“From what I understand, the McBrides own most of the ranchland in the Prescott Valley,” Anna said. “And the Johnsons own a big chunk of Prescott itself.”
“There’s some truth to that,” Mike said. “But the Valley is so damned big that what the McBrides own is only a portion of what’s available out there. And the town has grown so much that the Johnsons’ share has gotten a good deal smaller.”
Anna nodded, thinking of Chad. He wore the mantle of being a Johnson like a king, whereas Mike seemed to be more humble. Even though she knew no love was lost between Mike and Chad, in Mike’s words and deeds he treated Chad with respect. She couldn’t say the same for Chad. She’d heard him tear down Mike more than once.
When Anna had eaten her fill, she pushed aside her appetizer plate and her eyes met Mike’s. She felt the need to fill the gap in conversation, but before she could say anything, he said, “I’ve been doing all the talking. Why don’t you tell me a little more about you and your family?”
Her scalp prickled. What the hell was she doing here? In her situation, she didn’t belong here and she shouldn’t be talking about her family. She’d been so attracted to Mike that she hadn’t been thinking clearly. She’d been letting her heart do all the thinking, ignoring her brain.
It wouldn’t hurt to tell him a little. “I live with my Aunt Maria, Uncle Tito, and two young cousins, Josie and Pablo. They are five and eight and good kids.” She smiled. “I adore them all.”
“Did they come with you from Bisbee?” Mike asked.
Anna shifted on her seat. “Yes.” To avoid talking any further about her family, she reached out to the appetizer tray and dipped her finger into the nacho cheese sauce. She brought her finger to her lips and sucked the cheese off.
Mike’s eyes seemed to go darker as he watched her and she felt suddenly trapped in his gaze. Her belly fluttered and her breath caught in her chest. She wondered if he was imagining what else she might do with her mouth and heat flushed over her as the image of such an erotic moment flashed through her mind.
She slowly drew her finger out of her mouth and tried to look away from him but couldn’t. It was an endless gaze that seemed to last forever yet it had been but a few heartbeats.
Finally she forced her eyes from his and looked at some of the other patrons. Nectars catered to an eclectic crowd and it was a great place to people watch. A couple kissed in a corner while a cluster of young women laughed and giggled in a booth. Nearby, one cowboy in a group of four was telling the others about a rattlesnake he’d killed on his property that he said had been at least eleven feet long and weighed fifteen to twenty pounds. She was wondering if rattlesnakes really could get that big.
When she turned back to Mike, he gave her a quick grin. “That boy’s telling a bit of a tall tale unless he’s discovered a record-sized diamondback. At most they can reach as much as eight feet long and weigh up to ten pounds.”
“That answers my question,” she said with a return grin, grateful to be past the intimate moment they had just shared. Before he could ask her more questions about her life, she hurried to say, “I’d better be going. I have an event on Friday—a wedding—and I need to be on top of my game.”
“I’ll walk you out to your car.” He signaled to Rosie who brought the check. Anna thought about offering to pay half, but knew inside that he wouldn’t agree to it.
After he laid out cash for the drinks and appetizers with the bill, he got up from his seat. He helped Anna off of her stool and assisted her with her wrap. He was such the gentleman that it made her smile.
Several people waved or nodded to Mike and said, “Goodnight, Sheriff.” She’d been enjoying herself so much that she’d started thinking of him as Mike and not as the sheriff anymore.
When they stepped out into the chill night, Anna hugged her wrap tighter around her. Mike shrugged out of his blazer and put it around her shoulders.
She looked at him with surprise. “You didn’t have to do that. Now you’ll be cold.”
“I’m doing just fine,” he said with a smile.
When they reached her car, she unlocked it with the remote and he opened the door for her. She looked up at him and her heart skipped a beat. He was looking at her with such intensity that it nearly took her breath away.
In that moment she wanted him to kiss her more than anything in the world. By the look in his eyes, he was thinking the same thing.
He rested one hand on the door, his other on the car, caging her in. His throat worked and he said, “Thank you for meeting me tonight. I enjoyed your company.”
“I enjoyed yours, too.” She mentally braced herself. Was he going to kiss her? Should she let him? God, how she wanted him to.
“Can I call you tomorrow?” he asked.
She nodded. “My mobile phone is the number I called you from.”
“Great.” He smiled. “When I call, you can let me know then if you’re still interested in working for my campaign.”
“Okay.” She gripped the handle of her purse. “Thank you for the drink and appetizers.”
Their eyes held and she just knew he was going to kiss her. And she wanted him to with everything she had.
He took a step back. “Good night, Anna.”
A rush of disappointment shot through her. She didn’t want the night to end, yet she’d been the one to tell him she had to leave.
Something flickered in his eyes and he reversed and closed what distance had been between them. He slid his fingers into her hair and cupped the back of her head, and put his other hand to the small of her back. He drew her body closer to his as he brought his mouth down on hers in a decisive movement.
He’d moved so quickly, he caught her off guard. Her lips parted. He took her in a thorough kiss, his mouth firm against her soft lips. She kissed him back, a sigh escaping her into his mouth.
With a low groan, he drew away and raised his head. He slid his fingers from her hair and ran his thumb over her lips slowly. “I shouldn’t have done that.” He studied her. “I should have asked.”
She could barely think, much less talk. Still she got out the words that betrayed her. “I wanted you to.”
“You’d better get on home now.” He caressed her hair from where it lay across her cheek.
“Good night, Mike,” she said softly. She started to climb into her car when she realized she was still wearing his blazer over her shoulders. She started to take it off. “Oh. Don’t forget—”
He stilled her hands. “I’ll get it from you next time I see you.”
She gripped the blazer. “Are you sure?”
“It’ll give me an excuse to see you again,” he said with a searching look.
“You don’t need an excuse,” she said softly.
What am I saying
beat at the back of her thoughts, but her stupid heart ignored her brain.
He smiled. “I’m going to wait until you’re safely on your way.”
She slid into the car, started it, and turned on the heater before looking up at him. “Good night, Mike.”
He rested his hand on the door. “Good night, Anna.” He shut the door firmly and it severed the connection that she’d felt between them. That connection had kept her warm and now she felt the chill air that hadn’t been heated yet inside her car.
She glanced at him as he stood aside while she pulled her car from the curb. She looked in the rearview mirror one last time as she drove down the street to see him still standing, watching her drive away.
Dear God, what was she doing?
She shook her head and gripped the steering wheel. She was going to have to stop this before it went any further.
Her lips still tingled from his kiss and she put her fingertips against them. Without warning, the backs of her eyes started burning. What she wouldn’t give for things to be different.
She moved her hand from her mouth and gripped the steering wheel. Wishing wasn’t going to make any difference, but she had control over what would happen from this time on. She’d just have to tell Mike that she wasn’t in a place in her life for a relationship at this time. Yes, that’s what she would do.
For no reason at all she felt a sense of loss. She shook her head and pushed the feeling away. She didn’t even know Mike so she was losing nothing.
Then why did her chest squeeze until her heart hurt?
Love at first sight or at first touch had never seemed possible until tonight. For her it had been at first kiss.
“That’s impossible,” she said aloud, her voice sounding raw. “It is not possible at all.”
But her heart knew differently. Her only choice was to squash what her heart felt. She had to go with what her head knew she was supposed to do.
Chapter 4
All night, Anna’s dreams had been filled with Mike. She tossed and turned, barely able to sleep. Her dreams had turned erotic, the kiss they’d shared becoming something far more intimate. She dreamt of his touch, of his body weighing hers down as he slid between her thighs…
In the morning her head ached and she felt as if she’d been crying even though she hadn’t been. She pushed her fingers through her hair and was determined to get her head on straight.
When she got out of bed, she spotted his blazer lying over a chair in her room, moved toward the chair, and picked up the blazer. She brought it to her nose, inhaling Mike’s scent.
Her stomach flip-flopped as she imagined having him wrapped around her instead of the blazer. She dropped it back on the chair as if it might burn her if she held it any longer.
After she’d showered and put on her makeup, she dressed in a pair of black slacks and a cream sweater, along with a pair of black ankle boots. When she was prepared to face the day, she wandered out of her bedroom. Before she even reached the kitchen, she caught the wonderful smell of chorizo and eggs and her stomach growled. She headed into the kitchen and saw her aunt preparing breakfast at the stove.
At five feet tall, Aunt Maria was an inch shorter than Anna. Maria had a full figure and her gray hair was pulled back into a tight bun. She wore an apron over her uniform and sturdy shoes.
“Good morning, Aunt Maria,” Anna said in Spanish.
Her aunt still struggled with English and usually admonished Anna to speak in English to help her better learn the language. Anna’s aunt and uncle had come to the U.S. from Mexico City. The children were born in the U.S.
Today when Maria looked over her shoulder, she responded in Spanish, “You look tired, my child.”
“I’m fine.” Anna switched to English as she opened the fridge and pulled out a carton of orange juice. “Where is everyone?”
“Of course your Uncle Tito left early for work with the landscaper.” Maria enunciated each word clearly but with a strong accent. She picked up the frying pan and slid the chorizo and eggs onto a plate then added a folded homemade flour tortilla. “Your cousins are at school.”
“It’s that late?” Anna set the orange juice on the counter as she glanced at the clock. It was after nine. She took a glass out of a cabinet. “What are you doing here, fixing me breakfast?”
Maria got out a fork and a napkin. “Josephina called last night. Our first house cancelled,” she said as she carried the plate of chorizo and eggs, as well as the fork and napkin, to the table. Maria worked for a house cleaning service.
Anna knew her aunt was disappointed at the loss of income and a twinge of guilt stabbed at Anna’s belly for her shopping spree yesterday. Not that it would have made a difference in the household. Anna would have gladly paid all of the rent, utilities, and groceries, but her aunt and uncle were proud and insisted on paying half of everything. It hurt their pride deeply if they couldn’t make their half and still send money to relatives in Mexico. Anna just felt guilty because she could afford so much and they had so little. But they wouldn’t allow her to spend money on them.
Knowing that her aunt wouldn’t be pleased at Anna’s train of thought, she made herself smile and she said, “It looks and smells so good.”
Maria pointed toward the breakfast table. “Sit.”
Anna put the carton of juice back into the fridge and carried her glass to the table. She slid into a seat and held back a grin. “Yes, ma’am.”
With a return smile, Maria set the plate in front of Anna along with a fork and a napkin. “You are right. It is good.”
Anna set her glass on the table. “Is that menudo I smell, too?” Anna said as she picked up her fork.
“It will be ready for dinner.” Maria untied her apron and pulled it over her head. “It is time for me to go. We have a house at nine-thirty.” She hung the apron on a hook inside the pantry door before closing the door. “Tomorrow is an event, yes? A wedding?”
Anna swallowed the delicious bite of her breakfast. “Yes.” In the past, she had offered her aunt and uncle various jobs to help at her events, but they considered that charity, too, so she’d learned not to ask them. “It’s in Phoenix so I’ll be leaving early.”
Maria rested her hand on Anna’s shoulder. “You’re a good girl, our little Anna.”
“Who are you calling little?” Anna grinned at her aunt. “Last I checked you were shorter than me.”
Maria laughed and squeezed Anna’s shoulder. “I will see you tonight.”
“Would you like a ride to Josephina’s?” Anna asked. “I can save this and eat it when I get back.”
Maria took her house keys off of a hook and slipped them into her pocket. “You eat while it’s still hot. I will walk. It does me good.”
“See you later, Aunt Maria,” Anna said fondly to her aunt.
Maria gave a smile and a nod and headed out of the kitchen to the living room and then out the front door. Josephina’s home was a fifteen-minute walk from Anna’s house, but Maria walked every day. She didn’t have a driver’s license much less a vehicle to drive. Uncle Tito drove their old pickup truck to work early in the mornings.
As Anna cleaned the breakfast dishes, she kept turning thoughts of last night over and over in her mind. What had she been
thinking
? This was her life, her reality. She couldn’t date a sheriff and endanger the welfare of the ones she loved.
With new resolve, she shrugged into her jacket, grabbed her purse then headed out to her car. Before running errands, she needed to go to Chandra’s home and see her friend for a few minutes. Anna had to tell Chandra that she’d gone out on a date with Mike before Chandra heard it from someone else.