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Inside, Honey was flittering around my desk in the bullpen, poking through my pen and pencil tray, dusting off my keyboard, picking up and setting down the scatter of family photographs. Instead of feeling as if she was being intrusive, her curiosity made me smile. As if for the first time in a long time, I had someone who actually cared.
Not to the point of having a woman to come home to—I’d never had that—but more than I’d had in a very long time.
And I wanted to make sure I didn’t lose her. Especially not before we had a chance to see what we could be.
Clearly, good sex—excellent sex—had addled my brain. We barely knew each other. I had no business getting possessive of her in any shape or form.
The Chief cleared his throat and I realized I’d wandered off into dreamland over Honey. Nothing new there. Well, it was still very new, though the amount of hours I’d spent focused on her this week was unreal.
“I get why she wants to do the full thing, Chief. Though if it was my call, I think I’d do anything to skip the actual birthing process, thanks.”
“You and me both, son.” He let out a laugh. “Anyway, Bonnie wanted to know if Honey had accepted the job, and when I told her not yet, I mentioned Miranda was another promising candidate I’d offered the other part-time position to. Bonnie’s chomping at the bit to come in and train her if Honey’s not on board yet. You know, idle hands, devil’s playground whole bit.”
“Yeah, and fretting about her baby girl.”
“Oh, yeah, big time.” He hissed out a breath. “She ain’t the only one, though my Bee is a rock as always.”
“Gina’s tough as nails. We could use her on the force.”
“We could, but over my cold, dead body.” He chuckled. “So you good with Miranda and Bonnie coming in for a couple hours? I know you had a date planned,” he coughed, “which you delayed due to the staff shortage, so maybe having Bonnie standing by while she trained Miranda would help. It shouldn’t be busy tonight, but you know how that goes.”
“I do. Actually, Honey is here. She hasn’t officially come on board, but I’m going to give her a crash course in what I know about her new role, which admittedly isn’t that much. If Bonnie wants to come in, I’m sure Honey would be up for it.”
“Okay, I’ll let her know. She just loves Honey, so she’ll be thrilled. Honey’s been slipping her a free eclair with the dozen she buys every other Friday.”
I grinned as Honey raised her brows at me from inside and made a c’mon gesture. I held up two fingers and she tapped her wrist impatiently.
“Honey has a way about her,” I said noncommittally.
“Uh-huh. Thanks for manning the ship tonight. I owe you.”
“You owe me nothing. But thanks anyway.” He clicked off and I blew out air between my teeth before I headed in to begin teaching Honey how to run herd on all of us.
As a vision of Honey in snug black leather filled my brain, I shook my head and strode inside.
Work only tonight. Nothing but work.
God help me.
TEN
When Christian focused on work,he really focused. As in I could’ve been prancing around in thigh-high boots, cracking a whip, and he wouldn’t have even noticed.
That sort of concentration was both admirable and irritating.
He rolled back from the bank of screens I’d be responsible for monitoring and checked his phone. “Bonnie’s on her way.”
“Oh, good.” I managed to keep my face sober for all of a minute until Christian went back to the bullpen and left me alone to study all the information and maps at my fingertips.
Dear God, what had I gotten myself into? This was a small town. I’d figured I could handle that even if it was a whole new field for me to learn, because we didn’t have a ton of officers to keep track of.
Well, we were bringing on more officers and keeping track of the police force wasn’t my only task. I would be taking calls from the public and re-routing them and making sure people got the help they needed. I had to map locations of crimes and coordinate which members of the force could handle what, along with making sure every event had proper coverage. That occasionally included EMTs and fire personnel, depending on what the call entailed. Then I had to make sure the detailed information was noted in the log.
I buried my face in my hands. Clearly, I should’ve had a proper interview so I could’ve bowed out gracefully before anyone gave me the benefit of the doubt that I could do this job.
A thorough dicking—while very appreciated—would not help me when I was on my own and completely in over my head.
“Honey.” Christian’s voice was a whip.
