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“How bad is it?” Sensing the shift in my mood, Aubree softens her voice. “You need anything?”
“I’m fine.” Drawing a deep breath, I fill my chest and stretch my rib cage, then I exhale and bring my hands from my eyes. I wait for the stars to leave my vision and for Aubree’s loving expression to be what I see instead. “Everything is fine. Arch is healing up.”
“And you?” She tilts her chin and studies my forehead. Just a scratch compared to Archer’s shoulder, but she doesn’t let me forget my own injury. “Have you infused extra this past week to make up for your cut?”
“No. But it’s all under control.”
Shutting my mouth when the beautiful Seraphina Lewis steps through my office door and stops on the threshold, I look her up and down to note the clipboard she carries on her hip the way a mother might carry her child. She wears heels the way others wear sneakers, and though pencil skirts could hardly be considered comfortable, she wears one every single day and doesn’t seem to mind the fact she has to walk a hundred tiny steps to get somewhere, instead of fifty regular paces.
Before she can start in on me, I shake my head. “Don’t you dare tell me the mayor is chasing me. Don’t even mutter his name. He’s on my list of callbacks, but he can wait just like everyone else.”
“I’m not here to nag.” Stepping forward so the glass door closes at her back, the woman who is so often a little stuck-up andpreciouscrosses my office to stop on the other side of my desk with her bottom lip caught between her teeth and her willow-green eyes flickering with emotion.
Considering her robotic interactions in the past, she surprises me now with the way she watches me.
“What?” I look to Aubree for a moment, who only shrugs, then back to Seraphina. “What’s happened?”
“I’m glad you’re back.” Gently pushing Aubree’s feet off the side of the chair, Seraphina breaks all protocol and places her ass there instead. “I know we’re not talking about it, and I know you’re at home helping Detective Malone, but I just wanted to say… I’m glad you’re back.”
“Oh. Well…”
While I flounder for a response, Aubree studies the George Stanley’s media relations guru with comically wide eyes.
“Did aliens take over your body?” Then her gaze comes to me. “Is this the point in human evolution where the aliens take over?”
Uptight—the way we know and love her—Seraphina scowls for my second. “No. And you don’t have to make it weird.” She looks across my desk to me. “I was merely trying to express that I missed you, Chief. You’re a valuable asset to the George Stanley, your presence here has been welcome, and your absence was noticed. That’s all.”
Standing once more, she smacks Aubree’s high tops when she goes to rest them there again. “I assure you both, I won’t make the mistake of expressing my feelings twice.”
“She’s gotfeelings,” Aubree mock-whispers. “I thought anger was the only one she was programmed for.”
“Stop.” Snickering, I push to my feet and toss my pen at Aubree’s legs, because instead of apologizing, or even feigning to do so, she shrugs and starts swinging her feet again.
“Seraphina?” I soften my voice and wait for the tall brunette to peek back my way.
I’m not sure she’s ever expressed anything except impatience, intolerance, and her dislike for Detective Charlie Fletcher in all the time I’ve known her. She wants to run her department the way a warden runs a prison wing: ordered, with strict rules, and, I’m certain, with violence when the inmates get too noisy.
Aubree and I are the inmates.
“Thank you.” I’m not one to talk about feelings either. But it’s my first day back, and there isn’t a single part of me that desires to be cruel or dismissive.
When Seraphina reaches down and straightens her blazer with asnap, I clamp my lips flat and stop myself from releasing the smile that tugs at them.
“I’m glad to be back,” I continue, “even if it’s not in a full-time capacity just yet. I appreciate the work you did to keep the building chugging along in my absence.”
“You’re welcome.” She lifts her chin and inadvertently shows off the underside. “It was my pleasure to make this transition as smooth as possible for you, Chief. Will you be back in the morning?”
“Likely,” I admit. That’s the truth, now that Archer has taken on a new case.
He says it’ll beeasy. Nothing toostrenuous… Which basically translates to ‘I’m back at work. Get over it.’
“I took time off to be with my husband—” It still feels weird to say that word; weirder yet because Aubree blushes every time I mutter it. “He needed support at home, but he’s on the mend now, so the more independence he gains, the more time I’ll have to be here.”
“And when she’s not here,” Aubree cuts in, “she’s available for phone consult.”
“Right.” I sit back in my chair and link my fingers together.
It’s still early in the afternoon, but through the glass wall of my office and across the lobby-like space outside, the light above the elevator door flashes and draws my attention. Only a small portion of my brain focuses on the bodies that step out. On the dusty boots wrapped around long feet, and the denim covering strong legs.
