With a long sigh, she maneuvered to the side of the road and put the car in park. Surely she could talk her way out of this. Small-town cops liked to ticket out-of-towners, and her car still had Texas plates. She would explain that she was a new resident and he could go back to his donut eating and preying on tourists.

She glanced in her side mirror. He was taking his time. Probably thought he could intimidate her. Well, he was in for a surprise. She’d worked with cops all her life. She could absolutely handle some paunchy small-town deputy who likely had taken the job because there wasn’t anything better to do.

The door to his SUV opened and then she was staring for a different reason.

A large man with intensely broad shoulders stepped out of the vehicle. He reached back in and brought out a hat that he settled on ridiculously dark hair that had more curl to it than she’d ever seen on a cop. DPD tended to keep it high and tight, but this man might be able to pull his back in a ponytail. No. That wasn’t the word. A queue. Despite the long hair, there was absolutely nothing feminine about the man walking her way. Swaggering.

He was probably six foot four, and if there was an ounce of paunch on that man, she couldn’t see it.

He was the man from Lisa’s wedding, the one who had slid her that sensual smile.

She shook her head and forced herself to focus. He wasn’t her type. She liked academic types. Nice men who were nonthreatening.

Boring. That’s the word you’re looking for. Boring and easily controlled so you can pretend that they can’t hurt you. How’d that work out for us?

A hard tap on her driver’s-side window brought her out of her inner monologue and she lowered the window. He wore mirrored aviators that covered his eyes. His jawline was sharp as a razor and there was a hint of sexy scruff coming in across his face.

Lord, the man was hot.

“License and registration, please.” His tone, however, was cold as ice.

It was the chill in his voice that allowed her to find her footing again. The man in front of her probably had twenty women dangling on his string, and a wife and kids at home, too. No man that hot didn’t. She could handle him. “Would you like to explain why you’ve pulled me over, Officer?”

He stepped back and for a moment she could have sworn he was surprised, but then she was sure almost no one would question this man’s authority. He recovered quickly, his hands going to those lean hips of his. “You were speeding. The speed limit on this part of the highway is forty-five. I clocked you going thirty miles over the speed limit. License and registration.”