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“Chase,” he corrects. Rubbing a hand over his clenched jaw, the tendons bulge in the side of his neck. “This isn’t over, Deputy. You’ll be seeing me again, and you better have some answers for me.”
Those piercing grey eyes continue to stare as he backs toward the door. Rolling my eyes, I sigh; I make my disinterest clear, even though my stomach flips when his eyes narrow, angered by my dismissiveness.
“If you’re quite finished…” I jab my finger toward the door again. “And don’t threaten me, Mr. Walker,” I warn.
His lips press into a thin line as he observes me for a long moment, like he’s about to say something more. Instead, he grabs the door handle, yanks it open, and storms out. Finally able to breathe without his stifling presence in our tiny station, I sigh and sink back down into my chair. The beginning of a headache pulls at my scalp, and I rub my temples, willing the dull thud to stop.
“That’s not good,” Michael mutters, staring at the door as it swings shut. He coughs, clearing the same oppressive energy clogging his throat as I felt from the man now stomping his way across main street. Chase is attracting plenty of admiring glances as he goes, despite the anger pouring off him.
Michael’s right. This isn’t good. It’s just my luck that the person I know is going to torment me day and night until he works out this town’s secrets would look like that.
CHAPTER 4
CHASE
Pushing out through the front door of the pokey cinder block building that doubles as local law enforcement, I groan. That little visit explains a lot.
How the hell is a police station that small supposed to investigate anything more than a vandalised mailbox?
I’m going to have to take matters into my own hands. I was always going to, but this makes me feel better about it.
Digging my phone out of my back pocket, I lean against the hood of Leah’s car and stare through the window at Deputy Lennox. As she speaks on the phone, those full lips moving, a small smile curving at the edge of her mouth. When I first walked in, she gave me a smile like that. Scowling to myself, I can still picture the dangerous look that crossed those pretty features when I dared to question how hard they had tried to find out what was going on.
That might have been a bit rude.
I shouldn’t care about upsetting the completely incompetent local police, even if she is absolutely gorgeous.
As though she can feel me staring at her, Deputy Lennox lifts her gaze to the window and catches me looking in her direction. Instantly, her happy face falls and the smile vanishes. But instead of looking cowed, or averting her eyes, she swings her chair slowly to face in the other direction, maintaining eye contact until the very last second.
The professional equivalent of giving me the finger, and now I feel annoyed with myself watching her. Or maybe just getting caught. Damn it.
Lifting the phone to my ear, a sense of calm determination washes over me. The idea of moving home and resuming a civilian life had weighed heavily on me. What was I going to do? Would I even know who I was outside of the military? But even though I’d prefer nothing was threatening my family, this mission to uncover the criminal enterprise hiding behind the seemingly wholesome Jones family facade has reignited the spark within me.
It’s the thrill of the chase. A puzzle to be solved. A battle to be won.
Despite myself, I continue to stare at Natalie’s long dark hair, hanging down her shoulders, swaying back and forth as she swings in her chair.
An enemy to be conquered.
CHAPTER 5
NATALIE
Draining the rest of the drink in front of me, I roll my eyes and grin at Sean, who raises his eyebrows in question, checking to see if I need a refill.
Definitely.
When I nod, he gives me a quick tip of the head in acknowledgement and disappears to the far end of the bar. Taaffe’s is starting to fill up, and the dinner crowd takes up most of the empty booths and tables around the edges of the rustic bar.
Trying not to stare, I watch as Chase Walker, officially the rudest man I have ever met, moves with ease around the pool table. It’s not lost on me that he’s playing by himself. Smothering a smirk at the notion that nobody else could bear to be near him long enough to finish a game, I tune back to the conversation with my brother.
“Of course, I’ll keep an eye on him.” Gripping the phone so hard it might break, I force my fingers to peel back and ease my hold. I wish I could say my irritation is with Marcus for butting-in, for not trusting me to handle this, but it’s not. It’s the sight of Chase’s tight backside leaning over the table, hips pressed to the wood, strong fingers expertly holding the cue. As he pumps the cue back and forth, striking the ball with a firm, sure stroke, I flush and squirm in my seat.
It’s a shame he’s such a dick, because I wouldn’t mind letting him bend me over that table. Heat spreads through my body as I imagine being trapped between him and the gleaming wood, his hips pushing into mine, his weight pressing me down as he covers me from behind.
Chase slowly lifts his eyes, locking onto mine with an intense look on his face, and I curse. For a fleeting second, I panic, thinking he’s somehow read my mind and knows the filthy thoughts I was having about him. The last thing I want is for him to think I was ogling him. Maybe I was, a little, but in a what a waste of a fine man kind of way. I definitely do NOT fancy him, not with that gruff attitude and cocky swagger.
“No, you don’t need to come back to work! Marcus, I can handle some arrogant, jacked-up meathead. He just wants to throw his weight around Grey Ridge since he has no poor unfortunate unit to boss around anymore.” Whispering down the line, I angle my face away from Chase and take a deep breath. “Probably overcompensating for something, or a lack of something,” I mutter, even though I doubt it’s true.
