Page 20 of Anchor Point

Her eyes shot to mine. Icy daggers glinted in the coldness of them. “Got distracted how?”

I couldn’t tell if this cold attitude was directed toward me, or if this was just who she was now. If the passage of time had hardened her from the warm, caring woman I’d known into this ice queen. I glanced at the photo behind her and, for a heartbeat, wondered again about the girl in the photo.

Shifting my gaze back to the chief, I met her direct gaze. “Apparently, there was an attractive female nurse that drew his attention.”

“Unacceptable. Was it deliberate?” she fired back.

“Hard to say. I doubt it, though. Watkins is an opportunist. It’s likely that the officer on detail just happened to have his back turned and Watkins snuck right out.”

She shook her head in disgust. “And what happened to the officer?”

“I’m not sure. Couple days off, maybe?”

“We have photos of the crime scene. Do we have any of the suspect?”

“No.”

She thumbed through the report, giving me a chance to study her. Her dark brown hair was pulled back with a clip, but even with the severe style, the curls I remembered were still visible, refusing to lay flat, begging to be released.

What a fucking stupid thought.

Curls couldn’t beg. It was hair, for God’s sake. And I was a fucking moron, remembering another time and place and imposing it on the woman before me, who was not at all the warm, effervescent person I remembered. That woman smiled easily and had eyes that twinkled, like she held a secret that was too good, and she wanted to share it with the world. She’d been playful and spontaneous.

This woman was cold and calculated.

“And what happened with Firefighter Watkins?” she continued, looking down at the reports, the folded pages caught with a manicured nail.

I recalled those nails scratching down my back. In fact, our last day together had left me with several marks. She’d teased me, telling me she wanted to leave me with something to remember her by. I’d laughed and given her a reason to remember me as well when she dug her claws in.

The snap of a paper brought me back to the present.

How come I’d gone for years not really feeling any kind of sexual attraction to anyone at all, and suddenly, I was as horny as a teenager?

Realizing she’d asked a question,I cleared my throat and shifted in my seat, trying to ease the discomfort at my fly. “He’s since recovered. The building, though, was a loss.”

She placed the folder on her desk and sat back in her chair, gazing at me with that cool expression on her face. “Can I ask you something and trust you to tell me the truth?” she asked after a long silence.

“Of course, Chief.”

“Why is it that administration didn’t deliver this news? Or the police chief when I met with him earlier this week? Why am I just now learning that there is an active investigation that one of my people was injured on?”

Something about the way she was claiming Thoren as hers resonated with me. Maybe the ice queen was making an appearance because someone she saw as “hers” had been wronged.

“Truthfully, it’s probably because they don’t know or don’t care. But Mike Harrison, he’s the fire marshal, will be your point of contact. I guarantee he will keep you posted on the details.”

“So, what made you decide to come deliver this news to me in person today? Why not let the marshal handle it?”

Was she pushing my buttons on purpose? What the hell was she asking me? “Because I know he was headed out of town for a few days, and I thought you might want to know sooner rather than later.”

Another one of those cool moments passed where she just sat and watched me. I’d survived boot camp and eight years of military service working with some of the most hardened motherfuckers on the planet. I’d done a year with PD before landing in the fire department. Her cool assessment ranked right up there with some of the best interrogators.

Or maybe it was just the effect she had on me.

I would not fall under the pressure of her gaze. Those beautiful dark blue eyes that were glacial, and yet, I remembered how they heated. How her lids lowered as she’d climaxed around me.

Motherfucker, why couldn’t I keep my mind out of the gutter?

Like the pussy I was, I broke first. Yielding to her superior stare down, I glanced to the side and focused again on the photo. It drew me in, made me want to snatch it up and study it.

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