“I don’t care. And furthermore… Wait, what?”
As if he couldn’t control himself, Cowboy reached up and removed the thick, unattractive lenses from my face.
I stiffened. “What do you think you’re doing?” My low voice sounded almost breathy.
He didn’t answer. Instead, he raised his arm and went for the clip in my hair. I tried to move away, but he blocked my escape route with his body, forcing me to stand in place as he freed the red strands I had twisted onto the back of my head. My wavy locks tumbled loosely around my shoulders.
Cowboy cocked his head, scrutinizing my new look, as I crossed my arms and drew my lips into a thin line to show my petulance. It only made him grin more. “You know, I was going to say you looked like an angel. But that’s not quite right. With your fiery red hair, deep blue eyes, and that rebellious little pout, I think you look more like…a fallen angel.”
“You’re kidding, right? That’s the best line you have?” I rolled my eyes and scoffed under my breath. “And here I thought you were actually supposed to be good at this.”
He ignored my comment and leaned his chiseled face closer to mine, rubbing one calloused finger along my cheekbone. His deep voice took on a sexier note. “All that innocence and compressed sexuality wound up tight inside you…just waiting to be let loose.”
I resisted the urge to blow out the breath I was holding. Okay, so maybe he’s better than I thought.
In an attempt not to come across as weak or feeble, I lifted my chin, but my nerves wound tighter, electrified by the way he penetrated me with his green eyes. “And let me guess, you think you’re the man to unlock it?”
“I’d damn sure like to try,” he said with a suggestive shrug of his brows.
The smile he wore reached his eyes, and although I tried to maintain my composure, the natural charm he exuded drew me in.
I let out a quick, irritated breath. “My God! Bobbie Jo was right. You’ll hit on any Homo sapiens with a pulse.”
He blinked at me, then a grin broadened his face. “Is it my imagination or did you just confess that you’re into chicks? Because if that’s part of the deal—”
“Oh, Lord,” I said, snatching my hair clip and glasses from him. “Homo sapiens is a species of bipedal primates, a group to which humans belong. It’s definitely not whatever dirty thing your mind conjured—”
Before I finished my sentence, the glass doors slid open and a brunette with a short blunt haircut stepped inside. She was a gorgeous girl with an athletic body, most of which she showed off by wearing itty-bitty things she obviously had mistaken for shorts. She stopped in the doorway, put a hand on her pushed-out hip, and eyed Cowboy with irritation.
“Mandy…?”
“I thought that was your vehicle parked out front, Captain. Where the hell is your radio?”
“I didn’t want it squawking while I was in here, so I left it in my truck. What does it matter? It’s my day off.”
“Well, you might want to get your ass in gear and come with me. We’ve got a problem.” Mandy scanned the room until her gaze stopped on me. “Might want to bring her along, too,” she said in a clipped tone before spinning on her heel to storm out.
“Hold up, Mandy. Where’s the fire?”
She stopped in the doorway and looked back at us over her shoulder. “At the library.”
Cowboy’s head snapped to me, then back to Mandy. “But we’re in the library.”
“No shit,” she said. “That’s the problem.”
Cowboy made it to the door before he realized I wasn’t behind him.
As Mandy’s words had sunk in, I’d panicked and my throat had closed, rendering me speechless. My stunned mind grasped the danger I was possibly in, but my frozen limbs couldn’t seem to react to the notion.