Page 4 of Spark
“Sorry, this is Addison.I should answer, just in case,” she said, tapping the icon to take the call and shifting the phone to her ear.“Hey!If this is about the bachelor and bachelorette party, you don’t have to worry, I…what?”Her brows tugged downward behind her sunglasses.“Okay, rewind.That doesn’t make any sense.I’m a pastry sous chef, not a detective.Why would you needmefor a case?”
Tyler’s pulse moved faster as Chloe listened, the confusion on her face turning to concern at whatever Addison was saying.“Okay.I trust you,” she finally said.“Yep.I’ll be there as fast as I can.”
“Is everything okay?”Tyler asked as she lowered her phone to her lap.There was no point pretending he hadn’t heard the conversation—or, at least, half of it.
Chloe nodded.“Everything’s fine, but I have to bail on breakfast.”
“Okay.”Tyler drew out the word just enough to turn it into a question, and to his surprise, she bit.
“Addison asked me to come to the precinct.Something about a case that would benefit from my expertise and that it’s time-sensitive, but she couldn’t get into it over the phone.”
A pang of worry unfolded in the center of Tyler’s chest, although he didn’t let it near his face.Addison was a detective in Remington’s Intelligence Unit.They only went after the most dangerous criminals in the city, and they’d been the ones to take down Myles Bishop, the man who’d stalked Chloe two years ago.He’d died in a shootout after the Intelligence Unit had tied him to five serial rape/murders, so at least whatever Addison needed Chloe for wasn’t connected to him hurting someone else.
Still… “That doesn’t exactly sound fine.”
Chloe simply shrugged.“I’m sure it’llbefine.Anyway, I’m sorry for wasting your time.I’ll make it up to you by taking on some extra party planning.If you could just drop me back at my car, that would be great.”
Tyler shook his head.“I can drive you to the Thirty-Third.”
Chloe shook her head right back.“Oh, no.That’s really not necessary.”
“You’re right,” he said, “it’s not.But it will save time.Look, I can take you back to your car if that’s what you really want, but it’ll mean doubling back.I can get you to the precinct a lot faster.”He eyed the intersection in front of them, then did a quick mental scan of all the shortcuts and side streets between here and the Thirty-Third.“Fifteen minutes, tops.”
Going back to her car would double that.Which she must have realized, because she said, “Okay.”
“Okay.”
They lapsed into silence, yet again, but it was probably for the best.
All he needed to do now was drop Chloe off at the precinct and be on his merry way, and then he could go back to keeping his distance from her.
2
Chloe Ferguson had done a lot of things in the past two years.She’d been stalked and had her life threatened by a serial killer.She’d spent hundreds of hours in trauma therapy, healing and reclaiming her strength, then hundreds more earning a black belt in Tae Kwon Do, doing more of the same.She volunteered in the Child and Family Services mentoring program, working with teen and pre-teen foster kids to make sure they had the support they needed.She’d even adopted the city’s most cantankerous one-eyed cat after he’d spent three hundred and twelve days ignoring everyone at the local animal shelter.Despite what her large, loud, loving family might think, Chloe had spent the past twenty-four months becoming a perfectly capable and occasionally badass human being.
Right.So badass that the scorching hot firefighter currently sitting next to you noped out on your advances after just one kiss.
Wrapping her arms around her rib cage, Chloe stared out the window of Tyler’s Mustang and told her inner voice to stuff it.Fixing her two-year sex drought with her older brother’s yum-yum-yummy best friend hadn’t been a terrible idea, in theory.With his widely known aversion for all things relationship, Tyler Gates was the one guy sheknewwould be good for a casual hookup.In practice, though?He’d turned her down flat, but only after she’d fused every part of herself against him from mouth to hips and tried to ride him over the finish line like Secretariat.Even worse—because bonus round!Of course, it got worse—now, they were partnered up as the best man and maid of honor at Addison and Ryan’s wedding.They’d have to stop avoiding each other.For God’s sake, they’d have to do the exactoppositeof avoiding each other, probably talking on a daily basis for the next two weeks to get this bachelor and bachelorette party planned.Her pride could barely handle seeing him across the room at Dempsey Sunday dinners.But this?This was a whole new level of mortification.
Nope.No.She was absolutely not thinking about it.She’d text a few easy due outs to Tyler and tackle the rest of the tasks for the party herself, and then they could go right back to pretending that kiss had never happened.At least she didn’t have to spend breakfast with him and his thick, sandy blond hair…or those gray-blue eyes that looked like a storm brewing on the horizon…or the geometrically error-free ratio of his shoulders to abs to hips.
Addison needed her.For what, Chloe was still a little fuzzy on, but Addison was her best friend.Her ride or die.And since Addison had literally saved her life two years ago, Chloe took that more seriously than most.If Addison asked her for help, even cryptically, she was never, ever going to pass on giving it.
Tyler pulled up in front of the Thirty-Third precinct, cementing Chloe fully back in the moment.“I’ll text you about the party.Thanks for the ride,” she said, sending a polite smile in his direction before hopping out and hustling toward the building’s main entrance.The lobby bustled with activity and the steady chatter of voices, with no less than a dozen officers, mostly in uniform, milling around.Addison must’ve really taken Chloe at her word that she’d get there as fast as she could, because she stood waiting at the front desk.She was on full alert, despite looking like she’d slept in her clothes—or maybe she hadn’t slept at all?—her normally bright eyes and brighter demeanor hiding beneath a layer of visible exhaustion.
She spotted Chloe immediately.“Damn, girl.That was fast.Not that I’m complaining after the night we’ve had,” Addison said, pulling her into a quick but warm hug.
Chloe bit her lip.No one, not even Addison, andespeciallynot Ryan, knew about her lip-lock adventure with Tyler.Better not to mention him at all, even though the ride here had been all business.Her game face was for shit, and Addison was a freaking detective.Flying under the radar for the past couple of months had already been hard enough.“I was already headed in this direction when you called, so…anyway, what’s going on?How do you needmyhelp with a case?”
Addison tilted her head, her rumpled blond ponytail shushing over one T-shirted shoulder.“It’s complicated.Why don’t you come on up, and I’ll unravel it for you?”
“Oh.”An unexpected kick bloomed like a bruise in Chloe’s center mass, but she smothered it, fast.Yes, she’d spent some of the worst days of her life upstairs in the Intelligence Unit’s main office.But she’d been tough enough to survive every single one of them.She could certainly handle being there now, when Myles was no longer a threat.“Sure.Is it, ah, another stalking case or something?”
Addison arched a brow, leading the way past the large, three-sided front desk and farther into the precinct.“What kind of bestie do you take me for?I know I’m tired AF, but I’d have given you more of an emotional heads up if I needed you for something like that.”
“I’m a big girl.I can handle it,” Chloe said, keeping the reminder purposely light.Addison didn’t usually join the Put Chloe in Bubble Wrap party that the rest of the Dempsey family hosted on a regular basis, but the last thing Chloe needed was for her to start.
The snort that crossed Addison’s lips was a bit at odds with her petite frame and pretty face, but very much not at odds with the moxie Chloe knew the woman possessed by the gallon.“Oh, I know.And believe me, you’re going to need some oomph for this one.”
