“I can’t believe you were going to tell him that we were smoking a joint,” Pearl hisses.
“She didn’t and she covered for us,” Dixie mutters. “I don’t blame her for getting weird. He’s handsome, and that happens when you’re talking to a handsome man.”
“Do you think he’s handsome?” Edie asks me, and I look over at her, noting a calculating look in her eyes.
Damn.
“Of course she thinks he’s attractive. She’s female,” Pearl says from the back seat.
“Well?” Edie asks.
“Um . . .” I shift under her stare. “He’s okay.”
“Okay?” Dixie snorts. “That man is not just okay, darling, and if you think that, you need to be checked by a doctor to confirm you actually have a pulse.”
“Whatever. Shouldn’t we go? Aren’t you the one who didn’t want to be late to bingo?”
“Fine, you win this one,” Edie says after a long moment, and then she puts the shifter in drive, flips on her turn signal, and checks her mirror. The moment she starts to pull away from the side of the road and into traffic, the car is jolted to the right, and the sounds of metal crunching and scraping fill the air.
With wide eyes and my heart pounding, I turn and meet a pair of mesmerizing blue eyes belonging to Calvin. Holy cow, we just sideswiped a cop! I drag my eyes off his and focus on Edie. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. Are you?” Her eyes scan me from head to toe.
“I’m good.” I look over my shoulder and see Calvin backing up behind us, then look at the two wide-eyed women in the back seat. “Are you two all right?”
“I’m okay,” Pearl says shakily.
“Just a little shook up, but I’m okay,” Dixie replies.
“I’m going to make sure Calvin is all right.” I unhook my belt and open my door.
With my legs shaking, I walk around the back of the car, but I stop short when I see Calvin bent over and looking in the open trunk of his cruiser. Without even a glance in my direction, he booms, “Get back into the vehicle.”
“But—”
“Back in the vehicle.” He doesn’t move except to turn his head, and his eyes come to me. “It’s not safe for you to be out here.”
“I just wanted to make sure you were okay,” I tell him, and he comes out of his bent position and walks toward me slowly.
I should back away. I want to back away, but I hold my ground until he reaches out and wraps his hand around my upper arm.
“What are you doing?” I look at where he’s holding me and automatically try to tug free, but he doesn’t let go. Instead, he starts walking, forcing me to go with him. When we reach the passenger side of the car, he opens the door and urges me to sit.
“Stay,” he orders, and I blink up at him in disbelief.
“I’m not a dog you can just order to do something,” I hiss, tucking my feet into the car.
“Yeah, I know. My dog actually listens.” He slams the door and walks away, leaving me fuming.
CALVIN
I shut down my computer and lean back in my chair, rubbing my eyes. It’s been a long day, a long month, and an even longer year. I need a vacation, preferably near a lake where I can spend my days drinking beer, fishing, and watching the sun set while doing both those things.
With a weary sigh, I roll my chair back and start to get up when my cell phone rings. When I see my mother’s name on the screen, I sigh for a completely different reason. Without answering, I know she’s calling about what went down with the Golden Girls and their newest recruit, Anna. Anna Belle McAlister, a woman with hair that reminds me of warm whiskey, eyes the color of an evergreen forest, and skin that looks kissed by the sun. Not a beautiful woman—a gorgeous one who’s had me thinking of sweaty nights wrapped in cotton sheets all damned day.
Fuck.
I grab my phone, swipe my finger across the screen, and place it against my ear. “Mom.”
“Calvin, I just got off the telephone with Pearl a moment ago, and I . . . I just . . . good Lord, Calvin. Did you honestly speak to a woman like she was Bane, then go on to tell her that Bane is better behaved than she is because he listens?”
I knew it.
“Mom, I told you before you need to stop listening to that woman and her posse.”
“So you didn’t say those things?”
I tip my head back toward the ceiling and shake my head. “The woman you’re referring to was just in a car accident. I asked her to go back to the car to get out of harm’s way. When she didn’t listen, I escorted her to the vehicle.”