“Sure has been a crazy day, huh?” he said into the silence. His lean shoulders slumped and his head drooped, giving me a close-up view of his buzz cut.
“You could say that. It sure wasn’t the quiet and relaxed work environment I was promised,” I joked.
“Ha. Yeah, I bet. I’m sure that in two weeks, you’ll get quiet and relaxed. Today has been . . . different. This is the craziest thing to happen to me in my two years as a deputy here.”
Milo was attempting to mask it with a brave face, but his shaking hands betrayed his shock.
Just as I was about to ask Milo more about himself, a deep, rumbling voice from outside the curtains interrupted.
Milo’s hand jerked in mine and I turned as the curtains surrounding the bed flew to the side.
I opened my mouth to ask what was going on but the words got stuck in the back of my throat. My brain short-circuited. All of my attention was focused on the man standing right in front of me.
Seated on my stool, I had to tip my head way back to examine his face. I blinked a few times because this man was so ruggedly handsome I had to be imagining him.
He had light brown hair, long and messy at the top. It was styled in the I-just-showered-and-ran-my-hands-through-it look. What would it feel like if my hands were the ones to give it that style?
He had defined cheekbones and a strong jaw dusted with a bit of stubble. Along with the matching gun and badge, he wore the same tan shirt as Milo. But instead of the draping and boxy shape it had on my patient, the tight fit hinted at strong muscle and broad shoulders.
My mind wandered from the lines of the starched cotton shirt tucked into the jeans at his narrow hips to his rippled abs and how hard they would feel underneath my fingertips.
From his large thighs to his square-toed boots, his faded jeans fit his long legs so well they looked custom-made for him and only him.
I couldn’t be sure, but based on the rest of his physique, he probably had a great ass. There was no way a man could have those powerful thighs, that flat stomach and those strong arms without an ass sculpted perfectly with rounded muscle.
And I loved a man with a great ass. An ass that just begged to be squeezed while he was on top of you.
But what catapulted him beyond any good-looking man I’d ever seen before were his eyes, light blue eyes flecked with white. Bright, like the color of ice. I had never seen such a hue before. Did they melt when he kissed someone, or did the ice become even brighter?
Shaking my head a little, I blinked rapidly. I was sitting here, fanaticizing and ogling this guy. I needed to stop staring and turn back into a professional. Maybe try and breathe again?
Thankfully, the perfect man wasn’t paying me the slightest bit of attention. His focus was solely on Milo. Had he even registered my presence? No, but at the moment, that was probably a good thing because he was not happy.
He firmly planted his hands on his hips and leaned into Milo’s face, firing question after question.
“Milo, you want to tell me why it’s taken nearly two hours after you arrived at the Silver Dollar this morning for me learn about the situation?”
He didn’t wait for Milo’s response.
“Why it wasn’t called into the station? Why you chose to call Sam from your cell? So while I’ve been doing paperwork at my desk, Sam’s been standing around the crime scene wondering where the fuck I was. Or while you’ve been sitting in the hospital, waiting to get stitched up, I’ve been doing fucking paperwork?”
Milo’s face paled at the verbal assault and he looked to his boots, muttering, “I’m sorry, Sheriff. I’m wigging out. That scene was fucked. I don’t even remember calling Sam or driving up here. I swear I thought I was in the waiting room for just a few minutes.”
The sheriff calmed down marginally, in that he was no longer yelling, and let out an audible breath. Then he reached out and placed a large hand on Milo’s shoulder.
“You wig out, Milo, you call me. I’ll help you sort it.”
Milo nodded.
Scowling, the sheriff turned to me and looked me over from head to toe. He actually appeared to be angrier at me than he had been at Milo.
What was that about?
“Are you about done drooling over me so you can finish patching him up?” he snapped.
My cheeks instantly flushed. My tongue swelled to about three times its normal size and I couldn’t find the right words to respond.
Damn. He had noticed me staring.
