Page 46 of Controlled Burn
“Hey, Lou,” Talia said.
McKenna nodded once. “Solid work this week, Cross.”
Talia blinked.
McKenna met her eyes. “You held your ground. That matters.”
A beat.
“Don’t let anyone make you small here. Not Jake. Not Stark. Not yourself.”
Talia swallowed. “Yes, ma’am.”
McKenna left. Her presence lingered like incense.
Bri exhaled. “Okay, she’s terrifying. In the best way.”
“She was the first female lieutenant in the county for six months,” Nina said. “Before they promoted her boss instead.”
Bri rolled her eyes. “Shocking.”
But Talia wasn’t listening anymore.
Her skin still burned from McKenna’s words.
Don’t make yourself small.
Talia
Later that night, the station was steeped in shadows and the low buzz of sleeping giants. Rigs slept under fluorescents. Radios clicked softly in offices.
Talia crept into the kitchen barefoot, tank top loose. She told herself she needed water.
Dean was already there.
He stood near the counter, arms crossed, coffee in hand. Why he was drinking it at this hour, she didn’t know. Maybe to stay awake. Maybe to quiet the echo of his wife’s voice in his ear, cold and sharp, the memory of her disappointment clinging tighter than any uniform.
Dean
The second Talia stepped in, everything else faded.
He hated that about her—that she made everything burn brighter, sharper, more vivid. He hated how his mind kept looping her name, her laugh, the way she’d looked at him like he was the only man in the room.
It wasn’t fair.
He should be thinking about his wife, his kid, the house that never felt like home. Instead, all he could think about was Talia.
The way she moved. The scent of her. The secret he was still carrying from the night she came undone in his arms.
It was an obsession, plain and simple.
And it was killing him.
Neither of them spoke.
She walked toward the fridge. Slowly.
“Chief’s still watching us,” he murmured.
