Where We Began (Stone Lake 2.5)

“I don’t know, can you?”

“Cute,” I mutter, shaking my head at her. “You want to tell me why you ran to your brother about me coming over and checking on you? If I was bothering you, you should have just told me.”

“Would it have stopped you?” she asks, after studying my face.

“Not in the slightest,” I answer honestly, which makes her laugh softly.

“I thought so. But, just to clear the record up, I didn’t run to my brother about you checking on me. I told him I was fine for like the hundredth time and then I told him he could call his watchdog off.”

“That would be me, I expect.”

“That would be you,” she says, leaning over with her arms folded down on the bar, mostly supporting her. I do my best to ignore the free view of cleavage that gives me. I mostly fail in that effort.

“There’s something about me you need to know, Junie.”

“What’s that, Sheriff?”

“I’m not anyone’s lapdog.”

“I believe I said watchdog,” she corrects me.

“But you insinuated I’d be watching you for him. That would make me his lapdog. I haven’t been doing anything other than looking in on a single woman in town who has had a rough time, and making sure someone had her back until she was healed up enough to have her own. I figure that time is pretty close since you’re working.”

“Then, I guess I should thank you,” she responds studying my face.

“Maybe, but let me add this. If you want me for a watchdog, all you have to do is say so and for you I’d do it, without question.”

“Is that a fact?”

“A definite fact.”

“What kind of pay does a watchdog get these days, Sheriff? Would I have to feed you treats, or do I scratch you behind the ears? Or, would you prefer I rub your… belly?”

She’s flirting, but sill reserved, compared to the Junie who throws sass and gives me hell. She definitely needs someone to have her back still.

Even if she doesn’t realize it.

“We could play it by ear, but I am kind of partial to belly rubs.”

She laughs, as I intended. A customer waves for her attention and she walks away, still glancing at me.

I don’t know what the hell I’m doing, but for some reason I can’t seem to leave Junie alone, and I’m going to stop trying…

Junie

“I can’t believe you followed me home,” I murmur, as Ben puts one hand against my house and leans over me.

“The way all those men were looking at you in there? I had to. It’s my job.”

“You’re crazy.”

“Probably,” he says, smiling down at me.

I have my key in my hand, the edges biting against my palm. I should be nervous, but after having the night with Ben sitting at my bar, laughing and talking to him when I could… it’s remarkable, but I don’t feel nervous at all. I actually feel… kind of safe, which is a completely new feeling to me.

“Are you coming in?” I ask, and I might feel safe, but I’m a little nervous about what inviting him in might mean.

I hate that I feel like this. I’m not this person. I embraced my sexuality a long time ago. I’ve had men in my bed that I liked, some I cared for, and some I just used to get off and they did the same. Once I got old enough to figure out what I wanted in life, I wanted a committed relationship. I thought I found that in Shred. I truly did. At first it was awesome, but it sure as hell didn’t stay that way and I stayed in that relationship longer than I should have. I left him behind only to come here and have some pencil dick rip off my clothes and try to make me suck him off. I didn’t let him willingly, and it never got very far because the harder he punched the harder I’d bite when he tried. Eventually he hit so hard that I blacked out and he couldn’t have what he wanted before Luna arrived.

There’s this huge part of me that wants to let Ben inside to use him. Take him to bed, use him to forget what happened, and to erase the memories of that day with memories of him. A woman would be insane not to know that Ben Kingston would be able to rock her world in bed. It emanates through every pore the man has. Hell, if my brain wasn’t so fucked up, I’m pretty sure he could give me an orgasm just by looking at me. He’s that intense. That sexy.

“If I come in there, things would happen that I’m not sure either of us is ready for.”

“Maybe not, but I’m betting it would be fun.”

“Oh yeah, that’s a given,” he rumbles. His voice vibrates, waking areas of my body up that have been dormant for way too long.