Page 82 of Warrant
Bending, I picked up the bucket filled with dirty water and went to my sink to pour it out. It was hard enough to stay away from him when those capable hands weren’t all over me.
“This is insane,” I muttered to myself. Cadet whined as she came and flopped down next to me in the kitchen. I looked down at her. “It’s impossible to fall in love with someone you basically just met, right?”
She cocked her head, but remained silent.
The doorbell chiming made me nearly jump out of my skin. I’d been a little on edge after being attacked in my own damn home. My pistol was a comforting weight on my hip. I’d taken some time off to get the house back in order, but I had my holster clipped to my belt. I wasn’t going anywhere without it for a while.
I peeked out the window as I passed and gasped when I saw who was standing there. Throwing open the door, I flung myself into my startled father’s arms.
Mom laughed as I used one arm to pull her into the hug as well until we were all crunched together. “What are you two doing here?” I asked after a couple of minutes. Not that I pulled away. My parents were basically my best friends and I’d been missing them fiercely since I’d moved.
“We haven’t heard from you in almost a week…” Mom said, hesitating a little with a small smile. “I know you’re an adult and busy, but I was worried.”
“Made me drive halfway across the state,” Dad grumbled, but he was smiling too.
“Come in,” I said, stepping aside, thankful I had already patched the bullet holes and gotten the last of the blood cleaned up. I was really grateful I wasn’t going to have to explain to my parents what’d happened. And that Harlow had not only let meborrow some make-up, but had shown me how to apply it so my black eye basically disappeared.
“Oh! Is this my Granddogger?” Mom asked, crouching down inside the door and scooping Cadet into her arms while the puppy wiggled and tried to lick every inch of her face.
“It is,” I said with a laugh.
It didn’t take long before we had their things settled in the guest bedroom and we’d migrated outside. Mom and I were sitting on the porch, watching while Dad played with Cadet in the backyard.
“How is everything?”
I looked over and found her watching me with a shrewd look. “What are you, psychic?”
“When it comes to you? Yes.” She smiled.
Sighing, I looked back out over the yard. “I met a guy.” A quick sidelong glance made me wince when I saw that she was trying to contain her excitement. “Mom…”
“Sorry, sorry, it’s just been what? Four years since you dated anyone?”
“Yeah. But I’m only thirty, Mom. I have plenty of time-”
“But you met someone,” she prompted.
Rolling my eyes, I nodded. “He’s so wrong for me.”
She frowned at that. “What do you mean?”
I couldn’t tell her everything. Hell, Owen was the only one I’d confided in because he sort of knew the crap the Berserker’s Rage got into. The deputy who’d been injured that night didn’t remember a damn thing thanks to the head wound one of the Iron Circle Crew gave him. He’d been hit from behind while standing outside smoking a cigarette. They’d dragged him back into the car so no one would see him lying there and call the cops. Since there’d been no witnesses we were still ‘looking into’ what’d happened.
“He’s a biker.”
She was silent for a moment and I didn’t need to look to know her eyes were wide.
“Was an MP in the military,” I continued. “He’s just…a bit wild.”
“And you’re the sheriff,” she concluded.
“Exactly.”
“You’ve always had this concrete sense of justice,” she told me. “Ever since you were a little kid. You’d never be one of the robbers when you and your cousins played cops and robbers. You always had to be a cop.”
I laughed, remembering. “Yeah.”
“Is that all that’s holding you back?”
