“Yeah, he is.”
“And I think he likes me. I don’t know, I can’t tell though,” Jen joked. Mia laughed.
“He’s sweet. Don’t break his heart okay?”
“I would never. In ten years, he’s all mine.”
Okay, that made Mia roll her eyes again but Jen changed the subject.
“Well, since Annie is working the later shift, we were talking about going out tonight. It’s Saturday after all. Want to hit The Dusk Bucket?”
Mia smiled. The Dusk Bucket was a sport slash karaoke bar that apparently got taken over by the Everson brothers. Two guys Mia went to school with.
“I don’t know. Kyle will be home and—”
“And he’s a seventeen-year-old boy. You really think he wants to spend his Saturday night with his sister? Come on, you haven’t been out since you moved back. It will be good for you to integrate.”
“Honestly, Jen, I can’t afford it.” It hurt to say it out loud, but that was the case.
“That’s totally fine. Cam Everson is one of the bar owners. He accidentally left his wallet at the bank and I’m bringing it back to him tonight. He said the first two rounds are on him.”
Mia bit her lip. The idea of getting out and de-stressing was appealing. Dressing in something besides ripped jeans and tee-shirts also sounded nice.
God I miss my stilettos.
Her head perked up.
“Can we dress up?”
Jen smiled. “Well, duh. How else do you troll?”
“I’m not trolling for men.”
Jen shrugged. “Maybe you should be. This is a perfect time to get into the dating scene.”
“What dating scene? The population here is miniscule.”
“Yeah, but a lot of the men are hot good ol’ boys.”
Case in point, Deputy Hottie. It just wasn’t fair that he was that good looking, and seemed to have zero interest in being nice to her. Not that she cared…
“Were the guys in Seattle amazing or something?” Jen asked.
No actually. They were opposite. Especially the kind that came into the club. Corporate, corrupt and generally plain awful.
“I wouldn’t really know. I didn’t date much.”
“Well then, what do you have to lose? I bet a ton of guys would love a couple of dates with you. Maybe some sexy time to get the color back in your cheeks.”
Oh, Mia had plenty of color, mostly from the left over blush from last night and Deputy West. She was so pissed at him, irritated and yet, he consumed her thoughts. Her whole body was thrumming for some hot, wild, intensity that kept taking the mental fantasy form of Tatum naked and rocking her world. To say she had some pent up aggression and sexual frustration would be an understatement.
The way he looked at her made her breasts tingle and her thighs ache. She remembered the way his lips turned up at the corner in a show stopping grin and when he hooked his thumbs in his belt…
Mia wanted to slap herself. It was just the uniform. That’s all. She had a weakness for a man in a uniform and just because Tatum looked good last night, didn’t mean a damn thing. She was hard up and he grabbed her ass—well, it was in the vicinity, but still! That was it. And he probably didn’t even like it seeing as how he issued her a ticket. And she certainly didn’t like him.
But Jen did have a point. She was here, trying to make this her home again, and it had been a while since her last relationship with a man, “sexy time” or otherwise.
“Keep things simple. Breezy. I know you can do that.” Jen said.