Heatherly Bell - More Than One Night

And he couldn’t stop looking at her.

He’d never watched her sleep and felt a little voyeuristic doing that now. Like he had intruded on her private personal space. Not that she wasn’t trying hard to intrude into his private world. But she wasn’t going to get an all-access pass into his personal life. He couldn’t allow that. She was his boss now and nothing more. He shouldn’t want anything more.

“One-hit wonder.”

She could be right about that. Sure would make his job here easier. He couldn’t take care of anyone else when he could barely take care of himself. He hadn’t managed to get rid of the nightmares, had he? Waking up in a cold sweat had become the norm. And while the memory of her had been enough to get him through some rough nights in the past, her proximity now wasn’t doing the same. Instead of comforting him, she was making him itchy and wary of what he wanted. What he didn’t deserve and shouldn’t have.

Making sure her trailer door was locked and secure, he made his way next door to his trailer. Alone.

Chapter Five

“This coffee tastes like death! You know how picky I am about my coffee. Can’t you do any better than this?” Jill pushed the foam cup of black sludge across Ryan’s desk.

He had been hunched over her search and rescue plan for the past few minutes, reading. “Shh, woman. You don’t want to anger her.”

She followed his gaze to his deputy admin, Renata Dooley, a woman one did not mess with. She was German, and at six feet tall the largest woman Jill had ever known. She took shit from no one and she’d worked for the Sheriff’s office for approximately forever.

“She makes the coffee?” Jill whispered. “It’s horrible.”

“Yeah, well, that’s not her job.” Ryan tapped the paper in front of him. “Did you put this plan together?”

“Yes, um, why?”

“It’s just so...detailed. You thought of everything.”

“I had a little help.”

Sam, frankly, had kicked ass on this plan. This morning when she’d woken on the office cot yet again, drool dried on her cheek, she had a blanket covering her that she didn’t remember putting there. Her Kindle not on the floor where it usually landed, but placed carefully on her desk. And the plan on her desk, complete and perfect.

“Yeah?”

“One of my guys is a former Marine. He’s very detail-oriented.”

Ryan didn’t know the half of it.

“A Marine?” He winced. “Christ, Jill. All of these men were checked out by the agency, right? References, backgrounds, everything?”

“Yes, Ryan .” She’d been over this with him before.

Her big brother had always been over-the-top protective. Not entirely his fault. Their parents had put in long hours on the job and even if he was only four years older, Ryan had practically raised her.

He set the papers down. “This is good. I’m satisfied. I’m sure the city council will be, too.”

“What do they have to do with it?”

“They want me to bring it to the next meeting.”

She knew well that Ryan hated the politics of being Sheriff, but he’d accepted the nomination because he cared about the town of Fortune.

“Boy, they just can’t stay out of my business, can they?”

“You should have expected this. Small-town growth restrictions,” Ryan said.

“But this is going to be so special for our town. No one in the Bay Area has anything like this park.”

“Exactly. It’s going to bring a lot of traffic our way. And you know how the city council feels about traffic.”

Holy wow, did she know. She regularly got an earful. “It’s also going to bring in sales tax dollars. And anyway, they don’t seem to mind the traffic when it’s a new housing development.”

“You’ll get no argument from me. I personally can’t wait to try out the zip line or go wakeboarding. First, I need some time off.”

“Speaking of time off, do you know if Mom or Dad are going to make the grand opening?”

“They haven’t told you?”

“No.”

Ryan rubbed his forehead. “Dad’s speaking at a medical conference next month. The opportunity came up and he and Mom are going to make a trip of it. Paris.”

“Oh.”

“I can’t believe they didn’t tell you yet.”

“Well, it’s Paris. I probably wouldn’t come to my grand opening, either. No big deal.” She stood.

“It is a big deal.”

“Not really. It’s not like I’ve written an academic paper.” Or won the Medal of Honor.

“You know I’ll be there. I wouldn’t miss it.”

She grinned. “And you’ll bring a date?”

“Stop busting my chops. You know I have no time to date.”

“Make time.”

“Look who’s talking. You haven’t had a date in what? Three years?”

Don’t remind me. “Yes, but I’m not the one depriving some child-to-be of your dimples.”

“For the love of God, not you, too. It’s enough that Mom’s on my case about settling down.”

“Speaking as your little sister, who wants to be an aunt someday, I just want you to be happy.”

“And speaking as your big brother, who doesn’t mind waiting to be an uncle, I just want you to be safe.”

“Oh, I will be.”

She bussed her brother’s cheek and was out the door.

Back in the safety and quiet of her sedan, Jill took her cell phone out and dialed her mother. Always best to get the unpleasantness out of the way fast. Unlike Mom, Jill had learned the hard way that there was no point in avoiding their difficult relationship.

“Hi, honey,” Mom answered on the third ring. “I’ve been meaning to—”

“I just heard you can’t attend the grand opening because of Paris.”

“Your father was invited to lecture at a medical conference.”

“Mom, I told you guys about this months ago.”

“I know, and I’m so sorry to miss your...your...”

“Grand opening.”

Jill sighed. She was used to it by now. Mom, a brilliant woman, had some kind of hiccup in her brain synapses when it came to Jill’s so-called “hobbies.”

“I really am so sorry to miss it. It sounds like such fun.”

Fun. Not hard work that kept her in the office so late she’d actually taken to sleeping there. “Yeah, fun, but also we’re doing s omething here. Building something. Providing work to veterans and creating a business that’s going to benefit the entire town, too.”

“You have such a big heart.”

Now Mom made it sound like charity, which it wasn’t. Not in a million years would she take pity on veterans. She needed them and they needed her.

“Okay. Have fun in Paris. And tell Dad congrats on the invitation.”

She hung up and tossed the phone on the passenger seat. When her parents had first heard about her plans, they’d freaked.

“Extreme sports? Are you out of your mind?”

No amount of assurance from her that she wasn’t going to be the one participating in the more dangerous extreme sports seemed to help. She wanted to. Little interested her more than an athlete’s ability to push beyond their physical boundaries. To move past what one would expect the human body capable of. She enjoyed cycling and hikes, though she’d been too busy to get outdoors for some time. An irony she did not miss. Feet away from some great outdoor activities and with no time for them.

When she got back to the ridge, she noticed the guys off in the distance, stacking the rock climbing equipment. Ropes and pulleys. Sam always seemed to be in charge, even if they were all technically on the same level. She knew from their personnel records that at thirty he was only slightly older than the other men. But according to the agency, Sam was leadership material and should be treated as such.