Two to Love

Chapter Four

“How much longer you planning on keeping me locked up, Johnny Law?”

Nate gave serious consideration to killing his one and only prisoner. It was two weeks into his new life, and he’d thought about going out of it with a bang.

The station was quiet, with only Nate, his deputy Logan, and the prisoner currently occupying the neatly kept rooms. Nate leaned on the reception desk and considered the man in the small cell. Bliss County Jail was a tiny operation with two simple cells. If he could catch a serious offender and shove him in there with Max Harper, he might be able to solve a major problem. If said prisoner shivved the mouthy horse trainer, then Nate wouldn’t have to put up with the son of a bitch. Nate stared over at his deputy, Logan Green. The lanky too-young-for-a-uniform boy had his nose in a comic book. All in all, it was a long way from the Drug Enforcement Agency.

When Stefan had offered him the job of Sheriff of Bliss, it seemed like the perfect place to start over. Of course, Stef hadn’t mentioned that he’d have to deal with Max or crazy-ass Mel, who insisted daily that the aliens were coming. No one had mentioned that he would be the law enforcement liaison to a nudist colony, or that once a year the new agers came in to soak up the vibrations or some shit that Bliss gave off. It was a weird town, and he was rapidly getting fed up with it.

“Damn it, Max.” Callie walked into the sheriff’s office, pushing her cute little glasses up her nose. She was so adorable, Nate wanted to walk up to her and hug her. Of course, hugging would lead to rubbing, and he just knew if he laid a hand on her, he’d end up humping her leg like a dog. She was such a sweet armful. Even dressed in a denim skirt and blousy shirt, she was sexy as hell. Why hadn’t Stef bothered to mention that the woman of his dreams would be his secretary? Stef sure as hell hadn’t forgotten that he had a past with Callie. He just didn’t seem to care.

Callie completely ignored him. She blew past him, her hands on those curvy hips of hers, and plowed toward Max Harper. Callie never did anything without a great deal of energy. It was one of the hottest things about her. Callie was always moving, but Nate remembered a time when her energy had been spent, and all she could do was sigh. He’d give anything to get her underneath him again. But she was still off-limits.

Harper’s boots tapped against the floor. “Now, Callie, don’t you yell at me. Talk to that tight ass boss of yours. He’s pulling people off the street for no reason. He should be impeached. Rye would never have done something like that.”

Nate came off the desk, prepared to defend himself. He’d heard an awful lot about how the old sheriff handled things. Nate wondered if he would ever come out of the man’s shadow. Everywhere he went, he was compared to Rye Harper.

He couldn’t see her face, but he knew Callie was rolling her eyes. She just had that sarcastic stance. He’d learned an awful lot about reading Callie’s body language in the last two weeks. “Rye didn’t arrest anyone because he was as lazy as the day is long. I could barely get him to write a ticket. Sheriff Wright is an actual, honest-to-goodness cop, and not just some high school kid who didn’t want to work at Stella’s Diner.”

Logan’s head came out of the latest issue of X-Men. “Stella works too damn hard, if you ask me. This place is way calmer than the diner, what with all the tourists and having to deal with Nell and Henry’s protests. And seriously, have you seen what happens when you get that guy’s order wrong?”

Harper slapped at the bars of his cell. “I like my burger dead, man. Hal tries to cut corners by shoving a live cow in between two buns and calling it a burger. You want to arrest someone, Sheriff? Go arrest Stella’s short-order cook.”

Logan nodded as though happy to have confirmation of his life choices. “You see what I mean? Being a deputy is way less dangerous than working at Stella’s. And I graduated three years ago. Stop calling me a high school kid. At least move me up to college. Speaking of college…I’m thinking about taking one of those online courses. You think I could use the computer here?”

Nate narrowed his eyes, and Logan suddenly bolted out of his chair. “I’ll go catch some speeders. That’s a good idea.” Logan was smashing his hat on his head as he nearly ran out the door.

“Will you stop scaring the crap out of your deputy?” Callie frowned Nate’s way as the door literally hit Logan’s ass on his way out. The deputy yelped. “Do you have any idea how hard it was to get someone to agree to this job? This is a whole town full of antiestablishment hippies. They weren’t lining up to put on a uniform.”

Nate shrugged. Scaring the piss out of Logan was one of the highlights of his days here in Bliss. “I have no idea what you’re talking about, Callie.” He attempted his most angelic look.

Now he could actually see the eye roll. It was an expression she used a lot on him. “Sure you don’t. I heard you recounting all of your so-called kills to him. Do you want to give that boy nightmares? And you…” She whirled back around to face the man in the cell. “What is your wife going to say?”

Max Harper grinned arrogantly. He wore jeans, a western shirt, and boots. He was all cowboy, all the time. “She’s going to say nothing because once I get my phone call, I’m calling Rye. He won’t tell Rach anything. I have too much on him. We’ve got a nice, mutually assured destruction balance going on.”

Nate sighed, a genuine sense of pleasure running through his system. This might even be better than giving Logan Green a bunch of baloney stories. This one was real. “Don’t worry about that phone call, Harper. I took care of it for you. Your wife said she’d be here as soon as she…what were her words? Oh, yeah, she’ll be here as soon as she sharpens a knife so she can cut your balls off.”

It took everything he had not to burst into laughter at how green Max Harper got. His hands fell to his sides, and he sat back on the little cot. “You didn’t.”

“I did.”

“You asshole. We had a friendly little game going and you have to play hard ball?” Harper looked like a little boy who had his toys taken away.

“Friendly little game? You call doing seventy-five miles an hour in a forty mile an hour zone a game? Then you didn’t stop when I put on the lights and the siren.”

“I was looking for a safe place to pull over.” Harper shrugged.

“For ten miles?” He’d followed that son of a bitch all the way down the damn mountain.

There it was, that arrogant smirk that made Nate want to clobber him. “Those roads are damn dangerous. I was giving you a signal that I would pull over as soon as I could.”

“You flipped me the bird, asshole.”

“See, now is that any way for a cop to talk? When my brother was the sheriff, he would never have used that sort of language.”

“He cursed your name on a regular basis,” a stern female voice added to the mix.

Harper shifted back as though the bars wouldn’t keep him safe from the terrifying newcomer. Rachel Harper was roughly five feet two and, if rumors were true, expecting a baby. Maxwell Harper was utterly terrified of his pretty little pregnant wife. She crossed to the middle of the room and stared a hole through him.

“Hi, baby.” It was obvious Max was going for sympathy. All of the arrogance on his face had fled in favor of a sad puppy look. “That man does not like me. He looks for any excuse to mess with me.”

Rachel ignored him. She turned to Callie. “Does he need to make bail?”

“No,” Callie said.

“Yes,” Nate interjected.

Now it was Callie staring at him, and Nate understood Max for a moment. Nate might not have impregnated Callie, but she had a hold on him all the same. “You are not leaving him in jail until the judge gets back from his hunting trip.”

“No, I need him to come home. I have a few words to say to you, husband number one,” Rachel said.

“I can stay.” Max nodded his head vigorously. “I don’t want any special treatment.”

“Max Harper, you will get out of that cell and get your sweet ass into the car, or there will be hell to pay.”

A long, slow smile tugged at Harper’s lips. He got up from the cot and stalked to the bars. “Hell to pay, huh? What kind of hell you going to put me through, Rach?”

Rachel cocked her head to the side as she stared at her husband. “I think you know what I’m talking about, Max. I’m going to need at least twelve hours.”

Max’s face flushed. He suddenly seemed very anxious. “I should get arrested more often.” He turned to Nate. “I am very, very sorry for the shameful way I taunted you, Sheriff Wright.” Harper snickered. “Sorry, it’s just the most clichéd name ever for a sheriff, but I utterly respect your authority.”

The asshole didn’t, but Callie was already getting the keys to the cell. He needed to hide the damn things. Every time he put someone in custody, his admin let them out.

The door to the station house slammed open, and Max’s twin brother, Rye Harper, ran in, his boots sliding across the slick floor. “Callie, I need to get Max out of here before…hey, baby.” Rye plastered a smile on his face. “I was just at the diner and found out Max had done it again. Damn it, Max, when are you going to grow up? Don’t you know we got a baby on the way?”

“Yes, you’re here to lecture Max.” Rachel Harper obviously wasn’t buying it. “BS, Rye, you’re here to bail him out and be his alibi, just like you always are.”

Max strode out of his cell and crowded his little wife, one hand sliding across the nape of her neck, the other rubbing her belly. “Don’t worry about it, bro. Me and Rach have a system worked out. If I screw up, then I have to be her sex slave for awhile. It’s a terrible punishment. It’s going to get me on the straight and narrow one of these days.”

Rye was immediately at her other side. “Well, I would like to point out that I was going to bail him out and then hide the evidence from you. That makes me every bit as guilty as him.”

Rachel’s laugh filled the station as she sent her husbands out to the car. The men ran to do her bidding, and she turned to Callie. “Sorry. Max is worried about the baby. You know how he gets when he’s anxious.”

Callie hugged the pregnant woman, her affection obvious. “He’s obnoxious all the time, Rachel. It’s part of his charm. Don’t worry about it. I’ll talk to that one about being a little more tolerant.”

Nate stood a little taller because he was pretty sure he was about to get lectured. Rachel left to follow her husbands. Husbands. Damn, as much as he hated Max Harper, Nate was also completely fascinated with the way the man lived his life. The Harper family consisted of the twins, and their shared wife, Rachel. No one in town even blinked. Nate had caught some of the tourists shaking their heads when she smooched on both, but the citizens of Bliss took it all in stride. One of these days, he was going to sit down with Rye, who seemed far more reasonable than his brother, and talk about how it really worked.

But for now, he had to deal with Callie. He went on the offensive.

“You have to stop doing that.” He made his tone firm. He wasn’t Max Harper, afraid of one small woman. After everything he’d been through, he knew all about fear, and it didn’t come in such a soft package. He’d just been wary of dealing with her. He’d spent the last two weeks mooning over what he couldn’t have, and now it was time to take the situation in hand. “You are my administrative assistant, Ms. Sheppard. If you want to be a deputy, you can take the test, and I’ll put your name on the waiting list.”

“If you don’t like my work, Sheriff, you should feel free to fire me.” She turned on her little kitten heels and stomped back toward the front desk. She sat down on her chair and immediately began to straighten a bunch of stuff that was already neat and organized.

She had him there. He was never going to fire her. He couldn’t even stand the possibility of her quitting. Hell, he didn’t like the days she took off, and more often than not found some damn silly excuse to see her. Feeling utterly impotent, Nate stalked into his office and slammed the door shut. He slumped down into his comfy chair and pondered his situation. Zane was getting worse, not better. He hadn’t been able to get him out of the cabin to come into town in the two weeks they had been living in Bliss. Zane still didn’t know Callie was here. Nate hadn’t told him for fear that Zane would take off on that bike of his, and Nate wouldn’t see him again until he had to identify his body.

It had seemed like a good place to start over after everything that happened. Nate couldn’t go back to the DEA, and there was no way Zane would go back even if they would let him. When he’d quit the DEA, Nate had been told that the director would hold his job, but he couldn’t even consider it while Zane was recovering. Zane’s body had healed, but his mind was still in a dark place. He’d needed a place where Zane could recover, but the bastard didn’t seem to want to recover. He wanted to brood. He wanted to rage. He wanted to beat the shit out of anything that came in his path. Nate kept hoping that would change, but now he wondered. Maybe they should have just gone back to Dallas.

It would be easier if she wasn’t here, but he needed her, damn it, and in more ways than one. Nate wasn’t used to small town politics, and he doubted anyone on the planet was used to Bliss politics.

He was fumbling, and he didn’t know how to stop.

There was a brief knock on the door, and Callie popped her head in. If things were different, this was the point where Nate would haul his hot secretary into his arms, shove her skirt up, and have his way with her. His eyes glazed over as he thought about freeing his cock and settling her in his lap. He’d lower that tight pussy onto him and fuck her hard. It would be a nice little break. They got three a day. That just might start to satisfy him.

“Are you still here, or have you checked out?” Callie stared at him like he was from another planet.

Nate sat up carefully. His cock was painfully hard, but then it had been in that state for the last two weeks. “What’s going on?”

“It’s Mel. The aliens have landed, and he has proof.” Callie wrinkled her nose. “You need to get out there and talk to him. I have the Detector 4000 out on the desk.”

Every muscle in his body was suddenly weary. The Detector 4000 was just one of the reasons he should have stayed in Dallas. It was a Wii controller Stefan had “enhanced” with various bells and whistles to placate the town crazy—well, one of them, anyway. It made a lot of sounds and had little lights that went off and told the user that no alien technology was in evidence. It was complete bullshit.

Maybe it was time he took his job seriously. Nate stood up and placed the Stetson on his head. Yes, that was just what he needed to do. It was time to take this town in hand.

Callie watched him as he walked past her. “I don’t like that look.”

He waved her off. “Get used to it.”

Nate walked past the front desk, pointedly ignoring the Detector 4000. Mel would just have to deal with reality.

There was a new sheriff in town, and Bliss would just have to face the music.

Boy, he was about to screw up big time. Callie just knew it. She grabbed the Detector 4000 and raced after her boss, turning the sign on the door from “Come on in” to “Don’t commit any crimes. We’re fishing.”

He was already in the Bronco, starting the engine. Callie had quickly realized that Nate Wright was a man who took his time making a decision, but once he’d settled on his course, he was quick to follow it. She had to be fast, or he’d be in trouble.

Before he had a chance to back out, she swung open the door and slammed into the passenger seat.

“Damn it, Callie, who is minding the store?” His lips thinned, and he looked pointedly at the station house. He was not amused by the sign she’d made when Rye had been sheriff. He’d been famous for his fishing afternoons.

Callie didn’t argue. It wouldn’t help to point out that no one would think a thing about the station not being manned. If there was trouble, they would call her on the radio or her cell. Nate hadn’t left his big city mentality behind. She leaned across him and grabbed the radio. “Logan, this is Callie. I need you to get back to the station house.”

There was a slight pause. “Is he still there?”

She felt Nate stiffen beside her. Well, if he wanted his staff to like him, he should be less rude. Hell, she didn’t like him most of the time, and she’d slept with him. Not that anyone knew that except Stefan. “No, Logan. It’s safe. He’s going out on a call, and I’m going to make sure he doesn’t cause trouble.”

Callie could hear his voice lighten. “Then I’ll be right there.”

She would make sure to put a call into the station before they went back. More than once, she’d found Logan taking a nice little nap on one of the cell cots. She didn’t think Nate would find it amusing. Callie replaced the radio as Nate backed out.

“I swear I should fire you all. I’ve never been in such a shoddily run operation before.” He kept his eyes on the road in front of him.

“Or you should feel free to head right back to the big city where everything is sunshine and roses.” She kind of wished he would leave. It would be infinitely easier on her. Logan could be sheriff, and as long as absolutely nothing ever happened, everything would be all right. Of course, if anything went wrong, they were screwed. Still, she might be willing to take the risk.

“At least in Dallas we don’t mollycoddle crazy people.”

She was rapidly getting fed up with the sheriff’s bad temper. He took it out on everyone, but since she was with him all the time, she got the brunt of it. “Well, if it helps at all, you won’t have to worry about me for too much longer.”

The Bronco stopped suddenly. Callie was glad she’d slipped on the safety belt, or she might have flown through the window. “What does that mean?”

She shouldn’t have mentioned it. And why not? It wasn’t like he hadn’t made his displeasure of her services plain. She turned in her seat to look him in the eye. He was so gorgeous it hurt. She wondered what had happened to Zane. She’d asked, and he’d refused to answer. She hadn’t brought it up again, but she thought of him often. “It means I’ll be turning in my notice soon.” She’d promised Stefan she would stay for awhile. A month seemed long enough. She’d give him two weeks to find someone else. It was time to move on. She just wasn’t sure where she was moving to.

“Why?”

She softened slightly. “You know why. You’re not happy with me. I’ll find something new, and you can find an assistant you trust.” She wondered if he wouldn’t give Laura Niles a call. She worked at the Stop ’n’ Shop, but Callie had heard talk of her working for the FBI before she came to Bliss. Maybe Nate would ask to try out the tall blonde. She was willowy with light blue eyes. Perhaps that was Nate’s type. Hell, that was pretty much every man’s type. There wasn’t much of a call for plump brunettes, no matter how comfy they were in their own skin.

“I trust you.”

She laughed but was well aware nothing about this mess was funny. “You can’t stand me, Sheriff. I’m not an idiot. I have no idea why Stefan thought this would work. I’ll be honest, I don’t know why it hasn’t, either, but it isn’t working. So I’ll move on. I promise to make the transition as easy as possible.”

He swallowed before he opened his mouth to talk. “I don’t want a transition. I was just surprised to see you again.” He turned his attention back to the road and started driving toward Mel’s. “I’ll settle down. I just need a little time. You’ll see.”

It was the first opening she’d had since he came to town. It bugged her, his displeasure at seeing her again. They’d had a nice time. It had been the best weekend of her life. She had no illusions that he felt the same way, but she had thought he’d enjoyed himself. “Why were you so angry to see me?”

“I wasn’t angry.”

He was going to be difficult. She wasn’t surprised. She decided to push it. She was leaving anyway. If he got really pissed, maybe he would fire her, and she wouldn’t have an excuse to hang around anymore. “You sure were. I don’t understand. I didn’t make a nuisance of myself. I didn’t call you or anything.” Not that she could have. They hadn’t left a number. Just a note. Have a good life. It hadn’t been that great so far.

She watched as his hands tightened on the steering wheel. His eyes stared ahead, but she knew how uncomfortable this whole conversation was making him. If he’d been Zane, he would have turned to her by now and told her to stop asking him so many damn questions. But this was Nate, and he’d try to smooth things over. It was funny. She’d spent two days with them a long time ago, but she felt like she knew them so well. It was an illusion.

His voice was soft now. “Callie, I wasn’t mad. I was surprised, that’s all. I don’t want you to leave. Where are you going to work? Logan is right about the diner.”

She hadn’t exactly figured that out yet, but she knew she had to make a change. Since her mom died last year, she’d been in a bit of a fog. Five years of taking care of her had left Callie a bit dazed. She loved that her mother had managed to last so long before the cancer had come back and ravaged her body, but the long-term care had taken its toll. Callie felt like her life was on hold, and it was time to move forward. She owed it to her mom and herself. “Well, I was thinking about moving to Denver. I talked to Marie the other day. She knows how to sell property. I thought I’d put my cabin up for sale.”

Marie had been really upset at the thought of her moving. She and Teeny, her life partner, ran the general store and had known Callie all of her life. It hurt Callie’s heart to think of leaving Bliss, but there was nothing for her here. She would never get married if she stayed. She would be surrounded by friends, but it wasn’t enough. She wanted what Max and Rye had found with Rachel. She wanted a family.

The Bronco turned up the steep road that led to Mel’s cabin. Nate was very careful on the mountain passes. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. You’re a small town girl, Callie. The big city would eat you up.”

She smiled at the thought. “At least somebody would.” It had been so long since she had sex she couldn’t remember what it felt like.

Nate stopped the car again. “Are you telling me you’re leaving your home because you want to get laid?” His voice held a hint of outrage, and Callie nearly laughed at the prim set of his mouth.

“Well, I’ve heard worse reasons.” She didn’t have to justify herself to Sheriff Wright, but she found it almost impossible not to respond. “There’s no one for me here in Bliss. Unless I want to sleep with Logan, I’m pretty much on my own. And I really don’t want to sleep with Logan, though he’s tried.” It had been sweet, but she’d had to turn him down.

“He did what?” Nate threw the car into park and was reaching for the radio.

Callie swatted his hand away. “What is your problem?”

“What’s my problem? How about the fact that my deputy is hitting on my…secretary? It’s wrong. It’s setting us all up for a lawsuit.” He reached for the radio again. Again Callie slapped his hand aside. He sat up and started the car moving again. “You’re right. I shouldn’t warn him that I fully intend to kick his ass. It might send him running.”

Callie could see Mel’s cabin in the distance. “You want some advice?”

“No.”

“Well, you’re getting it.” If she was quitting, she might as well go out with a bang. “Stop being such a jerk. You’re getting a worse reputation than Max. If you don’t watch it, these people will vote you out of office next year.”

He snorted. “I’d like to see them try. Who are they going to elect? Logan? That boy can’t get his head out of a comic book long enough to put his name on the ballot.”

“Well, Nell said she might run.” It was just what Bliss needed, a pacifist sheriff.

Nate threw his head back and laughed. It was the first genuine laugh she’d heard out of him since he’d walked into town. It lit his face and made her wonder what happened to the sweet, funny man who’d taken her virginity with such care.

“Losing an election to Nell would be like losing to a Disney princess. I swear, I expect small woodland creatures to follow that one around. And she wouldn’t wear the uniform.”

Callie smiled. The idea was funny. “She wouldn’t. Polyester isn’t natural, and the shoes don’t fit with the vegan lifestyle. But, seriously, Nate, if you don’t watch it, they could run a rubber duck against you and that duck would win.”

Nate turned up the long drive, the car tilting back as the four wheel drive took over. “Good luck with the duck, then, baby.” He stopped as though startled he’d used the term of endearment. “Sorry. I’ll try to do the job to the best of my ability. I just don’t think a lot of the people around here will appreciate it.”

They were quiet the rest of the drive. Callie forced herself to turn away from the sheriff. He was too lovely, too remote. What had happened to him? She wondered which one was the real Nate Wright. The playful, sweet lover she’d known years ago, or the hard, distant lawman she’d had in her life for the past two weeks. She’d asked Stefan, and all she could get out of him was that Nate had worked with the federal government and wanted a quieter job. You didn’t get much quieter on the law enforcement front than Bliss. Of course, there were other things to consider.

“I got proof now.” Mel was jogging down from his one-bedroom cabin, his eyes darting around, trying not to miss a thing. He held a shotgun in his hand.

Nate’s hand was immediately on the Colt in his hip holster as he got out of the Bronco and faced Mel. “You set that down now.”

Mel stopped in his tracks. He was a tall, angular man. Deep into his fifties, Mel still had a strange innocence about him even as he held a shotgun. “Set what down?”

“The gun that you better not point this direction.”

Callie glared his way. “You’re going to get someone shot one of these days. And no, I’m not talking about Mel.” She walked up the trail and placed herself solidly between Mel and the sheriff.

“Goddamn it, Callie Sheppard, you get your ass back here. That man has a gun.” Nate’s bark cut through the peaceful afternoon with all the grace of a hacksaw. His face was red, and every muscle was at angry attention.

Callie sighed. Rye had been right to ask her to stay on. He’d just been wrong about the timing. Nate hadn’t integrated in two weeks, and she was beginning to doubt he would ever feel comfortable. “Everyone has a gun here, Nate. Except Nell and Henry.”

“I told them they should, but they insist that the aliens are peaceful,” Mel said, looking over her shoulder. “I promised to protect them when the invasion starts. I think I found a camp for the first wave. It’s up here, Callie.” He stared back at Nate and lowered his voice. “I don’t trust that one. I think he might be one of them, Callie. Why did Rye have to quit?”

Because Rye wanted to be home doing what he loved. She didn’t blame him, but sometimes she wished he hadn’t quit, either. It left her in the unenviable position of protecting the town from the sheriff and vice versa. She turned back to Mel, who was fully dressed for war in his fatigues. It was always best to take Mel as seriously as possible. It settled his mind if he thought someone was working on the problem. “Why don’t you show me this encampment?”

Nate was frowning fiercely as Callie turned and started to follow Mel. His long legs ate up the distance between them, and his hand was on her arm before she knew what was happening.

He spun her around on the small dirt trail. She had to put a hand on his chest to steady herself.

He growled at her as fierce as any bear in the mountains. “You ever do that again, and I swear I’ll put you over my knee and spank you. And I won’t care who’s looking.”

Callie could see it. She would be naked, the air cool on her cheeks. His cock would be rock hard and pressed against her belly. He would take his time because the anticipation was part of the tease. And then, his hand would make contact. She would squeal a little, and when he was done with the spanking part, he would turn her around and she would suck that big cock of his.

“What the hell are you thinking?”

Callie grinned as they walked behind Mel. Nate’s face was flushed as though he could tell what was going through her brain. When she glanced down, she realized at least one part of her fantasy had come true. The sheriff of Bliss sported an enormous erection in those khaki pants of his.

“Nothing. Nothing at all.” She wasn’t about to tell him what she’d been thinking.

Nate swore behind her but followed anyway.