It looked fucking great on Dusty.

She had her black also fringed purse dangling from her shoulder, a big, white baker’s box in her hands and balanced visibly precariously on top were two large, white paper cups he knew by their plastic lids and cardboard sleeves were coffee.

Her eyes hit his, she smiled and said, “Awesome, you’re up.” Then he lost her attention as she moved through the room toward him, eyes on the box she was balancing and she muttered, “Grab the coffees, babe. We do not need tragedy in the form of the genius of Hilligoss consumed without coffee to wash it down.”

She stopped in front of him, he took the cups and tried to calm his temper. The minute he took them, she moved to the bed, put the box on it and then shrugged her bag off her shoulder, turning and tossing the clearly expensive purse carelessly across the bed to the chair.

She did this talking.

“I learned this morning you never lose the sixth sense only those born and raised in The ‘Burg have.” Her gaze came to him and she was grinning, her dark brown eyes dancing as she announced with mock gravity, “The Hilligoss Sense.” She turned away and was shrugging off her coat and ditto with tossing it across the bed to the chair as she continued, “Got there upon opening on a Sunday. Meant I was fifth in line.” She turned back to him, still smiling. “Got my choice of the whole plethora of Hilligoss delights. I bought two dozen. A Hilligoss smorgasbord. Babe, at home, I dream of a white baker’s box filled with Hilligoss goodness. Outside of my family, it’s the best part of coming home.”

“Beau called.”

She blinked at his words. Then her eyes moved over his face.

“Three times,” Mike finished.

Dusty held his eyes.

Then, to his surprise, she shifted so her back was to the bed and she flopped right down on it.

Lifting both her hands to her face, she muttered from behind them, “Fuck. Beau. Clueless. Clue…less! Fuck!”

“Gave me a message,” Mike carried on, walking the coffees to the nightstand and shoving shit aside to put them there. He straightened and concluded, “Says he wants his woman to call him. Immediately.”

Her hands went away from her face and just her head bent up so her eyes could find his.

“He called me his woman?”

“Yep.”

“To you?”

“Yep.”

“And you’re sure he wasn’t talking about, say, some other woman who is absolutely not me.”

“Yep.”

She stared at him.

Then her head fell back as her hands came down hard, her arms and palms slapping the bedclothes.

“That fucking fucker!” she snapped to the ceiling.

Mike stared at her.

It appeared he’d made another erroneous call about Dusty Holliday.

Fuck.

He walked to the bed and entered it, settling on a hip with one hand to her stomach, the other hand in the bed. Looming over her he watched her glare at the ceiling.

“I take it he’s full of shit,” Mike muttered and just her eyeballs rolled to him.

“Yeah, Mike, Beau is full…of…shit.” She paused then snapped loudly, “Shit!”

Then she suddenly knifed up and leaned to the side. Reaching out, she snatched her phone off the nightstand. Then she sat back and Mike fell to a forearm as he watched her finger sliding and jabbing on the screen of her phone.

She put it to her ear, waited as she crossed her legs then irritably started bouncing a cowboy-booted foot and within seconds began talking.

Or, more to the point, hissing.

“Are you fucking nuts?” Pause then, “No, Beau, don’t answer that. I know you are. First, my brother is dead, it isn’t even seven in the morning my time, in Texas it’s earlier and you’re phoning me?” This ended in a question but she didn’t give him time to answer before she continued sarcastically. “You think, maybe, if I’m sleeping, I might want to sleep instead of getting a phone call from my ex-boyfriend who didn’t catch the big, honkin’ clue I shot his way when I kicked his ass out that we…are…over?” Again, she didn’t wait for a reply, she kept going. “And second, we’re over! For the last time stop calling me!”

Then she took the phone from her ear, jabbed her finger at the screen, hit a button on the side then twisted her torso and tossed it over Mike to the chair. It bounced on her clothes and bag and settled.

She flopped to her back in front of him again, her body bouncing too before it settled.

Then she grumbled, “He ruined Hilligoss goodness shared with a hot guy.”

Mike couldn’t help it. Five minutes before, he was pissed and convinced he’d been played.

Right then, he thought she was fucking hilarious.

So he burst out laughing.

When he was done and looked down at her, she surprised him again. This was because she no longer appeared pissed, she was grinning.

“So I take it you and that guy are over,” Mike drawled and then he got to watch as Dusty burst out laughing.

Fuck, her laughter was as musical as her voice. He’d forgotten that too. Until last night when he got that gift back. And just like everything about her, with maturity, it had gotten a fuckuva lot better.

He settled his hand on her stomach again, felt it tremble with her laughter and watched her hilarity play out, enjoying every second.

Still chuckling, her eyes came to him and she confirmed, “Yeah, babe, Beau and me are over.”

This was good news.

But what went down that morning was not and he wasn’t thinking about his again jumping to conclusions but Beau whoever-the-fuck acting like a psycho.

“Do I need to be worried about this?” he asked quietly and, with regret, watched the humor die from her eyes.

“I wanna say no,” she answered just as quietly. “But, it kills me, this shit this morning, he called yesterday and asked if I wanted him to come up to be with me…I’m not getting a good feeling.”

Mike wasn’t either.

She got up on her elbows and gave him her entire focus which included her openness.

“We were together a while, two and a half years. Part of that, he was moved in with me. It went bad a while ago. I’m not getting any younger, I want kids and in the beginning, it was good. I fought for it. Beau’s clueless and he didn’t. I kicked him out four months ago. That woke his shit up but it was too late. It was just over and I was moving on. I wasn’t going back. I’m not going back. He’s not getting that. He can be stubborn and I know he cares about me so, at first, it was just a nuisance. Now, it’s getting a little crazy.” Her gaze drifted to her phone. “And this morning, whacked.” Her eyes came back to him. “He really told you I was his woman?”

“Pissed I answered the phone. Didn’t hide it. Told me he was your man and you were his woman. So yeah, he made it clear in a thirty second conversation and he did it three times.”

Her eyes went unfocused and she whispered, “Damn.”

Mike’s hand pressed lightly into her stomach and her eyes refocused.

“He called three times,” he explained. “Three times in less than ten minutes. I wouldn’t have answered, honey, but I was worried it was an emergency.”

Her eyes held his but they went soft and unbelievably fucking sweet when she said something that felt unbelievably good to hear.

“I get that you think I care you answered my phone, babe, but I don’t. Got nothing to hide. Just sorry he fed you that bullshit.”

“You don’t have to apologize,” he told her and her fast grin came back.

“Did it all the same,” she replied.

Mike moved his hand to the side of her neck as he leaned into her, giving her some of his weight and taking her off her elbows. The instant his weight settled on her, her arms wrapped around him.

“Don’t know it all but this doesn’t seem like healthy behavior,” Mike warned carefully.

“I’m thinking I agree but I’ll be okay,” she assured but Mike didn’t feel assured.

She was confident, that was clear. She was honest and had no problem speaking her mind, even in a confrontation. That was clear too. But she was also a single, five foot six woman. She was not skinny. She had a great ass, great tits and they were abundant in a good way. What they weren’t was packed with power.

So he started, “Dusty –”

He stopped when her arms gave him a squeeze.

“I’m tight with a local cop, Mike,” she told him softly and grinned again. “He’s an anomaly. Married to one of my girls, a good guy who got himself a decent woman. He knows Beau. I get home, I’ll go to their house, have a chat. Give him a heads up. Knowing Hunter, he’ll take some time, find Beau, have a quiet word.” Her arms gave him another squeeze. “That doesn’t work, again, knowing Hunter, he’ll round up a few of his buddies and have another one that’ll be harder to ignore. It’s okay, honey. I’m good.”

Listening to her calm, warm sincerity, speaking about her friends, Mike was pleased and displeased.

He was pleased she had someone she trusted to take her back. He was pleased she had friends she clearly cared about. Just like last night he was pleased to hear her talk about what she did, how much she loved it. She was easy to read. She had a good life she enjoyed living.

But he was displeased she had friends she cared about she trusted to take her back and a good life she enjoyed living.

Because all this was in a small town outside San Antonio.

Twice, he’d assumed wrongly about Dusty. Twice, she proved she was just who she was.

With what happened with Audrey and Vi, he kept reading it wrong and Dusty kept proving she was just who she appeared to be.

It was very early. He was cautious. But that didn’t mean he didn’t like this.

He did. He liked it. What they had. The easiness of it.

What he didn’t like was that they had this morning and then she was gone. Which meant the future of it was up in the air in all new ways.

He had two kids to raise and put through college. Still, he could swing a trip to Texas once, maybe twice a year. He’d been working for The ‘Burg’s Police Department since he graduated the Academy the year after he graduated from Purdue. This meant he’d earned a shitload of vacation. So he had the time, time that wouldn’t cut into his vacations with No and Reesee.

Dusty made her own pottery and was self-employed so she could make time too.

But, this shit worked, there would come a time when he wouldn’t want her going to bed in Texas while he hit the sack in The ‘Burg. And he knew that because his gut was already tight knowing she was going. So, if this went the distance, that time could be soon. And even wary, in less than a day, Dusty had passed test after test so everything was pointing to the fact this could go the distance.

And when it did, one of them would have to give up home. That wasn’t a possibility for Mike. Not for three years. Not until Reesee was in college.

Which meant, they wanted to make a go of it, Dusty would have to up stakes and come home. Home to a place she escaped as soon as she could after graduating high school.

And he didn’t know if she’d be willing to do that.

He’d had a woman not willing to make an important sacrifice to keep them together. And Audrey’s refusal to do so was whacked. Dusty’s would be justified. He didn’t need to be walking, eyes open, into the same fucking thing.

“Hey, gorgeous,” she called softly, her hand lighting on his neck, her thumb moving out to stroke his jaw and his eyes refocused on her. When they did, she asked, “Was it a nice trip?”

He had no clue what she was talking about.

“Pardon?”

“You were miles away, honey.”

He was.

“I’ll be okay,” she assured reading his mood incorrectly. “Hunter is a good guy. You want, I’ll give you his phone number. You can talk to him. See for yourself.”

He stared down at her.

Christ, totally open. One hundred percent.

Still, he took her up on her offer.

“Yeah, I want that.”

She grinned. “Done.” Then she went on, “Best part, you give a shit.” Her head tipped to the side on the mattress and her thumb did a sweep of his jaw as she finished quietly, “Like that, babe.”

Again he stared down at her. Her hair fanned out on the bed. That pink in her cheeks. That soft look on her face.

Fuck, he needed to fuck her. Immediately.

“How set are you on eatin’ those donuts, sweetheart?”

Her eyes flared in that way he felt in his dick. He’d learned last night they did that same exact thing frequently when he had his hands on her, his dick moving inside her. And that flare turned to a blaze seconds before he made her come.