by Ramona Gray
I didn’t want to cry but it was growing more difficult to hold back the tears. My life may not have been perfect, I may have worked too much, and, okay, maybe I’d been really lonely, but it had been my life, and to lose it all through no fault of my own was horrible.
I should have been in my small but cozy apartment watching bad reality television and waiting for my microwave frozen dinner to heat up. Instead, I was in some disgusting motel in the middle of nowhere, starving and alone, and listening to two men fight over a stupid TV remote. The loss of what I’d used to have washed over me in a tidal wave of regret and sorrow. I buried my face in the crook of my arm and wept bitterly.
Chapter Two
Wyatt
“You working tonight, Wyatt?”
I took the bag from Sally and the receipt for the gas. “Just finished.”
The older woman leaned against the counter and stared out the window at the falling snow. “Looks like we’re gonna get one hell of a snowstorm.”
“That’s what they’re saying,” I replied. I started toward the door, turning when Sally called my name again.
“You sure you don’t want to buy a lottery ticket? Fifty million this week.”
I shook my head. “No thanks. I have better ways to waste my money.”
She grinned at me, revealing the chiclet size gap between her front teeth. “You’re not much for taking chances are you, Wyatt? Never have been.”
“Good night, Sally.”
“Night, Wyatt.”
I stepped outside and walked toward my SUV parked beside one of the two gas pumps. The air was freezing, and the large snowflakes were wet and dense, but I didn’t bother to grab my jacket before I pumped the gas. The weather might have been cold, but I was burning up inside. Had been, ever since I’d pulled over Magnolia Blossom for a burned-out tail light.
Just thinking about her made my cock stiffen and, after a quick glance at the store to make sure Sally wasn’t still staring outside, I reached down and adjusted myself through my jeans. My breath hissed out between my teeth at just my own touch and I muttered an expletive.
What was wrong with me? The woman I pulled over tonight had me turned inside out. I’d wanted her from the moment she’d rolled down her window and stared up at me with those big blue eyes of hers. Her dark hair and pale skin, those pouty lips…fuck, what I wouldn’t do to see them wrapped around my dick.
Her clumsy attempts at flirting had even been sort of cute, but when she’d dropped the act? Fucking hell, my need for her had almost become unbearable. She’d lost the annoying breathy little girl voice and her real voice… low and smoky sounding with a rasp to it that made my balls heavy with cum just hearing it. It was surprisingly deep for a woman her size and just thinking about how she’d sound saying my name when she was cumming made my cock swell and ache.
I adjusted myself again, my breath steaming out in front of me as I tried not to think about Ms. Magnolia Blossom. I failed miserably. I couldn’t get her out of my damn head which was beyond stupid. I’d never see her again, and fantasizing about handcuffing her to my bed, spreading her soft thighs and burying my tongue deep inside her wet pussy was ridiculous.
Of course, it wouldn’t stop me from jacking off to that very fantasy later tonight. It had been over a year since I’d been laid, and I wasn’t going to deny myself a fun little fantasy that involved the possible woman of my dreams.
Maybe I should stop in at Ren’s Bar and see if I could find someone who was interested in nothing more than a night of fun. It wasn’t my usual thing, but I wasn’t feeling like my own hand would be enough. Not tonight.
No. If I can’t have Magnolia, I don’t want anyone.
I froze, my hand clenching around the cold gas pump. Where the hell did that come from?
I hung up the pump, put the gas lid on and climbed into the vehicle. Judy, our dispatcher, was talking over the radio and I listened for a few minutes before joining in.
“Judy, did I hear right? There’s been shots fired at Park Motel?”
Judy’s voice, crackling with static, came back. “Yeah. Jerry and Roger are fighting again.”
I groaned. Jerry and Roger had been together for thirty some years and while I had no doubt they genuinely loved each other, they also had a tendency to fight like cats and dogs.
“Why are they at the hotel and when the hell did they get a gun?” I asked.
“No idea about the gun,” Judy replied. “But they’ve been staying at the motel for over a month now, ever since they got kicked out of their apartment building on a noise complaint.”
“Christ,” I said. “Tell me Roger didn’t shoot Jerry.”
“Nah, they’re both fine, but they’re in a heap of trouble. Roger shot through the wall of their room and almost killed some woman in the room next to them. An out-of-towner.”
My blood turned to ice. It couldn’t be her. If she even stayed the night in our little town, I told her to go to the Best Western. “What’s her name?”
“Um, not sure.” The indifference in Judy’s voice made me want to reach through the radio and throttle her.
“Check for me, please.” I tried to keep the sudden panic I was feeling out of my voice.
“Hold on.”
I waited an eternity for Judy to come back over the radio.
“Oh, for Pete’s sake, this can’t be right,” Judy grumbled. “I can’t believe Alex has been a cop for two years and still can’t figure out when someone gives him a false name.”
My entire body froze. “The name, Judy. What is it?”
“Magnolia Blossom.” Judy made a harrumph noise that was distinct even over the crackling of the radio. “Ridiculous.”
The edge of panic turned bright, bold, brash.
My heart beating so fast it threatened to trample out of my chest like a herd of rhinos, I flicked on the lights and the siren and tore out of the gas station.
* * *
“Wyatt?” Alex gave me a startled look. “What are you doing here? I thought you were done your shift.”
I studied the parking lot of the Park Motel. Three police vehicles plus mine were parked in the half-full lot, and I could see Jenny and Mark, two of our other deputies, talking to Jerry and Roger.
“Where is she?” I asked.
“Who?” Alex said.
“Jesus Christ, Alex,” my usual patience was wearing thin, “the woman. Magnolia.”
“Oh. She’s still in her room. She was sitting up in bed and the bullet, like, grazed right by her head and lodged in the far wall.” Alex held his thumb and pointer finger up until they were only inches apart. “If she’d been sitting even an inch to the right, she’d have a bullet in her head, and we’d be cleaning up a real fucking mess. I tried to take her statement, but she’s super freaked out, so I decided to give her a couple of minutes.”
“You left her alone?” I snarled.
Alex gave me another confused look. “Do you know this woman, Wyatt?”
“What room?” I said.
“Right there.” Alex pointed to the door just behind us and I pushed past him without another word and practically ran toward the door.
I knocked lightly before opening it and stepping inside. The room was freezing cold and I hurried over to where Magnolia was sitting at the small desk. She had her arms wrapped around her slender body and she was shaking so hard, I could hear the loose rail on the chair rattling.
She was staring at the dirty carpet, her sneaker-clad feet tapping back and forth with nervous energy. I crouched in front of her and said, “Magnolia?”
She continued to stare at the carpet and I briefly touched her knee. “Magnolia, look at me.”
She lifted her head and I quelled my immediate urge to pull her into my arms when I saw her face. Gone was the cheeky attitude from earlier. In its place was a terrified vulnerability that made me want to drop to my knees and promise her she would never be this afraid and alone again. That I would always keep her safe and never let her go
.
“Officer Hottie?” she whispered. She paused, her mouth trembling. “I mean, Reynolds?”
“Magnolia, are you all right?” It was a stupid question, she obviously wasn’t, but my terror that she almost died was a living, breathing thing inside of me and I was having trouble thinking straight.
“I – Maggie,” she said.
“What?”
“I go by Maggie.”
“Okay. Maggie, is there someone I can call for you? A,” I swallowed hard, “boyfriend or husband?”
She shook her head and the relief that poured through me made me a right bastard. “No, I - there’s no one. My parents are dead, and I was an only child.”
“What about a friend?”
She stared blankly at me. “No.”
My hand inched out on its own and tucked a lock of her dark hair behind her ear. “All right. Everything’s going to be okay.”
She blinked, her pupils so large that only a thin ring of blue could be seen around them. “I almost died.”
I winced. “I know.”
“I almost died,” she repeated. She pointed to the bed and I stared at the hole that pierced the faded wallpaper above the headboard. “A bullet came through the wall right there. I was sitting right there, and a-a bullet came through the wall.”
Her face had turned the colour of the snow falling outside and even her pink lips had paled. “The men were arguing over a TV remote. I almost died because of a TV remote.”
“You’re safe now,” I said.
She surprised me when she staggered to her feet. I straightened as, rocking lightly back and forth, she said, “I felt the bullet brush by my face, Officer Reynolds. I – I felt the wind of it and I… just an inch to the right and it would be in my head. My-my brains would be splattered all over the wall.”
Her face crumpled and when she started to cry, I couldn’t help myself. I pulled her into my arms and pressed her head to my vest, kissing the top of her head and rubbing her back. “Shh, baby. Shh, it’s okay. You’re safe now. I won’t let anyone hurt or scare you ever again, baby. I promise.”
She put her slender arms around my waist and clung to me, crying brokenly into my vest. I held her tight and rocked her back and forth, rubbing her back and trying to warm her with my body heat as she cried.
To my surprise, she didn’t cry very long. After only a couple of minutes, she pulled a tissue from her pocket and wiped her face before blowing her nose. She was still shaking wildly, but when she glanced up at me, the blank look of shock had disappeared.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered.
With far more intimacy than I should have been comfortable with, I cupped her face and ran my thumb over her damp cheekbone. “It’s okay. Do you feel a little better?”
She nodded. “Surprisingly, yes. I mean, no, but yes. If that makes sense? God, I’m being an idiot.”
“You’re not,” I said.
“Wyatt?”
I immediately stepped away from Maggie, dropping my arms and ignoring my sense of loss. “Yeah?”
“Um,” Alex was giving me a look that suggested he’d thought I’d gone crazy, “I need to get Ms. Blossom’s statement.”
I nodded and turned back to Maggie. “You need to tell Officer Peterson what happened for a formal statement. Are you okay to do that, or do you need more time?”
“No, I can do it right now,” she said. “But,” she gave me another aching look of vulnerability, “will you stay with me while I do it?”
“Yes,” I said. “I’ll stay.”
* * *
“Maybe I should drive you to the Best Western.” I watched the way Maggie’s hands shook as she tried to unlock the door of her car.
I took the keys from her and unlocked the door before opening it and placing her suitcase in the backseat with the others.
“Uh, no, I’m fine. I’ll drive myself to the hotel.”
Her eyes cut away from mine and even though I knew nothing about her, I was certain she was lying about going to the hotel. I studied her car and then the clothes she was wearing. Neither screamed money, but she also didn’t look like she was under the poverty line either. Still, the only possible reason she could have chosen the Park Motel was because of money.
“Maggie, look at me,” I said.
“I really should get going before the snowstorm gets worse.” She stared fixedly at the ground at her feet.
“Maggie,” I said again.
She sighed and looked up at me. “What?”
“Why don’t you want to stay at the Best Western?”
She scratched her throat and tapped her fingers against the car door. “Uh, I’m going to stay there.”
I didn’t reply and as the silence drew out, she said, “I’m not going to fold and tell you the truth just because you stay quiet, Officer Reynolds. Give me my keys back, please.”
I held onto her keys, staring silently at her, and she rubbed at her temples. “You’re not going to give me my keys, are you?”
“Tell me the truth and I will,” I said.
She stared up at me. She was average height for a woman, but I was almost 6’3” and standing close enough to her that she had to crane her neck to look me in the eye. “How do you know I’m lying?”
“Tell me, Maggie.” I made my voice low and coaxing.
“Fine,” she said. “I don’t have the money for the Best Western, okay? It’s why I stayed at this stupid murder motel in the first place.”
My lips twitched. The fact that she could almost joke about what had happened not three hours earlier, showed me just how resilient she really was.
“So, you’re going to stay here at the motel?” I said.
She shuddered all over, her hands coming up to cup her elbows. “God, no. I’m sleeping in my car tonight and in the morning, I’m getting the hell out of this godforsaken town.” She glanced at me. “No offense.”
“You can’t sleep in your car,” I said. “It’s supposed to dip below zero tonight.”
She shrugged. “I’ll survive, I’ve got a blanket in the trunk.”
“No,” I said.
She glared at me. “Yes.”
“No.”
“Oh my God, are you always this-this infuriating? I almost died tonight, remember? Cut me some slack and just let me sleep in my stupid car. Hell, if you wanna give me a ticket for car sleeping, give me one. I’ll add it to your earlier ticket.”
Her low voice was rising and had an almost hysterical tone to it. She gave me a wild look of anger and confusion. I had a feeling that Maggie rarely felt this unbalanced and overwhelmed, and I had the immediate urge to soothe and comfort her again.
When fresh tears ran down her face, I pulled her into my arms again. I suddenly didn’t give a rat’s ass that the rest of my coworkers were still milling around the parking lot.
“It’s all right, baby,” I said. “But you can’t sleep in your car.”
“I have no place else to go.” Her breath hitched. “Please, just let me sleep in my car.”
“I can’t, Maggie. You’ll freeze to death. You’re already half-frozen now.” I rubbed her back through her jacket. “I have a place that you can stay for free.”
“I- I can’t stay with you,” she mumbled into my chest. “I don’t even know you.”
“It’s not with me,” I said. “It’s with my grandmother.”
She lifted her head and stared at me, the snowflakes catching on her long lashes. “Your grandmother?”
I nodded. “Yeah. She’s got a small guesthouse behind her house. You can stay there tonight, okay?”
“I – are you sure? It’s late and she doesn’t know me. What if she doesn’t want a stranger staying there?”
I smiled and brushed back a lock of hair that was blowing against her mouth. “Nana won’t mind. I promise.”
Chapter Three
Maggie
“This is nice.” I studied my surroundings as Officer Reynolds shut the door and set my suitcase d
own.
“It’s small, but it works well for one person. Here, I’ll take your coat.”
I handed him my coat and he hung it on the hook. I took off my sneakers and he removed his boots before walking to the kitchen. The guesthouse was an open floor concept with the small kitchen opening into the even smaller living room. Two doors were on the far end of the living room. One was open and I could see part of the vanity and the toilet.
“It’s really nice. Officer Reynolds?”
He paused with his hand on the fridge door. “You can call me Wyatt.”
“Wyatt,” I said. I ignored how weirdly intimate it felt to call him Wyatt. “Are you sure that your grandmother is okay with a stranger staying in her guest house for the night?”
“Yes. I texted her and told her you’d be staying here,” he said.
“You did? When?” I asked.
“When you were getting your money back from the motel manager.”
“Thanks for that, by the way,” I said. “It was really nice of you to, um, get the guy to refund my money.”
He just nodded and opened the fridge. “So, there isn’t any food in here but there is some leftover juice and bottled water from when I was doing repairs. I could go and get you something or -”
“I’m not hungry,” I said.
He gave me a stubborn look. “You need to eat.”
“Trust me, if I try and eat anything right now, it’s just gonna come right back up.”
Nice, Maggie. Why don’t you talk some more to the sexiest cop in the universe about how you’re gonna throw up? It’ll definitely turn him on.
“So, um, you did renovations on this place?”
He shut the fridge door. “Yeah. The plumbing needed replacing, and the bathroom needed an upgrade.”
“Wow. A man who can do household repairs… your wife or girlfriend must be happy.”
Smooth, Maggie. So smooth.
“No wife or girlfriend.” He glanced at his watch. He was clearly ready to leave, and I couldn’t blame him. I wasn’t exactly an expert at flirting with men and it was getting late.
