Page 98 of Counter Attack

“Are you going to the field house tonight?” she asked as they walked through Marge’s empty office.

“I don’t know yet.”

“Which means yes, but you don’t want me to go with you.”

“I didn’t say that.”

“You didn’t have to. You’re worried I’ll get hurt.”

Nathan couldn’t very well deny that. He let out an exasperated breath. “Okay. I’m going around ten, and you can tag along if you’d like, but I think it’ll be a waste of your time. Mine too, probably, but I want to check it out just in case.”

“If no one’s there, it’ll be perfectly safe.”

Was anyplace safe for Alexis? He’d never felt this helpless while protecting someone. “If you’re going to the field house with me, we might as well go in one vehicle now.”

“Why?”

“It will make things simpler. We pass right by here on the way to the school, and once we’re done at the field house, I can drop you off and then follow you home. Does that sound okay?”

“I—never mind. It’s fine.”

“Good.” A few minutes later, he pulled out of the jail complex with Alexis silent in the passenger seat. After a couple ofblocks of the silence, he said, “I don’t know what you’re mad about, and I’m not sure I even want to know. But someone is trying to kill you, and you just poked our number one suspect with a cattle prod. I’m just trying to keep you alive.”

“Would you have wanted to follow my grandfather home if he was the one who was being threatened?”

He gripped the steering wheel. “Look, I think you’re as capable as any police officer I’ve ever met, more capable than most, but that doesn’t have anything to do with this situation. I can’t change that I was raised to protect women. And you are definitely a woman ... and not just any woman, but the woman I love.”

Nathan clamped his mouth shut as his breath froze in his chest. Surely he didn’t just say that. If only he had a rewind button. The Stones’ drive was just ahead, and he turned on his blinker, thetick, tick, tickso loud in the dead silence.

He sneaked a peek at her as he slowed.Dazedwas the only word he could think of for the way she looked. His phone dinged, breaking the silence. He handed his phone to Alexis.

“Would you please check that for me?” he asked as he turned into the drive and kept to the right.

She tapped the phone. “It’s Kayla. You forgot to sign her reference letter, and she wants to email her application today. Said she was leaving, but if you’re coming back to the jail right away, she’d wait.”

Nathan groaned. He did not want to drive back downtown, but he’d probably blown his shot at dinner. “Tell her I’ll swing—”

“Just have her bring it here and you can sign it.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah. I’ll text her to come, along with our address. That way you won’t have to return to town.”

Returning to town wasn’t the problem. Nathan had beenhoping Judith would ask him to dinner again, giving him time with Alexis away from the investigation.

Wait. She’d saidouraddress, notmy grandparents’. That had to be a good thing. Maybe she was changing her mind about Pearl Springs. If that was true, maybe she would change her mind about him. His mood lifted as he parked by the back door, surprised when she didn’t immediately open the door.

“Hold on and I’ll get your door.” Nathan didn’t give her a chance to protest and hopped out. He jogged around to the passenger side and opened her door. “Do you mind if I pop in a second and say hi to your grandparents?” He practically ran the words together.

For a second, he thought she was going to roll her eyes. Instead, her mouth twitched. “You wouldn’t be angling for an invite to dinner, would you?”

“Maybe.”

She raised her head, and their gazes locked, kicking his heart into overdrive.

“Would you mind?”

The hollow in her throat deepened as she swallowed and then licked her lips. “Why did you say you loved me?”

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