Starting with June. Emilie Rose

he’d forgotten to give her the signed lease. He’d have to face her again tonight...unless he could figure out a way to circumnavigate that land mine.

CHAPTER TWO

      JUNE HIT THE punching bag hard enough to rattle her teeth and make her wish she’d put in her mouth guard. Then she gave her leather target a one-two combination. The smacks of solid contact didn’t give her much satisfaction.

      She usually took the Sunday shift so the other deputies could go to church with their families. But not today. Today she was wailing the tarnation out of an inanimate object. Because she couldn’t wallop her new neighbor.

      Sam had taped the signed lease to her front door last night while she’d been out on her run. He hadn’t even had the decency to give it to her face-to-face. And he’d rumbled down the driveway this morning in his black Charger without visiting the henhouse for eggs. She wouldn’t mind if he never returned. The last thing Quincey needed was another sexist prick.

      “Idiot.” Cross. Pow. “Jerk.” Uppercut. Thump. “Coward.”

      As the only female deputy on the Quincey PD, not only currently but in the history of the department, she’d had her fill of males who considered her weak or inferior. She had to work doubly hard and be twice as good as her male counterparts to be taken seriously. There were those who claimed she had been hired only because she’d spent a chunk of her childhood at the retired chief’s house playing with his daughter. That might be half-true, but she’d make darn sure Piper’s dad never regretted his decision.

      Liver punch. Hook. Elbow stab. Pivot. High kick. Sweat rolled into her eyes. She impatiently swiped it away with her forearm.

      “Who rattled your cage?”

      June spun around. Piper, the retired chief’s daughter, stood just outside the barn. June lowered her arms. “The new tenant. He’s a chauvinistic ass.”

      “He’s here?”

      “Moved in yesterday. Drove out at seven this morning.”

      “What’d he do? I’ve never seen you so worked up.”

      “I prepared a welcome basket and then took him dinner last night. He thought I was making a pass and let me know it was an unwelcome one.” Her skin burned anew with a fresh rush of humiliation.

      Piper wrinkled her nose. “He’s not from around here, is he? What does he do?”

      “He’s not a local, and I don’t know what he does.”

      “Your interrogation skills failed? Because I know you tried.”

      Okay, so she asked a lot of questions, but knowing what people were doing was part of her job description. “He wouldn’t say and since your husband ordered me to stay out of the station, I can’t run the guy’s tags or do a background check on him.” Though she had memorized his driver’s license number just in case she got a chance to slip into the office.

      “Do you think you should check him out?”

      “I’m going to live next to him. None of us lock our doors. And he’s...” She tried to find the words to explain her gut feeling. Sam made her uncomfortable. She didn’t know why. “I don’t know. He has a hard edge and he hides behind wraparound sunglasses all the time—even inside. Something’s not right.”

      Piper frowned. “Your instincts aren’t usually wrong. I’ll ask Roth to check him out.”

      “Why don’t you just call your dear hubby and tell him to let me go into the office and I’ll do it myself?”

      “Roth looked at your file and said that you never use your vacation time. He claims you don’t know how to take one. Which is true, by the way. He’s the one who suggested I invite you to attend church with Josh and me to keep you from trying to sneak into the station.”

      June prickled as the comment hit its mark. “I do too know how to relax. I sat by the pool yesterday for thirty-six minutes.”

      “Wow. Thirty-six whole minutes. That’s a record. And you timed every wasted second. You have just enough time to shower and change if you want to go with us.”

      “Thanks for the invitation, but no. Until I get a feel for this guy, I’m not leaving the property unprotected unless it’s for work. Madison will be returning late tomorrow night, and I don’t want her walking into any surprises.”

      “Understandable and commendable. I’m going to miss our lunches with her when she marries Adam and moves to Norcross. Don’t get me wrong. I’m happy for her and thrilled she found someone after all she’s been through, but...” She shrugged.

      “Yeah. Me, too.” June had known Piper forever. They’d both grown up in Quincey, and when Madison had bought June’s grandfather’s farm and veterinary practice six years ago, the two of them had taken her under their wing. The trio had formed a single-gal alliance of sorts. Now June was the only single one left. An outsider. A fifth wheel. “I hope she’ll call if she needs us for anything.”

      “Speaking of people calling when they need something...have you heard from any of your siblings lately? Aren’t they overdue for wanting or needing something?”

      June grimaced and tugged off her gloves. Her twin older sisters and two younger brothers were notorious for contacting June only when they wanted something.

      “No, I haven’t heard from them, and I don’t know what they could possibly need from me. They already have everything.” Perfect spouses, children, homes and jobs. She was proud of them. But a little envious, too. She couldn’t find Mr. Right with a compass, a map and a bloodhound, and three of her siblings were living the American dream.

      “Oh, I don’t know, maybe a loan they’ll never repay, a free babysitter or storage space, to name a few. You’ll be strong this time when they call?” Piper asked.

      June rolled her eyes. “I will resist the urge to empty my bank account for them if they call, but my nieces and nephews are adorable, and it’s hard to say no when they need something.” Though she wouldn’t spoil her own kids nearly as much—if she ever had any.

      “I know you like being needed, but at the rate your siblings spend, they’re going to burn through your inheritance. They’ve already burned through theirs. Am I right?”

      “Yes, ma’am.”

      The lecture wasn’t a new one. Unfortunately, it was deserved, so she couldn’t protest. But she felt guilty that her grandfather had made her his primary beneficiary and left her father and his other grandchildren very little. PawPaw claimed it was because he’d given the others more than they deserved while he was alive and only June had asked for nothing. But her brothers and sisters didn’t want to hear that. “You sure you don’t want to join us? The tenant’s out somewhere and your dad’s a decent preacher.”

      “I’ve heard Dad’s sermons all my life. We all did. Why do you think all my brothers and sisters moved away? And remember, I’m the black sheep. He’d have to make an example of me if I showed up. I’ve sinned. Big-time.”

      “June, you made a mistake. We all make them. But I get your point. And it would probably give him a heart attack if he saw you in one of his pews. I’ll see what I can get out of Roth. In the meantime, if the new tenant does anything shady, don’t hesitate to call it in.”

      “If he does, I’ll handle it. I might not be in uniform, but that doesn’t mean I can’t take care of business.”

      Because if she called her fellow deputies for help, it would only reinforce their opinions that little Justice Jones didn’t belong on the force.

      * * *

      SAM DRIED THE last of June’s dishes Sunday afternoon and stuck it in the picnic basket with the others.