I forced a smile and laugh, trying again to hide the wince at the stab of pain that shot through my jaw. “I’ll do my best.”
I turned and headed to Gigi’s, coffee in hand, and kept my eyes forward. I would not turn around to see if Aaron was still there.
By the time the house came into view, which took a while because my knees definitely didn’t feel awesome, I felt a bit more like myself. Whatever happened back there was a fluke; it had to be. Because no way could Aaron Joseph have affected me like that. It was impossible.
5
AARON
I STOOD THERE like an idiot, watching the way her ass moved in those jean shorts as she fled. Devon Rayne. Wow. I didn’t think I’d see her so quickly, or that she’d be so…I don’t know. Intense? Amazing? Three-dimensional?
And she’d remembered me. More than that, maybe, because there was a look that flickered across her face for the briefest of moments.
Despite my best efforts, something in my chest unfurled.
Daisy nudged my leg and I reached down to pet her. She smiled like she had something to do with it, and beside her, like the absolutely wonderful saint of a dog he is, was Samson, who definitely had something to do with it. He grinned right alongside Daisy.
I shook my head and chuckled. “You two are really something, you know that?”
Samson woofed and took off after Devon. “Good luck buddy,” I muttered. “Maybe you’ll get farther than I did.”
I went into the coffee shop, knowing Daisy would wait outside, patiently taking her pets from passers-by like the queen she was.
Jodi stood behind the counter, arms crossed, a knowing grin splitting her face in two. “Well?”
“Well what?”
“Did you ask her out?”
Heat flared on my neck. “What? No! I was doing my duty. That’s all.”
She crossed her arms and looked me up and down, and I knew she was about to call me out. “Bullshit.”
Sometimes it was a real pain to still know the people you grew up with.
“Aaron, I see all the likes you make on her Instagram posts. And I can see the moony look on your face right now,” she continued. “So. Make your move.”
I rubbed the back of my neck. “Can I just get some muffins for the station? Please?” I pointed to the display case and avoided her eyes. “A dozen blueberry and a dozen banana nut.” No way was I having a discussion with the little sister of the town’s dead hero. Didn’t matter that we had incriminating yearbook photos of each other.
Jodi pursed her lips as if she was trying to decide how much she was going to torture me, then looked behind me and seemed to think better of it.
“Did I hear that Devon Rayne is back in town?”
Ah, shit. Cecilia Rayne, better known as Ceci, wife of Rick Rayne, mother of twins, sister-in-law to Devon, and Olympic-level meddler.
I turned. “Hey, Ceci.”
She smiled up at me and winked. “Just kidding. I know she’s back in town because Rick brought her back. You see her yet?”
I fought the urge to sigh. Based on that little sentence alone, I knew she was up to something. “Just a few minutes ago, after Samson tripped her.”
A flash of concern swept across her face as she turned to look around the coffee shop. “What? Is she okay? Where is she?”
Jodi piped up. “Seems like she’s okay, Ceese. You here for your daily dose?”
“Can I get those muffins?” I reminded her. “I really am on shift.”
Jodi rolled her eyes and grabbed a pastry box. “Fine.”
Ceci laughed and turned back to me. She wasn’t very tall, maybe five feet five inches, but you’d never know it the way she looked at you. “So, Aaron.”
Here it came. “So, Ceci.”
“I like you. You’re young—”
“I’m thirty-three.”
“Like I said, you’re young, smart, nice, you look great in a uniform—”
“You’re married!” I protested.
She shrugged. “Doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate how you fill out a uniform.”
My neck blazed again. I needed out of here. “Jodi? Muffins?”
“Sorry, gotta get some from the back!” She waved and smiled as she backed away from the pastry case. The pastry case that definitely had enough muffins in it.
“Traitor,” I said under my breath.
