Riverbend Road by RaeAnne Thayne Page B

her now, to laugh and joke and trade stories like they always had? He was very much afraid he would always be remembering how she tasted, that little hint of strawberries and cream, and the sexy little hitch in her breath when he licked at the corner of her mouth...
    He let out a long breath. “It’s been a...crazy day for both of us and I completely lost my head. Can we just chalk it up to that and forget the last few moments ever happened?”
    He knew that wasn’t likely on his part, now that he had tasted the silky sweetness of her mouth and discovered just how perfectly her curves fit against him. He wouldn’t be able to forget anytime soon—but he was sure as hell going to try.
    â€œYou really think we can forget this?”
    If they didn’t, working conditions at the small Haven Point Police Department would become intolerable. The awkwardness would be off the charts and the other officers would be sure to pick up on it.
    â€œWe have no choice, in order for us to continue working together.”
    She gazed at him for a long, wordless moment while the river murmured and an owl hooted somewhere downstream. Finally she tucked one of those loose strands of hair behind her ear with fingers that trembled just a little. She must have sensed it too because she quickly curled them into her palm and dropped her arm to her side.
    â€œFine. Whatever you say. Thank you for the steak. It was delicious. I should be going. As you said, it’s been a crazy day and I’m exhausted.”
    She turned away and began gathering up the dishes from his patio table.
    â€œYou don’t have to do that,” he protested.
    â€œI’ll just help you carry them in. You can clean everything up later, when I’m gone.”
    They worked together in silence without any of the easy camaraderie they usually shared.
    His fault.
    He had taken something he wanted without thinking of the consequences, and now everything between them had changed.
    * * *
    I DIOT MAN .
    Did Cade really think she could pretend those moments of kissing him had never happened, after all this time of wondering what it would be like?
    She was quite certain that kiss would be branded in her brain forever. The heat of his mouth, firm and delicious. His arms around her, making her feel cherished and powerful at the same time. His mouth, teasing, tantalizing, seducing.
    How would she ever be able to forget it?
    She’d heard rumors, of course. Half the women in town were in love with the gorgeous, slightly dangerous police chief. It wasn’t only the eligible females who pined after him. After two years of working for the department, she was finally used to the disappointed sighs from ladies, young and old, when she showed up on a call instead of him.
    She was asked at least three or four times a day where that nice Chief Emmett was and sometimes she thought certain females she wouldn’t mention called the police on every little thing, just in hopes he would be the one to respond to the emergency.
    Now she knew the hype was not an exaggeration.
    When she returned to work, she would have to sit across from him during department briefings and try not to remember the way he had kissed her with fiercely intense concentration, as if all his secret fantasies had just come true and he didn’t want to miss a second of it.
    Good luck with that.
    She wasn’t going to do his dishes for him, even though her mother probably would have reprimanded her for it. What her mother didn’t know, and all that.
    She helped carry the last dishes into his tidy kitchen then picked up Pete’s leash. “I’ll leave you the rest of the cheesecake.”
    She wasn’t sure she would ever be able to take a bite of cheesecake again without remembering him. That was a crying shame, since she loved cheesecake.
    â€œThanks,” he murmured.
    â€œI guess I’ll see you in a week, then.” She gripped the dog’s leash and