“Come have dinner with us. We wanted to show you that we’re men of our word.”
She didn’t say anything a moment, but hopefully the aromas were beating down her defenses and making her hungry. His craving went further than a piece of BBQ chicken or two.
“Let me get washed up.”
She wiggled her way to the small bathroom while Tommy winked at Vic.
“How hard was it to get her in here?”
“A little difficult with that asshole Tagart and his buddy falling all over her.”
Vic suddenly looked pissed off. Tommy shouldn’t even have mentioned it.
He raised his palm up. “Not a thing to worry about. I took care of it.”
* * * *
Elise was trying to figure out how to handle this current situation. God, she was a sucker for a man in uniform. Make it two and her defenses were weakening. She always liked the Delite deputy uniform. It wasn’t that traditional type of brown. It consisted of a dark royal-blue uniform shirt and dark black pants that had numerous types of pockets on it. They appeared more like SWAT guys than deputies. They were once military, now only civilians again for about a year if her memory served her correctly. She remembered Susanna asking BJ about them.
Tommy looked ready to pounce on Tagart when he showed up at the bar. She couldn’t help but feel concerned, and it seemed like Tagart was trying to cause a fight. She didn’t care for Tagart’s personality. It was like he already thought he had her or could get into her bed at any moment. That pissed her off. She looked at herself in the mirror and remembered Ava’s conversation with her this morning. Could Tommy and Vic really care for her? Could she entertain the connection she felt being drawn to them? she wondered as she headed toward the door. They did go all the way to Cellar County to buy her dinner. That made her smile. They were sweet even though they looked like scary linebackers. She chuckled.
“So, I’ll be really impressed if you have my favorite item off the menu from Big Bob’s.”
“Take a seat right here, baby, right between us,” Vic told her and she did. They even went as far as to set the small table and pour sparkling nonalcoholic grape juice into Styrofoam cups.
Vic pulled out a container covered in foil. He unwrapped it and opened up the top. She smiled wide when she saw the delicious corn bread. Rubbing her hands together, she reached for a piece. Vic pulled the container back and then leaned down closer to her.
“How about a kiss, for figuring out what you like?”
She tilted her head toward him as if saying “really?” and he laughed. “Dig in, honey. We’ll talk about dessert later.”
Damn, did her belly just do a bunch of somersaults? How the heck was she going to eat now, between two sexy, hot men? She shrugged her shoulders then took the piece of corn bread and took a bite as Tommy served up the rest of the meal.
Fifteen minutes later, as they cleaned up and wrapped the remainder of food, which was only two pieces of corn bread and a chicken leg, Vic took her hand and pulled her up onto his lap.
She placed her hand on his shoulder and stared at him. His hazel eyes sparkled as he held her gaze.
“The dinner was great. It was really sweet of you both, to think of me.”
Vic gave a small smile, which was big for him.
“That’s good. So, this Sunday, we’d like to take you out on a real date since none of us are working.”
“That’s okay. I think we should wait a bit.” She tried to get up, but he held her firmly.
“What’s wrong, sugar? We can tell that you’re attracted to us, just like we are to you. Can you give us a reason for your hesitance?”
She lowered her eyes and instantly Devlon entered her mind.
She took a deep breath.
“I really need to get back to work and this is an intense conversation. I’m just not ready to date yet.”
“Does this have something to do with Tagart?” Tommy asked, and immediately she felt Vic hold her tighter. She turned to him and saw only darkness and anger in his eyes. She didn’t like it, and she worried that he might think there really was something between Tagart and her.
She placed her hand against Vic’s cheek and that seemed to pull him from anger to softness.
“Please, Vic, don’t get jealous or angry over nothing. I don’t like Tagart. I know his ki