Sugar Creek by Toni Blake

window. Elmer had been the custodian when Rachel had gone to school here and he’d been old then . In fact, he’d been the one to discover her with Russell Jamison in his closet, though she doubted he remembered her.
    “Ya cain’t shut that door,” Elmer told them, pointing at it through the window.
    “We know,” Mike said. “It was an accident.”
    “Locks on its own, ya see,” Elmer went on.
    “Yeah, we know,” Mike answered.
    “Now I’ll have to dig out m’keys and unlock it, and then ya need to keep it open. Cain’t shut it,” he repeated. “It’ll lock up on ya again.”
    “We understand,” Mike told him.
    After which Elmer toddled around the corner and could be heard fiddling with what sounded like a very large set of keys, until finally the door opened inward. “Got ’er open,” Elmer said. “Don’t shut ’er again or we’ll be back where we just come from.”
    “ Got it ,” Mike said, finally starting to sound a little testy, but Elmer didn’t seem to notice—he just went on his way.
    “Just in case you missed that,” Rachel said, completely straight-faced as Elmer ambled off down the hall, “that door locks if you shut it.”
    And to her surprise, Mike Romo smiled. Even laughed a little. And her chest tightened when his eyes sparkled and she saw once again that he wasn’t always so awful. Apparently, his little cousin knew something Rachel didn’t.
    “I don’t like admitting this,” she told him, “but you and I work pretty well together.”
    He took a second before replying, “I’d have to agree, Farris. Guess miracles do happen.”
    A moment later, a teenage couple—glued to each other and clearly in the throes of teenage love—ordered a pack of Starburst and two Cokes. And when they walked away, Rachel heard herself say, “So—I hope I didn’t hold you and your girlfriend up too long the other night.” And—oh Lord—why had she said that ? Shut up, already. This is actually going well now and you’re going to wreck it.
    Mike tossed her a sideways glance. “I told you, she’s not my girlfriend.”
    “Whatever.” Rachel glanced down, pretending to straighten the bills in the money drawer.
    Then she felt Romo’s eyes on her, and like earlier, grewa little too warm. “Just so you know,” he said, “I took her straight home.”
    She drew in her breath, her stomach pinching at the reminder, and still refused to lift her gaze. “Look, I don’t need the gory details. It was pretty clear you were headed straight home.”
    From her peripheral vision, she saw him tilt his head. “No, I mean I took her home, to her home. Then I went home to my home. That was it.”
    Oh. God. It was like he’d lifted a boulder from her chest. “Not that I care what you do…but, uh, why?” Finally, Rachel peered up at him, more than a little curious. “Because she didn’t look like someone who was hoping to be dropped off at the door.”
    Mike just shrugged. “Dunno. Wasn’t into it. Wasn’t into her . Was in a bad mood.”
    “You don’t need to remind me ,” she said, recalling his tirade about her parking mistake. “But…most guys would be happy to let her change their mood. She was certainly willing to try.”
    “Like I said, just wasn’t meant to be. And I just…wanted to let you know.”
    She couldn’t prevent a slow grin from sneaking onto her face. “Afraid I’ll think you’re easy, Romo?”
    He grinned back, just slightly, and their eyes met, and his sparkled again. And it was almost as if his gaze had some direct connection to the crux of her thighs, since, again, that’s where she felt it.
    “Watch it,” she teased him, “or you’ll just be giving me more ammunition. Next thing you know, you’ll be hearing it all over town—all Romos are easy lays.”
    He laughed, shrugged. “We’ve had worse said about us. Probably by Farrises.”
    Which made her giggle. Yet then she caught herself and said, “Stop that. I don’t like you and I refuse to