Aurora's Cowboy Daddy. Melinda Barron

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      Holt entered his office to find Hawk sitting in a guest chair, his legs stretched out and his boots on the edge of the desk. He was swiping his finger up the screen of his phone. Holt sat down in his chair and assumed the same position.

      “Get your damn boots off my desk.”

      “Up yours,” Hawk said as he continued to focus on his phone. After a few seconds he put it on his chest and said, “So, how’s the new girl? Austin says she’s a looker, old but very pretty.”

      “Old to him maybe,” Holt picked up the application Aurora had filled out online and he’d printed out to show his brothers. “She’s thirty-one,” he said after he’d found the date of her birth.

      “A three-year sentence? In prison for six months, and now off two and a half years of parole? On what charge? Murder? That seems like a very light sentence.”

      “Involuntary manslaughter,” Holt answered. “She calls herself a convicted murderer, but that’s not what she was convicted of. I told her she’d get a chance to tell her story tonight, but her parole officer said she was defending herself. It’s why the sentence was so low.”

      “How’s her personality?” Hawk asked.

      “Skittish,” Holt said. “She answers questions with one or two words, and twice I saw her jerk away as if she were afraid I was going to hit her.”

      “Bastard,” Hawk said. Then he held up his hand. “Her husband, not you.”

      “Yeah, right,” Holt said with a laugh. Of his six brothers, Holt was the closest to Hawk, the only lawman in their small town. They traded jabs and insults and let it roll off each other’s backs with laughter.

      “So is she spank worthy?” Hawk asked. “Or more to the point, is she Daddy worthy?”

      “I didn’t notice,” Holt answered.

      “Liar.” Hawk chuckled. “Maybe she needs your guiding hand to bring her out of her shell. I can see the twinkle in your eye when you talk about her.”

      Holt thought he was right, but he didn’t intend to go down that path. “Don’t we have a rule about not messing with our charges?”

      Hawk leaned toward his brother. “She’s not one of our charges, is she? She’s an employee. How long has it been since you’ve been laid?”

      “None of your fucking business.” Holt picked up a paperclip and threw it at his brother. “Unlike you, I don’t see every woman I meet as a potential sex partner.”

      “You should,” Hawk said. “You might have a better attitude toward life if you fucked someone every now and then.”

      “Shouldn’t you be on patrol?” Holt asked.

      “To do what, help Mrs. Pascel across the street with her groceries?”

      “At least you’d be earning your salary.” Holt indicated his desk. “I have paperwork to do.”

      “Jerk face,” Hawk said as he stood. “Maybe I’ll be able to get cozy with Aurora while she’s here, since you’re not interested.”

      “Keep your hands off her,” Holt said.

      Hawk strode toward the door. “Yeah, that’s what I thought.” Hawk laughed deeply as he left the office. Holt stared at the spot where his brother had sat. He was right when he’d said he had work to do, plenty of it. The state required copious amounts of paperwork on each of the charges that came to visit the Rescue Ranch, and he needed to start the process on their current charge.

      He sat at his computer and started to fill out the forms, grateful for the ability to use the computer and not have to do it all by hand. As he worked he thought about Aurora, and those beautiful green eyes and that heart shaped mouth. He imagined kissing her, caressing her, taking care of her and punishing her when necessary. He finished the last page and hit print. As the machine whirled to life and started to print out pages, he settled back in his chair.

      Was Aurora the sort of woman who would want to be taken care of, or was she the sort who wanted nothing more than to take charge? He was sure her time in prison would have changed her, as would the abusive years before, make her vulnerable. He didn’t want that for her. He wanted her to be strong, to know what she wanted out of life and get it all.

      He also wanted to take care of her, to guide her on the right path. Those thoughts had started to build in his mind before he’d ever met her. When he’d read her application he’d wanted to hold her, comfort her. He couldn’t imagine what she’d gone through, how she’d faced the pain of killing someone, and then faced the consequences of her actions.

      The night she’d applied for the job he’d read the form over and over, and then he’d called Hawk, who had been out patrolling the streets, and had him read it, too. His brother had said the same thing then that he’d said now.

      “Do you want her for an employee, or as your Little?”

      Holt СКАЧАТЬ