He leaned in. It was time to save his lady in his own unique fashion.chapter fiveRoxie sat on the sofa of her living room in the dark, waiting for the front door to open, when her cell phone rang. She sighed and looked down. It wasn’t so late that it would be a surprise if someone called her, but she’d had a lot of socializing for the evening. The dinner had gone on and on, with Zep telling story after story about her heroics and how much the town loved her.
She wished it were all true.
Was it even somewhat true? Did she fit in here better than she thought she did?
All evening long she’d had people come up and say hello. She rather thought that had been about Zep. It wasn’t like people ignored her, but they flocked to him. They adored him for his shiny good looks and charming personality. He was the center of any gathering he was at, and it hadn’t changed because he was new to her family. They’d all hung on his every word. Even her brother, after he’d realized he wasn’t going to be allowed to take over the conversation like he normally would. He’d actually seemed a bit impressed at what she’d managed to do in her time here.
If she’d been left to her own devices, she probably would have gotten annoyed with her mom and started a fight. Instead, she’d had a pleasant evening, and she wanted that to continue. She wanted that kiss to follow through to its natural end.
She glanced down at her cell and realized she would have to answer. She slid her finger across the screen to accept the call. “Hello, Lila. I promise, I’m feeling great.”
“No residual nausea?”
Oh, she had a bit but only because her parents weren’t leaving anytime soon. “I’m good. And thanks again for letting me tell that dumb story about Armie. I know it seems weird.”
“We’ve all said or done dumb stuff to try to avoid nosy family members from causing trouble. Believe me, I’ve done it. My siblings are always in each other’s business. I’ve told many a story so I didn’t have to hear a lecture. But I was surprised you picked Zep as your new fake boyfriend.”
“I didn’t,” she admitted. “My brilliant plan was to have Zep say he was Armie, shake hands, and then disappear for the remainder of their stay. Sheriffs have lots of work to do.”
But then she would have been alone with them this evening. She wouldn’t have had someone who talked like she was the sun in the sky. She wouldn’t have felt like the center of the universe for once in her life.
Lila whistled. “I don’t think that would have worked. It’s a small town. It’s far too easy to run into people here.”
“That’s what Zep decided. Without consulting me, he changed up the plan and now we’re living together for the next week.” She managed to make the words sound desultory even though she knew she was . . . happy wasn’t the word. Satisfied. Content. Ready to exploit the current situation in order to release some sexual tension.
“How is that going to work? Is he there now?”
“No, he’s out walking the dog.” Daisy had been beyond happy when they’d walked in the door. She’d nearly managed to knock her crate over in her abundant joy.
“You decided to keep the dog? No one told me you were keeping her.” Lila gasped as though the important headline had been buried under the irrelevant family drama. Beyond her own family, Lila tended to prefer the company of four-footed creatures to people.
“Yeah, no one’s looking for her so I’m going to keep her for now.”
“I’m so glad to hear that. She’s a sweetheart. I thought Zep would do what he normally does.”
Roxie was way too interested in talking about Zep. He was supposed to be the equivalent of a warm male blow-up doll, but she was getting way too invested and she couldn’t seem to stop herself. “What do you mean, ‘normally does’?”
“You know he works over at the parish animal shelter, right? He volunteers there a lot, and if he finds strays, he brings them over in hopes of finding the right family for them. The rumor is that he does it because it helps him meet a lot of ladies, but I happen to know he doesn’t ever work the front desk. He only works with the animals and the vet from New Orleans when she’s there to visit.”
He worked at a shelter? He hadn’t mentioned that. Or maybe he had. It was clear that he loved animals from the way he handled Daisy. She could also vaguely remember him talking about how much he enjoyed working with animals that night when they’d first hooked up. She’d blown it off as one of those charming things he said to make every woman in a two-mile radius sigh and ignore what a player he was.