by the firmness of her biceps and by the heat that shot through him at the casual touch. She was stronger than he’d realized, and more potent, too. Like aged whiskey, she packed a quiet punch.
Leaning against the counter, he watched as she coaxed the deer. Her smile was back, and when the hungry baby head butted her clumsily she actually laughed out loud. “Careful, or I’m going to start think you’re a nice person.”
She looked up, startled. “Excuse me?”
“First you bring pizza, now you’re helping out and enjoying it. Laughing even. What happened to the by-the-book wildlife officer that held me at gunpoint?”
Sam turned back to the deer, her shoulders stiffening. “You’re right. I’m on duty, I should let you do this so I can do what I need to do. Then I can get out of your way.”
“Hey, I’m just teasing.” He motioned for her to stay where she was. “I mean, you do seem different, but in a good way. No offense, but you were giving off a very different vibe out there in the woods.”
“Maybe because it was a crime scene?”
He shook his head, rejecting her defense. “No, I mean, sure, that explains some of it. But you’re doing it again right now, putting up some kind of virtual keep-out sign. Which, hey, if that’s the way you want it, is fine. We can go back to the cops-and-robbers routine if you like that better.”
No, damn it, she didn’t like that better. Keeping people at a distance was exactly the opposite of what she was supposed to be doing. Old habits died hard, but if she was going to learn to connect to the citizens here, to earn the kind of trust she needed for her job, she needed to find a way to be more approachable. Too bad she had no idea where to start.
Realizing he might be mistaking her silence for agreement, she said the first thing that popped into her head. “I’m kind of out of practice when it comes to making friends.” Pathetic, but true.
But he didn’t laugh, or question her statement. Just shrugged. “I’m out of practice when it comes to following orders, if that helps. Not a lot of perfect people walking around. But I think you might be better at making friends than you think.” He pointed at the fawn, who had finished the bottle and was now curled up on the floor, his head on her foot, fast asleep.
“It’s easier with animals. They don’t expect you to know about the latest fashions or which pop singer is divorcing which reality star.”
He laughed, and her breath caught in her chest. Energy and beauty radiated from him like warmth from the sun. He was everything she wasn’t. And he didn’t even know it.
“I think maybe you’ve been hanging out with the wrong crowds of people, if you think that’s what they want to talk about.”
“I haven’t been doing a lot of hanging out at all. Work keeps me pretty busy.”
“Uh-huh.” He moved in closer, then bent and scooped up the sleepy fawn. “Most people, at least the ones worth knowing, are looking for the same things the rest of the living world wants. Someone to stick by them, someone they can trust and, yeah, someone to have fun with.”
“It’s that last part that I need to work on.” Why was she telling him all this? He obviously had no idea what it was like to be on the outside looking in.
“Maybe you just need a bit of practice. Having fun, I mean.” He moved toward another door, across the room from where they’d come in, somehow managing the knob and the deer at the same time. She followed him out onto a mulched path leading to a set of enclosures. He stopped at one of the smaller ones, empty except for a thick layer of woodchips and a bucket of water. “Your room, sir.” The spindly-legged fawn sniffed around the small fenced area, then curled back up and closed his eyes.
“No insomnia for him,” Sam commented, with no small amount of envy.
“Nope. He’s got a belly full of food and a safe place to sleep. He’ll be fine.”
“Thanks to you.” She looked up at Dylan, daring to make eye contact in the dim starlight. “I’m glad you didn’t listen to me, that you went after him. Sorry I gave you such a hard time.”
“No worries. You can make it up to me by catching the lowlifes that shot his mother.”
Her shoulders dropped. “I’ll try. Trust me, there is nothing I’d like more than to put handcuffs on them. But your friend didn’t get the license number, and there are a million tan Ford pickup trucks in this part of the state. My best chance at catching them is for someone to turn them in.”
“Does that happen often?” He locked the gate on the pen, then headed back to the main building, motioning her to follow.
“Actually, it does. There are some pretty big rewards for tips that lead to an arrest. One of the secrets to being a good wildlife officer is having a personal connection with the community. If you have enough people that know you and trust you, then they can be an excellent source of information. That’s why I was assigned here, in Paradise. I was born here, so the brass assumed I’d have a natural connection with the townspeople.”
He led them back to the office area and flopped down in a chair. “That makes sense.”
Sitting across from him, she opened the pizza box and grabbed a slice. “On paper, yes. In real life, not really.” She took a bite and let the flavors roll across her tongue. If heaven was a food, it would be pizza. Chewing, she debated how much to share. “I actually only lived here until I was ten. After that I went to boarding school, and then college. Other than a few school vacations, I haven’t been in Paradise in over a decade.”
“Have you been able to connect with any old friends from back when you lived here?”
She shook her head. “When you’re a kid, it’s out of sight, out of mind—I lost touch with everyone years ago. So now I’m starting from scratch, unless you count the town librarian. I spent a lot of time hiding out there the few times I did make it home.”
Dylan swallowed the last of his slice. “Bookworm, huh? Remind me to show you my bookshelves sometime.” He waggled his eyebrows in a parody of seduction. “But I can see how that would make things awkward. Making friends in a new place is hard enough. Making friends in a place where everyone already knows you, that’s a whole different thing.”
“Exactly. I’m the new girl in town, except I’m not.”
“What about your family? Are they still local?”
The bite of pizza in her mouth was suddenly hard to swallow. Folding her hands in her lap, she forced herself to answer the question; her family history wasn’t exactly a secret in Paradise. “My mom died when I was a kid.”
“I’m sorry.” The words were ones she’d heard many times, but she could tell he was sincere.
“Yeah, well, after that Dad just kind of shut down—hence the boarding school. He’s actually with the FWC as well, but when she passed he took a desk job. He spends pretty much every waking hour holed up in his office in Ocala. Not much time for friendships.” Or his daughter. “I know that sounds like the pot calling the kettle black, but at least I’m trying
