The crowd moved, and he realized with a shock that the woman’s friends were none other than Police Chief Maya Badger and Jessica Dixon from the Sweet Harbor Bakery.
Kate was friends with the police chief.
He too was friends with the police chief, more or less. They had their conflicts, as firefighters and police officers often did, but he respected Maya Badger. He definitely respected her enough to stay the hell away from her friend.
Maybe he should stop staring at her and focus on his job. At least for now.
The song ended and he sat down on his stool and took a break while the singer talked to the crowd.
Kate had disappeared, possibly into the bathroom. He caught Maya’s eye and beckoned to her. A few minutes later, she appeared next to the stage. Honestly, he barely recognized her in that gold top with her hair all wild.
“Question for you. Your friend Kate. I met her earlier tonight. I don’t want to step on—”
“It’s all good. Go for it.”
He narrowed his eyes at her. Maya could be hard to figure out because she played her cards close to the vest. “That was quick.”
She wagged a finger at him. “Just don’t tell her who you are, that’s my only advice. Also, don’t tell her where you live.”
“What the hell? Why not?”
“Look, just go with it. She’s great. And she thinks you’re hot. So far as I know, that’s the only thing really wrong with her.”
He scowled at her. “Save your insults for the job, why don’t you?”
“But why would I, when they’re so fun no matter what the circumstances?”
With a growl, he took a sip of the water the waitress had left him. “I only have a couple minutes before the next set. Come on, give me something more or I’ll tell everyone I saw you dancing in a gold lamé top and Lost Harbor will never be the same after that.”
She smirked and folded her arms across her chest. “You wouldn’t.”
He raised one eyebrow and held her gaze. But this was Maya Badger he was dealing with, and he quickly caved. “Okay, I probably wouldn’t. I’m not that kind of guy.”
“Aaaaand, because you know I don’t care all that much.”
“Good point. Okay, at least give me the lowdown on your friend. Is she single?”
“She’s single. She’s very cool. Smart, funny, weird taste in men. She’s from the Lower Forty-Eight. But she spent summers here growing up.”
From out of state. That was a good thing. It could be hard dating in such a small town. A woman who lived somewhere else…yeah, that could work.
“But look, you should get to know her for yourself. Want me to pass a note to her or something?”
He gave her his most intimidating lip curl. “I can take it from here, thanks. I just want to make sure I’m not going to get on your bad side.”
“What makes you think you were ever on my good side?”
“Believe me, nothing makes me think that,” he said wholeheartedly, making her laugh. “I just don’t want to backslide.”
“You have my blessing. Just…” she hesitated.
“Just what?”
“Keep me out of it.”
“Why?”
“This is girls’ night out. We’re trying to have fun. I don’t want her pestering me about you. The two of you are on your own, okay? Either you click or you don’t. I don’t want to be involved.”
“Fair enough.”
She leaned in just a little farther and gave him a quick wink. “Word has it the owner rents the cabins out back.”
“I know. They gave me one for the night as payment for filling in. They’re pretty nice.” At least from what he’d seen; he’d barely had time to drop his bag on the bed before the mini-rehearsal.
A wide grin spread across her rich brown face. “Sounds like destiny to me. But what do I know? I’m just a cop. Have a fun night, Chief.”
“You too, Chief.”
They added a high-five to that, completing their usual sendoff. Maya disappeared back into the crowd.
The singer picked up the mic again, sending a twang of static through the sound system. “All right, who’s ready to keep on rocking?”
And it was back to work.
But not without one more glance at Kate. This time, she was looking back. Their gazes caught. And held. And she gave him the naughtiest smile this side of reform school.
He missed his cue. Oops.
Well, it wouldn’t be the first time a woman had completely thrown him off track. Judging by the electricity sizzling between him and Kate, it would be worth it.
At least she wasn’t from around here, so she couldn’t do any permanent damage to his life.
All the stress. All the worry. All the annoyance at her father. It all went floating away as Kate threw herself into dancing. Sometimes you just needed to let loose and have fun. Especially when your life had gone to shit. Here she was at the ends of the Earth and the beat was insane and the tequila was kicking in and for the first time in a long time…Kate felt fine.
And Darius in the black cowboy hat looked even more fine.
Their eyes kept meeting…they kept smiling at each other…and every time she looked his way, he got more attractive. She was dancing for him. He was playing for her. He kept looking at her as if he wanted to jump off the stage and eat her alive.
This was really happening, even though it felt almost surreal, as if she was dreaming the entire thing.
She was very, very out of practice at anything that didn’t involve legal filings or growing peonies. Even drinking, for that matter. The Moose is Loose poured generous shots and the waitress was keeping them well-supplied. Was Maya ordering them? Jessica? Did it matter?
The moments blended together in a happy, seamless blur. The taste of lime on her tongue, the thump of the beat, the smell of her own sweat.
At some point Maya went to the restroom. Jessica had gotten into a soulful conversation with a cute guy. Kate was basically dancing alone.
This was it. Time for Naughty Kate to make a move on that mud-rescuing, cowboy-hat-wearing, bass-playing hottie.
On the one hand, she knew perfectly well that she was hellaciously buzzed and probably not making the best decisions. But that was the entire point. She wanted to do One Stupid Thing. Well, technically…One More Stupid Thing. This was happening, damn it.
As long as he was definitely from Oregon.
Hauling in a deep breath, she slid through the crowd, dodging elbows and beer bottles.
“Ow, ow, ow,” she kept saying; her dodging skills clearly needed some work.
Finally she made it to the stage. Darius hadn’t noticed her; he was sitting on a stool next to the standup bass, casually propping it up with one hand as he leaned back to listen to the something the drummer was telling him.
She reached onstage and tugged at his pants leg. He didn’t notice because he was too wrapped up in the conversation with the drummer. So she rapped lightly on his shin with her knuckles.
It was hard as a tree, that shin. This man was packed with muscle, every part of him.
When he still didn’t turn around, she tried again—harder.
So hard she activated an automatic response and his foot jerked toward her, kicking her on the shoulder.