“She’s too good for you.” He gestured around the room. “Why don’t you stick with your strippers and bimbo waitresses and steer clear of her.”
A bottle of beer clunked down in front of North. He looked up, startled. He hadn’t even noticed Piper’s return. “Oh, and here’s your ice water.” She plopped the glass down clumsily in front of the sheriff, close to the edge. Too close apparently. The glass toppled over and spilled all over Walters.
“Shit!” He erupted from his chair, wincing at the icy deluge soaking the front of his pants.
“Oh, my goodness!” Piper grabbed a napkin and patted savagely at his crotch, making him yelp. North covered up his smile with his hand.
“Stop! I’m okay! Really.” Walters dodged her hand, backing away.
“I’m so sorry, Deputy. I didn’t—”
“Sheriff,” he ground out, snatching the napkin from her hand when she came at him again. “Sheriff Walters.”
“Oh!” Piper’s enormous, Disney-princess eyes rounded in her face with exaggerated zeal. “Sheriff Walters. I’m so, so sorry!”
“It’s quite all right—”
“I’m so glad you can forgive me.” She hopped a little in place, sending her rack bouncing as she grabbed a lock of her dark hair, curling it around her finger. Her bottom lip stuck out in a pout. “But gosh . . . what can you expect from a bimbo waitress?”
Hale’s eyes narrowed. He flung the napkin down on the table. He clearly understood then that the drink in his lap had been deliberate. She had overheard his remark and was having a little fun at his expense.
“Exactly,” he retorted.
Piper squared her shoulders and stared him head-on, not the least bit intimidated. In that moment she reminded North of her brother. That mean bastard fought like a rattlesnake. Multiple men. Bigger men. Cruz would take on anyone. Reid always said it would be a miracle if the guy ever made it to thirty.
Walters wrenched his gaze back to North. “Remember what I said.” His gaze returned then, lingering for a long heated moment on Piper. Then he was gone, stalking from the table.
“Piper,” North said warningly. “You don’t need to go making enemies with men like that.”
She snorted in disgust. “I’m not afraid of him.”
“Maybe you should be. Your family doesn’t exactly have a good track record when it comes to the law.”
Piper sobered and looked at him somberly. “I’m nothing like my family. Me and my sister . . . we’re different.”
“I know that.” And she was. She might work at this unsavory establishment, but she wasn’t like the rest of her clan. She worked two jobs and took night courses and raised her little sister. “But Sheriff Walters is a powerful man—”
“Him? He looks like he has a stick up his ass.”
North released a hard laugh. Hadn’t he had a similar thought about the man’s sister?
“I appreciate you looking out for me—”
“It wasn’t just you, my friend. He insulted me. I heard that man call me a bimbo.”
“He said bimbo waitresses. That doesn’t necessarily mean you specifically—”
“Oh, he meant me.” She rolled her eyes.
North shrugged, watching the fiery bloom of color in her cheeks and knew there was no talking her down.
“Men like him are used to getting whatever they want and saying whatever they want because they think they’re superior.” She sniffed and picked up his empty water glass. Frowning down at the table, she said, “And he didn’t leave a tip.”
North chuckled. “Big shock.”
Shrugging, she strolled away.
North’s laughter faded. He picked up his beer and took a long pull. Now that Piper had left, he was alone with the echo of the sheriff’s words. I saw the way you looked at her. Like a wolf ready to eat its next meal.
If that was true, then he needed to stop looking at Faith Walters, because there would be no feasting on her. He finished his beer and lifted his gaze. Spying Piper, he signaled for another one.
EIGHTEEN
Shutting off all the downstairs lights, Faith moved upstairs and went about her bedtime routine. Washed her face. Brushed her teeth. Pulled her still-damp hair into a bun. She hooked her phone to the charger beside her bed and got under the covers. Sighing, she folded her hands across her stomach. This was the same routine she’d had most of her life. It hadn’t changed. Despite the fact that three nights ago she had bumped into North at the store. Her attempt to clear the air between them had gone abysmally wrong. He didn’t want to be friends. Or even friendly.
He had kissed her right there in the paper-towel aisle. To punish her. To prove the point that she wanted him. Then he had told her she couldn’t have him. He’d made a fool of her. It was like he held out a cookie jar for her to take a cookie and slammed the lid on her fingers when she reached inside. Jerk.
Forget I live next door. Forget you even have a neighbor.
Fine. She would do just that. Difficult as it might be, she would forget all about him. Brendan had called and they’d finally nailed down the day for their next date. She would focus on that. And forget all about North Callaghan.