Page 3 of Loving My Enemy

Most people were wanted. Loved.

Me, I was nothing more than a tool who had outlived her usefulness. I left before they could ask me to leave. Before they could tell me what I already knew to be true: I wasn’t needed any longer, therefore I was no longer wanted.

So of course, after all that driving and confidence building, my car would breakdown on a residential street just miles from the small cottage house I’d rented. And of course it would land me in front of the hottest cop in America with the worst attitude.

And the nicest butt. That thought made me giggle, but when Officer Vargas’ cruiser pulled back onto the highway and left me behind, a long, frustrated sigh escaped. The older man on the phone, Rusty, had said he was fishing and that it would take “some time” before he was back in town. I didn’t know what that meant but like I told Vargas, waiting was the one thing I was good at. Hospitals and doctors specialized in making people wait and I’d spent nearly all my life waiting in lobbies, exam rooms, and on operating tables.

Waiting I could do. I picked up the eReader I bought a few months ago and tried to read, but like they always did these days, my thoughts turned to Austin. He’d made me promise,on his deathbed, to go out and live my life. Have the life he never got to live and never would now. He’d made me swear on our friendship that I would leave the bubble of protection and experience what the world had to offer.“Get out there and fall in love, get your heart broken, and have wild sex with a stranger. See a waterfall and enjoy a kiss in the rain. Live for us both.”Tears fell as I thought of his kind smile and those killer blue eyes that had all the nurses swooning even in his sickened state.

One month after burying my brother, I bought the trailer and hitched it to my car filled with all my worldly possessions and headed to Texas. It was a far cry from the semi-posh life I lived with my family in Washington state, but I’d read a book about the woman who’d founded Tulip and she sounded amazing. Forging a dynamic path during a time when women were little more than property. She was strong and smart and independent, all things I aspired to be. She’d done it all and never lost sight of herself in the process.

Maybe now that I was in Tulip, some of that would rub off on me.

Chapter 3

Antonio

Paperwork was the worst part of working law enforcement because damn near every interaction with the public meant a form needed to be filled out, sometimes several. Finishing up the forms from my interaction with Elka No-last-name had taken a little longer than necessary because I couldn’t get those big blue eyes out of my mind, which frustrated me to no end. The woman was trouble with a capital T and not the good kind, not the kind a man would willingly sign up for because he knew whatever damage left in her wake would be well worth it.

Nope. Elka was the kind of trouble a man lived to regret, and I already had three lifetimes worth of regret. No thank you.

“You about done in here?” Ty strolled into my office with a bland expression on his face.

“Yep. A few minutes and I’ll be headed home.” Alone.

“How did things go with the stranded motorist?” If I hadn’t been so tired or distracted, I probably would have picked up on something strange in his tone.

“She refused my help,” I told him without looking up. “Several times. So eventually I left her to wait for Rusty.” Ismiled to myself, thinking she probably waited at least three hours until Rusty caught a fish big enough to garner bragging rights until his next trip. On the heels of that smile came the guilt. Dammit.

Ty gave me that look—the disappointed dad look that I’d hated even when it had come from my own dad. When he was around, anyway. “Seriously?” Arms folded over his massive chest, military-issue biceps just as intimidating as the close-cropped haircut he still wore. “You left a woman stranded on the side of the road knowing Rusty was fishing and might forget about her altogether?”

“She called and spoke to him. Rusty told her he’d be there soon. Should I have waited with her?”

“Damn right you should have. Rusty got drunk and fell asleep on his boat. Derek called because he was saying something about the stranded girl waiting for him.”

Shit. “She’s still out there.” It wasn’t a question. Somehow, I knew she was sitting inside her little green hatchback. Waiting.

“Do you even care?” He shook his head and glared at me one last time. “I’ll go take care of it myself.” He turned away but stopped in the doorway. “This is unacceptable, Antonio. You know that.”

I did know it and that only pissed me off more. I stood and grabbed my belt. “I’ll do it.”

“You should have done it when I asked. Finish your paperwork and go home.” His frustration was a palpable thing between us and I couldn’t blame him at all. I screwed up—letting the pixie get to me to the point that I’d walked away from her, but who in their right mind would send help away when they clearly needed it?

“Yeah, I should have.”

Ty gave a short nod and left—a sign of just how angry he was. As one of my closest friends, we gave each other crap all the timebut his anger today was new. I deserved it, so I just turned back to the stack of papers in front me and worked until I could no longer feel my fingers. Then headed home.

Alone.

Most days, that was how I liked it, but today the house felt too big and too quiet. The family-centric neighborhood had already folded up the sidewalks and turned in for the night. The faint muffle of TV shows and music wafted through slightly opened windows, and blue light flashed from several windows. I couldn’t stand the silence for too long and when the phone rang as I stepped out of the shower, I sighed in relief before answering. “Vargas.”

“Oh really, Antonio? Is that how you answer the phone? It’s so stiff and formal.”

“Hey, Mom.” I rolled my eyes, not bothering to respond to her diatribe on my phone manners. “If I ever stopped to look at the ID screen, maybe I wouldn’t answer.”

She laughed, the melodic sound making me smile. “Then I’d just pop by whenever I wanted. How was your day, honey?”

My mom was a force of nature and a force to be reckoned with. Her only goal was to see both of her children settled, married, and giving her plenty of grandchildren.

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