Chapter Eleven
The word wasn’tthe one Jazz had been expecting.
“Why didn’t you tell me you were dating a billionaire?” her mother demanded.
The question came through loud and shrill and impossible for Dan not to overhear in the quiet room, since he had his arms around her with his cheek pressed tight to hers. The scruff of hair on his chest tickled the bare skin between her shoulders.
She should know by now to check numbers first. She’d completely forgotten her mother had been trying to reach her. “I’m busy. Can I call you back?”
“No, you can’t,” her mother snapped. “I’ve been trying to reach you all week. You don’t return my calls, and half the time, you don’t answer. Why did I have to learn about this on the news? Do you have any idea how humiliating it is for me to have to answer questions when I haven’t been given the news by my own daughter?”
There was no hope that Dan wasn’t getting all this. He’d tightened his hold on her waist, not even trying to pretend he wasn’t listening in. What a difference there was between his mother and hers. She considered hanging up, but there was no point in it now.
“What kind of questions are you getting?” she asked, because why not wind her mother up a bit more?
Jazz already knew what kind of questions they’d be and where they’d likely originated. Her mother often owed money to old friends from her showgirl days. She should tell her she wasn’t alone, but it was too late for that. She’d never be able to look Dan in the eye again as it was.
“This is so typical of you. You don’t tell me anything. I didn’t even know you weren’t in Helena, anymore.”
“I’m never in Helena in the summers.” Jazz couldn’t stop herself from pointing that out. “I’ve been fighting wildfires around the country out of Missoula for years. Right now, I’m working as a base manager for Custer County. Hopefully next year it will be a permanent position with McCall in Idaho. I don’t know yet for sure.”
“Get pregnant and you won’t have to find out,” her mother, the cold opportunist, said.
Because that worked out so well for you, she fired back in her head, but her mother was bitter enough at the world without her contributing to it.
“I’m not dating a billionaire, Mom.” Her face had to be scarlet by now. She’d assured Dan she used contraceptives. What must he be thinking? “Sheriff McKillop is my boss. He was kidding around with a tabloid reporter and the joke went too far. Besides, I like my job. I worked hard to get where I am.”And not on my back, either.Her mother tried to interrupt, but Jazz cut her off. “Look, I can’t talk right now. I’m at work and I have a call on the other line. It’s an emergency.”
“Don’t you dare hang up on me. I have more—”
Jazz disconnected midsentence and wriggled free of Dan’s arms. Her shorts were in place. She tucked the phone in her back pocket. Her tank top was up next. It had gotten snagged on the spool of one wooden chair. She searched for her flip-flops, found them, and slid them onto her feet.
Dan leaned against the edge of the desk with arms folded across his chest and watched her. He wore a dark frown that didn’t bode well.
They might as well get the unpleasantness over with. She’d known from the first that his money was going to be an issue. She hadn’t had to defend herself for being her mother’s daughter in years, but it was like riding a bicycle and experience kicked in.
“Go ahead and say what you’re thinking,” she invited him, bracing herself.
“You applied for a permanent position at McCall?”
Her bicycle riding experience was forgotten. She straightened to stare. “That’swhat you took away from that call?”
A slow, sexy, country star smile crinkled his eyes and his lips. “I didn’t need a billion dollars for a pregnancy plot to unfold long before now. I’m not sure you’re aware, but sheriffs make decent money. Plus, be honest. Even without any money at all, I’m quite a catch.”
He was only trying to lighten the mood—whether for his benefit or hers she wasn’t quite sure—but either way, he’d called it right. He was quite a catch. At the very least, he’d definitely make a serious contender for a sheriff’s edition ofGQif they ever decided to run one. His uniform shirt was unbuttoned and his pants were unzipped, exposing the vee of darker hair on his flat belly that disappeared into his briefs. He’d slung his sidearm on the visitor chair. Rumpled blond hair and heated blue eyes alone guaranteed he’d make the cut.
Everything about this scene screamed how hot he was, and how hot she found him, considering her panties were on crooked and wedged into an uncomfortable bunch.
“Besides,” he continued, “if I’d thought you were the type of woman who’d pull such a stunt, we wouldn’t be where we are right now. I’d definitely have taken charge of the birth control, too.”
She didn’t know what he meant when he saidwhere we are right now. The possibilities made her heart pound with a complex combination of emotions she didn’t have time to examine in detail, but she did recognize her sense of relief.
Which, in itself, led to alarm.
“You don’t know me,” she said.
“I know enough.” He drew her between his thighs, then cupped her face with his hands and gave her a series of soft, quick kisses that made her head spin and stole her breath for their sweetness. “If we’re going to have our first fight, I’d rather it be about something important. When were you planning to tell me you’re trying to get on at McCall?”
A first fight implied there’d be more. “Why would I tell you unless I’m offered the position? You’re my boss,” she pointed out, trying to think around his attempts to distract her.