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been that bad? He’d never had any complaints before.
    “It’s clear that I upset you.”
    This time she did look at him, her dark blue eyes almost gray with some troubled emotion. “I thought we weren’t going to talk about it.”
    “We won’t. After this. What I’m trying to say is that I’m sorry that I acted like a horse’s ass. It certainly wasn’t my intention. You probably saved my life, after all. I could have frozen to death on that bench.”
    Misty gave him a long-suffering sigh. “I wasn’t upset. Being kissed by a half-inebriated man, however, does not excite me. Now can we drop the subject?”
    For some reason Misty wanted to pretend she hadn’t been affected by the kiss, even though that was complete hogwash. He wasn’t a virgin. He’d felt the way her body trembled and the sweetness of her tongue’s tentative explorations. If that was what she was like when she was uninterested, he’d love to be with her when she was all in.
    “Sure. We’ll drop the subject.” For some perverse reason he couldn’t leave it alone. “I just don’t want things to be awkward between us now.”
    She was chewing on her lower lip again. “Does it matter? I’m leaving for Seattle in a month. We’ll probably never see each other again.”
    “Won’t you come visit your friends and family?”
    “I don’t have any family and I only have one real friend. She’ll come visit me.”
    The thought of never seeing her again bothered him and he had no idea why. He’d called them friends but they really weren’t. Before the other night, they’d said five words to each other in the last five years. He was much older than she was and they didn’t socialize in the same crowd.
    “I’m sure you have more friends than that.”
    Misty shook her head and looked out of the window. “No. Just Rayne.”
    That seemed like an awfully lonely life. Jared was constantly surrounded by family and friends almost to the point that it drove him crazy. He couldn’t fathom being alone most of the time.
    Jared tried a new subject since it was clear she didn’t want to discuss their kiss. “So you’re looking forward to Seattle? Do you have a place to live yet?”
    That question seemed to perk her up. She smiled and her gaze swung from the scenery back to him. “I signed a lease the last time I was there. It’s the cutest little one bedroom that overlooks a park and is near public transportation.”
    Misty Foster was a beautiful woman when she was animated like this. Her eyes sparkled and her cheeks were pink from excitement. It made him want to reach out and trace her smile with his finger, and then maybe run his fingers through that mass of long blonde hair.
    Whoa. That train of thought needed to derail immediately. She was too young, and even if she was older she obviously thought he was slime. He needed to remember that to keep his mind moving in other more productive directions. Like Boyd Hicks and what the fuck Jared was going to do about him for starters.
    “That sounds real nice. We’ll miss you around here though.”
    Jared pulled into the driveway in front of Misty’s apartment just in time to hear her snort in derision.
    “Miss me? Sheriff, Fielding is going to throw a party when I leave. No one,” she said icily, “is going to miss me. I’ve been persona non grata my entire life. Let’s face it, my mother and I offended the delicate sensibilities of the good citizens of this fine town.”
    There was nothing but scorn in Misty’s tone and Jared didn’t blame her a bit. He’d grown up in this town and he knew the good…and the bad. How they’d treated the Fosters wasn’t a shining moment in Fielding history.
    No wonder Misty couldn’t wait to leave.

    Misty shouldn’t have said what she did but she hadn’t been able to help herself. People always acted like they didn’t notice how the town treated her but she knew the looks and whispers all too well. She couldn’t wait to put Fielding in the rearview