed in there earlier. She was in no mood to deal with the gigantic ego of Brady Collins, but Mikey could be in trouble. Of course, calling the Sheriff could also get him in trouble. Frustration overwhelmed her, but she fought back the urge to cry and took a deep breath. Michael’s safety was most important. Fishing the card out of her pocketbook, she entered the number into her cell phone and held her breath while the call connected. On the third ring, she heard a gruff, “What?”

  “Is this Sheriff Collins?”

  “Last I checked.”

  “Sheriff, this is Dee Loomis. We met this after—”

  “I know who you are.”

  Dee took a deep breath, biting back the scathing reply begging to be released. “My nephew, Michael, is missing.”

  “Missing?” Brady’s tone changed from annoyed to all business.

  “Yes. I went to get him for dinner, and he was gone.”

  “Did you try his cell phone?” This man was too much with the mightier than thou attitude.

  “Now why didn’t I think of that?” Dee didn’t even try to hold back the sarcasm this time.

  “It’s a standard question, ma’am. You called me, remember?” Brady’s frustration radiated through her cell phone in thick waves.

  “Of course I did! He just said he’s with friends and stopped answering my texts.”

  “Sit tight. I’ll be right there.”

  “I’m at the high school.” Dee rested her head against the seat back. “I’ve looked everywhere I know to look.”

  “I’ll be there in three minutes.” The call disconnected, and Dee set her phone on the passenger seat.

  In less than two minutes, the flashing blue lights of Brady’s patrol car filled the lot. He pulled up next to her and put his window down. “Get in. I just got a call for a breaking and entering. Four teenagers. It could be your boy.”

  “What about my car?” Dee fumbled for her phone, keys, and purse even as she asked the question.

  “Leave it. Come on!”

  Jumping from her car, she ran around to the passenger side of the police car. She’d barely shut the door when Brady slammed on the gas and raced from the lot, blue lights flashing.

  “You don’t really think Michael is involved, do you?” Dee tucked her phone and her keys in her purse and set it on the floor by her feet.

  “That boy is walking a slippery slope. I don’t know what happened with his momma, but whatever is going on in your family has him lashing out. So, yeah, it’s possible.” Brady spun the wheel and took the car around a corner. The speed and force sent Dee into the door, digging the armrest in her side.

  Dee gripped the door handle and spoke through clenched teeth. “Mikey’s really a good boy. Do you have to drive so fast?”

  “We do if you want to get there in time.” Brady took another corner at breakneck speed.

  “What’s that supposed to—” Brady slammed on the brakes in front of a small electronics store. A second car pulled in behind them.

  “Stay here.” Brady jumped from the car and met up with the other officer on the way to the storefront. Dee watched as they disappeared inside. Her anxiety threatened to get the best of her, but she fought through it, refusing to take an anxiety pill to calm herself. She needed her head clear around Brady.

  Instead, she picked at the polish on her nails and had made it through three fingers when she looked up and saw Brady coming toward her, a shadowy figure beside him.

  The knots in her stomach tightened when they passed under a street light. The shadowy figure was Michael. And Brady had cuffed his hands behind his back like a criminal.

  Brady pulled open the back door of the car and waited while Michael awkwardly climbed inside and sat down. “What’s she doing here?”

  Brady leaned over and looked in the car at Michael. “Remember your right to remain silent? I’d use it.”

  After closing the door, Brady got in the car and spent a minute typing something into his computer while Mikey grumbled in the backseat. Dee looked from one to the other, not exactly certain who she should ask the question she really already knew the answer to.

  When she just about couldn’t stand the suspense anymore, Brady spoke. “Your nephew is under arrest for breaking into the electronics store. Lucky for him he didn’t leave the building with any stolen property, but he’s still in a good bit of trouble. There was damage to the store and some of the merchandise.”

  “Under arrest? But he’s just a kid.”

  “Who has committed a serious crime.” Brady’s tone stayed serious, but she could see a little bit of warmth in his brown eyes as he looked at her. “I’m afraid I’m going to have to take him in. He will go through booking and have to appear before a judge in the morning for arraignment. You’ll be able to get him in the morning after his bail is set. With any kind of luck, he’ll be ROR.”

  “ROR?” This was all too much to process.

  “Released on his own recognizance. It’s a fancy legal term for on his word that he will behave until his trial.”

  “Trial?”

  “He committed a crime, Dee. You do understand that, right?”

  “I told you she was an idiot,” Michael said from behind them.

  “Right to remain silent, remember?” Brady’s tone had turned hard again. He pulled the car from the curb and headed to the station.

  It took nearly three hours to get Mikey processed. By the time they took him away, he’d lost all his anger and bravado. Dee watched as an officer led him through a door, feeling helpless.

  Once he was out of her sight, Dee had no idea what to do next. Her car was at the high school, and it was well after midnight. There were no taxis in the tiny town, and Uber was probably unheard of. Not to mention, her feet were starting to ache. Well, the walk would do her good anyway. She grabbed her purse off the seat beside her and headed to the door.

  “Where are you going?”

  Dee stopped walking as the now-familiar voice filled the room. She tried to ignore the way his scent permeated her senses and made her want to jump in his arms and kiss him, so she just said, “I’m going home. It’s late, and I’ve got a long day tomorrow.”

  “I’ll drive you.” Brady stopped her with a hand on her arm.

  “My car isn’t far from here.”

  “It’s at least two miles, and it’s thirty-five degrees outside. You don’t have a jacket, and it’s the middle of the night.” He looked at her feet. “And you aren’t exactly wearing good walking shoes.”

  “You take a lot of interest in my footwear.”

  Brady ignored her comment. Instead, he
stepped off the walk and opened the door to his cruiser. “I’m going to drive you.”

  “I said I’ll walk. I’m a city girl, remember? I know how to take care of myself.” Dee started walking, faster than before. She almost made it to the corner when Brady pulled up beside her, driving real slow.

  “Get in the car, Deanna.”

  “I said I’m fine. Just leave me alone already.”

  “If I have to stop this car, I’m arresting you.”

  Dee stopped walking. “For what?”

  “Soliciting.”

  “I’m not a prostitute!”

  He glanced down at her feet again. “If it walks like a duck—”

  “Oh, for crying out loud! Fine.” She stomped her way over to the passenger side of the police car, yanked open the door, and climbed in.

  “Are you always this stubborn?” Brady asked as he started driving again.

  “Are you always this bossy, or does it only happen when you put your uniform on?”

  “Always. It’s my best trait. I make sure to put it at the top of every online dating profile.”

  Dee turned to look at him. “You’re kidding, right?”

  “Nope. I’m very proud of my ability to make people do what I want.” He actually smiled at her then. A real, genuine smile. The first one she’d seen from the gruff man, and to be honest, she kind of liked it.

  She punched him lightly on the arm. “You know that’s not what I mean.”

  Brady shrugged. “I know.”

  He’d become almost playful, and it was unnerving. And now she really wanted to know if he actually had online dating profiles. It would totally change her opinion of Sheriff Brady Collins. As soon as she got home, she’d be doing an online search, for sure.

  Brady

  As soon as he slid behind the wheel of his patrol car, Brady had to open a window. Dee’s perfume wrapped around him in a vise grip, the scent filling him and stroking the desire to touch her to a hot flame deep in his gut.

  He didn’t get involved with victims.

  Except Dee wasn’t a victim. Or a perp, for that matter. She was just the aunt of a troubled kid he was forced to arrest.

  He couldn’t deny that she was sexy as sin. Even the way she yanked on some loose strands of hair and ran the tip of her tongue over her full lips had him thinking dirty thoughts.

  “I don’t understand.” She spoke so quietly he almost didn’t hear her. Then he wasn’t sure she even meant for him to hear.

  “Don’t understand what?”

  She turned to look at him. “How I got here. How any of this happened. What I am supposed to do now. Should I continue?”

  Forgetting all the reasons why he shouldn’t, he reached over and took her hand, giving it a little squeeze. “He’s a teenager. They make stupid choices.”

  “And then they spend the night in jail?” She pulled her hand from his grasp and rested it in her lap.

  “Sometimes. If he’s a smart kid, and I think he is, he’ll learn from this.” Brady let his hand rest on the center console and fidgeted with the light bar switches.

  “I never planned to have kids, and now here I am, raising a teenager. Isn’t there some kind of manual or something? I don’t have any idea how to do any of this.”

  “Seems to me like you’re doing okay so far. I mean, you went to look for him. You called me for help. That’s what a mother would do.”

  She sighed, long and heavy. “I keep thinking if I knew what I was doing, he wouldn’t be in trouble right now.”

  Brady turned the car into the high school parking lot and pulled up next to Dee’s car. After shifting the gear into park, he turned to look at her. “His decisions have nothing to do with you.”

  “I’m the adult. I’m supposed to be in charge.”

  “Being in charge doesn’t mean you control all the choices he makes.”

  “Do you have kids, Brady?”

  He laughed. “No. But your nephew reminds me of someone I used to know.”

  “Someone you were close to.” It was a statement more than a question.

  “Yes.”

  She undid her seatbelt and opened the door. “Thank you for the ride to my car.”

  Brady stepped from his car as she did and followed Dee. “Of course. You weren’t really planning to walk now, were you?”

  Dee laughed, her whole face lighting up in the dim glow of the street light she’d parked under. Her first real smile he’d seen. “Well, I’d originally planned to call for an Uber, but I wasn’t sure you had that in this town.”

  Brady chuckled. “We do have running water and toilets inside the buildings, just so you know.”

  “Good to know.” He could see the flush as it filled in over her cheeks. He resisted the urge to follow it with his fingertips.

  She fumbled with her keys as she tried to unlock the vehicle, dropping them on the ground. Brady leaned over to pick them up at the same time Dee did. When they hit heads, Dee stumbled. Out of instinct, Brady wrapped his arms around her to steady her. It did not escape him that she fit perfectly against his body. All her best soft places fit neatly against all his best hard ones.

  If he had to testify in court under oath and in front of God and a jury, he couldn’t begin to explain why he did what he did next. Moving his hands to rest on Dee’s perfectly curved hips, he leaned down and pressed his lips to hers. He felt her resistance, so he kept the contact light at first. Her soft lips were cool from the chill of the night. The full body contact elicited a warmth between them that was completely out of place in the cold night.

  Dee wrapped her arms around his neck and parted her lips in response to the gentle probe of his tongue. With one quick stride, he backed her up against the side of her car, creating a delicious pressure against his body.

  Somewhere in the back of his mind, he heard words of warning, but he ignored them. It had been so long since he’d felt a woman’s body and tasted a woman’s lips. He wanted to feel all of her. Every delicious, curving inch.

  Brady moved his hands slowly, exploring the planes of her body as his tongue conquered her mouth. When he reached her neck, he knotted his fingers in her hair, releasing the tie that held her ponytail and letting all those long, thick waves settle around her shoulders. He caught the scent of something light and fruity, and his mind immediately went to an image of her in the shower, washing her hair.

  Dee let out a moan that shot straight to his dick, hardening it so painfully that he groaned against her lips as he ground against her. It took more self-control not to tear her sweater off right there in the parking lot than it had to not shoot the guy he’d arrested last week for beating the crap out of his wife and daughter while he was high on heroin. For Brady, that was a lot of self-control.

  It wasn’t until he felt Dee pull away that common sense began to creep back in. He dropped his hands that currently rested at the sides of her breasts to his sides and stepped back. “I shouldn’t have done that. It was—unprofessional.”

  She smiled as she smoothed her hair back and tucked it behind her ears. “It’s okay. It takes two to—uh—tango.”

  “Still, you’re a case—”

  “Um, no, I’m not. That’s my poor choice-making nephew. I’m just Aunt Idiot, along for the ride.” She said it with a smile, but he could tell the earlier comment had hurt her feelings.

  He felt a different heat from a moment ago flush his face. Embarrassment was an unfamiliar emotion for him. “Um, about that. I was just trying to deal with the kid. I didn’t mean you were actually an idiot.”

  She shrugged. “It’s okay. I am an idiot. I didn’t see what my sister was up to. For months, she went behind my back, and I trusted her. Trusted them both. Now they have almost everything I’ve ever worked for. What kind of a woman runs off and leaves her kid, anyway?”

  Dee hugged herself against the cold night as she gazed across the empty parking lot. Brady resisted the urge to take her in his arms again; instead, he reached around her and unlocked t
he car door with the keys he’d fished off the ground earlier. “It’s cold. You should get home and get warm.”

  She smiled. The kind of smile that could keep a man warm for a long, long time just imagining what else she could do with those lips. “Oh, I don’t know. I’m feeling pretty toasty right now.”

  Brady cleared his throat. Yeah, he knew what she meant, but he needed to get his mind back on the job. Considering he technically was on duty another five hours.

  “Good night, Dee. Drive safe. Court will be in the morning. Be there at eight. The judge does arraignments first.”

  He watched as she slid in behind the wheel and turned her car on. Closing the door, she let the window down at the same time. “Okay. And the court house is where we were tonight?”

  Brady nodded. “Yes.”

  “Will you be there?”

  He knew he should say no. There was no real reason for him to be there for an arraignment, but the thought of seeing her again was enough of a reason to say yes. “I’ll do my best to be there.”

  “Well, I’ll see you in the morning then. Hopefully.” She put the window up and drove away.

  Brady watched her car until the taillights disappeared into the night, wondering the whole time how his carefully constructed life of no commitments, no attachments, and no human interaction off the job had all just crumbled in less than ten minutes.

  He had to put a stop to it. Not that there was an it. Just one really hot kiss with one smoking hot woman.

  Just a kiss. That’s it.

  Easy enough to forget.

  Dee

  The eight minutes it took her to get home confused the heck out of Dee. She oscillated between smiling at the lingering tingle of Brady’s kiss on her lips and being totally pissed at Mikey for getting himself in so much trouble.

  It had been a long time since a man had paid her any genuine attention. In Hollywood, it was always about what she had or could do for them. Men wanted her on their arm but not in their life in any meaningful way. Brady knew who she was but didn’t seem to care. There were no stars in his eyes or flirtatious undertones that said she was just an object. She had no idea why he’d kissed her, but once they’d made contact—damn.