Sugar Creek Read Online Free Page A

that? Something about looking directly into them had just turned her knees to putty.
    “Actually, Edna and I get along just fine,” he claimed. “In fact, she’s the most reasonable Farris I ever met.”
    Hmm. Was that supposed to hurt her feelings? Well,he’d have to try harder than that. “Afraid you’ll have to tell her yourself, because I’m pretty sure you’ll be off my mind as soon as you’re no longer in my face.” Or would that be in my cleavage?
    “You wish,” he mumbled as she turned to go. Or at least that was what it sounded like.
    So she spun on her heel. “ What? ” Was he really that arrogant? Even if she was putty, she couldn’t stand conceited men.
    And now , of all times, he grinned. Just a little. In an infuriatingly cocky way that made his eyes sparkle. “Nothing, Farris. Just keep walking.”
    And, oh my—they were brown. His eyes. Kind of a rich, chocolaty color that made her stomach feel a little hollow. And—oh God— that was why he looked even better to her than he had last night. She could see his eyes now. His warm, sexy, bedroom eyes.
    Meeting his gaze one last time, just daring him to say another word, she finally turned back around and did what he said—walked across the Destiny town square toward the bookstore. But she was pretty sure she felt him watching her with every step. And it made her body tingle like crazy.
    Uh-oh. This was bad. Really bad.
    His gorgeousness hadn’t been a figment of her imagination.
    And a mean, bossy, small-town cop was so not her type.
    And, worst of all, he was a Romo.
    Damn him for that.

What sadness lengthens Romeo’s hours?
    William Shakespeare, Romeo & Juliet
Two
    M ike Romo sat in his cruiser, just off Meadowview Highway near the Destiny city limits, the car partially camouflaged by a copse of small cedars, his radar gun at the ready. He knew people thought he was a hard-ass when it came to speeding—probably thought he was an overzealous cop bent on meeting some kind of monthly quota. But Mike wasn’t motivated by bringing citation money into the town coffers—he was driven by one sole purpose: keeping people in Destiny safe.
    Maybe that made him some kind of stick-in-the-mud, but he didn’t care. And if each ticket he wrote did anything to make someone drive—or live—a little more cautiously…well, then it helped him sleep at night.
    Just then, Willie Hargis’s old red pickup came ambling up the road—Willie was an elderly man who took his time at whatever he was doing, driving included, and Mike liked him for that. Willie even lifted his hand in a wave as the truck went past, accustomed to seeing Mikemonitor this stretch of highway, and Mike returned the gesture.
    As for Rachel Farris, she was at the opposite end of the spectrum. She clearly had no respect for the law, and people like her made it harder for him to keep people safe.
    And he’d been ready to forget all about her, including his bizarre reaction to her—since he was usually much more in command of his own lust, especially on the job—until, damn it, she’d had to block that fire hydrant today.
    And before he’d quite known what was happening, she’d been brushing past him, leaving behind that seductive scent again—something light, fruity maybe—and putting all his senses on alert. After which she’d accidentally touched his arm—with her breast. Damn—soft. Nice. And since when did fruit smell seductive ?
    He’d unwittingly started noticing other things about her, too. Like that even today, in town, she hadn’t dressed like most women in Destiny, who were fond of floral skirts and soft colors. She’d seemed more…sexy, again in dark jeans, with strappy high-heeled shoes and a stylish top that had hugged her long, lean curves. And he’d gotten a closer look at some of those curves when she’d bent down into his window.
    Up to then, he really had shoved her out of his mind—mostly. But now…hell, what was the deal?
    After all, she was the exact