The Naughty List Bundle - Kylie Adams [243]
Jordan’s thoughts were interrupted when a young officer climbed onto the stage and approached the dancer. She looked like she wanted to run, but instead she faced him with a defiant pose and began arguing. Dressed as she was, her attitude was more ludicrous than not. A mostly naked woman could hardly be taken seriously.
Jordan started toward her, bustling the bouncer along with him, meaning to intervene. But before he’d taken two steps another officer stepped in front of him. All around them, men were shouting curses and arguing, which did them no good at all. Having no choice, Jordan released the bouncer, who began shaking his hand and cursing and promising dire consequences. He was quickly handcuffed and urged into the crowd of men being corralled outside. The officer turned to Jordan with a frown.
Knowing there was no hope for it, Jordan merely held out his hands and suffered the unique experience of being handcuffed. Beside him, men attempted to argue their circumstances, and were shoved roughly out the door for their efforts. Jordan shook his head at the demeaning display while still keeping one eye on the woman. Someone, he thought, should at least offer to let her get dressed.
“You’re not from around here, are you?” the officer asked Jordan.
“No, I’m from Buckhorn.” He gave the admission grudgingly, but he already knew there was no way to keep this stupid contretemps from his brothers. They’d rib him about this for the rest of eternity.
The officer lifted a brow and grinned with a good deal of satisfaction. “That’s a break. You can just wait in my car while I notify the sheriff of Buckhorn. He can deal with you himself and save me the trouble.”
When the officer started to pull him away, Jordan asked, “The woman…?”
“I’d worry about my own hide if I was you,” he said, then added, “That Buckhorn sheriff is one mean son of a bitch.”
Since the sheriff was none other than his brother Morgan, Jordan was already well aware of that fact. He lost sight of the woman as he was escorted outside through the rain and into the back seat of a cruiser where he cursed his fate, his libido and his damned temper, which had chosen a hell of a bad time to display itself. The car he’d arrived in was long gone, proving his supposition that the others had headed home.
The car door opened again and an officer helped the woman inside. She faltered when she saw Jordan sitting there, staring at her in blank surprise. “Oh, Lord,” she whispered with heartfelt distress. She dropped back into the seat and covered her face with her hands. “Just when I think the night can’t get any worse….”
Jordan breathed in the scent of her rain-damp skin and hair, acutely aware of her frustration, her exhaustion. He settled into his seat and realized that despite how she felt, the night had just taken a dramatic turn for the better as far as he was concerned.
2
“YOU LIVE IN Buckhorn?” he asked, which was the only conclusion he could come up with for why she was now in the car with him.
When she didn’t answer, the officer gave him a man-to-man look and said, “According to her license, she does.”
Jordan leaned forward to see her face, but with her hands still covering it, that wasn’t possible. He gently caught her wrists and tugged them down. Their handcuffs clinked together.
Softly, attempting to put her at ease, he asked, “Whereabouts? I’ve never seen you before.” And he sure as certain would have remembered if he ever had. Even if she’d been fully clothed and doing something as mundane as shopping for groceries, he felt certain he’d have paid special attention to her. There was something about her that hit him on a gut level.
Just being