Page 1 of The Keeper

“You’re doing it again,” Rueben admonished softly.

“Sorry.” Keegan stilled and exhaled a heavy sigh. “I’m just so nervous.”

Rueben kept his gaze on the magazine. He’d been staring at the same page for the past fifteen minutes but hadn’t read a single word. Keegan wasn’t the only Nervous Nelly in the waiting room at the prosecutor’s office. Rueben just didn’t want to untangle his emotions until he was alone in his cabin. “I’ve never seen anyone’s legs bounce like that.”

“It’s been nine months since the arrests,” Keegan said. “Why call us in for a meeting now?”

“Your knees started out like twin kangaroos hopping in tandem but somehow got out of rhythm. Your right leg bounced higher and faster than the left. How’s that even possible?”

Keegan released a cute little growl of frustration. “Are you listening to a single word I’ve said?”

Rueben lowered the magazine and turned to face his friend. The hazel eyes snapping with irritation were much preferred to the lifeless gaze Keegan wore nine months ago. Full, rosy cheeks filled out his previously gaunt face, and cinnamon freckles dusted sun-kissed skin that had once been sickly pale. The walking dead looked more alive than Keegan had when he first stepped onto the ranch. But Keegan’s biggest transformations occurred under the skin and weren’t visible to the naked eye. He’d dedicated himself to his recovery from the nightmares he’d endured during conversion therapy on the Salvation Anew compound, and Rueben didn’t want Keegan to wade back into unnecessary weeds by obsessing over things he couldn’t control, such as prosecuting the people who’d committed the crimes against him. “Seriously, man. Were your knees racing or something?”

Keegan’s mouth parted on a gasp. “That’s what you’re worried about?”

“Well, no,” Rueben said. “I have bigger things on my mind.” Keegan wasn’t the only one who wanted Mick and Quinton Carson to stand trial sooner rather than later. Rueben had serious skin in the game too. He quickly diverted his thoughts away from who he wanted to rub said flesh against because the typical reaction wouldn’t be welcome in public. He turned his magazine to face Keegan and pointed to a handsome guy with similar color hair and fade style. “Do you think I’d look good with those highlights? I’m kind of in a rut and could use a refresh.”

Keegan stared at him for several moments, his lips parted in disbelief, before he snapped his mouth shut and shook his head. “I know what you’re doing.”

Rueben smiled and waggled his brows. “And is it working?”

Keegan heaved an exasperated sigh. “Yes. I’ll direct my questions to Prosecutor Lyndhurst instead of internalizing my worries and feeding my anxiety monster.”

Rueben’s heart swelled with pride. “On a scale of terror, are we talking about a gremlin or Godzilla here?”

The exterior door opened before he could answer, and Keegan’s eyes widened briefly. A frisson of awareness licked a path up Rueben’s spine like a lover’s tongue, and his nerve endings sizzled like bacon in a hot skillet. He knew who entered the waiting room before the faint hints of lime and mint tickled his senses. Seth Burke’s bodywash reminded Rueben of a mojito, and the man himself was much more intoxicating than white rum, and he should know since he was still hungover nine months later after their wild and reckless weekend together.

“Good morning, Phaedra. I’m here to see Prosecutor Lyndhurst.”

The sheriff’s rich voice triggered memories of Seth’s weight pressing him into the mattress and whispering dirty talk in his ear to spur him to climax when Rueben had wanted to delay the tide of pleasure. The sensory overload punted him back nine months to the rustic cabin they’d hidden away in after Rueben survived a near-death experience and Seth thwarted a homegrown terrorist plot. A relationship between a sheriff and a victim or potential trial witness was off-limits. Seth had made that clear when they’d parted ways early on the Monday after, but the longing in his gray eyes after their last shared kiss spoke louder than words ever could. Rueben had understood the stakes and didn’t want to see Mick and Quinton Carson walk free on a technicality or have a jury reach a not-guilty verdict because they couldn’t trust the investigators. So Rueben planted his desires deep into a fertile garden of hope and tended to it with memories from that one perfect weekend whenever his soul needed TLC.

Phaedra was in her early thirties and peered at Seth with cartoon character heart eyes. Rueben couldn’t blame her, but he wanted to growl out a warning for the lady to back away from his man. “Mr. Lyndhurst is wrapping up a phone call and shouldn’t be much longer.”

That was the same thing she’d told them almost twenty minutes ago, but Rueben embraced his annoyance to avoid engaging other emotions. The prosecutor’s office was not an appropriate place to let his fantasies of Seth run rampant. He rattled his magazine to pull Keegan’s attention back to the photo of the cutie with the sun-kissed streaks in his hair.

“Highlights, yes or no?”

Keegan darted a glance in Burke’s direction before meeting Rueben’s gaze. “I think a change would do you good.”

All the guys on the ranch knew about his weekend with Seth, but Rueben only discussed the torturous war waging inside him with Keegan. To want someone so badly and connect with them on the deepest levels, only to have them ripped away, was a cruel punishment to pay for someone else’s crimes. Salvation Anew’s plans and attacks had affected everyone on the ranch, but Keegan and Rueben had taken the brunt of their rage. The two of them had bonded over their shared experiences and the fact that they were the only two unattached people living on Redemption Ridge. Keegan’s therapist didn’t want him dating until he’d worked deeper into his recovery process, and Rueben couldn’t have the only man he wanted.

Cocking his head to the side, Kee studied the magazine page for a second. “Maybe caramel highlights for a more natural look.” His lips quivered and curved into a wry smile. “Unless boy band member is the style you’re going for.”

Rueben reached over and ruffled Keegan’s hair. “Caramel highlights it is. Twenty-five is too old for a boy band, though I have the moves to pull it off.” His best friend snorted in disagreement, and Rueben lightly swatted Keegan with the magazine before putting it back on the table.

Seth’s allure called him like a siren’s song, but he avoided looking in his direction. But why? Running into one another in a small town was unavoidable. Rueben had always kept a tight leash on his emotions and offered Seth a cordial nod whenever their paths crossed. Seth would return the gesture with the slightest hint of a sly smile curving his lips. The sheriff’s mirrored glasses hid the intensity in his gaze, but Rueben felt it as strongly as a lover’s caress. He risked a glance in Seth’s direction and noticed he’d taken the farthest seat away from them and had busied himself with his phone. Nothing about Seth’s rigid posture resembled the affectionate man from his memories. For a moment, Rueben started to wonder if the echoes of shared laughter, kisses, and lovemaking were figments of his imagination instead of legitimate recollections.

Several more minutes ticked by with no relief from the rising tension in the room. Rueben’s gaze kept darting to the corner to clock Seth’s activity. Look up. Look at me. Just once.

When Keegan’s legs started to bounce again, Rueben yanked his head out of his ass and placed a hand on his friend’s knee. The shaking stopped immediately, and Keegan took a ragged breath.

“I’ll find out how much longer,” Rueben said.

But before he could stand up, the interior door next to the clerk’s window opened. A woman dressed in a smart navy suit and matching pumps smiled at Rueben and Keegan. She wore her black hair in a sleek bun that accentuated her amazing bone structure. Full lips curved into a professional smile. “Mr. Sanchez and Mr. Scott?”

They stood up and introduced themselves and shook her hand.

“I’m Cynthia Dailey, Mr. Lyndhurst’s assistant. I apologize for the delay, but he’s ready to see you now.” Rueben held out hope for a few seconds that Seth was having a separate meeting with the prosecutor, but that fizzled out when she looked to the corner of the room where he sat. “Join us, please, Sheriff Burke.”

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