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Josie couldn’t believe Mike had thrown away the key, ensuring they were going to remain stuck together. “Are you crazy?”

“Crazy about you.”

She ignored him. “Didn’t you hear what Kate said? That was the last key!”

“Yep. Still hungry? Let’s go to the café.”

What was the man thinking? He’d thrown away his chance to separate them, to keep from humiliating himself in public by being seen chained to the wild chick who owned the scandalous nail salon. Conservative, nice guy Mike Kincaid should have leaped at the opportunity - not tossed it away! “You’re still feverish.”

“I’m definitely on fire.” He pressed his body against hers. “For you.”

He didn’t seem to care that all around them people passed on the sidewalk or drove by in their cars. Jerking his arm, he intentionally dropped the jacket to the ground. Then, entwining his fingers with hers, he backed her up against a light pole, twisting her arm behind her back so he could pull her closer to him.

“You’ve lost your mind.”

“No. Just my heart.”

“I see the sheriff across the street.”

“Did you hear what I said?”

She’d heard. She just wasn’t listening. Because the nice, conservative, well-loved Deputy Mike Kincaids of the world didn’t go crazy over the smart-aleck, pierced, wild child Josie Marinos. “It’s fever. Sickness,” she said desperately.

He shook his head, pressing a kiss to her temple, then her cheekbone, then lower, until he brushed his lips against hers. “I want you so much,” he whispered, pressing against her hard enough to make her quiver at the feel of his big, strong body.

She went liquid and weak, aching for him again though she’d left his bed only an hour before. “Okay, it’s lust. That’s why you were so…different…when we were at your apartment. But this is the real world!”

“Lust, yeah. Definitely lust.” He grinned wickedly. “But lust isn’t what makes me like you so much. Lust isn’t why I sometimes sit in my apartment, listening to you move around in yours, wondering if you’re okay, if you’re reading, if you’re smiling. It doesn’t make me want to watch you sleep, want to hear you laugh, want to make you happy.”

She nibbled her lip.

He lowered his voice. “Lust didn’t make me throw away the key. It’s not what’s making me determined to keep you connected to me until you see what I’ve seen for a long time…that we’re a perfect match.”

“We’re too different,” she whispered. “I’m a guttersnipe.”

He raised a brow. “Guttersnipe? What the hell’s that?”

“And you’re so…respectable,” she muttered.

He rolled his eyes and muttered an obscenity. Then he hauled her onto her toes and caught her mouth in the hottest, wettest kiss she’d ever experienced. Right there on a public street in broad daylight. When he finally pulled away, he looked over her shoulder and nodded to someone.

“’Afternoon, ladies,” he said pleasantly.

She heard giggles but didn’t turn around.

“I might be an even-tempered man, Josie. That doesn’t mean I don’t want to spend the next fifty years doing every wild, outrageous thing you can dream up for us to try.”

“Fifty years?”

“At least. I love you. I know you aren’t ready to hear it, but I do. I’ve loved you since you threatened to neuter me if I ever made another Josie and the Pussycats joke.”

She began to believe, began to accept. “Oh, hell, Mike, you big, nice jerk,” she finally replied, almost wailing as she acknowledged the truth, “I think I love you, too!”

* * *

Mike was able to eat some fries with his left hand, but Josie had to help him with his burger. They laughed throughout their entire scandalous meal at the Rose Café. Plenty of people hailed Mike but stammered and stared when they saw the handcuffs.

He seemed to enjoy the notoriety. “What can I say, Tag?” he asked Sheriff Sean Taggart - his boss - who stopped at their table to say hello. “She’s relentless. Locked me up and threw away the key, wouldn’t let me go until she had her wicked way with me.”

Josie sunk down in her seat, but couldn’t go far since her arm was stretched across the table, attached to Mike’s.

“Let me guess.” Sheriff Taggart raised a brow. “You got the cuffs at the new store in town?”

Nodding, Josie remembered the rumors about the handsome young sheriff and Kate’s cousin, Cassie Tremaine Montgomery.

Tag shook his head as he turned away. “Why am I not surprised?”

After they finished eating, Mike led her outside. “Tell me about this store your friend owns. They actually sell things like these cuffs?”

She smiled. “Oh, they sell a lot of things.” Then she sighed. “But they’re not open yet.

Heat flashed in his eyes. “You think Kate might let us do a little preopening shopping? As repayment for the key trouble?”

“I think that’s an excellent idea!”

They walked into the front door of the store, immediately spying Cassie sitting on the floor folding lacy underpants. Mike seemed no more affected by the beautiful blonde than he had been by Kate, her dark-haired cousin.

But he did like the thong panties. She heard him murmur his approval as he shot her an intimate glance. Josie’s heart skipped a beat as she pictured modeling something provocative for him.

If they ever got uncuffed, of course.

“Cassie, I’m sorry - I know you’re not open, but the item in my goody bag was defective. I think you ought to let me pick out something else,” Josie said with a mischievous grin.

“Are you telling me none of those gift bags turned out?” Cassie replied. Josie cast a look at Mike, whose hand lay possessively on her hip. “I never said that.”

Then she noticed Cassie had not been alone in the store. Daisy Arnett was also doing some preopening bargain hunting. A handsome guy stood beside her, looking besotted.

“I never said that either,” Daisy said.

Hmm…sounded as though they’d both been pleasantly surprised by how much they’d liked their gifts. Josie suddenly remembered the creamy lace panties and bra that had been in Daisy’s bag. And pictured Mike pulling them off of her….

With his teeth.

“Well, then, what are you saying?” Cassie asked.

Daisy told Cassie she wanted another goody bag…one she’d be willing to pay for. Judging by the look in her boyfriend’s eyes, he looked ready to haul out his gold card and get her any damn thing she pleased. Considering Mike’s wide-eyed stare at the sultry, sexual products surrounding them in the store, Josie had a feeling he was ready to do the same thing.

She gulped. “Me, too. I want to buy something else, too.”

“Well, speak up,” Cassie said. “I’m busy. What is it you want?”

Hmm…sex toys? Erotic videos? Motion lotion, appliances, crotchless tights, or, God, wouldn’t she love whatever Kate Jones had been wearing under her dress at the mayor’s reception Saturday night, when rumor had it she’d practically had an orgasm in the middle of a crowd of people?

Unfortunately, Kate had told the ladies at the party that that particular item wasn’t ready for distribution. Josie had put her name on a waiting list.

Finally, she met Daisy’s eye and saw the satisfaction in the other woman’s face. “Your lingerie seems to have done wonders for you.” She lifted her wrist, bringing Mike’s hand up with hers. “And trust me on this. These worked wonders, too.” Mike squeezed her fingers, then brought her hand up to his mouth to press a soft kiss on it.

Josie grinned.

So did Daisy.

“I’ll take what she got,” they both said in unison.

Cassie chuckled, looking pleased at having played matchmaker, even if unintentionally.

“I’ll just take you,” Mike whispered in Josie’s ear while the other couple took some handcuffs from the store owner and walked out.

“Take me where? Shopping? To bed? To a locksmith?”

“Anywhere you want to go, Josie. Any way you want to get there.”

Leaning up to gently kiss his lips, she smiled, then giggled. “Okay…how about to Tibet. With monks and yaks. Or is it llamas? Or to the desert…on a motorcycle. Or naked hang-gliding…or…”

He ignored her rambling, tangled his fingers in her short, spiky hair and pulled her close for another of those mind-numbing, leg-weakening kisses. When he finally pulled away to let her draw in a deep, shaky breath, he said. “How about home?”

Josie nodded and melted into him. “Home sounds darn near perfect.”

He eyed a wicked-looking red lace teddy. “And Josie?”

“Yes?”

He grinned and shook the handcuffs. “You can just forget about any locksmith.”

The End




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