Making It Right (Most Likely To #3)

He liked her smile.

“Yes, you did.” She glanced up at the hotel behind them.

He swung a leg around and stayed sitting on the bike, looking up at Jo as silence was broken by the song of crickets.

“I should go.”

But she didn’t.

“Probably.”

A playful, short laugh accompanied a roll of her eyes.

“Okay, I’m going . . . I’ll see you tomorrow.”

He let her turn, but didn’t let her take a step.

“Jo?”

She glanced up from the ground she was staring at.

Gill placed a hand on her waist and pulled her between his legs.

“What are you—”

He reached for her head with his free hand and pulled her down for a kiss.

Jo moaned and opened her lips to let him explore.

When he felt her fingers dig into his shoulder and move closer, he thought, there you are.

He forced himself to stay on his bike, didn’t stop kissing her until she pulled away. The smoky desire that glazed her eyes made him want her even more. But no. He decided before that evening began that he wasn’t going to jump back into any one-night anything with this woman. And after listening to her spill many of her secrets, her hates, and her desires regarding her life, he realized two things. JoAnne Ward didn’t think she was worthy of anything more than a one-night stand, and second, Sheriff Ward had yet to really live.

“Do you want—”

He cut off her invitation to her room with a finger to her lips.

“I want to,” he confessed. “But I’m not going to.”

Her eyes narrowed.

Gill spread his fingers on her lower back slowly. “You deserve more than a couple hours of my time.”

“We spent the whole night together.”

“You need more.”

It was a tricky thing, turning a woman down who wanted you in her bed.

“You know what I need now, do you?”

“I’m a really good listener, Jo. Besides, you have a big day tomorrow.”

“So you’re letting me sleep alone to save my strength.”

He shook his head. “No. To save mine.”

Some of the disappointment disappeared from her eyes.

“I’m only here for a few more nights.”

“I know.”

Her chest lifted and fell slowly before she stepped out of his embrace.

Gill grabbed the helmet he’d let her wear and pushed it over his head. “Good night, JoAnne.”

“It’s Jo.”

He winked and turned over the bike.



“Isn’t it like midnight there?”

“He kissed me and then left, Zoe. What man does that?” Jo spoke into her cell phone as she moved around the hotel room, toeing off her shoes.

“Well, hello, Jo . . . how was your day?” Zoe laughed.

Jo paused. “Hi, Zoe. Yes, it’s after midnight. Now answer my question.”

“About kissing and leaving?”

“I offered myself. And it isn’t like he hasn’t been there, so why would he say no?”

“I love you, Jo . . . but you’re going to have to back up a little. We haven’t talked since you got to DC, so start at the beginning.”

Jo sighed and moved into the bathroom. “I met this guy in DC. My kind of guy.”

“Let me guess: big, bulky, tats, and available.”

The mirror showed evidence of Gill’s kiss. Her lips were swollen, her cheeks flushed.

“Right. All that. Supersexy. It was . . .” She paused. “Epic.”

“I’m still listening.”

Jo shook off the memory of his naked ass. “We hooked up. I left before he woke. I’m not coming to the East Coast again anytime soon. No need to stay around for pillow talk in the morning, right?”

“Right.” Zoe’s voice softened.

“Then I arrive in Virginia, and guess who happens to be Agent Burton’s partner?”

“No!”

“Yes.”

“How does that happen?”

“I don’t know. In the movies, mostly. Come to find out my Rocco is actually Agent Clausen.”

“Rocco?” Zoe asked, laughing.

“Fake name. I used one, too.”

“So what’s the problem?”

Jo ran the water in the sink, dipped a washcloth in when it was hot. “For the last two days we’ve said next to nothing to each other. We whispered about what had happened, but neither of us brought it up again.”

“Until tonight?”

“We didn’t talk about it. We stayed late at the bar, everyone else had left. He gave me a ride back to my hotel . . .” She wiped her face, moved the phone to the other ear to get the opposite side. “I wasn’t going to offer anything, then he kissed me.”

Zoe ahhed into the phone.

“Stop it. It wasn’t like that.”

“Oh, what was it like?”

Jo stopped washing her face, thought of how soft his touch was tonight instead of the urgency they’d both put into everything while in DC.

“Different,” she confessed.

“Good different?”

“Yeah,” Jo said with a sigh.

The image of him driving away pulled her back. “Then he left. Said he needed his energy for tomorrow.”

“Oh, Jo . . . that’s fabulous.”

“How is that fabulous? I don’t have many nights away from River Bend.” She tossed the used washcloth on the counter and picked up her toothbrush, loaded it with toothpaste.

“Didn’t you say he was Shauna’s partner?”

With the toothbrush in her mouth, Jo talked around it. “Yeah.”

“Isn’t Shauna in Eugene?”

Jo stopped midbrush. “Yeah.”

“Maybe Agent Rocco isn’t too concerned about your timeline on the East Coast.”

Jo started brushing again . . . slowly. “His name is Gill.”

“Whatever.”

Jo brushed more vigorously, spit out the mess. A quick rinse and she stepped out of the bathroom. “Doesn’t explain why he said no to tonight.”

“Sure it does.”

“How?”

“Because he wants to slow things down. His clock isn’t ticking like yours is.”

“But when I get home, it’s River Bend twenty-four/seven again.”

“I don’t think your agent understands that. Or if he does, he realizes you can have a life outside of being our sheriff.”

Jo sat on the edge of the bed. “Ha!”

“I like this guy already,” Zoe said.

Jo frowned. “He’s annoying.”

“Which is exactly why I like him.”

“You’re not helping, Zoe.”

Her friend laughed and laughed.



Jo’s eyes opened before the sun made its appearance. After turning over a few times, pounding her pillow into the mattress a dozen times, she sighed and gave up.

Restless for more reasons than she could name, Jo did what she always did. She put her running shoes on and left the hotel on foot.

Her legs warmed into her stride on the second mile and her head finally started to focus. She tried to think about the training courses she’d taken so far, the things she had learned and wanted to take with her when she left Virginia.