Protector: Doms of Mountain Bend Book 1 by BJ Wane (good books to read for 12 year olds .txt) 📕

dim lighting in the restaurant wasn’t enough to disguise the shadows in her eyes that hinted at secrets and plaguing thoughts she’d thus far refused to share.

He couldn’t appease his curiosity and concern without answers, regardless of her continued evasions. Buck had taught them to meet challenges head on, and he hadn’t walked away from one since. That spark of defiance in her eyes she tried hard to suppress whenever he pushed her buttons never failed to get a rise out of his cock, a nice perk that went with his uplifted spirits since meeting her.

“Thank you.” Shawn nodded to Tiffany, taking the menus she handed him with a girlish blush.

“What can I get you to drink, Deputy Sheriff?” The quick glance she gave Lisa wasn’t as friendly.

“I’ll have a whiskey and Seven. Lisa?”

“A large Coke, please.”

“Be right back.” Tiffany spun around with a suggestive smile at Shawn.

Lisa regarded him with amusement as he sat down, one slim brow quirking. “Is she even out of high school?”

“Started college last fall, so no worries there if I was interested, which I’m not. I prefer women to girls, especially those who aren’t timid about exploring alternatives to meet needs left unfulfilled.” Handing her a menu across the candlelit table, he asked, “How long did it take you to try a private club as opposed to vanilla sex?”

“A few years and two failed relationships. Do you know everyone in town?” she asked without pause, smoothly changing the subject. She opened her menu and lifted it up between them, but Shawn saw through her attempt to hide her expressive face.

“Just about. I moved here twenty years ago. Did you grow up in Arizona?” Reaching across the table, he pushed her menu down and watched her brows dip in a frown as her eyes snapped up to his face. “Better. I like looking at you when we talk.”

Shawn could all but see the wheels turning in Lisa’s head as she formed her answer, indecision swirling in the green depths of her gaze. The look of resignation crossing her face as she answered puzzled him.

“I don’t recall living anywhere else. What do you recommend?”

“That you accompany me to Spurs tomorrow night,” he tossed out to throw her off her game of steering the conversation away from her. After checking her out and learning she hailed from the same state as he, his suspicion they’d met before had increased.

Her sigh conveyed irritation. “I meant from the menu, and I already have plans.”

“I know what you meant, but I wanted to see your reaction, and how hard you would try to come up with an excuse to turn me down even though you not only want to but need what I can give you. If you don’t want the prime rib, which you won’t find better, try the orange-glazed chicken. Saturday night works just as well. You’re welcome to go early with me, or you can meet me there.”

Tiffany returned as Lisa opened her mouth to reply, so instead, she thrust her menu at the girl. “I’ll have the prime rib special. Thank you.”

“I already know you want the special, Deputy Sheriff.” She gave him a warm smile while not sparing a glance toward Lisa as she set the drinks in front of them.

Shawn frowned at her, handing over his menu. “Yes, and, Tiffany, please show more courtesy to my guest.”

“Oh, of course, I’ll get that for you, ma’am.” She trounced off, looking flustered and embarrassed at his set-down.

“She called me ma’am on purpose. I’m only twenty-nine,” Lisa grumbled.

That made her about the same age as the little girl he’d rescued would be, and he could no longer discount the possibility. If she was that same girl, odds were the trauma had kept her from remembering much about that night, at least not enough about him to jog her memory. If she did remember, he couldn’t think of a reason for her not to say so. He needed to talk to Father Joe.

“You’ll get over it. I lived in Phoenix until I was fifteen,” he said, watching her closely. “It’s bigger every time I return for a visit.”

Lisa started to say something, seemed to change her mind as she took a drink of coke, then blurted, “I can meet you there Saturday.”

Whatever decision she’d come to that brought about her agreement, he hoped she planned to share it with him this weekend. In the meantime, he would talk to Father Joe. Lifting his drink, he nodded.

“I’ll look forward to it.”

Chapter Five

What was I thinking? Oh, yeah, I wasn’t thinking straight, that was it. Lisa shook her head at the mental conversation going on in her head, trying to find a way out of the corner she’d backed herself into with Shawn. She slammed the drawer shut on the bedroom dresser and sank onto the bed with a sigh of frustration. Telling herself she should have come clean with him from the very start wouldn’t help now. The suspicion on his face the other night after she’d let slip with her age, added to his already probing questions, had sealed her fate.

She was royally screwed.

Worse than wondering how she was now going to tell him where he knew her from, and dreading his reaction, was how much she longed to meet him at Spurs tonight, like they’d arranged. The mere mention of having his attention focused on her had sent a wave of heated longing through her. The chance for another escape from her troubles proved too tempting to turn down, prompting her to accept his invitation. She planned to bring up that long ago night afterward, provided she could get up the nerve and steel herself against his displeasure.

The stress of keeping that secret was too much to continue juggling with her growing