Valentine Wishes (Baxter Academy Book 1) Read Free Page B

knife and fork to cut into it. The lid of the box has a perforation and she tears it apart and we instantly have two, cardboard plates.
    I take a seat across from Jacqueline and wait for her to take a slice before taking one for myself.
    “So, tell me about yourself, Brett.” She gives me a jaunty grin. “Where are you from?” she asks before taking a bite of the pizza.
    “Buffalo. You?” I want to know about her. Not talk about me.
    “Originally from Chicago, but my family moved here when I was ten.”
    “Siblings?” I ask.
    “Two younger brothers. You?”
    “Four sisters. No brothers.” I look over into her light green eyes that remind me of the fresh sage mom used to grow in her garden. “If Ashley would have bothered to tell either of us anything, we could have had all these preliminaries out of the way.”
    She laughs. “She knows me too well and I would have found an excuse not to meet you. I assume you are a cop .”
    I don’t take offense. Most people don’t like cops, unless they need one.
    “At least you aren’t with the Sheriff’s department. Those guys are jerks.”
    I chuckle, but don’t argue. “They aren’t all bad.” Though a few are dicks. “And, I’m not a cop. I was just riding along today.”
    “I still got a ticket this morning.” She looks pointedly at me.
    “I’m not the one who stopped you,” I defend.
    Shit! Now I know why Uncle Quinn stopped her. That son of a bitch. “Did you bother to look at the ticket?”
    “No. Just shoved it in my purse. I’ll deal with it later.”
    “You might want to look now because it was a warning, not a speeding ticket.”
    Her eyes widen a smile breaks on that gorgeous face. “Really?”
    “Yeah.” I chuckle. “You were eight over but now I get why he stopped you.” And, I will be asking him about it.
    “Why?”
    I’m shaking my head before I answer. “The officer’s my uncle and we were at the rest stop, well, not to run radar. When I came out, he said he clocked the car and ran the license.”
    “Gee, I feel so special,” she says without humor.
    “No, he had already run the plate and knew the driver’s name.”
    “He picked me out on purpose?” She seemed rather offended and I can’t blame her.
    “He knew I had a date with you tonight. My guess is he wanted to get a look at you.”
    “And that’s the reason he stopped me?” She asked with disbelief.
    “You were speeding.”
    Jacqueline shrugs. “True.”
    “At least now I know why he was chuckling the whole time, and told me to have a great time tonight.”
    “What? You mean you didn’t know it was me then?”
    “No.” Unbelievable! “He didn’t tell me anything except that it was a warning, which shouldn’t put you into too bad of a mood.”
    “All so he could check me out before your date?”
    “Yep. At least I assume so.” I’m so going to kill my uncle for this. At least she’s laughing now and not pissed. Well, she did only get a warning. Had it been a ticket, this might not be such a pleasant conversation.
    “So, if you’re not a cop, and just ride along, what do you do?”
    I get the feeling she doesn’t like cops so I sure as hell don’t want to tell her what I really do. Instead, I just shake my head. “I’d rather know about you.”
    “I’ll make Ashley tell me.” She quirks an eyebrow. Then she takes a bite of her pizza while looking me over. “Four sisters, huh?” I guess we aren’t going to talk about her. “All younger? You the big brother and all.”
    “I wish.” I roll my eyes. “Two older and two younger.”
    She gives me a fake pout. “Poor middle child. Were you neglected and ignored?”
    I chuckle. “What? Have you heard that from your brother?”
    “No. Friends who were middle children.”
    “They probably had siblings of the same gender,” I begin to explain. “As the only boy, I had my own room, didn’t have to wear hand me downs because, well, that would’ve looked weird and got me beat up in school,