The guy hesitated before reaching into his wallet and placing another crisp five-dollar note in my palm.
My smile broke into a grin.
“I’ll think of you while I down it. Have a good day, now.”
I slammed my foot on the gas and the back wheels spun and kicked up a cloud of dirt as I took off down the road.
I breathed in the sweet scent of the roses once more.
Isabella was going to love them.
Romance was the way to a woman’s heart, just as lust was the way to a man’s.
After I handed her the flowers, it wouldn’t be long before she dropped her panties and permitted me entry into her hallowed halls.
After six years of waiting, I was determined to pound that pussy into oblivion.
Only the asshole pilot stood in the way of that, but he wouldn’t be standing there long.
I knew my day was going to take a turn for the worse when I saw them strolling side by side along the pigpen.
They looked so calm and at ease in each other’s presence.
As if he had already claimed her for himself and sowed wild oats in her welcoming furrows.
I wished I’d entered the farm slower so I could have reversed back up the drive before either of them had seen me.
Then I could have stewed and thought more about what I was going to do about this little pickle.
But they’d seen me and there was nothing for it but to pull up and get out.
It stung to see Isabella with such a guilty expression on her face.
Clint had a smile on his.
The fool.
“Good morning, officer,” he said brightly.
I bet it had been a good morning for the likes of him.
I wondered if he’d plundered her depths this morning as an encore after last night.
Slut.
It made me grit my teeth even harder, but I wore a smile as I climbed from my cruiser and approached them.
“Howdy.”
“What are you doing here?” Isabella said.
Well, that was nice, I thought. But I kept the smile plastered on my face.
“I wanted to check up on Clint, see how he was doing.”
Isabella eyed me suspiciously.
Clint beamed happily.
“I’m fine, thanks. Isabella was just showing me around the farm.”
I bet she was, I thought. I bet she’s been showing you a whole load of things.
“Have you remembered anything yet?” I said.
“Not yet,” Clint said.
“Don’t lose hope. I’m sure all it takes is time. Isabella, do you mind if I have a word with you for a sec?”
I took her by the elbow and led her to one side.
“How are you holding up?” I said.
“Fine. What’s all this about?”
I glanced over at Clint, who leaned against the fence and scratched the chin of the nearest sheep.
He couldn’t hear me from this distance but I lowered my voice anyway.
“I heard back from the Air Force,” I said.
That sparked her interest.
“You did? What did they say? Are they missing a pilot?”
I nodded.
“They are.”
“That’s good news.”
“It was… until I learned Clint isn’t the pilot that went missing.”
“What do you mean?”
I didn’t have a great deal of time to come up with my little story, so I borrowed heavily from a movie I watched the previous Friday night.
It didn’t matter it wasn’t true.
It didn’t matter the Air Force hadn’t said they were missing a pilot or an airplane.
What was important was keeping Isabella safe.
Even from herself.
“It turns out it’s the Russians,” I said.
“The Russians?”
Her exclamation was a little too loud for my liking, so I led her a few more yards distant.
“A Russian spy broke into a secret facility and killed the US pilot. Then he crept aboard a top-secret plane they’d been developing and flew it from the hangar. Fearing what the Soviets might do with that kind of technology, they decided to blow the plane up before he could escape with it.”
I took a moment to add drama to the revelation.
“Clint isn’t the US pilot. He’s the Russian spy!”
I would have preferred it if Clint wasn’t stroking a sheep right at that moment as it didn’t exactly paint the picture of a dangerous criminal I was trying to cultivate.
Isabella stumbled in shock and I caught her before she collapsed.
“Are… Are you sure?”
“There’s no denying it. They’re sending special agents now to take him away.”
Isabella looked over at him, the sheep so enamored with Clint that it almost fell asleep beneath his touch.
Clint caught us looking at him and waved.
I waved back and nodded my head before turning back to Isabella.
“He seems so… calm and relaxed,” Isabella said. “What about the amnesia?”
“All fake to lower your defenses. It worked, didn’t it? He made you believe he was a US pilot in need of help?”
“Yes. Yes, he did.”
“So I think the best thing to do is let me take him from you. We’ll tell him it’s because his commanding officers got in touch and want him returned. He’ll think it’s his Russian bosses and will go peacefully.”
“What about you?”
It was the first time she appeared genuinely concerned for my wellbeing.
I was quick to seize upon it.
I scooped her hand up in mine and raised it to my lips.
“Don’t worry about me. I can look after myself. All that matters is keeping you safe.”
She looked up into my face with an expression of… love?
No, love was too strong a word.
More like friendship.
It was a start, at least.
“You can put your trust in me,” I said. “Like always.”
Her expression soured faster than cream on Midsummer’s Day.
She yanked her hand from between mine.
“What’s wrong?” I said.
“You! You’re what’s wrong! And to think I almost believed another one of your tall tales!”
“But this isn’t a lie! It’s the truth!”
“Oh yeah? Then how do you know he’s a spy working for the Russians?”
“Keep your voice down!” I growled.
She paid no attention to me.
“You think the Air Force would have willingly told you that? And why would they tell a local cop anything? They would just swoop down and take him out from under you if anything you just told me was true!”
My temper flared and I
