Kristen Blooming (16 page)

“Here’s a clue. Next time just kiss her.”

Sunday, May 18
^th

Sunday morning, Kristen got up early and dressed in her nicest, most demure outfit. It was a small gift to her parents, though she doubted they would even take note of her clothes. They were going to be too busy wigging out over her scooter. She didn’t let that stop her from strapping on her helmet and pointing the front of her pink princess toward Dothan.

Normally it was just a half-hour ride down to Dothan, but Kristen’s little scooter couldn’t go that fast, so the trip took the better part of an hour. She’d planned on that and spent the time marshaling her defenses.

They took a serious hit, though, when she putted into the parking lot of the First United Baptist Church. The crowds had already begun to gather for services outside the church. Kristen could feel the gaping stares as she circled around to park in an available space. While she’d fully expected that kind of attention, she hadn’t actually been prepared for her mother to come crying down the path.

“Kristen!” She all but launched herself at Kristen, engulfing her in a massive hug before jerking Kristen back. “Are you all right? Let me see you? What is going on here? What is that thing that you rode up on? Is it a motorcycle? It is! That’s what I thought. Oh…oh!”

Her mother reeled back, fanning herself rapidly as if she feared she might faint at any moment. Kristen wasn’t buying it. Her mother had never suffered from a weakness of nerves but tended to overreact to things.

So did her dad.

“What is going on here, young lady?” he demanded to know as he came storming up, drawing even more attention toward them. Her father didn’t care. He had eyes only for her scooter. “What is that thing?”

“It’s my scooter,” Kristen began, only to have to pause to wait for her mother to get another overly dramatized gasp out.

“
A scooter!
” Her mother’s hand slapped against her chest as she gazed in horror at Kristen. “You’re going to kill yourself.”

“I am not going
⎯
”

“No.” Her father cut her off with a shake of his head. “I’m sorry, honey, you are going to have to take that thing back.”

“I can’t. I bought it used.”

“Used?” Her mother’s eyes rounded as if Kristen had confessed to wearing dirty underwear. “A
used
scooter? Oh, sweetheart, no.”

“Hmm.” Her dad nodded along with her mother. “I’m sorry you wasted your money, sweetheart, but I can’t allow you to ride around on that thing.”

“Dad
⎯
”

“Good morning,” Deputy Singer cut in, drawing all of their attention to him as he came strutting up in a suit and a tie.

Kristen could do little more than gape in shock at how fine a figure he cut when he did himself up. That didn’t explain what he was doing there, but she had a pretty good guess. He was pretending to court her when really he was on a mission of seduction. What shocked her even more, though, was he was not alone.

“Morning,” Deputy Hammel mumbled. He’d dressed up, too, but looked a little green around the gills and far less chipper.

“Are we interrupting something?” Dylan asked politely as he came to a stop on the sidewalk, forming a half-circle around Kristen, along with her parents, and making her feel somewhat cornered.

She’d spent the better part of the night lying in bed thinking about Deputy Singer and his wicked offer, only to come to no conclusion except the obvious one—she wanted him.

“Deputy Singer.” Kristen nodded toward him, letting her cool tone mask the warm rush of pleasure that whipped through her as their eyes met. For a moment they were back there behind that bar, sharing a memory.

Then her mother ruined it.

“Deputy Singer, you have got to do something about this,” her mother demanded before pointing to Kristen’s pink princess. “Do you not see what my daughter drove up on?”

“It’s not his job to do something,” her dad cut in before Dylan could respond. “It’s mine. My foot is coming down. Do you hear me, Kristen? I have put up with enough of this insanity, and I will not stand idly by why you kill yourself on this suicide vehicle.”

Kristen felt her cheeks redden under that reprimand, but this time, anger was mixed in with the humiliation of having her dad speak to her in such a way. This time Deputies Singer and Hammel were witnessing her father treat her like a child, when she really wanted at least one of them to see her as a woman.

“Now give me the keys,” her father commanded, holding out his hand.

Kristen looked down at the keys in her hand and watched as her fingers curled into a fist around them. Then her chin was coming back up. “No.”

That hit the air, and everybody stilled as if they were all shocked by her response, but it didn’t take long for everybody to recover. Her mother did with a gasp. Her father did with a gape. Dylan grinned.

“You shouldn’t speak to your father that way,” her mother chastised her, casting quick glances at her father, who still seemed to be having trouble accepting that she’d defied him.

“And he really shouldn’t speak to me that way,” Kristen countered before turning pleading eyes on her father. “I love you, Dad, and want to respect you, but I’m not going to live my life at your command. The scooter stays. I like it.”

Nobody seemed to know what to say to that. There wasn’t time left to argue. The church bell rang, calling everybody inside, leaving her parents little choice but to lock arms and follow the herd. Not that Kristen fooled herself into thinking the battle was over, but she still felt strangely lighter and free as she allowed Deputy Singer to take her arm and lead her all the way to the pew.

He stepped in front of her at the last second, though, taking the seat next to her mother and forcing Kristen to sit between him and Deputy Hammel, who she was pointedly trying to ignore. The man might be rude, but he could also be sweet, and she felt slightly guilty for the embrace she’d shared with his friend.

She hadn’t even considered that element last night, but sitting there with both men’s thighs pressed up tight against hers, Kristen realized she had a choice to make. Deputy Hammel didn’t make it an easy one when he slid his hand down around hers and began to gently rub his thumb across her palm.

Delightful little thrills shot up her arm, sending a spider web of warmth racing across her chest until her heart pounded with a heavy beat, making her think she might have been a little hard on him last night. But how could she possibly even accept an advance from him when she’d already lost her head in the other deputy’s arms?

Those probably weren’t the kinds of problems she should have been bothering the Lord with, but given they were at church, Kristen couldn’t help but offer up a small prayer for a little divine intuition. It didn’t shock her when none came. Neither did it surprise her, when the service ended, that her parents went right back to their argument.

They’d barely made it outside when her mother suggested she say goodbye to her friends because they needed to have a little family discussion. Kristen knew what that was code for. Her mom wanted to nag, and her dad wanted to lecture, but it was too beautiful of a day to be cooped up in their house listening to an argument that wasn’t going to change her mind.

So, Kristen dared to defy them once again. She announced with great aplomb that she couldn’t make it to tea that afternoon because she’d already agreed to go to brunch with the two deputies and then silently prayed that neither one would object. Thankfully, they didn’t, but that didn’t mean her parents were easily dismissed.

“Maybe we should join you for brunch,” her mother suggested with a worried glance at the two deputies before dropping her voice to a whisper. “I’m not sure it’s appropriate for you to go out with men on your own.”

If only her mother knew what she’d done on her own, she would understand just how laughable that comment was, but Kristen didn’t dare to smile as she assured her mother everything would be fine.

“There are two of them, Mom,” Kristen pointed out. “One would be an inappropriate date. Two is a chaperoned meal.”

“And five is a group,” her mother countered, but Kristen had seen that coming.

“I’d invite you, Mom, but we’re headed back to Pittsview first. They have the greatest bakery in the world,” Kristen informed her mother before offering her a quick hug and a kiss on the cheek. “It will all be okay, Mom. Try not to worry.

“And I love you, Dad.” Kristen turned her attention to her father, who was standing there stiffly, clearly still insulted.

She hugged him anyway and dropped a kiss on his cheek as well before turning to find her bike levitating in the air. Her mouth dropped wide open as she stared at the two deputies who were carrying her scooter away. She couldn’t believe they’d lifted it up at all.

Their muscles flexed and bulged, cutting through the clean lines of their suits and making Kristen’s heart do a double beat. They were both such good-looking men and so strong. If she were a vain woman she might find a bit a pride that they were both clearly pursuing her. Kristen might not have been vain, but she was a woman and couldn’t help but be impressed with her two suitors, even if they were carrying her scooter away.

“Hey!” Kristen blinked, finally realizing she was smiling at them when she should have been frowning. “Wait! Where are you taking my scooter?”

“We’re going to load it into the back of the truck,” Deputy Singer tossed over his shoulder as he came to a stop by a large pickup.

At least it wasn’t jacked up and chromed out. Kristen would hate to think she was being courted by men who were frivolous with their money. No, she was being courted by men who loved to fish. The tinted back window was littered with fishing stickers and the hitch sticking out of the bumper had a small propeller attached to it.

“You want to get the tailgate?”

Deputy Hammel shot her a look, jarring Kristen out of her thoughts and prompting her to dart around both men as crowds started to gather to gawk. She was definitely going to be the topic of gossip that morning. That would be a first for her. Kristen was kind of proud of that.

“Are you going to lay it down?” Kristen asked as she popped the back gate to the truck down, blushing slightly at all the attention. “I don’t want it to get damaged.”

“We’ll strap it down,” Deputy Hammel assured her with a quick smile. “Don’t worry. We’ve got it covered.”

Kristen still worried until they’d secured the scooter well enough to assure her nothing would happen to the pink princess as they headed back to Pittsview. Then it was time to leave, and Kristen found herself offering her parents another round of kisses and hugs before allowing Deputy Hammel to assist her up into the truck.

It wasn’t that high off the ground, but she figured he wanted to make up for his rudeness last night, so she didn’t object. Then it was too late to object as she found herself tucked once again between the two deputies. It was in that moment that Kristen realized she might have made a tactical mistake.

As they shut their doors, she found herself caught in a cocoon of warmth, strength, and a strangely intoxicating scent of leather, men, and musk. It did funny things to her insides and made her all too conscious of the heavy press of their legs.

“So we’re off to the bakery.” Deputy Singer shot her a quick smile as he started up the engine. “You realize it’s going to be mobbed. Sunday being a good day to eat sweets.”

“Oh, you don’t have to take me to the bakery,” Kristen assured him, realizing she’d done it again. She’d asked a man out, technically two men at the same time. Gwen would be so proud, but Kristen wasn’t as comfortable with the situation. “I was just…”

“Trying to get away from your parents?” Deputy Singer began easing the truck back out of its spot.

“No, of course not.” He made it sound so rude when Kristen’s intentions were much more noble. Weren’t they? “They just need some time to adjust to my new life, and allowing them to get worked up as they talk it through won’t help.”

“Yeah,” Deputy Singer drew out that slow agreement, making sure she knew he wasn’t buying her excuse. “That and your mother’s tea is terrible.”

Kristen froze, her eyes widening at that honest admission. She knew once again she should probably have taken insult, but instead, she couldn’t help but giggle. Her mother’s tea really was bad.

“Wait a minute.” Deputy Hammel injected himself into the conversation. “Last night you threw me out of the house for being rude, and you’re laughing now when Dylan insults your parents?”

“Deputy Singer
⎯
”

“Call me Dylan.”

“
⎯
was sharing an honest opinion.” Kristen continued on without pausing as she turned to meet Deputy’s Hammel’s frown. “You were just being mean to my cousin.”

“Yeah?” The deputy quirked an eyebrow at that, and she could tell he was still a little sore about her slamming the door on him again. “Well, let me tell you,
honestly.
I don’t like your cousin.”

Kristen considered that for a moment before nodding. “I can accept that, but you’ll still show her proper respect in her home, or I’ll throw you out again.”