Sheriff's Choice - Jacki James Page 0,2

were sexy as fuck.

Our eyes met again, and he smiled. “Umm, you have my coffee.”

“Oh, yeah.” I looked at my hand, which indeed still held his cup of coffee. I slowly removed my hand from his side, and I handed him his drink. I watched as he left the shop, then I turned back to Tony and placed my order.

“Who was that?” I asked.

“Oh, that’s Cody Iverson.”

“The guy who bought Joe’s place?”

“Yep, real nice guy. He’s become a regular. I think he’s hooked on Frankie’s scones.”

“Well, Frankie’s scones are good. I need to get down there and say hi. I kept meaning to and just haven’t made it there yet.”

3

Cody

“I don’t know, Jinxy. I think maybe I need to go clothes shopping. I have work clothes, and I have club clothes, but I don’t have hang-out-at-the-local-bar clothes.” Jinx meowed, hopping off the bed and coming over to rub around my legs. I leaned down and ran my hand along his sleek back the way he liked. I grabbed a pair of jeans and a V-neck t-shirt from the closet and tossed them on the bed.

“You would like my new friends, maybe you’ll get to meet them one day,” I continued as I dressed. He sat on the floor looking up at me, listening to me talk. He did that a lot. He reminded me of a dog in some ways, but he was all cat in others. I’d found him behind the trashcan of the apartment I lived in in Dallas when he was just a tiny baby. He was my constant companion and a great listener.

“What do you think?” I asked, turning to the cat with my arms out to my side. He licked his paw in obvious disinterest. “Fine, be that way, see if I give you any special treats tonight.”

His ears perked up at the mention of treats. He followed me out of the bedroom and down the hallway. “You, my friend, are a treat slut. No doubt about it.” I took his treat jar out of the cabinet and shook it. He wrapped himself around my legs. “And talk about things worth being slutty over, remember the big sexy sheriff I told you about from the other day? Well, I’ve seen him in the coffee shop every day this week, and that man is yummy. It’s weird. It’s almost like he’s waiting for me to come in. At first, I worried he thought I’d done something wrong. Some people can be judgy about people with tattoos, but he didn’t look at me like he was suspicious, just curious. He also brought in his SUV to be serviced, and he was nice then, so who knows.”

I gave Jinx a couple of treats, and he swallowed them without even chewing. Then, meowed for more. “See, treat slut,” I insisted.

In the end, the guys and I decided to skip the pizza place and take our chances at the bar. There were no Ubers in River Gorge, but Ripley had insisted on giving me a ride. He said Reed had already agreed to be the designated driver so we could all have a good time. I hadn’t met Reed yet, but if the way Ripley talked about him was any indication, he was a perfect ranch foreman, perfect husband, and a perfect Daddy.

I hurried down the steps that led from my apartment into my shop. As I passed through, I shook my head. It was still hard to believe that this was actually mine. I locked the shop door behind me, and I stood out front for Ripley to pick me up. I didn’t wait long before a huge pink jeep pulled up with the passenger window rolled down.

“Hey, Cody,” Ripley said. “Hop on in and let’s go.”

I crawled in the back, and a huge gorgeous cowboy turned to greet me. He tipped his hat like something out of a movie and said, “You must be Cody. I’m Reed. Nice to meet you.”

“You too. Ripley’s told me a lot about you.” I wasn’t kidding. Ripley talked about his husband all the time.

“Well, if you give him half a second, Ripley’ll tell you a lot about a lot of things,” he said with a chuckle.

“Hey!” Ripley exclaimed. “Are you implying I talk a lot? ‘Cause I don’t talk a lot. Frankie talks a lot, not me. I talk just enough. It’s like Goldilocks and the three bears. You talk too little, Frankie talks too much, and me, I’m just right.”

We pulled