Page 36 of Two Risks I'd Never Take Again

“Thank you.”

In record time, I changed and ran back toward the living room but stopped before the guys spotted me.

“This house isn’t mine. It’s a rental. We’re only staying here a week. For personal reasons as I explained the other day, I don’t want my family to know about my injuries right now, and Tessa is helping me. Until yesterday, I could barely use my hands.” Garrett made it all sound so reasonable and nothing like the officer had implied.

“Are you serious? She finds you on the side of a road and agrees to spend a week with you? Just like that? Dang.” Officer Gomez chuckled. “I want to know where I can sign up for that.”

I peeked out to see Garrett’s reaction, but I wasn’t sure why that mattered to me.

His face looked like it was carved out of stone. “Listen. I think you’ve gotten the wrong idea.”

The steel in his voice sent a shiver down my spine.

“Tessa and I arefriends.” Garrett leaned forward. “Am I clear?”

The deputy nodded. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to imply... anything.”

“Back to the reason I called.” Garrett crossed his arms.

I strolled out and transferred the last few doughnuts to a platter. “Coffee?”

“That’d be great. Thanks, Tessa.” Garrett picked up a doughnut then nudged the platter across the counter. “Officer Gomez?”

“Call me Nico. And I’d like coffee also. Thank you.”

Garrett pointed at the platter. “She makes doughnuts for a living. These are the best. No pun intended.”

Nico grinned as he chose a doughnut. “Before we get to why you called. A funny thing happened. Just before I left the office, a woman called in asking me to do a well-check on you. Says she saw her husband beating you up. She worried you might be dead on the side of the road somewhere.”

I almost dropped a mug. “Is she trying to get her husband arrested?”

It was easier to focus on that than on the idea of Garrett being dead on the side of the road. Blinking away tears, I grabbed milk out of the fridge.

“Maybe that’s her game.” Garrett shook his head. “She’s called my phone about fifty times since Friday, but she hasn’t left a message.”

“What she did doesn’t excuse the beating you got. Are you sure you don’t want to press charges?” Nico glanced at me, then focused on Garrett.

“He accused me of stalking his wife and laying hands on her, so I’m not sure what she told him. She lit his fuse. I won’t press charges.”

“Fair enough.” Nico set his doughnut down. “You are right about these being the best. Where is your shop, Tessa?”

Garrett tucked an arm around my waist as I slid mugs onto the counter. “It’s in Stadtburg.”

I stirred sugar into my coffee. “What he said.”

“I’ll have to remember that.” Nico sipped his coffee. “Tell me more about what the woman said when she hired you.”

I stayed beside Garrett as he explained. Later, I’d tease him about the timing of putting his arm around me. I was pretty sure that was his guy signal, telling Nico to leave me alone. I didn’t mind. If I were going to break my no dating rule, Garrett was who I’d go out with.

Poor Nico was going to leave here more confused than when he arrived, but after the way he acted at the door, I didn’t feel bad about that.

Two days later,Garrett stared at his phone as it rang. “I’m not going to answer that, but maybe this time she’ll leave a message.”

When the ringing stopped, I held my breath and waited to see if a voicemail notification popped up.

The phone buzzed, and he snatched it off the table, then played the message on speaker.

The voice of the she-devil echoed in the room. “Mr. Wright, I’m very concerned about you. Please call the county sheriff’s office and ask for Nico Gomez. He’s handling the case, and you can talk to him about pressing charges. Please contact him soon.” The message ended without an apology for what had happened.

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