Page 24 of Break My Fall

“No.”

“Did you think I would get lost?” She pointed to the police station that she could see from her office.

“No.”

“Then is there a reason you came out here to meet me?”

Gray was surprised by her question in a way that made her think he wasn’t entirely sure of the answer. “Would ‘I’m a gentleman’ suffice?”

Surprisingly enough, it did. “Yes.”

“Good.” He held out a hand in the direction of the office. “It goes against my nature to have a woman walking around outside in the dark alone. Even here.”

“By here, you mean Gossamer Falls?”

“Yes. I grew up in a city. It wasn’t safe after dark.” His words were clipped, and she got the distinct sense that whatever had made him think that was a painful thought. A bad memory.

“So this isn’t because you think someone’s going to snatch me off the street in between my office and yours?”

Gray didn’t answer.

“You do think someone’s going to snatch me?”

“No.”

“You didn’t quite stick the landing on that one, Chief Ward. If you’re going to say no and expect me to believe it, it would help if you believed it yourself.”

“I don’t think you’re in danger in the middle of town.”

“But you haven’t ruled it out as a possibility?”

“I never rule out anything.”

He held the door to the station open and ushered her inside.

He nodded to the officer behind the desk but didn’t speak. Meredith didn’t feel like letting it slide. She turned around and walked backward as she greeted the man. “Why good evening, Officer Dawkins. How are you?”

He stood and winked at her. “I’m just fine, Dr. Quinn. And yourself?”

“Lovely. Thank you.”

“I heard tell you kept Mrs. Frost from threatening public safety yesterday. Sure do appreciate that.”

Meredith gave him a faux salute. “You aren’t the only one who can serve and protect.”

She turned and flashed a smile at Gray. The expression on his face made no sense to her. Was he angry? Frustrated? Annoyed? “What? You didn’t expect me to walk past him without speaking, did you? He was two grades ahead of me in school. I’ve known him my entire life.”

He leaned closer. “I’m not opposed to you speaking to people, but I didn’t expect you to stroll in here and flirt with my officers.”

Oh no he did not go there. “Are you serious right now?”

“Do I look like I’m joking?”

She waited until they were in his office to respond. He helped her with her jacket, and she allowed it, but that didn’t mean she was going to take a seat until this was resolved. “First, I was not flirting. I was being friendly, unlike—oh, I don’t know—you, who walked in and barely acknowledged him. It would have been rude for me not to say hello.Iam not rude.”

She tried to flip her hair, but somehow it got caught in her earring. Annoying, but not enough to make her stop talking. “Second, it was one officer, not multiple officers.” She tried to find the strandof hair that was stuck. “Third, he’s married. He and his wife teach the first- and second-grade Sunday school class at my church. He’s a friend. I speak to my friends when I see them.” She’d managed to get most of the hair loose, but not the final little piece that must have wrapped itself around the hoop twenty times while she was trying to untangle it.

“And fourth, if he wasn’t a married man and I wanted to flirt with him, it wouldn’t be any of your business.”

---