“You do not actually expect me to go in there?” Her arms flew up in a dramatic show of exasperation.
The movement caused the cotton hemline of her tee to pull up and reveal a seductive sliver of her toned abs. I swallowed a groan as my jeans grew tighter. I knew she wasn’t teasing me on purpose—hell, if she was, I wouldn’t stand a chance. But that didn’t change the fact that every word she spoke, every look she gave, every movement she made was driving me fucking crazy.
“Unless you have some Princess superpowers that would enable you to clean it up from out there…Yes. I do expect you to come in here,” I gruffed harshly. I was trying my damnedest not to take out my sexual frustrations on her, but that was proving to be easier said than done.
Harmony crossed her arms in a defensive stance, which only served to pull the thin material covering her chest even tighter. “No. Abso-freaking-lutely not. There is no way I’m stepping a foot inside of there.”
“You are Harmony Briggs of Briggs Farms, aren’t you? You did grow up on a farm, right? I wouldn’t think a little elbow grease would spook you.”
“I grew up on a farm with eight older brothers who handled the elbow grease. But that’s not the reason.” She planted her hands on her hips, as she puffed out her chest. “If I sneeze, the roof will probably collapse. And I sure as hell am not going to start digging around in all that…” She waved her hand towards the piles and piles of debris that lined the entire two thousand square feet. “There have to be rats…spiders…and God knows what else in there!”
I knew that the structure was sound. I’d had my engineer out just last week and he’d approved all of the plans I had. There was no way I’d ever let Harmony step foot in a building that wasn’t safe. As far as the rats and spiders, I’d also taken care of that with pest control, but she was on a need to know basis and those were both things she didn’t need to know.
“You grew up on a farm and you’re scared of rats and spiders?”
“Yes!” Her green eyes grew wide.
“Well, tough. This isn’t summer camp. Get to work.” I honestly wasn’t being a dick just for the fun of it.
She wasn’t here out of the goodness of her heart, she was here as a punishment because she’d decided to take it upon herself to liberate Romeo with no regard for the fact that it broke the law. Harmony played by her own rules. Over the past year alone, I’d stopped her over a dozen times for speeding in her little red coupe and I hadn’t handed her even one citation. And I wasn’t the only one. She’d sweet-talked at least three other officers that I knew of, and one of them was a woman. Actions had consequences, and it was time Harmony was taught that lesson.
“Clear it. I’ll be back with a wheelbarrow when the dumpster gets here.”
Throwing down the scrap of metal that I’d picked up, I crossed to the entrance with two long strides. My plan had been to leave her to it and let her mind run wild with the idea of coming face-to-face with rats and spiders. That was until I got close enough to see the sheer, undiluted panic in her eyes. It was at least ten times worse than the night she’d tried to brave the cemetery. Her chest was rising and falling so rapidly I was afraid she would hyperventilate. And her normally sun-kissed skin was as white as a sheet.
Shit.
“The structure is sound. The engineer cleared it Friday. And I had pest control out here over the weekend. I can’t promise you won’t find anything dead, but there’s nothing living that you need to worry about.”
Her brow furrowed in confusion for several beats as she stared up at me. I wasn’t sure if she’d heard me.
“I said the structure is—“I was interrupted by her balled up fist pounding into my solar plexus. “Umph.”
“I heard you the first time!” she screamed.
Romeo, who’d been my shadow, by buddy, my pal since he’d jumped out of the car, was now standing between us quietly growling with a menacing stare, making it clear to me that if I tried to take one step towards Harmony he would do whatever it took to protect her.
I lifted my hands in mock-surrender as I took a step back, letting him know that I wasn’t a threat. “Hey, she hit me.”
It wasn’t that I really feared him. I didn’t. But I liked the idea of a guard dog for Harmony and I would do anything I could to encourage and support his protective behavior.
“I hit him because he was being an asshole.” Harmony defended her actions to Romeo, who laid down in a flop and sigh once he wisely assessed that I wasn’t a threat.
As tempted as I was to defend myself by pointing out the fact that I’d spent hours convincing “Cruella” not to press charges, I let it go. For the record, I’d also had to call in several favors so that she didn’t end up on the side of the road in a bright orange vest with a trash bag—but, hey maybe that was what she wanted.
“If you’d rather be picking up garbage on the side of the highway or hanging out with dead people, don’t let me stop you.”