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Gage lifted his brows, the smug bastard fighting another smile. “Really? Because the two of them had been flirting from the moment he saw her walk through the door. Didn’t take him more than a handful of minutes to make his approach. She looked happy to see him to me.”
I crossed my arms over my chest, ever muscle in my body strung tight as a bow. I didn’t want to think about what would happen if they snapped. Usually that was when I made some of my worst decisions. “That doesn’t mean anything. She’s a friendly person. She looks happy to see a lot of people. It’s just how she is.”
“Is there something going on with you and the nanny?” Jensen asked.
Not yet, but I didn’t like how he was referring to her. Deva Kent was a whole fucking lot more than just the nanny. And I was a dick for not acting on how I felt sooner. A hard growl vibrated my throat. “She has a goddamn name, and you know it.”
His response was a slow, sly grin. “Oh, I’m well aware. I just wanted to see how you’d react. You’re gone for her, man.” He shook his head in wonderment. “Never thought I’d see the day.”
“You and me both,” Gage agreed, the two of them talking like I wasn’t even in the room. “Always figured he’d be the one out of the three of us to die a lonely bachelor.”
“You two are assholes,” I spit out. “But just to confirm, Deva Kent is off limits to every other man in this town, starting now.” With that order issued, I turned on my heel and headed out the door.
“Where are you going?” Gage called after me.
“To make sure that asshole Clarke knows as well.”
“Ah, hell,” Jensen grumbled. “Try not to get arrested, man. I’m not bailin’ you out this time.”
The walk to the sheriff’s department was about five miles, but I made it on autopilot, my brain cycling through all the images Gage had sent me the night before. Every time I thought back to that picture of Holton and Deva kissing, I wanted to rip something—or someone—apart with my bare hands. I’d never felt this way about a woman in my entire life. It was visceral and consuming. She took up so much space in my brain, there wasn’t room for anything else.
I couldn’t remember the last time I’d wanted something as much as I wanted that breathtaking redhead with the doe eyes. I wanted to see those eyes widen as I slid into her, the first man to ever take her body.
And,fuck, my dick was swelling at the thought of it.
The last thing I needed was a fucking boner during the conversation I was about to have, so I spent the remaining yards trying to get my body under control.
I pushed through the weighted glass doors into the sheriff’s department, and took everything in. Like most of the buildings in the small strip known as downtown Redemption, this place was older than the hills, but while most of the other shops, offices, restaurants, and cafes had been updated to bring them into the current century, this place was still firmly stuck in time. The harsh florescent lights flickered in their fixtures, the brittle plastic casings so old that the lights inside cast a sickly yellowish glow over the long Formica countertop that made up the front desk. Parquet floors butted into wood-paneled walls. Against the side walls just inside the double doors were two uncomfortable looking wooden benches.
This definitely wasn’t a place you wanted to spend a length of time, but I guess that was the point,
“Can I help you?” The deputy at the front desk looked green as hell, barely old enough to legally carry a weapon, let alone a badge. He was still new enough to have that constant wariness in his eyes. He looked me up and down to see if I was some kind of threat. I couldn’t blame him. With the tension in my muscles and my jaw and fists locked tight, I had to have been putting off a not so happy vibe. Given the number of guns in the building, this was the last place you’d want a showdown, so I tried to loosen up.
“Is Holton Clarke in?”
“You got an appointment?”
“He knows me. Tell him Laeth Harker’s here for a word.”
The kid hesitated for another beat before picking up the phone and bringing it to his ear. I didn’t bother watching as he put in the call, and instead, I moved around the entrance, taking in all the different informational brochures mixed in with missing pet flyers tacked to the board on the wall.
The annual Harvest Festival was coming up next month, and twelve-year-old Connie had lost her pug in the park last week and was offering a twenty-dollar reward if Peanut is found.
“Harker.”
I turned my attention away from a flyer for a missing guinea pig at the sound of my name and faced off with Holton Clarke. Truth be told, in the years I’d been living in Redemption, I’d never had a problem with the guy. In fact, we’d been on good terms, friendly even, given that our social circles tended to overlap more often than not. But that was before he set his sights on Deva.
I stuffed my hands in my pockets, doing my best to come off nonthreatening. “Hey. You got a minute for us to have a word?”
He eyed me closely, studying me in that disconcerting way only a cop could pull off, but I refused to flinch. I stood myground, unwavering. He knew why I was here, and he knew it was only a matter of time before we had this out.
He jerked his chin and tilted his head. “Come on back. Conference room’s empty.”
I followed him through the bullpen, filled with desks and fellow deputies. It was his way of reminding me we were on his turf. We could have had this talk in the lobby or outside on the sidewalk. But instead, he made me walk through a crowd of his buddies. I had to respect the power move. It was something I would have pulled if the shoe had been on the other foot.
The conference room was more like a small, windowless office. There was just enough space for a desk and two chairs. That was it. The moment Holton shut the door behind me, it was like being closed in a box.
He remained standing, feet braced shoulder-width apart, arms crossed over his chest. I was sure that power pose intimidated the shit out of a suspect or a person he was questioning, but it didn’t faze me. I’d seen too much shit in my life to be intimidated by a small-town cop.
