Ian couldn't believe that he had never noticed the absolutely amazing redhead in front of him. It probably had something to do with her being a cop. He'd never paid much attention to them except to drive slowly and carefully past the police station. Everyone knew those had to be fat men who had nothing to do but eat doughnuts at the coffee shop, especially in an extremely boring, quiet town like Window Rock.

The one who had pulled him over for speeding, however, definitely did not meet that description. She had bright green eyes with long eyelashes, and his eyes couldn't stop glancing down to her curves, as much as he tried to keep that from happening so as not to get in further trouble. As might be expected of an officer, she didn't at first glance look like someone who would let that slide or consider it a compliment. The last thing Ian needed was some lecture on how not to behave like a sexist pig from some woman who didn't even know him.

She could give him a ticket, though, so he was determined to not have any trouble with her. He just needed to go on with his day and convince her to go on with her day without getting arrested, sued or in any other major trouble. There were so many stories going around about cops on power trips, even the ones going about boring traffic duty.

"Do you know why I pulled you over?" she asked. Ian spent a second trying to decide whether he should answer honestly or not. He wasn't even in a hurry, but there was nobody else on the smooth road. It was just so tempting to see how fast he could go without being unsafe. He wasn't the type to try anything crazy or dangerous, and it wasn't like he was stupid enough to put someone else in danger.

Well, there wasn't anyone else until the cop car had come out of nowhere. Then again, if he was very lucky this particular day, that might not turn out to be a bad thing. He had felt lonely ever since his last girlfriend left him and he still winced when he saw her around town with her new guy. He wished, not for the first time, that Window Rock was much bigger. A bigger city might even have enough cars that his speeding might not be noticed. But he had in fact been speeding. He knew perfectly well that he'd been speeding even if he hadn't exactly been staring at his odometer the entire trip.

For whatever reason, Ian decided to tell her the truth. "I was speeding?"

The cop seemed to consider this answer for a moment while Ian watched for any sign of whether or not he was actually going to get a ticket. He watched as politely and patiently as he possibly could.

All right, he also noticed her perfect cheekbones and jawline, which was unusual to notice in such detail when he was nervous. And being pulled over always made him nervous, even though he didn't see how he could or at least should get worse than a ticket. It wasn't like he'd been drinking or racing another car or anything stupid and dangerous like that.

Then again, maybe it wasn't the ticket Ian was nervous about. This woman was intense, with every little movement controlled. Not necessarily in a bad way – he didn't know her enough to know that yet – but intense in any case. Definitely a Type A, as they called it in that pop psychology class he had taken a few years back. He'd thought it a dumb class with descriptions that didn't work for actual people until now.

Was she new to Window Rock? How had he never seen her before? He was certain he'd remember seeing this woman if she'd been in town long. It wasn't like it was exactly full of beautiful, intense women. It was nothing but some businesses surrounded by farmland and he'd wanted to move years ago, but hadn't been able to find a job somewhere more exciting. Come to think of it, it wasn't just him. Nobody seemed to get out of town and start a more interesting life somewhere else.

It seemed so strange that he hadn't noticed that somewhat depressing fact either in all these years. Come to think of it, how literal was it that nobody ever seemed to get out of Window Rock? There must be someone he knew who had gotten out of it for good at some point. He just couldn't remember at the moment who had actually been able to find a better life for some reason.

Maybe that was because too much of his mental energy was spent looking at this cop. She was probably going to notice his ogling her, and that would get him a ticket for sure. He only had so much money and didn't need to pay a ticket as well as higher insurance rates, so he tried to keep his expression as serious as he could possibly make it.

"Yes, you were," she finally answered, though she seemed to be considering what she was going to say next. Ian wasn't sure what the hesitation even meant, and he didn't dare hope it was good. He hadn't had much good luck in his life. But when she finished, it wasn't bad news at all.

"I'm sure you were going somewhere for work and the speed limits can be tough around here, so I'm goingto let you off with a warning, but don't let me catch you again."

Actually, Ian wasn't working that day, but he felt no need to tell her that. He only wanted to breathe a sigh of relief, but breathing at all was hard around this woman. Having this affect on people must have been what led her to become a cop in the first place.

"Thank you," he said, and he certainly meant it. "I promise I won't speed again, Officer _"

"Leyman," she answered the unspoken question. She then gave him a look which made Ian sure that she'd noticed his ogling. It was one that couldn't quite decide whether to become increasingly stern or roll her eyes. At least she'd promised to give him a warning just in time, even if Ian didn't really stand a chance with her. For all he knew, she was part of a couple or wasn't interested in guys like him. He didn't see a ring on her left hand, however. This was a promising first sign that he might somehow be able to see her again and learn something about her, such as how he could have not seen her around town all this time. Could she be new to town? Where would she be from that Window Rock was a better option?

Ian could tell that it was now or never. "Officer Leyman, I probably shouldn't be asking this while you're on the job, but I was wondering if I could make my day and yours more interesting by buying you a cup of coffee when you get off work."

She seemed to consider this for a moment, but didn't give him any reason to be too hopeful. "I really shouldn't. I don't even know you and I don't want it to look like you bribed me."

Still, although it might have been a figment of Ian's imagination, he thought that she might want to spend more time with him in spite of herself. At least she didn't drive off as quickly as she could have.

"But it wouldn't be a bribe," Ian tried. "After all, you said you were going to just give me a warning before I said anything about coffee."

"So I did," she said, surprisingly thoughtfully. Ian felt his heart begin to race.

But she looked stern again. "As long as it's really just for coffee."

Ian tried to smile his most trusting smile. "Yes, it really is just for coffee. I don't want to jump into a commitment or get you in trouble with the police department or anything like that."

"All right," said Officer Leyman. Ian realized that he still didn't even know her first name.

"If I can have your name, I'll meet you for coffee on Saturday after you get off work."

"It's Tara." She paused for a second. "And I'm on the night shift Friday night. But I could use coffee at 9 a.m. so I don't sleep all day. I have things to do."

"Perfect," said Ian, not believing how good his luck had turned out. "At the Coffee Bean?"

"Sure, farmboy." Ian thought Tara was going to laugh at him because of his boring clothes and naivety, but somehow she didn't. And with that, Tara headed back to her patrol car and drove off. Ian watched her drive away until she was out of sight, far down the road and away from town. He certainly didn't feel ready to drive again for another minute until he'd started to process what had just happened.

He couldn't say what had made him give such a crazy, spontaneous request to this Tara. He didn't know if they had anything in common or if she really had a softer side. Still, he couldn't help but feel excited, as though he had finally found someone worth staying in Window Rock for. At least his day had suddenly become more interesting, even if it never led to anywhere. Maybe he didn't even want it to lead to anywhere, not if Tara turned out to be too hard somehow for him, but he could still enjoy it while it lasted.

His confidence lasted the rest of the day, even though he couldn't even say for sure that Tara would even show up. Maybe he just needed something interesting to happen to spice up his boring life. Or make that someone.