Sheriff Daddy (Montana Daddies Book 10) by Laylah Roberts (good book club books txt) 📗

He’s good people. And Loki isn’t crazy. Loki has been tested.”

By who? Because whoever had done that assessment had obviously gotten his degree from the back of a cereal box.

But she took several steps away from Loki until she was out of reach. She hated how cowardly it made her look, but she had no desire to end up over his sweaty shoulder again.

“Georgina, are you all right?” Ed eyed her with concern.

“Of course.”

Ed stepped towards her, but she didn’t want anyone near her. She stumbled back another step, her arms wrapped around her waist.

Show no weakness.

Screw that. This was the best she could do. She was barely hanging on to her sanity right now. Her shields were cracking and old fears were starting to slip through. The past and present were all becoming blurred.

Stay in the now, Georgina.

The alcohol wasn’t helping, she knew. It had sheared away at her control, widening those cracks even further.

“Hey, it’s okay. No one is going to hurt you,” Ed reassured her.

“Fuck. Sorry, Ed. I didn’t know she’d be scared.”

She glanced to Loki incredulously. What the hell? “You kidnapped me!”

“Yeah, but . . . I didn’t mean to scare you.”

She looked to Ed, expecting to find him as incredulous as she was, but he just kept staring at her, studying her. Shit, why did it have to be so well-lit back here? She felt like he was dissecting her, examining her insides, her secrets.

“I’m not scared. I’m mad.” That was better. Get angry. “I want him arrested.” She pointed at Loki, who stared back at her, wide-eyed.

Ed frowned at Loki. “Yeah, I don’t blame you. I said that if anyone moved, they were going to be arrested, Loki.”

“Now, sheriff. You know Loki doesn’t do well locked up. I have the PTSD.”

“You have PTSD?” she asked, something softening inside her.

“He does. But that’s no excuse for what he did.” Ed glared at Loki.

“Hey, now, what I did to Grabby Gary was justified, he touched me first,” Loki defended.

Ed sighed. “Jimmy and Jace are getting to the bottom of how the brawl started. Georgina, Loki really didn’t mean to frighten you.”

“She was with Isa and Kiesha, I didn’t know that she didn’t know!”

“Didn’t know what? That you’re fucking insane?” Getting angry was better than bursting into tears. And at the moment, those seemed to be the only two options her body was offering her.

“Told you, princess. Loki isn’t crazy. Loki was tested.”

She ground her teeth together. She was getting nowhere fast. “If you won’t take action, sheriff, I will.”

Ed’s eyebrows lowered and he stared at her. “I get that you just got a fright, Georgina, but I don’t take kindly to being given an ultimatum.”

“And I don’t take kindly being picked up, thrown over a sweaty shoulder, and carried away against my will. Do your job, sheriff.”

Ed took a step towards her and she held her ground. She didn’t know why she felt this magnetic pull towards him. She’d never have thought the well-built older man would be her type. But as he moved into her space, rather than feeling annoyed or fearful, she felt her body coming to life. Everything else around her faded. There was just Ed.

“Look, you might be an FBI agent, and think you’re above the rest of us in law enforcement, but this is my town. My jurisdiction. And I don’t take kindly to you telling me how to do my job.”

“Well, it’s hard not to when you’re doing such a terrible job of doing your job.”

Oh, that might have been a step too far. Ed moved forward and she could see her punishment in his gaze.

You didn’t poke at an alpha without expecting a reaction. And from the look on his face, it appeared he was contemplating something dire. They stared at each other, both of them breathing heavily.

“I don’t know whether to kiss you or spank you.”

She glowered at him. “I suggest you think of an option C because neither of those things are happening.”

“Oh yeah?”

She crossed her arms over her chest. “Oh yeah.” Her nipples were hard, her stomach alight with flickers of need. This wasn’t good. This had to be the alcohol’s fault. Because right now, she shouldn’t be contemplating throwing herself at the handsome sheriff and demanding that he kiss her. She should be mad at him . . . for some reason . . . that she couldn’t quite remember . . .

She braced herself. This was it . . . the moment they relived that epic kiss from a few months ago.

“Ed!” someone called out from the bar, breaking the spell.

She nearly groaned. If she could have eviscerated the deputy coming towards them with her gaze, she would have. His insides would be a bloody trail behind him. Couldn’t he see that he was ruining a moment?

“A moment?” Ed muttered, looking almost amused.

“I didn’t say that out loud.” There was no way. She never blurted out her thoughts. Her mother would be horrified.

“Really? Because it sure sounded like your voice.”

“This must be a side-effect of the alcohol.”

“Side-effect?” He raised an eyebrow. “Something tells me that you’re not used to drinking.”

“What? What makes you think that? I’ll have you know I love drinking. I do it all the time.”

“Good to know. How much have you had to drink?”

“That is none of your business, sheriff. Now, are you going to do your job and arrest . . .” she glanced around. “Hey! You let him get away.”

“It’s all right. I know where he lives.”

“He could leave town.”

Ed shook his head. “He won’t. I’ll track him down and arrest him.”

Well, shoot. Now that fear was no longer holding her prisoner and she could think clearly, she realized the other man hadn’t hurt her. And if he had PTSD and a problem with being locked up . . .

“No, that’s okay. Maybe a warning, though. He can’t go around just snatching people. Someone else might have been really scared.”

Ed gave her a look but didn’t point out how