Total pages in book: 110
Estimated words: 111278 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 556(@200wpm)___ 445(@250wpm)___ 371(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 111278 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 556(@200wpm)___ 445(@250wpm)___ 371(@300wpm)
It was him.
She groaned. “It’s Yiddish, actually. It means ‘go shit in the ocean’.”
“What? You want me to do what?”
She tried to take a step back, away from the warmth of his body and damn . . . that wonderful smell. But he just tightened his hold on her arms.
“Uh, you want to let me go, cowboy? You’ve got witnesses to your stalker ways right now.”
He sighed. “You are such trouble.” But he let her take a step back. His arms dropped to the sides, and she told herself that wasn’t disappointment she felt.
Nope, she didn’t like this cowboy stalker’s touch.
“Me? You’re the one that banged into me.” She sighed dramatically as she took in the carbonara lying on the ground. “Bye-bye carbonara. I’ll miss your deliciousness.”
Okay, so she had been planning on finding the closest trash can for it, but he didn’t need to know that.
Dominic dropped his gaze to her dinner with a grimace. “Sorry about that. Although, I think that technically you crashed into me.”
She gasped. “Don’t you know that a gentleman always takes the blame?”
He crossed his arms over his chest. “That so?”
“And here I thought you cowboys had impeccable manners. I’m so disappointed.”
“Let me make it up to you. I can’t have you thinking the worst of me.”
“I don’t know, cowboy stalker. I don’t think there’s much you could do that would change my mind.”
“Well, seeing as your dinner is on the ground, perhaps it’s only right that I replace it?” Reaching down, he picked up the bag and popped it into a nearby trash can.
“Of course, you do owe me for taking off the way you did earlier. That was rather rude. Maybe it’s not me who is lacking in manners.”
Damn. He really rocked that stern look. It was making her tingle in ways that her body just shouldn’t tingle anymore.
What was it about this guy?
He couldn’t be a Dom, right?
She was going to kick Reuben’s ass for putting these ideas in her head. It was like she was now seeing Daddy Doms everywhere.
“You can do better than that, can’t you?”
Shit.
He was definitely gently scolding her. She wasn’t used to gentle, or to anyone caring about her manners.
“I wasn’t sure if you were genuine,” she explained. “I don’t know you. For all I know, you could have been going back to your truck to get something to knock me out and kidnap me. I’ve lived in New York for years and a girl on her own can’t be too careful.”
“Hey, Dom!” a man called out.
She turned, groaning as she saw Deputy Stick-In-The-Mud walking toward them.
“What’s wrong?” Dominic asked, staring down at her with concern.
“I have to go.”
But before she could make some sort of graceful exit, the deputy reached them.
“Hey, Jace,” Dominic said cheerfully. “How are you?”
Of course, they knew each other. Just her luck.
“Just walking past and thought I’d check you were both okay. You know Ms. Anderson here?”
Shit. He remembered her name? What kind of town was this?
A small town, Gwen. Where everyone knows everyone else.
She missed the anonymity of the city. Especially as she had the feeling that Deputy Stick-In-The-Mud was about to tattle on her. Not that it mattered if he told Dominic. He was only a cowboy stalker who’d offered her chocolate.
“Do you have that chocolate right now?” she asked desperately.
Dominic’s eyebrows rose. “Ah, no. It’s in my truck. We can walk by and get it after dinner, though.”
“The two of you are going for dinner? Are you dating?” the deputy asked.
Wow, not only was he a stickler for the rules—which was such an unattractive quality for a deputy sheriff to have—he was also nosy as heck.
“I don’t believe that’s any of your business, deputy,” she told him.
“Gwen,” Dominic said in a warning voice, giving her a look.
Yikes.
That shouldn’t make her squirm and want to apologize.
“Don’t worry about it,” the deputy said, amused. “I think Ms. Anderson is just worried I was going to tell you about this afternoon.”
“What happened this afternoon?” Dominic asked.
“I don’t think we need to talk about it,” she said hastily.
“I pulled Ms. Anderson over for speeding.”
“Oh, did you?” Dominic drawled.
“Yep. But if I knew she was yours, I’d have called you straight away. Glad to know you’ll take care of things.” Jace smacked his hand down on Dominic’s back.
What the heck did that mean? She stared up at Dominic as he looked down at her in amusement.
“Sure. Thanks for letting me know, Jace.”
“No worries. I don’t expect to catch you speeding again, Ms. Anderson.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure of that,” she muttered, drawing frowns from both men.
Sheesh. What was that about?
“I better go. I’ll leave you two to go have dinner. Have a nice night.”
“Thanks, Jace,” Dominic said.
“No worries, be seeing you around, Ms. Anderson. You’ve got a good guy here.”
“Hey, wait, no!” She went to follow him, needing to set him right, but Dominic lightly grabbed her arm.