Ask Me If I Care (SWAT Generation 2.0 4)

He gave me an exasperated look.

“You know how I feel about these things,” he mumbled, scratching his head with annoyance.

I rolled my eyes and waved to my mother, who looked miserable on the couch.

She flicked up two fingers in a pitiful excuse of a wave and closed her eyes.

I grinned and followed my father out the door.

“You’re going to get whatever she has,” I pointed out.

He shrugged. “Maybe. Maybe not. I’m hoping not.”

“You just kissed her on the lips,” I told him. “You’re totally getting it.”

He grinned. “I’ll never leave without getting a kiss. I’ve been doing it for your entire life and won’t stop just because she has a cold. That’s the whole point of the ‘in sickness and in health’ thing that I signed up for the day we got married.”

I got into the passenger side of the truck and pulled out my phone, snapping a picture of myself and sending it.

“Who was that to?” he asked.

“Saylor,” I answered. “She told me to send her a picture.”

“Why?” he asked. “You’re going to be seeing her in ten minutes.”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. She asked. So I sent it to her.”

I giggled when I got a picture back.

Lock did not look happy to be getting a photo taken. Nor did he look amused by my sister-in-law’s attempt to take a picture.

“How much money are they trying to raise this year?” I asked as I put my phone into my bag.

Every year for the police banquet, they sold tickets to it and then donated the proceeds to whatever department most needed it. Tickets were two hundred dollars a pop, and I honestly wasn’t sure why so many cops were forced to go—cops like my father.

Luckily, the cops didn’t have to pay for their spots and plates, because otherwise they would’ve had some very unhappy people on their hands.

“No idea,” Dad admitted. “I think I missed that particular meeting.”

My lips twitched as we made our way down the long length of our driveway that led to the main road.

Dad didn’t seem in the best mood, so I chose to use the time that we had for the drive to catch up on a book I’d been really interested in reading, but hadn’t had time for.

By the time that we got to the banquet, I realized what a mistake it had been.

The book was good, and I’d rather curl up in my comfiest pajamas than go mingle with the area’s wealthiest people.

Alas, I knew how the banquet benefitted the Kilgore Police Department, so I chose to not be a total loser and pasted a smile on my face.

“Ready?” Dad asked as he held his hand out for me.

I nodded and took his hand, thankful that he’d stopped to help me across the uneven parking lot.

“I hate heels,” I admitted as we walked up the stairs.

Dad took them easily, waiting for me at the top as I took them much slower than him.

When I got to the top, Dad looked over my shoulder and nodded at someone.

I frowned and turned my head and nearly fell right down the stairs.

Because behind me was the hottest man I’d ever seen in my life.

The tall blonde man was looking debonair in a black suit. The only pop of color in his entire ensemble was his bowtie, which was hot pink.

His eyes looked black in the nearly dark night, and they were aimed directly at me.

I managed a smile, but only barely.

“Hello,” I said softly.

“Hi,” he replied, stopping two steps down.

Dad’s arm curled around my elbow as he helped me move out of the way.

“How’s life treating you, Hayes?” Dad asked the man at my back.

“Well,” Hayes replied. “Though, it’d be better if I wasn’t being forced to attend this.”

A shiver ran down the length of my spine.

His words sounded like everything I never knew that I needed.

Dark, sultry nights in a bed with the most unimaginable pleasure. A cooling breeze in the middle of a Texas summer. Dark velvet and chocolate.

Jesus, I was getting poetic over a man’s voice!

But holy shit, there was something very sexy about it.

I’d never heard a rasp quite like that before.

And the sexy drawl he had to it made me want to crawl into him and dissect the Southern accent.

I wanted to blurt out ‘where are you from?’ But barely refrained from making a fool of myself.

Instead, I smoothed my tongue over the front of my teeth and started walking, praying that I wouldn’t fall flat on my face in front of the sexiest man I’d ever seen.

That hope blew up and died the moment that I smiled at the man holding the door.

Ryan.

Son of a bitch.

My momentary inattention to the uneven ground had me nearly tripping and smacking my head on the concrete steps that led into the building that was hosting the event.