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She nodded slowly. “That sounds like you,” she said. “Wanting to fix what you can.”
He wasn’t so sure about that. He hadn’t been able to fix most of the problems in his own life.
“We’ve got a long drive. Tell me about your life in Portland. What are some memorable cases you’ve worked on?”
He hesitated, trying to figure out what he could share with her. Finally, he picked a few stories that ended well. A missing teen found safe, a string of burglaries where they had finally caught the guy and returned heirlooms to grateful owners.
Before he knew it, an hour had slipped past in easy conversation. They fell into an old rhythm more quickly than he had expected, the miles ticking by as they talked, their conversation punctuated by the occasional burst of laughter from the back seat.
Through it all, his awareness of her hummed through his blood like the engine of his truck, steady, powerful and thrumming beneath the surface.
When he glanced in the rearview again, Kodiak was sitting up, ears pricked, shifting a little in his crate.
“I should stop and let Kodi stretch his legs,” Wes said. “I don’t really need gas yet, but I’ll top off and walk him for a minute.”
“That’s good,” Carter said instantly. “I have to go to the bathroom. I’ve been holding it since my show got over.”
Wes bit back a smile. They were not going to set any records on this trip. Maybe that was okay. The purpose wasn’t speed.
He took the next exit where a gas station loomed just off the freeway, complete with a small fenced dog area and a narrow strip of playground for kids.
He pulled up to the pump and put the truck in Park.
“I’ll take the kids in,” Hannah said. “Bathrooms and maybe a snack run.”
“When you come out, I’ll be over at the dog run,” he said, nodding toward the fenced area. “Maybe the kids would want to play for a minute, if they’re not too cold.”
“Okay.”
She unbuckled, helped the children out of their seats and herded them toward the building, shoulders squared against the cold.
He clipped Kodi’s leash to his harness and led him to the small dog park. Once inside the fence, he unclipped the leash. At first, the dog stayed close, leaning lightly against Wes’s leg the way he always did now in unfamiliar places. Gradually, he peeled away, nose going to the ground, investigating tufts of dead grass sticking up through the snow and the base of the chain-link fence.
Beyond the dog area, a few children played on the small playground, despite the cold and lightly falling snow. A man in a worn jacket stood with his hands in his pockets, watching them with a patient, protective air.
Domestic, ordinary. A gas station off the highway with a dog sniffing snow and kids shrieking on swings.
For a moment, the simple normalcy of it all felt almost foreign.
Chapter 18
After she and the children returned outside, Hannah was not surprised when Riley and Carter raced to the playground. They definitely had energy to burn, even after only a short time in the truck.
She could see Wes and the dog in the pet relief area. After a pause, she joined them.
“Would you be comfortable with me watching Kodiak so you can go inside and use the restroom?” Hannah asked.
“That works. Thanks. Here’s his leash. If another dog comes in, it would be better to clip it on. He’s good with other dogs, but sometimes they’re not as comfortable with him.”
“Got it,” she said, wrapping her fingers around the leather.
He headed toward the building, looking big and tough and gorgeous. The past hour had been an exercise in self-control she should have expected. With every mile, she had grown more conscious of the space between them. The masculine scent of him that seemed to fill every corner of the vehicle. How his laugh seemed to resonate through her chest. The way he would glance over at her when he thought she wasn’t watching.
Even with two kids and a dog in the back seat, the confined space of the truck had turned into something dangerously intimate.
She stood just inside the low fence of the dog area, half her attention on the children and the rest watching Kodiak limp around the perimeter, sniffing as he went.
A woman with a knit hat pulled low and a small boy in a puffy red coat joined the children at the play area as the other family playing there left to load back into their vehicle.
