Julie Lindsey - Shadow Point Deputy

Dozens of people stared openly, pointing their cell phones in her direction. Her brother was going to die of humiliation when he saw the footage and be infinitely angry she hadn’t opened up to him about what happened at the docks.

She dropped her head forward and begged her mind to think.

How could she possibly explain this away?

A set of strong hands wrapped around her elbows and hoisted her from the water with a whoosh.

Rita screamed. Her feet found purchase on the ground outside the fountain, and she locked her palms together on instinct to thrust against her assailant’s chest, sending him back several steps.

Cole relented, palms up as he widened his stance and waited. “Hey. It’s just me.” He watched silently as her scrambled brain put the pieces together.

“Cole!” Recognition hit, and Rita flung herself at him. She buried her face against his shoulder and exhaled the suffocating terror from her lungs. “I thought I was dead. I thought he’d kill me right here in front of everyone.”

Cole’s broad, warm hands found the small of her back and pressed her to him. “You’re okay, Rita.” His heart thrummed beneath her ear, chest rising and falling in quick bursts.

The sound of her name on his lips sent a shiver down her spine. The soft scents of spearmint, earth and aftershave that wafted off his heated skin didn’t help.

She peeled herself away with burning cheeks. “You’re soaked.” She brushed the sodden fabric of his uniform shirt with shaky hands. “I’m soaked and now... I’m so sorry.”

Rita locked her knees in frustration, and the tears began to flow.

“Hey.” Cole pulled her back against him and stroked her sopping hair. “I won’t let anyone hurt you. Okay? But you’ve got to trust me.” He took her hands in his, and led her away from the wretched fountain and massive crowd. “First, let’s get you out of here. I need to call this in, and you need something dry to wear. I’ve got towels and a first aid kit in the gym bag in my cruiser. How hurt are you?”

“I’m not.”

He turned her palm up in his, both their hands now painted with her blood. “No?”

“Scrapes. From the marble.”

He nodded stiffly. “What else?”

Her legs were sore and her head was fuzzy. “Bruises. Ow.” Her vision blurred. “I think I hit my...” Rita’s knees buckled and the world went black.

Cole stroked wet hair from Rita’s face as he buckled her into the passenger seat of his car. This day had gone from strange to downright bizarre in a matter of hours. Luckily, Rita would be okay. “Hey.”

Her eyes flitted open then pulled shut.

“Rita?” Cole pressed a palm to her cheek. “You with me?”

She squirmed, apparently confused by the seat belt. Her eyes widened and her arms swung for him.

Cole dodged the blow. That wouldn’t happen again. He collected her wrists in one of his hands and put on his warmest smile. “You shouldn’t hit lawmen. There’s a law against that. Plus, it hurts.” He made a show of rubbing his chest where she’d landed the earlier hit.

Color rushed to her cheeks. “Sorry.” She squirmed to take in her new surroundings. “What happened?”

“You passed out. I carried you to my car.” Cole tugged her safety belt, making sure it was securely latched. “How’s your head?”

She groaned.

Cole flashed a penlight in her direction. “Can you follow the light?”

She squinted, but got the job done.

“Okay.” He lifted a finger before shutting her inside the cruiser and rounding the hood to the driver’s side. Behind the wheel, he twisted for a look in her direction. “You were chased by a lunatic in a black sedan. Tinted windows. No plates. Any chance you got a look at the driver?”

She shook her head.

“You would’ve been killed if you hadn’t dived into the fountain. You hit your head doing that. Then you hit me. Then you passed out. And here we are.”

She rubbed her eyes and groaned.

Cole pointed his cruiser toward the bridge, waving to a set of campus security officers. “Those guys showed up as I was hauling you off the street. I barely caught you before you hit your head again.” He chuckled. “You were right in the middle of telling me how well you felt.”

“I think I have a concussion.”

“You don’t.” He smiled, happy to know that was true. She was fine. Slightly banged up, but all things considered, Rita was stellar. “It wasn’t the head injury that knocked you out, but that goose egg is going to look a lot worse before it starts looking better.”

Rita dissolved against his passenger seat. Her fingers sought the wound. She winced when she found it.

“Shock will do that to people. The fainting, not the goose egg. Anyway, you’re fine now.”

“Except someone still wants to kill me.”

“Yeah.” There was that. He ground his teeth. He needed to fix that. “You’re having a bad day.”

She laughed humorlessly, eyes fixed on the world outside her window. “Very bad.”

“And you’re all wet.”

“I need to go home,” she said.

“Already on it.” Cole took the bridge back to Shadow Point at half the speed he’d used to arrive in Rivertown.

Rita closed her eyes. “Why are you so calm, and how do you know I’m okay?” Her teeth chattered.

Cole ached to stroke the curve of her clenched jaw. “You’re with me now. You’re definitely going to make it, Horn.”

She rolled her head in his direction, blinking through tear-filled eyes. “And how can you be sure I’m not concussed?”

“Medical school.”

Rita’s rosebud mouth pulled into a droll expression. “Of course.”

“I dropped out,” he said, “so I’m not a doctor, but I was a medic in the army, and I’ve been bandaging up my brothers all my life. My uncle’s an EMT, too, so that helped.”

Rita straightened in her seat. “Wait a minute. You quit medical school to be a deputy?”

“Law’s in the blood, I guess.”

“I guess,” she agreed. “Clearly also a hero complex.”

“Not the first time I’ve been accused of that. I guess we have something in common.”

Rita wrinkled her nose. “What?”

“The hero complex.” He watched for understanding that never came, then tried again. “What do you call what you do?”

“Paperwork?”

“No,” he corrected. “Feeding stray cats and making lunches for the homeless. You know all their names, and I don’t even know all the bailiffs. What do you call yourself, if not a hero?”

A wave of pink spread over her cheeks. “Nothing. I’m just...trying.”

Cole worked to redirect his thoughts from that blush and all the other ways he’d like to summon it.

A few creative images came immediately to mind.

Rita’s lips parted. She dropped her sweet hazel gaze to her lap before raising her eyes to him once more. “I try to make a difference.”

Her words hit Cole in the chest. So much kindness in one small package. How did a woman like Rita Horn go unattached? If Cole were looking for something serious, which he wasn’t, and she wasn’t an endangered civilian in his care, which she was, maybe there could have been something between them.

Like what? He chastised himself. Pull it together, Garrett.

Ten silent minutes later, Cole pulled into Rita’s driveway.

Rita unlocked the door and welcomed him inside.

The house was exactly as he remembered. No one had been back while Rita was out. Then again, he’d already known the person responsible for overturning her place was likely the same one driving the sedan across the river.

He helped himself to a seat on her couch while she went to change clothes.