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Dick hard and heavy as I’d come close to going to the place I’d promised myself I wouldn’t go.
Since then, we’d played it cool whenever we’d seen each other, though there was a current that ran just under the surface.
Our glances longer and our questions deeper.
Like we both were wondering if we could escape this attraction that had us tied.
Because there was no getting Savannah Ward off my mind. No getting her out of my head or out from under my skin.
The woman present in every thought.
Chasing me through each step of the day and haunting me with every sleepless second of the night.
I should be thankful Owen had interrupted. Should take it as the kid doing his dad a solid. Keeping me out of trouble and focused on what should be important. But I couldn’t shake the sense that that was what she was becoming—important.
“How the fuck is there not one piece of evidence?” I asked it toward the ceiling, confusion twined in the exhalation of words.
“Someone’s either a professional, or some asshole saw her leaving that evening and took it as his opportunity to bash in her door to see if she had anything of value inside and took off the second he heard someone coming. My bet’s on the second.”
It didn’t sit right.
None of it did.
Samson sat forward, resting his elbows on his knees as he clasped his hands together and peered over at me. His voice lowered in caution. “I know what you’re thinking, brother, and I’m worried you’re letting yourself get way off base.”
My sigh was heavy.
His voice lowered further. “What happened to Brianna was a fucking tragedy, Ezra. Heartbreaking for all of us. But for you? I know it was devastating. Crushing in a way no one can imagine unless they’ve experienced it for themselves. You lost your wife, man. And you being the Sheriff on top of it? I know the burden you carry. The guilt you wear when there was absolutely nothing you could have done to stop it.”
I think I’m in trouble. The memory of Brianna’s voice pummeled through my mind like a bludgeoning. My hands curled around the arms of my chair, teeth grinding with the force it took not to fly into a rage.
“You can’t look at every crime that happens in this town like it’s the same,” Samson urged. “And you sure as hell can’t hold yourself personally responsible for every person here.”
“It’s our job to protect the people of Time River,” I ground out.
“Yeah, it is, and we do our goddamn best every day, but you told me yourself when you hired me on that we can’t take it home at night.”
It was what I’d been told when I’d been hired on. What I’d told every officer who’d ever come onto the force after. Passed down through the years from generation to generation.
It was the biggest crock of shit that I’d ever heard.
Samson suddenly rocked back in the chair, elbow on the arm as he leaned his cheek against the heel of his hand and his finger, his deep brown eyes narrowed in teasing speculation. “Except you sure took her home, didn’t you? You wanna tell me about that?”
“Saw someone in need, and I had something I could do about it.” The words came out like shards of glass.
“Oh, I bet you did something about it.”
At his insinuation, my brow lifted in warning.
Samson laughed. “Don’t get all grumbly with me. I see right through you, brother. I don’t even know why you’re denying it.”
Because it was wrong. Because I didn’t deserve to find love when I’d cost so much. Didn’t deserve the pleasure I knew I’d find in her.
Plus…she was leaving.
My stomach bottomed out at the thought.
Because, God, I wanted to keep her.
“Can’t say I blame you. Girl’s wicked hot. Those lips…” Samson groaned, and I fucking growled.
Then he cracked up. “Yeah, I see how it is.”
“You don’t see anything.”
Standing, Samson headed for the door. He paused with it opened to look back at me. “Are you sure about that? Because I’m pretty sure I see a guy who is clinging to the past when his future is calling for him, and I hope to God he doesn’t make the mistake of getting stuck searching for something he can never get back.”
Without saying anything else, he walked out, letting the door clatter shut behind him.
TWENTY-SEVEN
SAVANNAH
“Well, if it isn’t Officer Overbearing.” I poured coffee into the empty mug that rested in front of Ezra. Hot Cop stretched out in the booth, wearing that uniform that his muscles bulged out of in every direction, stealing air as he sat there looking so roughly gorgeous in the morning light.
His jaw was clean-shaven, and those brown eyes were cast in a shade of warmth I had never seen in them before.
Tender but also swimming with a brand-new awareness.
