“You’d be a great Sheriff, Tate.”
“I need the town to think that.”
“You can’t expect every single person to like you.”
“No,” he said. “But I need the majority. I’d feel like a fraud otherwise.”
And there it was. Mia was hit with the bright truth that she and Tate were fighting for the same thing, just in different ways. He wanted the consensus of the town to support him because it made him feel like a part of it. Mia understood that all too well.
“I know.” Mia said, hating how much she did know.
She understood dreams. Wanting more. Wanting that next step up in life.
Tate was reaching for the same thing she was, he also seemed to have a deep seated pain that went with it. At the very least, she could respect that, no matter how it kind of hurt her heart. This was his home too. They were both clinging to it.
“Mia,” his eyes locked on hers. “I see you and the way you walk around with all the confidence in the world. I want to just be near you. To listen to you. To talk to you.” He scoffed. “And now I sound like a pussy but damn it, when it comes to you, I don’t know what to do. Just like I didn’t know what to do today at the station.”
Mia was pissed and kind of wanted to yell at him in that moment. She also got a deeper glimpse of the man that was setting up shop in this place in her chest she thought permanently empty. Emotions were always at war and she couldn’t tell who was winning…but all of a sudden, it didn’t feel like a game anymore.
“Tell me what to do,” he whispered.
There was a flash of unease in his eyes that made her think he did want her. Now was the time she needed to be the tough woman she knew she could be. The woman she had been all these years. Game or not, they both had a hand to play. She wasn’t going for the upper hand anymore, she was going for the safe bet. Preservation.
She grabbed his chin and yanked him down so that his mouth brushed right over hers.
“You, Deputy West, are going to do two things. One is this,” she bit his lower lip, closing the distance between them and kissed him hard. Plunging her tongue for one quick, hard taste of him. Just when he leaned closer for more, she backed away, but kept a hold of his chin. “And the other is to remember that,” she breathed against his mouth. “When you go on your date with Abby.”
With that, she released him and walked back behind the counter.
Tate stood and if Mia was in the mood to laugh, she just might. Because the Deputy looked shocked.
“If you don’t mind, I have to get back to work,” she said. “Have a pleasant evening Deputy.”
~
Pleasant was the last thing Tate was feeling. Sitting across from Abby McAdams in low lighting, white table linens and Italian music in the background, all Tate felt was wrong.
“Should we get an appetizer?” Abby asked, looking over her menu.
Tate took in the picture around him. It should look right. Him sharing a meal with a woman like Abby. She was what he should be interested in. What should excite him in terms of relationships. But she didn’t. It wasn’t her fault, it was Tate’s.
“I can’t do this,” he said.
She frowned. “What? What do you mean?”
“I appreciate everything you’ve done in spreading the word about my running for Sheriff but—”
“Of course! As you know, my father has known Branch a long time, but he seems to be warming up to you taking over.” She winked at him. “I’ll just keep raving about you until he’s one-hundred-percent on board.”
Tate forced a smile. He really was grateful because the Chief’s endorsement would go a long way. Yet everything about tonight, this dinner, didn’t fit. Wasn’t what Tate wanted or where he wanted to be. He opened his mouth to tell her but she continued.
“I’ve been meaning to ask you to my parents’ Christmas party. They’re always so much fun.”
Tate put his forearms on the table and leaned toward Abby, softening his voice. “Abby, I think you have a lot of wonderful qualities, but this doesn’t feel right to me. I’m sorry.”
“What? Doesn’t feel right? But Tate we’ve known each other for years.” She fidgeted in her chair. “We make sense.”
“Yeah,” he nodded. “We do make sense, but I think we both deserve more than that.”