Page 72 of Her Wild Coast Promise

“It’s impossible to compare my job with hers,” I say as she turns into the parking lot.

“That’s why I say we don’t try. It’ll just confuse voters, and it’ll make you look bad.”

“Then how do we handle it?”

She smiles. “By laying on the compliments.”

“What?”

She laughs. “Think about it. She’s going to storm in there armored to the teeth. Instead, you sing her praises? Talk about throwing her off her game.”

“I don’t want to compliment her. Her ego is big enough.”

“Think of it as a strategy. She’s good at what she does, correct?”

“Correct.”

“So good that if she left her position, the D.A.’s office would suffer?”

I gape at her. “Yeah.”

She arches an eyebrow.

“Okay, I get it now. Prove to voters that she’d be letting them down if she left the D.A.’s office. That her skillset is of better use there than in the role of sheriff.”

“Experience Matters, Sheriff Dalton,” Cora says with a wink. But her grin is edged with emotion—sadness? Regret?

We park in an empty stall. I should get out of the truck. Keeping Congressman White waiting isn’t a good idea.

“Cora, I need…” The rest of what I want to say dies in my throat, and I force it down. Hunter’s words flash in my mind.

Love and risk are a package deal.

“Call me after you’re done,” Cora says, “and I’ll—”

I shake my head, then huff a breath. That she thinks I’m trying to set up a ride after my meeting is as troubling as my inability to steer this conversation to what really matters.

“There’s something I need to ask you,” I say.

Cora’s gaze turns apprehensive.

“But not…now.” I scrub down my face, trying to come up with a solution for this, for us, but there’s no clear path forward. But I know in my heart that I can’t go back, either.

Our eyes lock, and she nods. “Okay.”

I take her hand and give it a gentle squeeze. It’s not enough in this moment that feels like a seesaw tilting up, down, up, never quite balanced but unable to find balance, but it’s all I have right now. “Okay.”

ChapterNineteen

SETH

I slidemy hand from hers and step out of the truck and button my suit jacket. At the covered walkway to the building, I resist looking back. Instead, I try to focus on my meeting with Congressman White. Maybe after it ends, I can look back and make sense of all of this. How I fell for Cora, and how it turned my life upside down.

…but when you break my heart.

My already tense stomach quivers, like I might be sick. Shit. I need to get my head in the game. I have an election to win, a department to run, investigations to solve, and right now, I have a congressman to impress.

My feelings for Cora and my turbulent thoughts about where things stand has to be put aside. This isn’t new—as a cop, I’m constantly shifting my focus to address what’s most important—but the way I’m feeling right now, like I’m making a mistake leaving her…that’s definitely new.

---