Page 4 of Cop-Off

“Nice to meet you.” More warm smiles were exchanged. She was getting good at this.

As Dylan excitedly told Molly about Mrs Tucker’s cat, Cody’s gaze was back on her. He gave her a look so hot, she had to pat down her arms to make sure they hadn’t set alight.

Right. That was it. She couldn’t take much more of this—it was too weird. And it was freaking her out. Clearly, there was no way on earth it was a good idea for them to be alone. Which meant she had to get him to leave. Luckily for her, she’d literally just been handed probably the one person with enough power to convince him to do just that.

“Hey, Dylan,” she crouched down until they were eye level, “your dad’s all finished up here for the day. I bet if you ask him nicely, he’ll take you over to see Mrs Tucker’s cat now.”

It was a low move. Judging by the scoff, Cody thought so too. But she had no other choice. There would be no dancing with the devil tonight.

CHAPTER TWO

Cody wasn’t proud of what he’d just done. And he wouldn’t be telling anyone about it anytime soon. But the thought of Cat on that dating app actually made his blood boil. It wasn’t logical. They hated each other. He hated her. She was loud and brash and never stopped to think before she spoke.

And really fucking beautiful.

Okay, she was hot. He could admit that. Long black hair made to wrap around his fist, silky tan skin that probably tasted just as good as it looked and those goddamn bright blue eyes. He could get lost in those eyes. But it didn’t matter. Because nothing was ever going to happen between them. He couldn’t even have a damn conversation with her without them hurling insults. Even so, the thought of her with someone else didn’t sit well.

So, you don’t want her, but you don’t want anyone else to have her, either?

That pretty much summed it up. It was also the driving force behind what he’d just done. He’d reported her dating profile. And may have also had her account suspended.

It was petty. Immature. And most likely an abuse of power. But he didn’t care. Because he wanted her off that damn app and he wanted it now.

What had she been thinking, going on there? With all those horse-riding innuendos too. Sure, he’d laughed when he’d read them, but who knew what kind of asshole she was going to attract with all those sex jokes. The wrong one, that’s what kind.

Even the right one would be wrong, though. Right?

“Dad?” Dylan called out. Good timing.

That was his cue to leave his comfy leather couch. Checking his watch as he extracted himself, he realized just how late itwas. Shutting dating profiles down was more time consuming than one would think.

Making his way up the curved staircase, he paused briefly as he reached the top. The framed picture hanging on the magnolia wall stopped him in his tracks as usual, but this time for a different reason. Something like guilt churned in his stomach as his eyes roamed the old photo.

You’ve got nothing to feel guilty about. Nothing’s happened. Thinking isn’t a crime.

“Dad!”

Shaking his thoughts loose, Cody turned away and paced down the hall and straight into Dylan’s room. The star-shaped night lights he’d installed on the ceiling lit up the path to his bed.

“What’s up, little man?”

Cody waited for Dylan to budge over before climbing under the solar system sheets and pulling him into his arms.

“I had the dream again. With the crocodile. It was chasing us. And it got you, Dad.”

Cody cursed himself for the millionth time for reading him that blasted book.

“It’s okay, bubba, it’s okay.”

Dylan fell into his chest and wrapped his arms around him. Tight. All he could do was stroke his son’s back and hope it would somehow soothe him.

Not for the first time today, he felt hopeless. That niggling feeling that he had no idea what he was doing was ever present. It had been there for four years now. Ever since he’d become a single dad. And he had a feeling it wasn’t going to go away anytime soon.

“No crocodiles are gonna get me, bubba. You don’t need to worry about that. I’m not going anywhere.”

It took almost an hour to get Dylan back down. Even then, it was somewhat of a challenge to untangle himself from his son’shold without waking him. By the time he did, he was more than ready for bed, too.

After washing up, he climbed under the covers and went about setting the alarm on his phone.Damnit.There was a message from Zach. He knew what it was going to say before he even opened it.

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