Page 5 of Shield of Love

“In a minute,” he tells his partner. I watch them silently communicate as they look at each other, before Willis nods. Thayer and I are quiet as his partner walks inside, the door left open. I suddenly feel as if I’m on my first date and it’s now being chaperoned. Hanging my head in embarrassment, I feel the need to apologize. Except Thayer beats me to it. “I’m sorry, Lillian.”

“It shouldn’t have happened.”

“It definitely should have,” he corrects me. “And it will again. Just not yet. Once this is solved and I know you’re safe, I’d like to take you on a proper date.”

“Really?”

“Sunbeam,” my gaze darts to his, my mouth lifting at the corners in a smile I have no hope of containing. Thayer, though, is frowning, as if he didn’t want what I can only determine is an endearment slip.

But I can’t be upset that it did. It’ll make what has to be said a little easier to bear. “I know,” I interject, still not wanting the words as a memory.

Unfortunately, it seems as if Thayer needs to speak them. “I hate that we were brought together under such tragic circumstances. I’d rather our paths have crossed for any other reason as this one has caused unimaginable pain and loss for three families so far.”

A throat clearing draws our attention to the entrance Detective Michaels had recently used and Thayer throws up a middle finger.

Michaels, purposefully misunderstanding, agrees, “One minute.”

He takes my hand and presses his lips to the back of it. “This isn’t a permanent stop. It’s a pause.”

A pause. That doesn’t sound so bad. I still hate that it has to be done, but I understand why. Especially as it pertains to my life and a job he clearly loves.

If he’s even half as committed to me as he is his badge, I’ll consider myself a lucky woman. “I know it doesn’t make sense,” I admit, my thoughts jumbled yet my wants clear, “but I want to say, ‘Until we meet again.’

Instead of laughing, as my statement really doesn’t fit, Thayer kisses my forehead and states, “And when we do, I’ll just be a man who likes a woman, wanting to see where this connection leads.”

**Thayer**

Forever, that’s where it leads. But I’m not ready to tell her that, nor admit it out loud to myself. It’ll do nothing aside from making an already hard situation become difficult. The person my instincts are screaming is meant to be mine just might be the target of a serial killer.

Our coroner, Dwayne Lichten, who is now in charge of all deaths pertaining, or possibly so, to our guy, is ninety-nine percent certain there’s only one killer.

I asked why he wouldn’t say it with absolute certainty and he reminded me, in the professor voice I have no doubt he uses on his interns, that he is not infallible and neither is life. Meaning, if a person tries to assure you something is, don’t believe them.

Exiting the car, I glance around the confines of the garage as she does the same on her side. I know we’re safe in here, but complacency can mean the difference between the next breath and the last—for whoever we’re protecting.

A task I’ve always taken seriously, yet now that it’s Lillian…it’s the most important case I’ve ever had.

And while I know Willis is gonna give me shit for it, he’ll also have my back. “I hope you know what you’re doing, man,” he mutters after Lillian has gone inside. He was, of course, waiting nearby, ready to interrupt again if he felt he needed to.

A precaution I both appreciate and hate.

My normal control is nowhere to be found when I’m in Lillian’s vicinity.

“I got this.”

I don’t, but I will.

Lillian is depending on me.

“I’ve never seen you like this,” he continues in that same quiet tone.

“As cliché as it sounds, I’ve never felt like this.”

He watches me, looking for whatever he needs to see, then nods. “She’s it for you.”

“I think so.”

“You more than think it. You wouldn’t be this way, otherwise.” The thing about Willis, he may seem as if he’s enjoying the variety our city offers, but I know he’s searching for his soulmate.

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