Page 11 of Safe With Me

I swiveled my head to find Lila behind me, stepping through the front door and clutching a plastic cup of what looked like a half-empty iced coffee.

“No, it’s fine. I couldn’t really relax, thinking of all I had to clean up.” She smiled and shifted toward the desk in the front, shaking the ice in her cup when her gaze slid to mine.

“That is not a one-day thing. I don’t want my new employee to burn out on her first two days.” Dad stood from his desk and made his way over, looking between us with a hint of a smirk playing on his lips.

“I’d introduce you to my son, but he told me you already met.”

Her eyes widened when they found mine again, probably thinking I’d spilled the entire story of how I’d found her and how she’d fallen against me.

“Yes, I told my dad that I ran into you when you met up with Claudia the other day. Nice to see you again.”

I smiled and gave her a little shake of my head.

Her shoulders drooped with relief as a grin broke out on her face, stealing the air out of my lungs.

I hadn’t really seen her smile the day we met. It had been more like an embarrassed grimace, but this smile lit up her whole face and was so damn breathtaking, I had to drag my gaze away.

The dating pool in a small town was only so big. Dating apps weren’t for me, and even as I’d watched my friends couple up lately, I hadn’t been inclined to put in the effort to meet someone new.

It was hard for me to get serious with anyone to begin with. Big feelings always scared me, seeing as how my mother never got over divorcing my father, so I avoided them whenever I could.

Dad had once confessed to me that before Peyton, he’d kept all other women at a distance because he never wanted to hurt anyone again.

Their worries had rubbed off on me, and I approached all relationships the same way he had.

Maybe the root of my inappropriate curiosity was just being lonely.

Regardless of where it was coming from or why, I had to find a way to make it stop.

“Well, nice to see you again too, Officer Mike.”

Her berry-colored lips curved up as she slipped her purse off her shoulder. She wore a purple sundress that swished around her legs, teasing her toned thighs as she gathered up the paperwork on top of the desk and put it into a big pile. Her chocolate brown hair brushed her shoulders as her eyes flicked from me to the papers in her hand.

“I was wondering when I’d see you again. I figured in a town this small, you’d run into everybody multiple times.”

“Sometimes in the same day,” I said, trying to make a joke and cringing when an involuntary rasp laced my tone. “And I told you to drop the officer.”

“So.”

Our heads both snapped to my father’s voice, as if we’d forgotten he was standing there and this was his place of business.

Or at least I had for a minute.

“I think I’m going to close early. You’ve made a lot of headway, and like I said, I don’t want you to burn out. So why don’t you relax for the night?” He flicked his wrist to check his watch. “It’s already five o’clock, and you’ve been here since before eight.”

“Oh, I don’t mind,” Lila said, her earrings dangling as she shook her head. They were dainty, as my sister would say, thin gold strings brushing her jaw and drawing my eyes to the graceful slope of her neck.

Again, what the hell was wrong with me? I’d been pissed for most of the day from being treated like a kid, and now I was a teenager drooling over the gorgeous woman working for my father.

“There’s really not a lot to do at my apartment until I get some more furniture.”

“Well,I’ma little burned out,” my father said. “And I’d like to see my wife and daughter before they go to sleep for once this week. You’ll meet them soon. Now that school is out, they like to stop by.” Dad slapped me on the back. “Lucky me that my kids love me enough to visit me.”

He raised a brow as a smirk curled at the side of his mouth. It was a familiar look, like when I was a kid and he knew I was lying about something but would entertain my bullshit until I decided to tell him the truth.

Like why I was almost ogling his new office manager and badgering him with questions about her.

“You could follow me as I lock up.” He motioned for us to come with him to the door.

---