Page 26 of The SEAL and the Sheriff

Sarah folded her arms. “What other kind would we be riding?”

Hudson’s mouth twitched. “Fair point.” He smiled and closed the door.

He glanced back at her as Walter came out of the building. She gave him a small wave.

She gave herself thirty seconds.

Thirty seconds of silence alone with the dull throb at her temple that she was absolutely not going to mention to anyone, least of all the man currently standing twenty feet away talking to Walter.

No more. Then she had to be the sheriff again.

Her phone rang at twenty-eight. She checked the screen.

Mom.

Sarah closed her eyes briefly. Today just kept getting better.

She swiped to answer.

“Hey, Mom.”

“Sarah Elizabeth Meyer.” Sophie’s voice came down the line with the precision of a woman with highly honed instincts about when any of her children were keeping something from her. “Is it true that Hudson Kane is back in Aurora Cove?”

Sarah huffed a breath.

Ryder.

Hudson had turned slightly, angling his body toward the station as Walter pointed at something down the street. He’d given back the jacket Walter loaned him, and the one he wore was still too light for the cold. She’d noticed that twice. She didn’t know why and she sure as hell wasn’t going to examine it.

“He’s here on a case, Mom.”

“Mrs. Oldman’s granddaughter saw him at the gas station this morning.”

Of course. Aurora Cove had roughly six thousand residents and an information network that would make the CIA weep with envy, and at the center of it, quietly orchestrating everything with a wooden spoon in one hand and a casserole dish in the other, was her mom.

“He was probably filling up his rental,” Sarah said. “It’s not a presidential visit.”

“I’m making pot roast.”

Sarah recognized the non sequitur for what it was. “Mom.”

“There’s plenty.”

“He’s working. I can’t just⁠—”

“Friday. Seven o’clock.” Cheerful and immovable. “Tell him not to bring anything, I have everything I need. Although if he wants to pick up something from Benji’s for dessert, that’s completely his choice and not a requirement.”

Outside, Hudson laughed at something Walter said. A short sound. Real. It hit her somewhere she’d rather it hadn’t. She looked away from him and fixed her gaze very deliberately on the dashboard.

“Mom, it’s not appropriate. He’s a federal officer operating in my jurisdiction and I’m the sheriff and it’s a conflict of⁠—”

“Caleb brings Grace to dinner, and she’s a vet⁠—”

“That’s completely different.”

“Ryder brings⁠—”

“Also different.”