Page 2 of I Want You
My eyes tracked him as he walked away. I turned back to find Amy watching me with her brows raised. “Okay, well, let’s get started, shall we?”
We spent the rest of the day together going over new-hire orientation and processes. I saw Luke Wilder again, onlyonce—in the breakroom at the end of the day—but it was enough to make my pulse quicken.
The next day was chaos, being thrown into the fire on my first real day on the job. Everyone had been super nice, introducing themselves and making conversation. Chief Williams walked through the precinct regularly, making the rounds. It was a relatively open space, from the entry greeting window, where visitors would state their business or sign in, to the dispatch station—where I was—to the desks where the officers were stationed. There were offices along the sides designated for the police chief and police captain, as well as the office staff, interrogation rooms, and holding cells.
From what I had gathered, it was a pretty relaxed work environment, at least as far as police departments went. There wasn’t a lot of heavy crime in Calla Bay, so it was mostly drunk and disorderly, property damage, or occasionally theft.
I was sitting at the visitors’ window, covering for Officer Brimley, when Luke walked in, coming in to start his shift.
Our eyes met, and my body started tingling, as if an electric current had just been sent through my veins.
“Back for day two. That’s a good sign.” He smiled.
“Yup. And I only had to give myself your pep talk three times,” I joked.
He laughed at my joke, or at least chuckled like he did yesterday, and my insides lit up.
“Wilder,” Officer Monroe called, greeting him. I was proud of myself for remembering all of the names and faces that I had been introduced to in the last two days, but I was still figuring out the pecking order. “Your thing is this weekend, right?” he asked.
“Yeah. Saturday, anytime after 1:00 p.m.” Luke turned backto me. “I’m having a housewarming party. You should come,” he said.
My heart was hammering in my chest. Just his gaze on me made my mouth go dry.
“Yeah, sure.” Internally squealing with delight, I tried to keep my face a mask of professionalism.
He nodded. “Good. It’ll be a great way to meet everyone and get to know people. My wife is making a boatload of food, and I’ll have the grill going with burgers, hot dogs, and chicken. It’ll be a good time.”
My gaze dipped to his hand. His left hand specifically.
Yup. There it was.
A ring.
I had no idea how I didn’t clock that initially. Of course he was married. He was beautiful, charming, a protector—and looked amazing in a uniform.
He gave me the address and his phone number in case I had any trouble finding it.
I smiled politely as I took down the info, feeling like a complete idiot the entire time.
1
Luke
Reid: When are you off shift?
Me: I’m off now. What’s up?
Reid: Can you come by my house? I need to talk to you.
That didn’t sound good. I hoped everything was good with him and Claire. He and his girlfriend hadn’t been together long, but they were talking about building a home together. Claire had quit her job and unrooted her life a few months ago to stay here in Calla Bay with Reid, and I would hate to see something happen between them.
Me: Yeah. I’ll be there in 10.
“Jules,” I called to my wife. “Reid needs me to stop by for something. I don’t know how long I’ll be.”
I peeked my head into our bedroom, looking for her. When she wasn’t there, I went upstairs to her yoga room. For a long time, I wanted to make that room into a nursery, but Juliet wasn’t ready for that, so it stayed as an in-home yoga studio.
The door opened soundlessly to reveal Juliet, sweaty and glowing. Her back was to me, but the mirror against the wall showed me she was taking a picture or a video of herself.Her finger swiped down the center of her chest, her thumb caressing the top of her breast as she heaved in breaths from her exercise exertion. A playful glint sparkled in her eyes as she watched herself in the mirror.
