StrongArmsoftheLaw by Cerise DeLand Read Free Book Online Page B

Sauer. So I’m not as green—”
    “As a gringo?” He was smiling even though his expression
said he was not totally happy with what he was hearing.
    “Right. And there’s more.”
    He cast her a look of tolerance. “Hurry up. Tell me before I
spit wooden nickels here.”
    “I’m learning karate. I do tai chi when I can and—”
    “Fuck me.”
    “Well, I do hope so, honey.” She laughed and crossed her
arms, her breasts loving the movement, in lieu of having him lick them and nip
them.
    He reached over, sank his fingers in her hair and ruffled
her curls wildly. “Hope these last few months haven’t atrophied your muscles.”
    “I’ve done some work in my bedroom.”
    “Yeah? You were awfully quiet about it. Why didn’t you come
out and show me?”
    “Didn’t want to give you any ideas.”
    “Darlin’, I had ideas. I still have ’em. And no
amount of gyrating that body of yours in any way shape or form would make me
want you more.”
    She inhaled mightily. “Oh goody.”
    He snorted. “God help us both.
    “Tell me more about the ER duty.”
    As the miles went by, she told him about some of her most
memorable patients. The young thirty-something window-washer who had fallen
from his platform onto piles of garbage and miraculously broken only an arm and
a leg. The gang member who had taken a bullet to the head and survived to stand
trial for murder of one of his buddies. The teenage girl who suffered from a
head injury incurred when her boyfriend pushed her from his speeding car. The
thief who came in with multiple gunshot wounds given him by the man whose house
he’d tried to rob.
    “All that blood, all that destruction to a human body,” she
concluded on a somber note, “makes you value more every breath you take. Makes
you treasure every day that’s good. Makes you want to seize every good person
who comes into your life and make it a bigger joy.”
    He lifted her hand to his lips and pressed a kiss to her
fingers. “Sounds like you for me.”
    At his endearment, she felt her heart expand and fill with
all the sweet things she’d never sensed for any other man, never even
considered saying to any other man. “And you for me.”

Chapter Six
     
    “Wait here,” Rex pulled into the lot of a convenience store
on the outskirts of Alpine. A gas station, the place was tiny, selling traps
for javalinas and bobcats outside and fresh tacos inside. “Be right back.” He
hit the remote to lock her in.
    She sat, grinning like a Cheshire cat. How had she been so
lucky to get Rex? She’d never lived with a man, never wanted to. But this one
was perfect for her. And if she wanted to keep him, nurture the relationship,
she knew it was she who would have to move from the big city to wild west
Texas. No hardship there. What was scenery compared to the love of a good man?
Her gaze took in the scorched high plains, the scrub that gasped for water to
survive, the dust that covered everything with a fine mist. The blazing hot sun
that baked the truck so that she tried to open the window and couldn’t because
Rex had taken the key and the automatic windows didn’t work without it.
Glancing around, she saw an old yellow Camaro pull into the slot next to her.
But no one else was in the parking lot so she felt safe hitting the lock, and
opening her door a crack. Inhaling, she felt the August heat seep into her
lungs.
    Rex came outside to frown at her as he climbed into the
truck. “Not a good idea to open that, darlin’. My fault, I know. I should have
left you the keys.” He dumped a brown paper bag in her lap.
    She fished inside, happy as a clam. “Chocolate sauce?” She
held up the container, a question in her eyes.
    “No condoms in there.”
    “You must be kidding me. Doesn’t anyone do it in south
Texas?”
    He chuckled, as he checked the rearview mirror and put the
truck in gear. “Evidently, they do it so much in this part of town, the guy is
sold out.”
    She muttered her dismay.
    “But I