“The werewolf from Twilight.”
“The who from what?”
“You know—Bella’s other love interest. Edward Cullen was the vampire, and Jacob was the werewolf. I feel bad because I can’t remember his last name.”
“Who the hell is Bella? And Edward? A vampire? Betsy, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Did you never read or watch the Twilight series?” I stared at him in shock. How could he not have even heard of them?
“Nope, never heard of it.”
“You never heard of Twilight? The girl who has two men wanting her?”
“Oh wait, was that the glowing vampire movie?”
“You could say that.”
“What the hell does that have to do with our conversation?”
“You don’t need to keep saying hell, Jeff. I was just thinking that right now you look like a werewolf in the moonlight with your facial hair and stuff …” My voice trailed off as the frown left his face and was replaced by a silky, sexy smile.
“Oh, I do, do I?” He licked his lips. “Are you saying you want me to bite you, then?” He winked at me. “Where?”
“No, no …” I stumbled over my words. “I was just, I don’t know …” I ran my hands through my hair and then blurted out. “So did Veronica spend the night?”
“Veronica?” He said her name slowly and deliberately as he shook his head. “Why do you ask?”
“I’m just curious.”
“Would it matter to you if she had spent the night?”
“No, no, of course not. She can do what she wants. So can you.” I looked over his shoulder and saw that Nick was staring at me and was starting to head our way. “You’re a single, eligible bachelor, why shouldn’t you go around showing your privates to women and hooking up with whomever you want to?”
“I didn’t—” Jeff started but was interrupted by Nick joining us.
“Everything okay here?” Nick walked over to me and placed his hand on my shoulder. His gave me a small smile. “You’re even prettier than I remembered you being, Betsy,” he said, and I smiled back at him.
“You’re too sweet, Nick.”
“What good fortune it was seeing you here tonight. I was going to drop by your coffee shop tomorrow—”
“It’s a bakery.” Jeff cut him off, and I looked over at him in surprise. He was glaring at us both and his voice was stiff. “Betsy owns a cupcake shop, not a coffee shop.”
“Bet you wish it was a doughnut shop, eh?” Nick laughed at his own joke, and I smiled to myself at Jeff’s scowl.
“Yeah, that joke never gets old.” Jeff rolled his eyes. “However, Nick, I’m going to have to ask you to step aside and rejoin the other group. I’m not done talking to Betsy here.”
“Really?” Nick raised an eyebrow at Jeff and then at me. “Hmmm,” he said after a few seconds and then took a step away from me. “You’re not going to scare me off so easily this time, Evian,” he said as he walked away and I frowned. What was that about?
“I can’t believe you’re interested in that jerk,” Jeff said with a frown. “You never mentioned him to me.”
“You never mentioned Veronica to me,” I said, and he pursed his lips.
“By the way, I wanted to say that I was completely out of line last night.” He grabbed my hands. “I wanted to apologize.”
“For the kiss, the rude comments after the kiss, or for flashing me?” I raised an eyebrow at him, and he laughed.
“Touché.” He nodded. “All three were out of order.”
“So, you regret all three?” I asked him, anxious to hear what he had to say.
“I don’t regret kissing you, no,” he said. “I do regret flashing you, but only because it wasn’t in person and it couldn’t have led to what I wanted it to lead to.”
“What did you want it to lead to?”
“What do you think, Betsy?” He brought my hand up to his mouth and he took one of my fingers and brought it to his lips and slowly sucked on it. My entire body froze, and I could feel my belly swirling with heat and lust. He only sucked it for a few seconds and then let it go. “That would have been a nice end to the evening.”
“Maybe I would have wanted to be the receiver,” I responded, and it was his turn to look shocked. I’m sure he never expected sweet and innocent Betsy to make those comments.
“We can make that happen right now, if you want,” he said as his arms went around my waist. His body felt warm and hard next to mine, and I shivered slightly before pulling away.
“I’ve heard that sexual encounters on the beach go against the Canyon Beach City ordinances,” I said with a smirk as I looked at him through veiled eyes. “I’d hate for both of us get fined or arrested, Officer Evian.”
And with that, I walked away with my head held high. I could hear his low chuckles behind me and it took everything in me to not look back and run into his arms and beg him to do whatever he wanted to with me.
Chapter 9
Jeff
I stared at Betsy’s retreating back, and all I could think was if I saw Nick touching her again, I would arrest him. Maybe not the most ethical way to welcome him back to Canyon Beach, but the boys at the precinct would understand, and we’d eventually let him off with a warning. I headed back toward the group determined to speak to Betsy again. I had been able to tell from her facial expression that she’d been upset with me, but I wasn’t sure if it had just been because of Veronica showing up or if she’d been disgusted with my little peep show. I’d fully intended on stopping the crude jokes with her, but hadn’t been able to stop myself at the end and when she’d made that insinuation about going down on her. I’d wanted to
