Emily only rolled her eyes. “I love you, Jase Crenshaw, but you know me better than that. Telling me not to get riled up is like telling a retriever not to fetch the ball.”

Cole laughed, then tried to cover it with a cough when Emily gave him one of her looks. “Sorry,” he mumbled. “But you compared yourself to a dog.”

“No more free coffee for you,” she said, but her lips twitched as she said it.

“Thank you, Cole,” Jase said. “I appreciate the heads-up.”

“You bet. I’ve got to check in at the station. Call if you need anything.”

He placed his mug on the cart and walked out of the office, rubbing a hand over his jaw as he stepped into the warm June sunshine. Several people waved and Cole forced himself to smile and greet them in return, even though the sick pit in his stomach was growing wider by the second.

He didn’t owe Sienna Pierce a thing. So why did he feel like she was the one who needed protecting in Crimson? Jase had Emily and his dad and the whole town in his corner. From what he could tell, Sienna had no one.

Cole could relate, and the strange connection he’d felt to her this morning had somehow taken root inside him and refused to let go.

Ten kinds of trouble, he’d told her, but wondered if he’d underestimated even that.