“Every day you ask me the same questions,” Jessie said, clucking her tongue as she waited for Cole to hold out his mug to be refilled once more. “If you like the girl, you need to shut off that police brain of yours and get to know her like a regular man.”
Her words were truer than she realized. My “police brain,” as she called it, was dying to get some answers. Hannah Lauren was a mystery. She didn’t even have a car so I couldn’t search for her through the DMV. No records popped with her name. Hell, nothing came up when I searched for a Hannah Lauren. It seemed she appeared out of thin air.
My gut was saying there was more to her than she let on, but it was also telling me she wasn’t a criminal. Hell, she doted on Mr. Kirby, who was as cantankerous as a cat dunked in the creek. She put up with Sally and Violet, Jessie’s friends and town busybodies. Hannah seemed to like everyone. Hell, she even seemed to like us. To a certain point, and there went my gut feeling again.
Jessie’s eyes narrowed on me as if she could read my thoughts. “You stop it right now, Declan. She’s a sweet girl and I can vouch for her that she’s not some serial killer in hiding, if that’s what you need to hear.”
Cole was outright laughing at my discomfort and I had to fight the urge to punch him in the face as heat crept up my neck. She had a point and I knew it. I’d been a cop since I finished college and that way of thinking was hard to shake. Investigating crimes—even though anything more than teenage pranks or drunk driving were rare in our small town—had made me suspicious. Bridgewater folks tended to trust one another—even strangers. It was a good thing, but sometimes, bad stuff happened to good people.
Jessie had a point and I told her so, which took some of the fuel out of her fire. “All right, then.” I’ll be damned if Jessie’s grin wasn’t filled with mischief as she pointed at Cole, then me. “You two should stop wasting time and take the girl out, if you ask me.”
Cole and I exchanged a look. We planned on doing just that, given the chance. We’d already agreed that she would be our girl, now it was just a matter of finding a good time to ask her out. We’d wanted to the last few days but she’d been too busy working for us to ask.
“You think so?” Cole never had been one to show his hand.
Jessie nodded. “You bet. Hannah’s a sweet thing and pretty as a picture. She’d make a fine wife for you boys.”
“I hope you didn’t tell her that,” I said, trying not to roll my eyes. While it was great to have Jessie give us some insights into Hannah, a man didn’t need a surrogate mother doing his work for him. I was just surprised that my real mother hadn’t heard of our interest in the new waitress yet. I’d been waiting for the call for days now. “We don’t want to scare her off.”
Jessie sniffed. “Of course not. I’ll let you two tell her that you’re a package deal and that you’re in the market for a wife. I just told her that you were both fine, available young men.” She gave us a wink. “I put in the good word. Now it’s up to you two to do the rest.”
“We’ll do our best,” I said. “And I promise, no more cop questions from here on out. I’ll get to know her the old-fashioned way.”
If the old-fashioned way meant kissing her breathless, learning her curves and what made her gasp, what made her hot, what made her come, then I was all for it.
When Jessie walked away, she wore a satisfied smile at having won her argument.
“You just lied to that nice woman,” Cole said as Jessie headed behind the counter. “You’re not letting this go, are you? You’re like a dog with a bone when you think something’s off.”
I leaned across the table and lowered my voice. “I’m not going on a witch hunt, if that’s what you mean. I just want to know more about her—where she came from, what brought her here. If Hannah really is the one for us, I’d think you’d want the same thing.”
Cole pushed the mug back and forth between his hands. He had a harder time admitting that she could be the one and right now I could practically see the gears turning in his brain. “If she’s the one for us,” he said. “We don’t know for sure.”
I gave a snort of amusement, thankfully just before I took a sip of my coffee. “Now who’s the one lying? I’ve seen the way you watch her. You can’t take your eyes off her. Those long legs and gorgeous curves.”
He nodded slowly. “I can’t deny that. The woman is hot as hell and sexy as sin.”
“And…” I prompted. I wanted to hear him say the words.
He frowned. “And you know damn well that I hope she really is our woman.”
I tried not to smile—admitting that was tough enough without me laughing at him. I was just glad to know we were in agreement. Hannah was ours.
“There’s a connection between the three of us,” he said slowly. “And I hope for both our sakes that our instincts are right.”
Christ, there was more. “But…”
Cole leaned back in the booth and shook his head. “You know damn well why I have my reservations.”
I did, and I also knew that once he got to know Hannah, he’d get over them. Just like I’d get over mine once she let us in. I had doubts about the woman herself, which could solely be resolved by a few dates. Cole had issues with the past that clouded his judgement where all women were concerned. If Hannah was wife-worthy, then those issues were going to hound him.
“Cole, she’s nothing like Courtney. You’ve got to see that.”
Cole’s stepmother was a gold digger who’d taken his dad for ride. A cruel and nasty ride. She’d worked her wiles on the grieving widower and married him, only to divorce him a short time later and steal the bulk of his money. With the man’s vast property, he’d been Montana wealthy—rich, but didn’t flaunt it. Cole, who’d been a teenager at the time, could only watch helplessly as the bitch had crushed the old man’s spirit. Cole believed her actions were the reason his father had a heart attack and died a few months later.
It made me bitter, just thinking about what that bitch had done. But Cole? It had made him jaded as fuck, that women weren’t to be trusted, especially with his heart. My gut said something was up with Hannah, but it wasn’t that she was out for Cole’s ranch or his money, which he’d brought back to the way it had been before Courtney, hell, before his mom had died.
He shrugged, but before he could argue the point I stopped him. “She’s here.”