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“Yes, sir!”
CHAPTER 26
Celia started to light into Riley as soon as Pete was gone from the room but found herself pinned against her desk by a prickly bear. The words got stuck in her lungs when she saw the heat of anger in his eyes. If it were just anger she saw there, she might’ve found her voice and ripped him a new one, but there was something else there, something that looked a lot like fear.
Riley was so mad he could hardly see straight. He wasn’t in his right mind when he grabbed her by the front of her shirt and brought her in close until their noses almost touched. “Are you out of your fucking mind?” Celia felt a sensation similar to a cold wind blowing over her skin at the guttural words.
Fighting back was not the way to go in this instance she realized, he needed to be soothed. In her head, she was already throttling back and trying to assess the situation to come up with the best solution. Telling him that this was her job and that she’d been in worse predicaments and probably would be again didn’t seem the right thing to do at this particular time.
Riley had no idea what the driving force was behind his actions. His head was so hot he couldn’t even keep his thoughts together as his mind seemed fractured somehow. He’d tried calling her after she didn’t call him all day and didn’t come home when she should’ve, but there was no answer. He’d left the farm at top speed, his rational mind gone on hiatus as everything that could possibly go wrong ran through his head.
For the first time in his life, he knew what it meant to feel fear for someone else. The thought of her being hurt, or worse, laying dead somewhere had damn near sent him over the edge. And then he walked through the door and heard her little story, told in a bland ass voice as if she were discussing nothing more than the fucking weather.
He didn’t like the way she was looking at him right now, either like she wanted to argue with him like she had any fucking right. “What did I tell you? You’re not allowed to put yourself in danger. You like your job?”
“Of course, what does that have to do with anything?” Celia thought he’d had a brain fritz or something the way he jumped from one topic to another.
“You wanna keep it?”
She finally caught on and forgot all about them being in the station and who might walk in and overhear. She also forgot to care about the fear she saw in his eyes or the anger that was still coming off of him in waves. He was going too far. Now she was the one who leaned in close, the one who gritted her words through clenched teeth.
“I’m a grown woman, I don’t need you or anyone else to tell me how to do my job, and I don’t like your threats.” She thought for sure that he’d blow up at her, she was more than ready for that and to battle him back. What she did not expect was to watch him change once again like a damn chameleon.
Her words had an amazing effect on Riley. Somehow they got him to remember where they were and that this was not the place. He released his hold on her shirt, even smoothed it out with his hands as he stepped back out of her space. “Sorry, Detective, you’re right. My apologies. I guess I’ll see you at home then, take your time.” He turned and walked away.
Celia started to call out to him, but now fear kept her throat locked off. What the hell just happened? How did he switch off like that? And that look on his face when he apologized…what the hell is going on? He’s the one who screwed up, so why did she get the feeling that she was the one in the wrong? And why doesn’t she trust his easy capitulation?
She watched his retreating back until he left the door and only then realized her legs were barely holding her up. She walked around her desk and dropped into her chair with her heart beating way too fast. She wouldn’t call Riley sinister, bullheaded as a mule, set in his own way, all of the above, but she’d never once picked up any negative vibes from him, and she didn’t now either, but there was definitely something going on.
Staying at the station any longer was a waste of time since he’d pretty much hijacked her thought process. By the time Pete returned, she was a mess. “I think I’ll pick this up tomorrow, I’m beat.” She made her excuses as she got up from her chair and grabbed her jacket.
