Rescue Me

dress and zip-up hoodie. She looked like shit, but for some reason, his body responded like he was in junior high and the prettiest girl in school just walked into sex ed class.

Chapter Eight
    S adie pushed open the door to the Gas and Go and hitched her bag onto her shoulder. She was beyond exhausted. She’d spent the past two weeks inside a hospital in Laredo, and she’d just deplaned about an hour ago in Amarillo. She’d had a four-hour layover in Dallas, and she was not only exhausted, she was cranky as hell. Her ponytail was falling to one side and her eyes were scratchy. She looked like crap and she just didn’t care.
    She glanced up through her scratchy eyes at Becca and beyond to the man scowling like a black storm cloud was sitting above his dark head and big shoulders. Great. Vince was still in town. She didn’t have the energy to care or be embarrassed about what had happened at Tally Lynn’s wedding or how she looked. She’d be embarrassed tomorrow after her brain rested and she could recall every humiliating memory of his warm mouth and hot touch.
    “Hi, Sadie,” Becca moved toward her and gave her a big hug like they were old friends. “I heard about your daddy. How’s he doing?”
    She was a little surprised by how good Becca’s hug felt. “Cranky.” She pulled back and looked into the younger woman’s brown eyes. “Thanks for asking.” The doctors said it would be a few more weeks until he could be moved to a care facility in Amarillo, followed by months of rehabilitation. “He’s going to be moved to a rehab facility in Amarillo soon.” Which was why she was back home. To talk to the administrator and determine what care was best for him. Best for a cranky old rancher with anger issues.
    “I know you were planning on going home. Are you in town for a while now?” Becca asked.
    “Yeah, probably a few more months.” She was stuck in Lovett for months . Taking care of her father who didn’t want anyone taking care of him, it seemed, least of all her. Sadie dropped her arms to her sides and moved past Becca toward the coolers. Her mind might be too tired to retrieve every memory of that night in the bride’s room, but the testosterone rolling off Vince like a tsunami reminded her body in a crashing wave that created a bit of turbulence in her chest.
    “The night of Tally Lynn’s wedding, everyone wondered why you ran off before the bouquet toss. Now we know why you were in such a hurry.”
    Her tired feet stopped and she looked over her shoulder at Vince. “We do?” Had Vince told Becca, or had someone seen them in that room?
    He didn’t say a word. Just raised a dark brow up his forehead.
    “Yeah. If my daddy had been hurt, I would have run out without saying good-bye to anyone, too.”
    Relief dropped her shoulders and Vince laughed. A deep, amused rumble. She was too tired to care.
    “Well, I gotta go,” Becca announced. “See you around, Sadie.”
    “Bye, Becca.” She snagged a big bag of Chee-tos and headed to the coolers. When she returned to the front of the store, she was alone with Vince. A tight white T-shirt hugged his big shoulders and chest and was tucked into a pair of beige cargo pants. A rack of various brands of cigarettes hung behind him. Had he looked that hot the night of the wedding? No wonder she’d let him stick his hand up her skirt.
    She set her Coke and Chee-tos on the counter next to a box of Slim Jims. Hopefully, he wouldn’t mention the other night. “So you work here now?”
    “Yeah.” He looked her up and down, his green gaze pausing for the briefest of moments on the front of her dress. “You look like shit.”
    “Wow.” And here she’d been thinking he looked hot. “Thank you.”
    His long fingers punched numbers on the cash register. “Just saying maybe you should brush your hair before you go out in public.”
    She pulled her wallet out of her purse. “Didn’t they teach you charm in SEAL school?”
    “Yeah, at Camp Billy Machen. It was taught between recon and demolition.”
    “Well, you obviously flunked.” So far so good. He hadn’t brought up the other night. Talking about how bad she looked was much preferable.
    “Can’t flunk any part of SQT or you ring the bell.” He pushed total.
    “What’s SQT?” She watched him shove her Chee-tos into a bag.
    “SEAL qualification training.”
    “And exactly what do SEALs train for?” Not that she was all that interested, but it was a safe topic.
    “Hunting down