She was alone in her office and buried in research when Dan hobbled in on crutches. He wore khaki cargo shorts, loafers, and a black cotton, Custer County Sheriff’s T-shirt embossed with gold print. She didn’t care that he was supposed to be dealing with Eli from now on.
“What are you doing here?” she cried, jumping to her feet. “You’re supposed to be at home, resting!”
He propped the crutches against the wall and allowed her to help ease him into a chair. Soap, spicy aftershave, and the aroma of chocolate chip cookies tickled her nose. He felt warm, solid, and thankfully, alive. A flutter in her belly made her feel alive, too.
She’d missed him.
He held up a small brown paper bag with a grease stain on the bottom. “My mom sent you cookies. I said I’d deliver them.”
“Your mom sent me cookies?” Her heart did a happy little dance of surprise. She reached for them.
He tucked them behind his back. “Not so fast. They’re a bribe.”
She straightened. “Your mom is trying to bribe me?” If so, it turned out—given the right currency—she could be bought, after all.
He looked around. “Is there an echo in here?”
“Funny. What does your mother want from me?”
“She wants you to come to dinner. And before you comment on that, yes, she’s fixated on feeding people, too. Especially people she likes. Get a few of her meals under your belt and Brody will have no problem beating your times on that obstacle course.”
Jazz tried not to read too much into Dan’s mother’s invitation. From what she’d seen, Freda was friendly with everyone in Grand. She was also as intent as Ryan when it came to getting Dan something he wanted. When had Jazz turned into a prize?
“I can’t,” she said. But she wanted to. And Dan sensed it.
“You have to. You owe her. Your mother dropped in for a visit the other day and she hasn’t yet recovered from the shock.”
She must be stupid because she didn’t get what he meant. She had no idea what he was talking about. “My mother’s in Vegas.”
Dan’s blond eyebrows connected. “You didn’t know she was here?”
Her stomach hit bottom. There was only one reason why she’d come to Grand. “Tell me she didn’t ask you for money.”
“Not for herself. She told me I should pay you a bonus for sleeping with me, though.”
Jazz closed her eyes. Mortification scorched her whole body and seared the backs of her lids. “I’ll kill her.”
“That’s probably not the right thing to say in front of a sheriff,” he said. “Besides, my mom is the one who was surprised by the request, not me. I don’t mind paying you to sleep with me if it means it’ll happen more often.” His expression sobered. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize your mother hadn’t dropped in on you, too.”
Nothing her mother did surprised her anymore. She didn’t want or need pity. “Why would she? I don’t have your kind of money.” Although whoever she’d borrowed travel fare from would eventually need to be paid back, so she’d hear from her then. “But how, precisely, did my sleeping with you come up in conversation with ourmothers?”
“She thanked me for taking you off her hands and giving her the opportunity to finally become a grandmother. I didn’t want to get anyone’s hopes up about grandchildren though, so I pointed out that you’re only interested in me for sex. I might have insinuated you’re easy.”
She didn’t especially care what her mother thought, since she had no right to judge, but their sex life wasn’t something she wanted discussed with his mother. “This is all a big joke to you, isn’t it?”
His eyes, so warm and blue, shimmered with heat. “No, Jazz, it’s not. But face it. Your mother is only as much a part of your life as you allow her to be.”
Anger bubbled up and boiled over. Frustration, too. Because that was easy for him to say. His mother baked cookies. She invited people into her home because she liked them, not to get what she could out of them. He’d never have to turn his back on her, because she’d never give him a reason to. She would never turn her back on him, either.
Jazz’s family, on the other hand, wasn’t large and noisy and close. They didn’t particularly like each other all that much. None of them were very reliable, and that included herself. She’d let her brothers down—Leo in particular—by leaving Las Vegas. But if she didn’t care what happened to them, then nobody would. How sad was that?
“She’s as much a part of my life as I decide I can live with,” she said.
“She can be as much a part of my life as I decide I can live with too, then,” he replied calmly. “The same goes for you and my mother. She’ll run your life if you let her.” He grinned at her, and Jazz’s heart fluttered. “There. Now we’ve both been warned. See how easy that was?”
“Not so fast.” If she was going to say something about that drive home from Billings, now was the time. “Ryan and I had a long talk on the car ride from the hospital. He believes my family will hurt your chances for reelection. Then he offered to pay them to stay away from you.”
“I’ll talk to him,” Dan said. “He can be overprotective sometimes.”