Page 7 of The Fragile Truth

Ian grunted. “If he knows what’s good for him, he won’t.”

Appreciation glittered in her deep brown eyes. They were so expressive and mysterious. Ian could get lost in them. “Thanks again.” She gave him a resplendent smile. “You’re my hero.”

“I don’t know about that,” he countered. Her words had the effect of stirring warmth through his gut. “I did what anyone would do.”

“I wouldn’t say that. The bar’s packed, and yet you were the only one who came to my aid.” She gave him a meaningful look. Several awkward moments passed before she murmured, “Well, I’d better get going. Thanks again.”

As she turned to leave, Ian made a snapshot decision. “Sadie?”

She turned. “Yes?”

“Are you hungry?” His heart picked up its pace as he waited for her to answer.

Her features held a hint of amusement. “What are you asking?”

She was making him work for it. He respected that. “Have dinner with me.” Funny how quickly his perspective had changed. When she first came up to the bar, he’d not been interested in the least. Now, his interest was growing exponentially by the minute.

She chuckled. “But that would require your time and energy.”

The slight bite in her voice caused him to grin. “I suppose it would.” He shrugged. “Too late to turn back now. I’m invested.”

She rewarded him with a genuine smile. “In that case, yes, I’m hungry. Starving, actually.” She moved to sit back down at the table, but he touched her arm.

“Not here. There’s a pizza place just around the corner.” Ian had been hearing about how great it was from Callie, his administrative assistant in charge of running the office, but he’d never taken the time to try it when he was in Wilmington.

She dipped her head, her hair falling down her arm as she took an assessment of him. “I guess I’d be up for that.”

He raised an eyebrow in partial amusement. “You guess?”

“As long as you don’t think I’m hitting on you.”

Laughter circled throat. “Oh, no. I would never think that,” he countered.

She lifted her chin, eyes sparking. “Good, because I wasn’t.”

His lips twitched. She was cute when she was all fiery and indignant. “Duly noted.”

3

Ian watched in admiration as Sadie polished off the last bite of her fourth slice of pizza. She pushed her plate away, touching her stomach. “Okay, I’d better stop there.”

“Come on,” he teased. “Go for five slices.” He balled his fist and held it up. “You can do it,” he chanted.

Her eyes widened as a rosy hue brushed her cheeks. “You were counting?”

“Heck, yeah! It was impressive to see a little thing like you eat so much.”

“For your information, Sheriff, I was hungry,” she said defensively.

When she asked about his profession, he hesitantly told her about being the Sheriff of Summerhaven. Ian always dreaded talking about careers while on dates. Some women would gush admiration, whereas others would get tense and nervous like he was trying to arrest them for some crime. Sadie, however, took it in stride. She asked him what it was like to be in the public eye 24/7. He came back with, “Why do you think I came to Wilmington?”

He sat back in his chair and placed his napkin over his empty plate. “No judgment about the pizza. Like I said, it was impressive.”

She studied him, as if trying to decide if he were telling her the truth. Finally, her shoulders relaxed.

The flicker from the candle on the table highlighted the delicate curve of Sadie’s chin and cast tantalizing shadows across her milky neck. He liked how she kept pushing locks of hair behind her ears when they fell onto her cheeks. His attention was drawn to the small mole below her mouth. It gave her an added air of sophistication.

As Ian suspected, Sadie was easy to talk to. He told her about growing up in Summerhaven and then getting an associate degree at Brewton Community College before finishing his undergrad at North Carolina State University. He spoke of moving back to Summerhaven to be with his mom, who was getting up in age and had been having some health issues. She was a widow. His dad died when he was a teenager. Ian didn’t go into the sordid details of what it was like growing up with an alcoholic father. Or how, for years, he’d resented his mom staying with his dad. No, he certainly didn’t want to tell her all of that. It was much too heavy for a first date. Instead, Ian told Sadie how he came to be the sheriff. Ian started his career in law enforcement as a deputy working under Sheriff Taggert until he retired. Ian owed a lot to his crusty, old venerable mentor. It was largely due to Sheriff Taggert’s support that Ian got elected.