Addison Fox - The Colton Sheriff

Steve glanced around, despite the closed door, before he lowered his voice. “Hell, keep her and get a side piece. Happens all the time. Just put on the family front for the voters. It’ll do a world of good to help your chances.”

Trey didn’t catch much else, but shifted into autopilot to give his briefing—the presumed reason for the visit. The prep work he and Daria had done the night before worked in his favor and he got through the details on what they knew of the killings, their working theories and the overall progress from the ME’s office on the four as-yet-unidentified bodies from the grave site. In less than a half hour it was over and in another ten minutes, after final pleasantries over a doughnut, Trey saw the two men out.

He walked back to his office, still shaking his head as he closed the door. He strolled to the sideboard for another doughnut, then followed the boards, one by one, using the mix of sugar and grease to fortify himself. The terrible images should have cut through his thoughts but he found himself practically staring through them as the unsettling conversation rolled through his mind on a loop.

Married? With a side piece? Putting on the front of a happy, devoted family man? What parallel universe had he walked into that morning? Worse, had it become 1850? Because a huge part of him felt like he’d just been instructed to hunt up a mail-order bride out here in the Wild, Wild West.

Who the hell would he marry anyway?

He hadn’t lied about his single status. He’d been working so much the last date he’d had was four—well, hell, it was six—months ago. It hadn’t ended very well, either, with him running off to an emergency over at The Lodge. It was a party gone wild and he could have sent out a deputy to handle the matter, but at the chance to escape the date he’d jumped at the chance.

What did that say about him?

Trey walked back to refill his coffee, his phone going off in his pocket.

Aisha’s text filled the screen.

How’d it go?

He typed out a quick response. You mean the sneak attack straight from the governor’s office?

He saw the three dots for the briefest of moments before Aisha’s reply came winging back. No freaking way!

Yep. Gov’s head lackey. All neat and refined in his pressed blue suit. He looked like a game show host. Man was a piece of work.

Aisha shot him a few laughing emojis before she added another thought. What did he actually want? An update on the Avalanche Killer?

Trey considered how to play it. Even though it was Aisha and he rarely gave much consideration to anything he typed or talked to her about, it was embarrassing to realize just how long it had been since he’d gone on a date.

Would she think less of him?

She was attractive and successful. Although they avoided the topic for some strange reason, he expected she was out dating and painting the town red every chance she got.

Although...when was the last time she’d mentioned a date?

You there?

Sorry. Just busy. Why did he lie? Trey wondered. Since he’d already hit Send, he quickly tried to make up for the unsettling sensation of hiding something from her.

You up for dinner tonight? I have a rare free one and am craving enchiladas. I’ll give details then.

She shot back a series of tacos interspersed with more smiley face emojis, which he would have interpreted as a yes for dinner even without her response. Yes!!!!!!

See you at six at Maggie’s Tortilla House.

Later, and then she included an alligator emoji.

Once again, Trey was forced to admit the woman the world saw as intense and serious just wasn’t with him. She used weird smiley faces no one else ever did and had a bizarre fondness for the gator emoji. And she actually ate in front of him.

That woman back in April—no, it was February—had yelled at their waitress for bringing bread. Who did that?

Not Aisha. She kicked ass each morning at her kickboxing gym. She continued kicking it all day when it came to her patients and their welfare. And then she did it again when it came to enjoying herself.

As if Steve still sat in Trey’s office, whispering from the corner, his unsolicited advice seemed to swirl through the room.

You should get yourself a wife. It’d make this whole business easier.

Where had that come from?

Especially with his thoughts full of Aisha.

She was a strong, independent woman, not some small, shy mouse of a human who couldn’t stand up for herself. Or worse, who’d been pushed down so badly she had no idea which way was up. And she certainly wasn’t the type of woman to agree to a pretend engagement.

Engagement? With Aisha?

That was what he’d taken away from his morning visitors?

Since Steve’s visit had obviously shaken him more than he realized, Trey figured he was due for a change of pace. His early arrival to work ensured he had a rare free hour and he was going to put it to good use downstairs in the gym. A rotation through the speed bag, the weights and a bit of cardio would go a long way toward settling his thoughts.

He needed it, Trey thought as he grabbed his gym bag from the floor beneath his desk. Because for the briefest of moments, he’d actually considered asking Aisha Allen if she wanted to be his pretend fiancée.

Aisha inhaled the warm scents of flour tortillas and gooey cheese and let out her first easy breath of the day. She’d waited all day for this moment and she was going to take a few seconds to enjoy it.

She’d earned it.

A patient she’d been working with for the past five months—and who she’d believed was improving—had a significant setback that morning. It had been a difficult session, followed by a discussion with the man’s wife about possible treatment options that went beyond office visits. It had been emotional and painful and the sort of experience she was grateful she didn’t have often.

And then her day had gone even further downhill after that.

The press had somehow glommed onto her comments from Tuesday night at the county meeting and had executed a surprise attack with an office visit at lunch. She was so incensed by their arrival and their insistence she give a quote about the state of the investigation that she finally had to have her assistant call the Roaring Springs PD out to help deal with the intruders.

Since that had stretched past lunch, it had interfered with a patient due into her office, and the sight of the police had sent her into a tailspin. It had taken nearly their entire hour to calm the woman down to the point of coherency, and after that Aisha had been tempted to cancel the rest of her appointments for the day.

So yeah , she thought to herself as Trey handed her the drink menu from the center of the table. She’d earned her sangria swirl margarita. Maybe even a second. And the ginormous plate of enchiladas that she’d already selected off the dinner menu, too.

“Tough day?” Trey’s question had her eyes popping open but it was the sweet, understanding look that softened the subtle lines around his thick-lashed eyes that caught her off guard.

It was those moments—those quick little shots of intimacy—that never failed to catch her off guard. He saw her. It was...well, something she’d do better not to dwell on.

Resolutely ignoring that quick shot of attraction, she shared what she could. “I’ve had better. But before I bore you with the nonconfidential pieces I can share, I want to hear about your morning. You had a rather impressive visitor.”

“The governor’s lackey hardly rates as impressive.”

“Well,” Aisha pointed out as she reached for a chip from the basket at the center of the table, “it wasn’t the governor. When he starts showing up, you know you have a real problem.”