Page 43 of Hidden Hero

With her breath held, she let the dart fly. It landed near the outer edge of the target, but she still hit the board and not the wall. Her eyes flew open wide, and she hopped, her body landing even closer to Jeremy’s. “Oh my God! I did it! I hit the dartboard!”

“That’s right, babe, you did!”

Joy filled her, and she laughed. His hands pressed into her hips tighter, and she twisted her head around to stare up into his face, her smile wide. “Can we do it again?”

He held her gaze, but his usual confident smirk wasn’t on his face. Instead, his blue eyes were dark, and he seemed to struggle to catch his breath as he nodded slowly. “Sweetheart, we can do it as many times as you want.”

At that moment, she had no idea if they were still talking about darts, and as she focused on breathing, her lips curled. “Good. I’d like that.”

The world had fallen away, leaving the two of them in the center of their own bubble. He leaned closer, and for a second, she was sure he would kiss her. And without hesitation, she stared at his lips, wanting them on hers more than her next breath. They inched closer until their mouths were barely apart.

“Jeremy! I thought that was you!”

They jumped apart, and she pivoted away for a second to hide the heat she knew was blooming on her cheeks. She heard his heavy sigh and smiled at the knowledge that he hated the interruption as much as she did. Turning around, she watched Hunter Simmons walk toward them, his arm resting protectively around the shoulders of his wife, Belle. Cora had worked a few cases with Hunter and knew Belle as the head nurse of the Careway Nursing Home.

But now, Jeremy’s hands were no longer on her hips, and while she smiled at the newcomers, she immediately missed his touch.

18

Jeremy hadn’t expected anything unusual when he walked into the pub. A quick takeout meal, a few minutes of banter with the owners, Aiden and Brogan, and then back to the solitude of his evening. But everything shifted when his gaze swept over the room and landed on Cora.

She sat alone in a cozy corner, her head tilted slightly as she read something on her phone. A faint smile played on her lips, her hair catching the warm light from the pub’s vintage sconces. The sight of her tugged at something in his chest—a pull he didn’t fully understand but couldn’t ignore.

Initially, he thought she must be waiting for someone. A friend, maybe. Or worse, a date. He told himself to let it go, to stay in his lane and wait for his order. But as the minutes ticked by, no one joined her. The temptation to cross the room grew too strong, and before he fully realized what he was doing, he was making his way to her table.

Her expression shifted from surprise to curiosity when he stopped beside her, but she didn’t shoo him away. That was all the encouragement he needed. Jeremy pulled out the chair across from her and sat down, a grin tugging at his lips as he flagged down a server to place his order. “Don’t stop on my account,” he said, gesturing to her plate. “Keep eating. I’ll catch up.”

Cora hesitated momentarily before resuming her meal, and soon, they settled into an easy rhythm. Their conversation ebbed and flowed, punctuated by comfortable silences. It wasn’t forced or performative, which caught him off guard. Most of his dates—if he could even call them that—were laced with an undercurrent of expectation. They knew the score, and so did he. Dinner was usually a prelude, a thinly veiled formality before the inevitable.

But this? This was different. He found himself stealing glances at her when she wasn’t looking. Her profile was striking—the gentle slope of her nose, the curve of her cheek, the way her lips quirked as she chewed thoughtfully. She wasn’t dressed to impress—no carefully curated outfit meant to draw attention—but she was beautiful in a way that made his chest ache.

And it wasn’t just her looks. Cora’s presence was magnetic. She was intelligent without arrogance, inquisitive without prying. She had a way of listening that made him feel like he was the only person in the room.

When she’d revealed it was her birthday, he was consumed with wanting to celebrate with her. Sharing the cake turned out to be the beginning of discerning that his blossoming interest wasn’t one-sided.

Suddenly, he wanted their time together to be memorable. Something out of the norm for her birthdays. On his last birthday, he’d come to the pub with friends for a drink and games of darts. As soon as the idea was born, he grabbed her hand and pulled her over to the dartboard at the end of the bar. She’d protested, but he held firm. He wanted her to give in to being vulnerable but was aware of not making a spectacle of her. He respected her boundaries while wishing to prolong their time together.

Showing her how to stand and hold the dart had started as instructional, then quickly turned sexual. He’d placed his hands on her hips to make sure her stance was correct, but as soon as his fingers wrapped around her, the electricity sent tingles up his arms. He’d leaned close so that his words could be heard over the background bar noise, but he caught the delicate scent of floral wafting from her, recognizing how different it was from the hospital antiseptic scent he smelled when she was there. It dawned on him that perfume would interfere with her ability to use her sense of smell when analyzing a crime scene or body.So this night was memorable, even if she had come alone.

But here, on her birthday, when all she’d planned to do was have dinner, she’d gone all out with a little makeup, beautiful clothes, and a touch of perfume. Now his senses were on overload, trying to memorize everything about her.

As he instructed her how to hold the dart, each word became a sexual innuendo, and his cock pressed against the zipper of his jeans. He made sure not to have his body against her back, or she would know precisely how affected he was by her presence.

When she finally flung the dart forward, and it landed somewhat wobbly into the dartboard’s outer ring, her joy was palpable. The almost childlike jump filled his chest with an equal amount of happiness.

When she turned her beautiful smile up toward him and asked if they could do it again, the breath left his lungs, and he wasn’t sure if he could draw in enough oxygen to remain standing. All he could think about was wanting to keep her smiling at him. They stared at each other, and the world disappeared. It was as though they were the only two people in the bar… or maybe the universe. He leaned closer, and she lifted slightly on her toes. Her mouth was so near, and her lips called to him like a beacon. His arms tightened around her, and their first kiss was only a whisper away.

Then the shout of his name from behind broke the spell. She jumped back and turned away, hiding the blush he’d seen grace her cheeks. The instant his fingers lost their purchase on her hips, he felt the loss strike his chest.

Turning, he plastered on his trademark smile at the sight of Hunter walking toward them with Belle tucked under his arm. “Hey, Hunter. Belle.” He shook Hunter’s hand, then bent to kiss Belle’s cheek. Belle laughed as she rolled her eyes. “Charming as ever, Jeremy.”

Hunter’s attention moved to Cora standing off to the side, and Belle approached. “Cora, good to see you.”

Cora stepped forward, her smile warm. “Belle, you look wonderful, as always.”

Jeremy glanced down at Cora, a sliver of surprise moving through him. He knew she wasn’t a cold person but had never seen her so at ease. She was genuinely pleased to see Belle.

Belle’s gaze shot between him and Cora, and her smile widened. “You two are playing darts?”

---