Hot as Heller (Aster Valley 3)

“Your teeth are probably clean enough by now,” he murmured.

I glanced at his eyes in the mirror to see him smirking at me. My own reflection was ridiculous. Toothpaste foam ran down my chin, and my eyes looked glassy.

“Ungh.” I rinsed my mouth out and grabbed a towel. “You’re killing me.”

“Pretty sure it’s the exhaustion. Get in bed. Otherwise, I’m going to ask you to deliver on the promise those eyes are making right now.”

“I want to fuck you,” I said simply, even though he was right. I was tired enough to want to fall asleep in the cold, wet sink if it meant not moving another muscle.

He let out a soft chuckle. “I would like that, but I’m not sure my ego could handle a man falling asleep midfuck.”

I opened my mouth to argue with him that if I had his ass, there was no way I’d fall asleep midfuck, but before I could get the words out, he grabbed me around the waist and half carried me to the bed.

I fell asleep quickly against the solid warmth of him. Most likely there was a smile on my face the entire night, but when I woke up and found myself alone in the chalet, the smile threatened to melt away.

He was gone.

What exactly had that been between us? A one-night stand? The beginning of something with the possibility of more?

And what did I want it to be?

I started a pot of coffee in the kitchen and forced myself to put thoughts of the sexy sheriff behind me for the day. I had a hectic schedule, beginning with shooting climbing scenes all day and prepping for Solo’s tutoring session this weekend.

The shooting went by in a happy blur. The weather was perfect for the three climbs, and there were no equipment problems to speak of. Kramer, my climbing trainer, was there overseeing safety protocol, which gave me extra confidence to focus on the acting over the technical climbing details. Nolan was thrilled with the results, and I finally felt like my role in the film was back on track.

Even though I didn’t have a spare moment to myself to do more than daydream about the sheriff, I floated into the weekend on cloud nine. Declan hadn’t called or texted, and I forced myself not to contact him either. I didn’t want to come off as needy and desperate for a repeat, even though that was exactly how I felt.

I was embarrassed by the story he’d told about my house being involved in the LA cop scandal. I needed to find out what the hell had happened, but Kix was suddenly too busy to talk to me. I knew it was because of our busy shooting schedule, but it still rankled that something so critical could have happened at my house and been kept from me. My relationship with Kix was complicated. Finding out about New Year’s hadn’t helped.

Late Saturday morning, I put on the most nondescript clothes I had—a navy blue T-shirt and faded jeans—and topped it off with a battered gray ball cap I’d gotten at a climbing event years ago. It was one of my favorites from the stash I always traveled with. As trite as it sounded, a simple ball cap and sunglasses really did go a long way toward hiding my identity when I was in public. I had distinctive hair, longer on top and short on the sides, and if I covered it up, one of the most recognizable aspects of my appearance disappeared. If I used makeup to cover up my freckles, another one disappeared. If I really wanted to go unrecognized, I covered my green eyes with brown contact lenses.

Today, though, it was just the clothes, hat, and glasses. People in Aster Valley already knew I was in town, so a true fan wouldn’t be fooled by any of it. I made my way to the park and found Solo waiting for me on a picnic bench situated well off to the side and away from the central gazebo and playground. The summer sun slanted down on his back as he sat hunched over his paperback and spiral notebook.

“Hey,” I called as I approached. “Ready to nail this stuff?”

He turned to me and looked resigned. “Not really. If I sucked at it last spring, and I’m sucking at it now, I pretty much know how this is going to go.”

“Be not afraid of greatness. Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and others have greatness thrust upon them,” I quoted. “That’s from Twelfth Night.”

He looked at me blankly.

“Never mind,” I said quickly. “Just know I’m here and ready to thrust greatness upon you whether you believe in yourself or not.”

A reluctant smile curved the edge of his lips. “I appreciate it. Really. It’s pretty cool of you to offer to help me.”