Page 3 of After All

“Nope,” Gus said simply. “Maryland.”

Scott really did appreciate a man who got to the fucking point. Even if he really hated the fucking point he was getting to.

“Why?” he asked. But this was directed at his friends.

“Wedding. Friend of Heather’s needed a date. And then his friend needed a date,” Kyle reported dutifully.

“They’ll be back Sunday,” Derek supplied.

Scott turned and headed for the parking lot. His hand hit the door harder than necessary, but he didn’t slow. He yanked his car door open and got behind the wheel. Then he turned on his sirens and headed for the highway.

It wasn’texactlyan abuse of power to go after Peyton with his lights on. He knew for a fact she’d be speeding. Peyton Wells didn’t do anything slow or by the book.

Baltimore? She was going toBaltimore? On a blind date? For the weekend? What the ever-livinghell?

Of course, he couldn’t stop her. He wasn’t her dad—not that her actual dad had much say in the things she did—or her boyfriend. And not that he’d try to tell her what to do if hewasher boyfriend. Though she sure as fuck wouldn’t be going on a blind date.

But Peyton had never been on a plane. She didn’t know her way around a big city like Baltimore. And the last time she’d gone somewhere with Heather, they’d ended up in a Vegas police station being questioned about a jewel theft.

He pressed the pedal harder.

Of course, Peyton hadn’t been involved in the jewel theft, but she’d been flirting with the thief all night and he’d used her as a cover. And if she hadn’t thrown Scott’s name at the cops in Vegas as a character witness, and they hadn’t called him, Scott might have never known about all of that. But shehadgiven his name, and he had immediately gotten on a plane to Vegas. Or as immediate as anyone could get on a plane from Sapphire Falls. Unless you were in local millionaire Levi Spencer’s inner circle, you had to drive to Omaha, get through security and wait the obligatory hour plus to board a plane.

Scott inched the speedometer up a little further. She’d been on the highway for about fifteen minutes, unless they’d stopped somewhere else after the gas station before hitting the road. It would take him a little bit to get to her. Still, it was a long way to Omaha. He’d catch her before she got there.

He radioed Ed, the other cop in Sapphire Falls, and let him know he was taking care of a personal matter and that Ed would have to cover things for a while.

Finally, Scott saw the rear end of that hot-pink trunk that always made his heart stutter. It happened again, but this time because that truck really was heading in the direction of the airport…where Peyton would be flying out to be some other guy’s date for the weekend. A blind date. Someone she didn’t even know. In a city hundreds of miles away. And Scott didn’t really want to go to Baltimore when she called to say she was in trouble. He would, of course, but he didn’t want to.

As Peyton’s brake lights flashed, he knew she’d be pissed he was pulling her over. But he didn’t care. He’d clocked her at sixty-five on the fifty-five-mile-per-hour highway, for one thing. And for another—what the hell?

* * *

“Well, of course.” Peyton scowled at the rearview mirror where red and blue lights flashed.

“Were you speeding?” asked Heather, her best friend and the reason for this last-minute trip to the airport.

“I wasn’t going fastenoughapparently,” Peyton muttered as she made sure to signal—because Scott would give her hell for that too—and pulled onto the side of the road. Yeah, she knew exactly who was behind her. In spite of being outside of his jurisdiction. He’d give her some explanation about how, as a police officer, everywhere was his jurisdiction if someone was breaking the law.

“What?” Heather asked. “What’s going on?”

“You can’t get new shoelaces in Sapphire Falls without everyone knowing what color they are,” Peyton said. “You really think you and I are heading toBaltimorewithout anyone knowing?” And, as the town cop, Scott was always only about five minutes away from knowing all of her business.

The last man she wanted to see at the moment appeared at the driver’s side window.

Good lord, the man was gorgeous. And his ticked-off, you’re-pushing-me face always made her tingle. He was most definitely wearing that now.

Peyton rolled down her window and made sure to sigh heavily. She hadn’t actually expected him to chase her down, but she wasn’t exactly shocked either.

“Miss Wells, I need to have a word with you.”

Oh yeah, and then there was the deep, firm voice. She was sure there was some complicated psychological reason why Scott using that tone gave her goose bumps, but all she knew for sure was that it most definitely did.

“I’m sorry, Officer Hansen,” Peyton said, “but we’re on our way to the airport. Don’t want to miss our flight.”

“So I hear.” Scott reached for the door handle, pulled it open, and gestured for Peyton to get out.

“You know that I could turn you in for abuse of power,” Peyton said, but she slid off the seat to the ground.

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