“Sorry. I guess he’s been a bachelor for too many years.”
“No, it’s okay. This is his house and it’s his right to watch television in his skivvies if he wants.”
We were both laughing when he came back in wearing a T-shirt and some flannel pants. He offered his hand and Nick introduced us. “This is my dad, Dutch.”
Dutch Hawke. What a great cop name. “Dad, this is Payton.”
He looked at me for a minute before he said anything. “It’s nice to meet you, Payton.” He smiled and I saw who Nick got his dimples from. “Forgive me if I seem a little shocked. Nick has never brought a girl home before.”
“Thanks, Dad.”
He turned to smirk at Nick and the smile left his face. “What the hell happened to you?”
“I got jumped.”
“By what?”
He probably wasn’t going to think too much of me after I told him I was the one to blame for his son’s face looking the way it did. “It’s my fault he looks like that. I sprayed the guy that jumped him with pepper spray but some blew back into Nick’s face. It was a complete accident.”
“I’d hate to see the other guy.”
I’m betting he looked like hell. Serves him right. “He wasn’t too happy with me.”
“Come to the kitchen. That’s gonna need some milk.”
“Milk?”
“Yeah, it will cool the burn and then we’ll need to wash it with dishwashing detergent. It will get better on its own in about 30 minutes but this will speed the process. It usually takes a few hours for it to wear off completely, but maybe it won’t be that long since you didn’t get it directly to the face.”
I watched Dutch irrigate Nick’s face with milk and he must have seen the puzzled look on my face. “I know about pepper spray treatment because we occasionally use it in the line of duty. Sometimes we get a little of the blow back like Nick did tonight.”
“Oh.” That’s all I could say as I thought about the dangerous situations Nick would be in after he became a cop and pepper spray would be the least of his worries when it came to dangerous criminals. Thinking about it made my stomach feel like it was in knots and I didn’t like it.
I needed to hear him tell me he was better so I could feel better. “Is the burning going away?”
“Yeah, it’s not near as bad as it was at first.”
Dutch mixed up a detergent and water paste and washed Nick’s face with it several times before he moved to the couch to lie down. “It should get better soon but you’ll have to wait for your eyes to get better on their own because detergent won’t feel much better than the pepper. You should probably just go to bed and sleep it off.”
“But I’ve gotta drive Payton back.”
“No, your eyes are too swollen for you to drive. I’ll take her home. Just give me a minute to grab my shoes.”
Dutch went down the hall toward the back of the house and I sat next to Nick on the couch after he scooted over and patted the cushion.
He looked at me through his inflamed eyes and smiled. “I had a great time tonight.”
“Yeah, right,” I laughed. “You’re such a liar.”
“No, I did. I’m not kiddin’.”
“Okay, if you say...” And that’s all I was able to get out before Nick grabbed the back of my neck and pulled me down as he rose to meet me for a kiss. He put his lips against mine and I felt a fire growing that had absolutely nothing to do with pepper spray.
I opened my mouth a little and he slid his tongue in between my teeth to tease me so I would open wider. He sat up completely and turned his head to the side so his tongue could dance a waltz with mine. He tasted like mint but with a hint of spice, sort of like pepper. The realization made me smile and I felt his smile in return against my mouth.
His hands were placed affectionately on each side of my face and I reveled in the moment because it was the kind of kiss I always long for. It was perfect in all ways but one. He was a total Playah.
I heard his dad start the car outside and I pulled away from Nick. How had his dad gotten past us? I didn’t even hear the door open.
He still held my face and I could feel his breath against my lips. “I’ve gotta go. Your dad is waiting for me.”
“He’ll wait,” he said breathlessly as he leaned forward to possess my mouth again but I stopped him by pressing my forehead to his.
“No, I have to go. It’s rude to keep him waiting.”
He rubbed his thumbs up and down my cheeks. “Okay. Can I call you tomorrow?”
I didn’t answer. I only nodded and he smiled because it was the answer he wanted. I halfway expected, and maybe even hoped, he might pull me back down for another kiss before I got up but he didn’t. I walked out the front door without looking back because I was afraid I might run back to him for another one of his peppery kisses.
I got my purse and Fair Bear from Nick’s car and then got into the squad car with Dutch. He looked at the stuffed animal and then back at me. “Nick won him for me at the fair.”
“I figured as much. What side of town do you live on?”
I felt bad telling him he was going to have to drive me all the way to Franklin. “I’m not from Collinsville. I live in East Franklin.”
He didn’t say anything and pulled away from the house in the direction of the highway leading home. “I suspected you weren’t from here but I didn’t want to make assumptions.”
I didn’t know what that meant so I didn’t know how to respond.
“If you don’t mind me asking, how did you and Nick meet?”
I doubted it was a good idea to tell him I met him on the way to see him street race since that was illegal. “I ran into the back of his car with mine at a red light and it just so happened that my friend in the car with me knew Nick so he introduced us.”
“You had an accident?”
Oops. “Sort of. I bumped him a little bit but it didn’t do any damage to either of our cars so we didn’t call it in.”
“He knows better than that.” I could see him shaking his head in the dark.”Who is your friend that he knew?”
“Jessie Boone. He used to live in Collinsville and he and Nick were in the same class. Do you remember him?”
“Hell yeah, I know that boy. He caused me more trouble than I like to remember when he lived here with his sorry excuse for a mother.”