When Bree pulled up to the ranch, she found Tanner chopping wood. He’d chopped enough wood in the past three days to last all of Risk Peak through the winter.
Being on suspension obviously did not sit well with Captain Sexy Lips.
He’d explained that the sheriff didn’t actually think Tanner had committed the two murders, so that was good. It was just a matter of staying out of the way while the other people in the department worked the case. But he definitely did not like being kept in the dark about what was going on with the investigation.
For the past three days, the fact that she had no idea how to help him had eaten at her. Just another glaring spotlight on her lack of interpersonal relationship skills. Usually it washimhelpingherfigure out how to sort through feelings. But for the last three days, the shoe had been on the other foot.
Not a good fit.
Bree had tried her best to cheer him up or take his mind off his problems, but she didn’t really know how. Wasn’t sure what was best or appropriate.
Your mind works like a mainframe.
She could hear Michael Jeter’s—head of the organization that had helped her develop her computer skillsto the point of genius, and who had also made her life a living hell—voice in her head. But it was nothing short of the truth. She did think analytically, rationally and logically, just like a computer.
Not the way to help someone going through an emotional crisis.
Ironically, it had been her own emotions—feelings of inadequacy and incompetence—that had been blocking her mind from realizing the truth.
Tanner didn’t need her to help him emotionally. He needed the part of her brain that worked like a computer. He needed her to help figure out the real killer so he could get back to the job he loved. Emotion had nothing to do with that.
As soon as it had become clear to her, she’d asked the Andrewses for the rest of the day off, and tomorrow as well. She’d gone home and grabbed the computer she generally tried to avoid, the one she hadn’t touched since looking up details about owning a puppy last week.
It was time to work the problem. There was no one better at doing that than her.
Tanner turned from the wood he was chopping to look at her as she got out of the car. She tried not to swallow her tongue at the sight of him clad only in a cowboy hat and jeans—chest bare.
She was never going to get tired of looking at him. It was more than just his strong chin and carved jaw that already had a hint of shadow to it even at this hour. More than his broad, powerful shoulders that tapered into trim waist and hips. It was more than those deep brown eyes that seemed to notice everything.
It was all of it. The whole package put together that made up Tanner as a whole.
He walked toward her. She liked the way he walked. Not graceful. Not aggressive, but...powerful.
“You’re home early,” he said. “It’s still midmorning.”
She finally tore her eyes away from his torso to look up at his face. “Yeah. I brought pie. It’s good at any time, even morning.”
He reached over and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “Pie is a very distant second to the reason I’m glad you’re here.”
Her eyes dropped back to his naked chest. She wanted to close the inches that separated them and lick it.
She wanted to get them back to the passionate kisses where he slammed her against the wall.Thatkiss had been leading somewhere she desperately wanted to go.
But there hadn’t been any kisses like that since he’d been suspended from the force.
The words were out of her mouth before she could stop them. “I want us to get back to the slamming against the wall, so I brought my computer.” She grimaced. That hadn’t come out the way she’d meant it to.
He chuckled. “You might have to throw in a little more information for me. I didn’t quite follow your brain that time.”
She decided to leave out the part about passionate kisses against the wall. Especially when she was a second and a half from licking his chest.
She took a breath. “You’re frustrated about being suspended from the force. I can’t help much with the emotional part, but I can help you with my computer and my mind.”
His eyes narrowed. “Whitaker is on the case. He has experience with this sort of thing. He’ll eventually get it figured out.”
She rolled her eyes. “The same guy who thought I killed Newkirk? It could take him weeks just to figure out how to get his head out of his ass. I’ll never get any more kisses if we’re depending on him.”
Tanner chuckled again and stepped closer. “I seem to recall kissing you this morning before you went to work.”
