Beneath the Badge (First Responders 4)

He smiled at her. “I’m Matt Parker.”

“I know who you are,” she answered. Jeez, she usually wasn’t so inept. Maybe she’d been spending too much time surrounded by dogs and cats. In the clinic everyone was a pet owner and the discussions were centered around the animals’ health and medical treatments. Out here she wasn’t Dr. Swan, though. She was Lindsay. A single thirty-something out of practice with making banter. Her tongue was tied in knots and she couldn’t seem to come up with anything intelligent or witty.

“And you are?”

She picked at a piece of her bun, wondering how on earth she was going to manage to finish her dinner with him watching her every move. What if she dripped sauce on her shirt or got something on her face and didn’t know it?

“Didn’t you do a little recon at the bar before coming over?” she asked.

He chuckled. “I did. You’re Lindsay Swan, and you run the vet clinic just off of Main.”

“If you knew that, why’d you ask?”

He sat back in his chair, looping one arm over the back in a relaxed pose. “To see if you’d tell me.” He nodded at her plate. “Eat. It’s probably getting cold.”

It was getting cold, so she bravely gripped the sandwich in both hands and took a bite, chewing carefully and feeling utterly self-conscious the whole time. With a sat

isfied smile, he leaned forward, took his silverware from inside his napkin and dug into his own meal. She’d kind of imagined him a real burger-and-fries type, but his plate consisted of grilled salmon, roasted potatoes and asparagus.

“That looks disturbingly healthy,” she commented, a tiny bit more relaxed.

“Jake’s got a good cook back there,” he commented. “Besides, I can’t eat junk food all the time and keep my girlish figure.”

She nearly laughed. Nearly. Instead, she coughed and raised her napkin to her lips.

“You’re not drinking the wine,” he commented, spearing a golden chunk of potato.

“I don’t generally accept drinks from men I don’t know,” she answered, looking down at her plate.

“But see, now you do know me.” He grabbed the pepper shaker and dashed some on his vegetables.

“Yes, well, I’m also driving.”

Their eyes met again. “And one drink is too many?”

She shrugged. “It is to me.”

If it were possible, the blue of his eyes warmed even more. “That’s good,” he answered.

“Apparently you’re not from the same school,” she commented, deliberately reaching for her nearly empty iced tea.

“Oh, the beer?” he asked casually. “I’m walking. I’ve rented a place nearby. Some old warehouse space that was converted a few years back. It suits me. Nothing too fancy.”

Right, he was renting. He was only in town for a year, wasn’t he? Just until Kendra finished her maternity leave. A guy who was only passing through wouldn’t be looking for something heavy. Or permanent. Hey, she noticed the opposite sex as much as anyone else—she had eyes in her head after all, and she was a sucker for a man in a uniform. Her radar was up and running just fine.

But it was a long way from acknowledging overall hotness to looking to become the center of anyone’s universe. She never wanted a relationship that heavy. It was way too much responsibility. Which was why knowing that Matt was only really passing through actually made him more attractive, not less.

He nodded at her sandwich. “Mushroom? Really?”

She nodded. “I don’t eat meat.”

He smiled. “Now why doesn’t that surprise me?”

“What’s that supposed to mean? I look like a vegetarian?”

He leaned forward as if sharing a secret. “You, Ms. Swan, are neat and tidy. Everything a certain way. Order and control. I bet you have your sock drawer color coded.”

She flushed. She did have her socks organized according to color and then by length—ankle socks towards the back, longer ones for trousers at the front. “Doesn’t everyone?” she asked breezily, impressed with herself for the nonchalant way the words came out. That didn’t mean she was uptight.