Page 42 of Cross & Crown

goats without flashes of completely unwarranted guilt.

“Asshole,” Kelly muttered.

Nick very nearly giggled before he got himself under

control. He cleared his throat. “Anyway. We don’t know if he

has any solid information or not, we don’t even know who

he is.”

“Could he be one of the robbers? Got knocked out at the

scene and just pulled something out of his ass when he woke

up rather than going to jail?”

“It’s a real possibility, yeah. That’s the other reason we’ve

got him under protection.”

“Oh. Smart.”

“Indeed,” Nick drawled, throwing Kelly a sly smirk before

he turned his eyes back to the road.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you in detective mode. It’s

kind of . . . sexy.”

Nick merely smiled. Kelly watched him, pondering the

silence that fell between them. It wasn’t uncomfortable. It

42

never had been, not from the first moment they’d met. It

could sometimes be heavy, though, especially during the

months after Nick had returned from his POW experience

in Afghanistan.

This silence was something different. It was easy and

light, devoid of expectation. Kelly liked it. But he could sense that Nick had more on his mind than the next few weeks

with him.

“Hey babe, do you want me to go back home until you

get this case wrapped?” Kelly asked. “I don’t want to be in

the way.”

Nick glanced at him, eyes widened in alarm. “No. No,

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