She's Got the Look by Leslie Kelly Page B

their “ride” and their wives “baby.” Like her ex had.
    â€œNot today. I’m all by myself,” she said.
    He shook his head. “That is not good, señora. You shouldn’t be alone at this time. You should be with people…people who appreciate you and make you smile in that beautiful way.” His eyes glittered as he repeated, “Such a beautiful smile.”
    His words were friendly, but something about the way he was looking at her made her uncomfortable. It was almost personal. Flirtatious. If he weren’t twenty years her senior and hadn’t been serving her and her friends chicken burritos since they were in middle school, she’d suspect the guy was coming on to her.
    â€œI would give anything to see that smile every day.”
    Okay, he was coming on to her. Eww.
    Suddenly the idea of hooking up with an unsexy, unappealing guy for the sake of her ego became less palatable. Particularly when she, uh, pictured the possibilities with this one.
    Nope. She couldn’t do it. Couldn’t have sex with someone who didn’t attract her, not even for the sake of her banged-up pride. Not for fun, not because of a list, not to get back in the saddle, not for anything. So, really, the only solution was to have no sex at all. Not for a long, long time. Years. Decades.
    Then she pictured Nick’s face…his big hands, his hard body, his soft, sexy voice.
    And wondered if she’d last the week.

CHAPTER FOUR
    T HE NEXT MORNING , as Nick headed from the station over to the D.A.’s office to pick up some paperwork, he realized he was still thinking about the woman he’d met for breakfast the day before. He hadn’t been able to get Melody off his mind since she’d walked out of the diner, leaving him there with a big smile on his face and a strong sense of anticipation in his mind.
    It’d been a good long time since any woman had occupied his thoughts as she had over the past twenty-four hours. The past couple of weeks, really, since he’d been a little fascinated by her ever since he’d seen her spying on him with her camera.
    A good long time? Hell, he couldn’t remember ever being so instantly attracted to someone. He’d had a hard time throwing off the image of her smile while he and Dex talked to their informant yesterday, and it’d been even harder to get to sleep last night with the sound of her laughter bouncing around in his head. He’d been so distracted, he hadn’t even noticed that Fredo was in his closet turning shoe leather into beef jerkey for a good bit of the evening.
    He was still wondering why that particular woman wouldn’t leave his thoughts as he got into his car in the parking lot outside the station. Before he could even turn the key in the ignition, however, his cell phone rang. Checking the caller ID and recognizing the number, he answered, “Walker.”
    â€œThat’s my line.”
    He shook his head, still not used to answering the phone and hearing Johnny’s voice on the other end. Damn, it’d been a long ten years without his one-year-older brother in his life. “Hey, Mr. Hotshot D.A. Does the town council know you’re making personal calls from the office?”
    â€œDoes the chief of police know you had breakfast with a strange woman yesterday?” his brother replied.
    â€œNow, if we were both in Joyful, I wouldn’t even have to ask how you knew that.”
    â€œDex told me. I called you at your desk two minutes ago.”
    Shaking his head as he buckled his seat belt, Nick said, “Knowing my partner is not a gossipy old woman, I gotta wonder what exactly you said to get that information out of his mouth.”
    Johnny chuckled. “I asked him if you had any kind of social life whatsoever, since I suspect you haven’t been laid since making detective. You work too hard, little brother.”
    Nick wasn’t going to argue that one.