"Tomorrow night then? Seven, I’ll pick you up."
She shakes her head with a shrug. “I can’t believe I’m saying yes. But yeah, I would love that.”
I should step back now. But I don't.
Birdie, who has been having a one-sided conversation with Duke looks up and catches us standing too close. She makes a sound of deep toddler satisfaction. Like she called it. Like she's been waiting.
Cece clears her throat and steps back first. That’s smart. One of us had to be.
"We should— Yeah, we'll let you get back to it. See you tomorrow, Deputy."
"Seven it is.”
She picks Birdie up and Birdie waves at Duke with her whole arm. Cece walks away across the lawn and my heart thuds in my chest. I stand there with my hand on my dog's head and watch her go already knowing she’s mine.
CHAPTER 5
CECE
He picksme up at seven in a truck, not the cruiser. That surprises me, although it shouldn’t. Just because he’s got a hot as hell cop thing happening doesn’t mean the man doesn’t take off the badge from time to time.
Tonight he’s in jeans and a dark henley with the sleeves shoved up. It’s somehow even better than the uniform. I have to physically make myself stop looking at his forearms before I get in the truck because I am thirty-one years old. And I have self-respect. And also apparently no immune system for a man in a henley.
"Hi," I say.
"Hi." He holds the door for me. Of course he does. "You good?"
"I'm good."
"Evelyn took Birdie without negotiation?"
"Evelyn took Birdie, and I quote,for as many hours as you need, take the whole weekend if you want, I mean it."
His mouth moves. "Your sister is on my side."
I laugh to try to keep my heart from fluttering out of my chest. "My sister is unhinged about this already. I want you to know that."
"Noted." He shuts my door and walks around to his side.
I use the twelve seconds to get my face under control, which does not work.
He drives with one hand on the wheel and the other resting on the center console. I watch his forearm for approximately the entire duration of the seven-minute drive to Main Street because apparently that is who I am now.
He doesn't talk much. He's not filling the silence. He just drives, occasionally pointing at something,that's the firehouse, that's where the old mining office used to be, that's the best place to buy a fly rod if you ever want to learn. The quiet between us is the kind of quiet I have not been in with a man since I don't know when. Being with Ryan feels like a warm hug on a cold night and it takes everything in me not to let myself get swept up in the moment.
He parks in front of a restaurant with string lights and a hand-painted sign.
"Green chile," he says. "If you're game."
"I'm game."
The place is small with six tables. A woman at the counter who calls him by name and looks at me with open, unapologetic interest. He puts a hand on the small of my back to guide me to a booth by the window and I feel it through the sweater, all five points of contact, and I have to sit down before my knees give out on me.
He takes the side facing the door and orders a round of drinks plus appetizers. I notice the protective glance he throws around the room. For the first time in a long time, I don’t have to use a single brain cell. It’s like my whole body knows instinctively that I am safe with Ryan.
"How's Iron Peak treating you," he asks, after we order.
"Truthfully? This is the first place I've been in six years where my shoulders dropped when I crossed the town line." I pick upmy drink and take a sip. It warms me immediately. "I didn't know that was a thing bodies did until mine did it. It’s going to be even better once I get settled. Get a job. Get some money and independence again…"
