“What do you mean ‘at the station’? He’s innocent! We have to let him out now.”
“Ma’am,” he says again, but his voice is lower, more conspiratorial now. “You’re familiar with Shane, right? I’ve heard him say that you two went to school together. Well, he’s like a fox in the middle of the largest hencoop west of the Mississippi right now. If I tell him that the fun’s over, he’ll make my life hell until he gets over it. And he’s like a bulldog, ma’am. He doesn’t forget things real easy.”
That sounds like Shane, but regardless, I can’t believe what I’m hearing. “So we just drag this thing out? What about the poor guy who was never planning to rob the bank?” I keep calling him a guy, because I don’t know his name. I need to at least know that basic information.
“Like I said,” the officer continues. “We’ll have to sort that out at the station.”
I look around the lobby at the other three officers lounging around. I could repeat my story again and again, but I’d probably get the exact same results. Still, there’s one person who will believe my story, even if there’s nothing he can do about it.
I rush out the double doors and scan the collection of police cruisers parked haphazardly in our parking lot. The one up front has a silhouette in the backseat. I cup my hands at the sides of my face and look inside. The hottie who was only interested in me, not my cash, is sitting in there, his head slumped. When I bang on the window, he looks up with a start.
Those gorgeous blue eyes are staring up at me through the tinted glass. I’m sure the reason it takes him a second to recognize me is due to the fact that his brain is going crazy trying to figure out how he got here. But then his eyes go wide and he lunges across the distance separating us.
“What the fuck is going on?”
“It’s my fault,” I say and hold up the note. “I thought you were robbing me.”
“How is asking for your number even remotely close to robbing you?” Even through the tinted glass, I can see how he struggles against the handcuffs holding his arms behind his back.
“I’m going to get you out of this,” I promise him though I’m not sure how to go about fulfilling this oath. Shane isn’t about to give up his most interesting catch. Nor do I wish to give up my cushy job at the bank, which is surely what will happen once my bosses figure out that this whole fiasco was my fault.
What am I supposed to do?
The right thing, that’s what.
So without thinking about how this will look—or of the consequences it may rain down on me when the rumor mill gets hold of it—I open the backdoor of the police cruiser. But before the not-a-robber can begin even thinking I’m breaking him out of his unlawful imprisonment, I slide into the seat beside him and close the door. With no handles on the inside, I’m now stuck with my decision. More importantly, I’m stuck with the guy who has already changed my little world before we’ve even been introduced.
I hold out my hand before remembering that he won’t be reciprocating any handshakes in his current predicament. I then place my hands on my lap and pull at the hem of my skirt.
“I’m Hailey, and I’m so sorry I got you into this.”
Chapter 4
Robert
After allowing the desire to tear into this girl like I would one of my incompetent employees, I let a sigh fall from my lips.
“Robert McAvery.”
“McAvery?” She repeats with a questioning tone. The way she looks up at the roof of the car while trying to place the name is both endearing and cute. It reveals her lovely neckline, which despite this mess I still haven’t given up on kissing by the end of the day. “Isn’t there some kind of investing firm with that name?”
I shrug as though I’ve never heard of the company my grandfather founded. The same one my father took over a year ago. It’s the entire reason I’m in this wretched backwater town. And the moment I’m able to talk to someone at the police station with an education higher than middle school, I’m sure my name will earn me more apologies than are necessary. But for now, I’m stuck in the back of this cruiser like some common criminal.
Still. At least the company is good.
From her petite stature to her lithe body, Hailey simply exudes a bouncy energy. I imagine that if she did begin jumping up and down in excitement that her lovely little breasts would follow the motion with little hesitation. As would her curly brown hair that hangs just below her shoulder. I catch myself also imagining how her little nose would feel against my lips. And my hands dragging down her back to the top of her cute, little ass.
But Hailey’s not just cute. In her business attire, which consists of high-waisted pants and a blouse that really shows off just how tiny she is, she’s also sexy enough that mental images of her without anything on quickly takes over my imagination. After all, the whole reason I’m even in this mess is because I wanted to ask her out. And now that I’ve got her in the back of this cruiser with me, actually believing that this is anything more than a slight nuisance that will no doubt serve as a captivating anecdote once I return to the city, I can finally get back to my Plan A.
“You know,” I say with a nod at the note in her fist. “I’m still waiting for an answer.”
Her face twists in confusion, pulling a corner of my lips up. She’s just too genuine. Naive even. I wonder how long she would even last if I brought her back to Manhattan. A week? Would she make it a month before the city had rubbed away all her soft edges, leaving behind sore spots that would have her running back to the familiar plains of her sparsely populated state?
“You mean the note? You still want my number after all this?”
“What? You’ve never had a guy get arrested just to go on a date with you?” This finally earns me a smile. Still, there’s this tension scrunching her shoulders up, but after a deep breath, her body seems to relax. Even if it is just a microscopic amount. “I’m betting a little misunderstanding like this is more than worth it.”
Finally she slugs me in the shoulder but immediately apologizes. “I’m so sorry. I grew up with three brothers. But you really should know better than to slip a note to a bank teller! It’s like talking about having a bomb in an airport!”
“What can I say? Seeing you made me lose all my sanity.”
The front door opens, stopping our conversation dead. The pot-bellied officer that wrestled me to the ground pokes his sweaty, bulbous head in. He takes in the scene happening in his backseat.
“What on earth are you doing back there?”
“You arrested me, or are you too busy strutting around like an obese rooster to remember that little detail?”
The cop’s eyes bulge, and I’m sure he’s clenching his fist, wondering how my skull would reverberate under a few good knocks with his fat knuckles, but he calms himself under Hailey’s glare.
“Shane,” she says holding out her hands to stop him before he can start. “There’s been a mistake. He—”
“Hailey, I don’t know what you’re trying to pull here with your bleeding heart act and all, but you gotta get out. He’s dangerous. Lord almighty, even you should be able to see that.”
“You gotta listen to me. He wasn’t trying to rob the bank. I read the note wrong. Here,” she says, holding out the deposit slip I scribbled on, which started this whole mess. But he doesn’t even try to read it. Instead the cop turns back around and starts up the car.
“The station’s just around the corner. I’ll take both your statements there.”
I knew guys like this Shane. I might have even walked in his shadow once or twice, but I never made a habit of bullying others. Not that I ever had the need. Not with my family money. But there’s something I learned growing up: guys like this think they are exactly what girls like Hailey want. So much so that they take a no for a yes.
So I don’t throw the fact in this cop’s face that as soon as I get my one phone call, he’s toast. Because I know it won’t do any good. Instead, I keep my mouth closed and look over
at Hailey with a knowing smile.
“You heard the man. He’ll take our statements at the station. But do me a favor.”
“I’m so sorry about all this,” she says, her expression pained. Her hand squeezes my knee.
“When all this is settled, you let me take you out somewhere nice.”
Hailey looks like she wants to say something, but she simply nods, looking as though she’s about to burst into tears at any minute.
As for me, I’m on the other side of the spectrum. Grinning like mad when I lock eyes with the cop in his rearview mirror. “Let’s get a move on then. The sooner we finish up, the sooner I can get started with this date.”
Chapter 5
Hailey
Robert expects this trouble can be fixed in an hour or two. I don’t want to be the one to break it to him that he’ll more than likely be spending the night in lock-up thanks to my stupidity. From his designer dress shoes that I would bet cost more than my weekly salary to his suit that doesn’t hang off him like a bag, but tapers and contours, showing off his naturally muscular physique, he radiates the sort of big city energy that expects everything to be done yesterday.
But this is the countryside. And nothing except rumors have any legs here.
So while I’m determined to plant myself in the police station like an environmentalist blocking the destruction of an ancient tree, there turns out to be no need. After half an hour, Robert emerges from the back, his smile wide and his hands free of the steel cuffs.
“What are you in the mood for?” He asks, completely nonchalant. “I usually keep my lunches light, but after the morning I’ve had, I think I deserve a cheat day, don’t you?”
“They let you go? I was sure you were going to be stuck here for days.” When Robert simply shrugs, I look back at Shane. He’s hunched over his desk, not daring to make eye contact with either of us. I’ve never seen him like that. Not even when he was being investigated by the police himself as a high school kid. “What happened in there?”
“Like you said,” Robert finally replies, holding the door of the station open for me. I stumble out of it in a daze. “Just a misunderstanding is all. Now how about that lunch? I heard about this place called Lil’ John’s?”
Twenty minutes later, we’re sitting at a table looking out over the university district, its bars all dark and lifeless at this time of the day. In polar contrast, Lil’ John’s is as busy as ever. Despite the lunchtime rush, we get seated immediately. I’ve never gotten a seat so fast here, and I’m one of the regulars. How Robert managed it is beyond me.
“So I know you’re a teller at a bank,” he says. Robert’s sitting across the table, his full attention on me. In all the dates I’ve gone on in the past few years, the guy has always been distracted by his phone. But the moment we sit down, his phone disappears in his pocket and doesn’t make an appearance again. “Give me the highlights. Who is Hailey....” he trails off after saying my name, obviously angling for the rest of it.
“Perkins,” I fill in my surname for him. That was an easy answer but where to go from here is murky and uninteresting. “Highlights? I grew up here, but that was probably apparent already. I won the state Math Olympics in my junior year of high school. Went to the university just half a mile from here. Worked some shitty part-time gigs to keep me afloat until I landed the job at the bank. Honestly, that’s all there is.”
Robert can apparently read minds, because he responds by saying, “And you’re no doubt wondering why a girl like yourself—a girl that you seem to hold little respect for in terms of accomplishments or interest—would catch the eye of a stranger. A stranger that you can’t quite put a finger on. Isn’t that right?”
I nod, and I can tell he’s about to say something else, but before he can, our plates come out. Shredded barbecue on steamy buns. A side of cold slaw. And two sweet teas. He takes a sip at his and his face twists.
“They weren’t kidding when they said this was sweet.”
I don’t touch my food. My brain is too busy whirring to be distracted by food, no matter how tantalizing it smells. “I still don’t get you aren’t upset with me. I got you arrested this morning! You should be suing me or, I don’t know, something other than taking me out to lunch.”
“What was I supposed to do? You still haven’t given me your number, so I couldn’t very well let you slip away.”
“But why do you want my number?” I shriek a bit too loudly, drawing the attention of the neighboring tables. Noticing this, I make myself smaller while leaning forward to hiss at Robert. “It doesn’t make any sense. Why me?”
Robert leans forward until our faces nearly collide. His lips caress against mine. My breath stops until he pulls back and says, “Because you’re worth being arrested for.”
Chapter 6
Robert
I actually can’t believe that those words came out of my mouth. More unbelievable is that Hailey takes them seriously. That’s not to say that I didn’t mean them. Because I did. But I don’t think I realized it until now.
You see, I’ve had my share of women.
Women with class. Women whose only asset was their ass. Women who knew how to spend money. And women who luxuriated in the things not even money could buy. I’ve been seduced and teased and led on in more ways than the average man even knows is possible. My experiences probably aren’t too out of the norm for other guys in my position: I’ve not only got ‘fuck you’ money, I’ve got that ‘fuck me’ money. The kind that draws women who’ve only heard rumors of the size of my…wallet. And when I can’t get them the standard way, I’ve got more than enough cash and exclusive credit cards to accomplish what I want discretely.
So to say that I’ve seen more than my fair share of women whose beauty wouldn’t look out of place in a fashion magazine wouldn’t be an understatement.
But neither is what I said about Hailey.
What she has that those other women don’t isn't simply down to physical beauty. In a point-by-point analysis, Hailey might not even be on par with 90% of them. But, then again, that wouldn’t be a fair comparison. Every other girl with the cajones to approach me has been surgically improved. Nipped and tucked and lifted and enlarged. Hailey is natural. And not just skin deep either. She’s got a personality that isn’t after my money. Plus, genuine empathy for an error that cost me the morning (but has given me a story that will win me plenty of free drinks in the future), and I can’t help seeing Hailey for the true oddity that she is: in a sea of fakes, she’s real. Down to earth, no matter how trite that cliché may be.
This thing that started out as a curiosity that I wished to itch—an attraction that I only expected to be a fling until I could leave this miserable town—has grown into a need to know more about this girl.
“And despite all I’ve gone though to just swing this date,” I continue. “I still haven’t managed to get your number. So what’s a guy gotta do?”
She bites her lips, her cheeks warming to a rosy color that makes me wonder how far south her blush extends past her neckline. I take a juicy bite of the BBQ sandwich. The ball’s in her court now.
She grabs a napkin, pulls a pen out of her purse and jots down her number. After sliding it across the table, she bites her lips again, which is driving me wild. “What else did you want to know?”
I take another massive bite of the sandwich. “First of all, you can tell me how this hasn’t become a national chain yet. Then you can tell me something about you that’s actually true. Because I’m not buying your I’m-so-boring routine.”
She scrunches her nose up as she’s obviously thinking. “Well, I’m the youngest of four kids. Three older brothers, but they moved away as soon as they finished high school. One lives on the west coast now. The other is doing some kind of work-abroad program in Japan. The last lives down in Florida. I’m the only one that stayed here. What about you?”
I hold my hand up, fingers and thumb curled into an ‘O’ shape. “Zero brothers or sisters. Fa
ther got his son and said that was enough. I guess you could say I still live in my hometown, but I’ve definitely gotten out of it more than a few times.”
“And where is this hometown? It’s obvious that it’s a big city, but where? New York?”
I wag my finger at her. “No, no. I answered your question, so now it’s my turn. You knew that cop. What’s his name?”
“Shane.”
“Yeah, him. How do you two know each other?”
This was obviously the wrong thing to ask. Gone in an instant are her cute mannerisms. In their place are slumped shoulders and a deep sigh.
“What did he do to you?”
She looks at me like I’m Sherlock Holmes. But it doesn’t take a world-class (albeit fictional) detective to figure this much out. An asshole cop doesn't sprout out of nowhere. They grow from younger assholes. And assuming that the two of them grew up together, there’s no doubt their paths crossed. It’s only a matter of how.
“Shane’s a cop now,” she says, trying to brush off my question. Her breaths have become shallower. Her voice lower. The food in front of us may well have ceased to exist for neither of us pays any attention to it. “And the past is the past.”
“That’s not the way I see it. We don’t get to the here and now without the then. So what is it?”
She’s looking over her shoulders. Afraid she’ll be overheard. This isn’t how I expected this date to go. But, then again, nothing about this day has gone the way I planned. But she’s obviously not going to go into more details here. And this isn't something I can just let go. So I toss two twenties on the table and lead her by the arm outside. Straight to my rental car, where I open the door for her to slide in, which she does without a word. But not until I’ve got us driving, out on the highway, without a single idea where we’re going, does she she finally open up.
Stealing Her Heart: A Billionaire, Small Town Romance (Sweet, Sexy Shorts Book 11) Page 2