by Janie Crouch
He couldn’t stop the tortured moan that escaped when she crawled into his lap, throwing one leg over his hips so she was straddling him, fitting perfectly in the space between him and the steering wheel.
Every witty, clever, and romantic thing that he could possibly say floated out of his head as her lips made their way down his jaw to his neck and bit gently.
Oh, sweet God, he was not going to survive this. He needed to get her home and into his bed. There were things he wanted to do to her that he damn well couldn’t do in this parking lot.
But his head fell back against the seat as her mouth and little teeth continued their onslaught of his neck and jaw.
Mercy.
The tap on the window startled them both.
Quinn let out a little shriek and dove for the other side of the truck as the light beam shone in the window.
Thank God they’d only been kissing. Another five minutes of her devious little lips on his, and he might have forgotten they were in a restaurant parking lot.
He rolled down his window and saw Gavin Zimmerman standing there. “Evening officer.”
Quinn let out a distressed squeak, but Baby wasn’t worried. Gavin Zimmerman had been part of Linear Tactical since its founding five years ago. When the town’s long-term sheriff had had a stroke last year, Gavin had stepped in temporarily. But now that the sheriff was doing better, Gavin was working part-time to ease the transition back.
“Nobody’s had to give you the PDA lecture in quite a while, Baby.”
Baby chuckled. Gavin had been a good friend for years. “Not since high school.” He held his arm out. “Quinn, this is Gavin Zimmerman. Part-time Linear Tactical, part-time sheriff, full-time harasser of innocent people. Gavin, this is Quinn.”
He deliberately didn’t offer a last name.
“Ma’am.”
Baby winced at the term.
“Are you working or just finding new ways to bother me?”
“Working, actually,” Gavin said. “And I need your assistance with something.”
“Can it wait until tomorrow?”
“It’s important. Let me radio Mercer so she can give your friend a ride home.”
Okay, now this was just getting weird. He raised his eyebrow at Gavin. The guy was known for being pretty serious, but this was stiff, even for him. “Is it an emergency?”
“Not per se...”
“Then I’ll take my date home and meet you at the station.”
“Baby, it’s okay.” Quinn reached out and touched his arm.
Baby wasn’t sure what was going on with Gavin, but he damn well was not sending her to ride home in a squad car if there wasn’t some sort of emergency which needed Baby’s attention right fucking now.
“Fine.” Gavin nodded. “I’ll see you at the station in half an hour.”
A half an hour later, Baby was sitting across from Gavin.
Gavin was an important part of Linear Tactical. He’d met Finn and Zac when they’d all been in the Army together, then followed them to Oak Creek when he’d gotten out of the military, rather than head back to the eastern part of the state like most of his family.
Baby had known the part-time sheriff for years. The two of them were very different in temperament—Gavin as introverted and stoic as Baby was outgoing and friendly. But they’d always gotten along.
But right now, all Baby wanted to do was leap across the desk and wipe that stoic, peaceful, “I have something to say but I want to help guide you there rather than say it outright” look on his face.
Quinn was sitting at home, probably worried. And Baby wanted nothing more than to be there with her and help her relax.
Relax being a very loose term.
“I’m hoping you’re about to tell me you need me for something of critical importance, like stopping World War Three.”
Gavin leaned back in the chair he’d been using in the six months that he’d been acting sheriff. He propped his elbows up on the arms of his chair and steepled his fingers in front of his face.
That wasn’t good.
“Nothing so serious, I promise. Just wanted to check in with you.”
Baby leaned back in his chair, sliding his legs out front of them. “Really? You find me with a sexy woman sitting in my lap, kissing me into next week, and the important reason you needed to see me in thirty minutes was because you wanted to check in with me?”
Gavin sighed. “After what happened last week, and the grenade that went off in Finn’s yard, it’s not unreasonable for me to want to make sure you’re not suffering from any ill effects. To make sure you’ve got your head on straight.”
“Except for the fact that my brother is threatening to make me pay landscaping fees, I’m doing okay. What about Zac? He’s the one who actually killed the man. Are you checking in with him too, Dr. Psychiatrist?”
“Zac took out someone who had put out a hit on his family. On all our families. I don’t think he’s losing any sleep over that kill. It was righteous.”
“And I’m not losing any sleep over tranquilizing two bad guys and breaking one’s nose. Now, do you want to tell me what this is really about?”
Gavin pursed his lips. “I got a police report across my desk late this afternoon.”
Baby’s eyes narrowed. “Given that you’re still the part-time sheriff here at the station, I’m not surprised. What is this ab—” It came to him in that instant. “This is about Quinn.”
Gavin nodded. “Do you know her last name?”
“Harrison or Pritchard or a combination of the two, depending on what she’s doing.”
“So you know who she is?”
“I know she’s Boy Riley’s sister. I know she works at both the Eagle’s Nest as a lunch waitress and as an instructor at Teton State College. Why am I here, Gavin?”
Gavin took a piece of paper out of a file and slid it over to him. “That’s the police report that came into this office from Cambridge.”
There was no way Baby was going to read that whole thing. “Why don’t you just give me the bottom line.”
He already knew Gavin had concerns. It would save them both time to let Gavin get straight to it.
“Harvard campus. Office break-in and vandalization.”
“Okay? What did that have to do with Quinn?”
“One of the professors there was accused of being emotionally unstable. Given the current concerns surrounding campus shootings, the entire scenario was passed along to the local PD.”
“You’re telling me that someone thought Quinn might bring in a gun and shoot people on her campus?”
“I’m telling you that her colleagues accused her of vandalizing her office, stealing money from the department petty cash fund, and deliberately destroying school property and student files.”
Holy shit. “I can’t believe Quinn would do any of that.”
“Well, evidently, when one of her colleagues, also her ex-husband, tried to address it with her, she sort of lost it and screamed at him. There were multiple witnesses. She had to be escorted out by security.”
Evidently that was the incident Kendrick had been talking about.
“What’s your point with all this?”
“I want to talk to Riley first, of course, but, after everything they’ve been through, he’s taken Girl Riley away for a couple of days. I’ve filed it to mention it to him when he gets back. I didn’t know he had a sister.”
“I didn’t either until a couple of weeks ago during the Wild Wyoming race.”
“When the picture came in, Officer Mercer mentioned that this lady,” Gavin tapped the picture, “looked a little like the new waitress at the Eagle’s Nest. I already have some concerns about stuff going on over there—”
“Like what?” The Eagle’s Nest wasn’t fancy by any means, but it wasn’t shady, either.
“Nothing in particular. Some general concerns about Lexi, the new manager.” Gavin shook his head. “That’s not what’s important. When I went to talk to
Lexi, I found out that Quinn just showed up in town and applied for the waitress position.”
“Yeah, I’m aware of that.”
“A little odd to go from Harvard professor to waitress, don’t you think?”
“What exactly are you asking me, Gavin?”
“You seem to have grown close to her pretty quickly. When I was heading out to my car and heard you and Boy Riley’s sister were on a date at New Brothers—”
“Fucking rumor mill,” Baby muttered under his breath.
“I decided I’d better check it out for myself. I know you’re friendly, and you’d be the first person to welcome someone new in town.” Gavin stopped his business talk and gave him a sly grin. “And you were definitely welcoming her.”
Baby shot him the bird.
“What I’m asking is how well do you really know this woman?” And now he was back to all business.
“I know she’s Riley’s sister—”
“Half-sister,” Gavin corrected. “A half-sister he’s never mentioned.”
Baby threw up his hands. “Geez, Gavin, come on. I know it’s literally your job to protect Oak Creek, but be reasonable. When have we ever sat around talking about our family with Phoenix? Hell, with all the exciting stuff he does, it’s not difficult to see why he might not mention a half-sister he’s not particularly close with. She’s older than him. They didn’t grow up together for God’s sake.”
“Did she tell you that?”
“No, he did, actually, on the race.”
Gavin let out a sigh and rubbed his eyes. “I like knowing people’s end games. I don’t like it when people show up in our town who don’t seem to have a good, logical reason for being here. Who moves to Wyoming right as winter is setting in?”
Baby knew Gavin meant well. But he was taking this too far.
“Maybe someone who’s a little down on their luck and needs a fresh start.”
“Or someone on the verge of an emotional breakdown who might end up hurting you or others in this town.”
Baby shook his head, swallowing his anger. This was just how Gavin was—strong, steady, stoic. To the point of being uncompromising and blockheaded.
“What do you want from me, Redwood?” Baby used Gavin’s codename from the Special Forces since it seemed appropriate.
“Just give me a couple of days, okay? Let me talk to Boy Riley and make sure there’s no hidden situation we need to know about. Let me check out this police report. There could be more to this than either of us know.”
“Like you think she’s guilty of more than what’s in that report?”
“Not necessarily. I mean, how often do I get a Massachusetts PD report randomly sent across my desk? There’s no APB out for her arrest; she’s not wanted for questioning. There was a situation on campus and a police report was filed. There are millions of them filed every year. Part of what concerns me is that the police report showed up here.”
“You think somebody made sure that happened? Why?”
“I don’t know. There’s a shit ton of stuff about this woman we don’t know. I think you need to watch your back.”
“For the record, I don’t think she’s of any danger to anyone.”
He thought of how gentle she’d been when she was talking to Ethan earlier today about his dyslexia. And don’t get him started about the fact that she was feeding a rogue dog canned tuna because she didn’t want it to be hungry. Not exactly threatening behavior.
“Just because she didn’t zoom into town and announce all her past shortcomings and failures on a loudspeaker doesn’t mean she has secrets,” Baby continued.
Gavin shook his head. “Everyone has secrets. The real question is to what lengths someone is willing to go to keep them hidden.”
Chapter Seventeen
How much dog food did an injured dog need?
Quinn wasn’t sure what breed Grizzly was. She wasn’t good at estimating weight, either. She studied the bag of dog food she’d picked up at the store on her way home from work yesterday. Different amounts of food for different sized dogs. But unless Grizzly volunteered to get on a scale, she had to guess what his weight was. Forty pounds? Sixty?
When she got home, she noticed the food she’d bought was for medium-sized dogs. What did that mean? Was Grizzly medium-sized? She hoped so. She’d spent a good deal of time yesterday looking at pictures of different mixed breeds, trying to figure out what Grizzly was in case that would help with the food decisions.
But honestly, that had been to try to take her mind off Baby’s voicemail message after their date. Ironically, she’d been out picking up the plate she’d left for Grizzly and missed his call.
I had a good time tonight but I’m going to be out-of-pocket for a little while. I’ll catch up with you soon.
She’d had to look up what out-of-pocket meant. Evidently, it was some sort of military slang that meant unavailable.
She had no reason to be upset. And she wasn’t upset. She was frustrated at her inability to read romantic situations. She’d thought their date had gone really well. But hell, maybe he’d gone home and researched her mishap at Harvard. It wasn’t like the information was difficult to find.
Or maybe his friend Sheriff Gavin had needed him for some important law enforcement situation. One where Baby couldn’t talk to her for the foreseeable future.
No, that seemed highly unlikely.
He hadn’t come into the Eagle’s Nest yesterday or today for lunch. But she hadn’t been able to stop herself from driving by his garage.
The bay door had been opened. Baby had been working.
So whatever the secret sheriff mission stuff was, it didn’t affect Baby’s job...merely his ability to spend time with her.
Seriously, what had she been expecting? She’d known this had nowhere to go from the beginning. Had told herself that out loud. She shouldn’t be hurt because he’d figured it out too.
But now it was the weekend. She thought she might have a date this weekend—had even picked out a cute wraparound dress. Instead, it looked like she would be sitting at home.
Fine. She’d had plenty of practice doing that over the years. Maybe she could get caught up on some of her online academic journal reading. Once those expired in a few months, she wouldn’t be able to afford renewing them for a while.
Finally, she gave up on trying to figure out the correct amount of dog food and piled the entire bowl full. Better to leave Grizzly with too much than not enough. She didn’t know if he was going to eat it anyway.
She washed her hands. “Okay, time for some Ramen noodles and the Journal of Contemporary Comparative Literature.”
No, that was not pathetic. It didn’t matter if it was Friday night, she needed to keep current in her field. Hopefully, this would all pass, and she would find a way to build up her career again.
She was through the first two of the five articles in that journal, taking a few notes as she went, Ramen noodles gone, when a knock at the door startled her. She jumped slightly in her chair.
Baby.
Maybe the secret sheriff mission was over. Maybe he’d been telling the truth about that.
Too many years of living near Boston had taught her to check the window before opening the door.
Shit.
Not Baby.
Girl Riley. Oh no.
Another knock. “I know you’re in there, Quinn. Word of Phoenix’s sister being in town is all over the place. We had hardly been home five minutes before my next-door neighbor was over to tell us the news.”
Quinn opened the door. “Hi.”
Riley shot her a friendly smile. “Hey, stranger.”
Quinn had met the younger woman four or five times over the years she and her brother had been dating. Quinn genuinely like the other woman and knew she was a good fit for her brother—balanced him well.
Girl Riley was feisty, loud, and full of life. Everything Quinn wasn’t. They’d never been particularly close, just like Quinn and Boy Riley weren�
�t particularly close, but not because Quinn didn’t like her.
“You’re a long way from Boston. And we hear you’ve been here a while.”
Quinn sighed. “I’m surprised it’s you here and not my brother. Do you want to come in?”
To Quinn’s surprise, Riley pulled her in for a hug. “It’s good to see you. Riley wanted to come, but I asked him to give me a little bit of time with you first.”
Quinn hugged her back, and they went inside. “I promise I wasn’t trying to hide the fact that I’m here from you guys. I knew so much had happened recently, and I didn’t want to add to that.”
Riley raised an eyebrow. “I’d almost believe you, except, remember how it took you more than six months to tell us you and Peter the prick had gotten a divorce?”
Neither Riley had been a big fan of Peter’s.
“I hadn’t wanted to bother you then, either.”
Riley let out another sigh. “Quinn. You’re family. It’s not a bother to see you and know what’s going on with your life, good or bad. But, considering that I broke up with your brother for a few weeks because I didn’t want to let him know what was going on with my life, I guess I’ll give you a pass this time.”
“Are you doing okay? Multiple Sclerosis. That’s got to be a big adjustment.”
“It was. But I’m dealing much better now that I’ve gotten everything out in the open, and nobody is trying to kill us anymore. Your brother is, as always, both a huge godsend and a giant pain in the ass.”
Quinn chuckled. “That sounds about right for you two.”
Riley looked around the living room. She was suitably less impressed than Jess had been with the wallpaper. “What are you doing here, Quinn?”
“Here in this house or here in Wyoming?”
“Both.” She walked from the living room into the kitchen. “Good Lord, I’ve never seen this much wallpaper in one house.”
“Yeah. It’s a lot. But I got this place at a good rate.”
“I would hope so.”
“Do you want a cup of coffee or anything?”
It was after eight p.m. on a Friday night, but Quinn wasn’t about to turn Riley away.
