warned you, Gadney. Never date within the department.” Maricci held up one finger and then stuck up another. “Never date a woman who can take you in a fair fight.” Another finger. “Never date a woman who’s a better shot than you.” One more finger. “And never date a woman who’s just freaking nuts. It gets ugly when it goes bad. And it always goes bad.”
“Yeah, Lieutenant, I know.” He’d known it wasn’t a good idea the first time a bunch of them had gone to a party at Kiki’s place and he hadn’t been smart enough to not be the last one to leave. A good time, a few beers and...
He hadn’t gotten home until the late the next morning.
That had been two years ago, and they’d been together off and on since. Sometimes she said she loved him, and sometimes she said she hated him. He felt bad about it, but he didn’t love her. He didn’t even much like her when he was with her.
More important, he didn’t like himself when he was with her. Too many arguments, too much pressure, too much everything except satisfaction.
“What about Maggie’s kids?” he asked before Maricci could walk away.
“Social workers are on their way to pick them up from the neighbors and will take them to an emergency shelter.”
“They bite, you know? And they’re really good at hiding. And running away.”
Maricci grinned. “Yeah, first time I removed them from the home, my shins were bruised for a week. It took two of us to put them in the car because by the time I got one buckled in, the other was unbuckled and out the door. They’re showing the finest rebellious spirit of their uncles.”
They both got somber. It was one thing for the grown Holigans to raise hell, but it sure made it hard to find placement for the five- and six-year-old girls when it was like herding cats one-handed. “I don’t suppose a respectable, law-abiding relative has turned up since the last time Maggie was in jail.”
“Law-abiding, definitely not. But maybe one of the guys has conned some innocent into marrying him or has found God in prison and wants to do the right thing.”
They both snorted. Not likely.
“They’ll stay with one of the emergency families this weekend, and then Jill will get something more permanent figured out Monday.” Maricci punched his shoulder. “You better get out of here before Isaacs comes out and decides to take another run at you.”
Ty considered it for about sixty seconds. He didn’t need to go into the office because he and Pete had an agreement: whoever dealt with Maggie, the other would do the paperwork. Didn’t need to stop by the pop machine, either. He could buy that on the way home. And there were times when retreat really was the best option.
Maricci went one way, and Ty went the other, heading out the main door and to his truck at the far end of the lot. He tossed his vest into the passenger seat and then slid behind the wheel and pulled out of the parking lot.
As he sat waiting at a stoplight, from the corner of his eye he saw a group of officers come out of the station. Kiki was with them, one arm around the newest officer, a twenty-four-year-old kid named Benton. Every time he’d broken up with her, she’d immediately gone out with other guys, making sure he knew, and he’d always been just a little jealous. Yeah, they’d been broken up, but it would just be a matter of time before they got back together. Today...
He didn’t feel a thing besides relief, along with a little sympathy for Benton. He hoped the kid knew what he was getting into.
Instead of pop, he opted for coffee and found a parking space a half block from the square. A Cuppa Joe stood on the corner where it’d been long before Joe Saldana came to town and bought it. He’d taken the shop green, widened the selection of gourmet coffees and served pastries and cookies baked by his former deputy U.S. marshal wife, Liz.
The air was thick and damp, and he smelled more than a little ripe from the hours spent at Maggie’s place with the heavy bulletproof vest on. Definitely reason to get his order to go. He went inside, cold air rushing over him, a sensation as common in summer as the kudzu trying to conquer the South. He ordered a frozen coffee and two of Liz’s special oatmeal raisin cookies, picked them up and then stepped back outside on the sidewalk and almost plowed over the woman standing there.
“Sorry,” he murmured, but she didn’t seem to notice him. She stared down the street toward River Road as if she were in a trance, so intense that he turned to look behind him to see if anything was out of place. There wasn’t. About the usual number of shoppers, the usual old men sitting on the benches in the park, the usual cars parked diagonally along the street.
He looked back at the woman. She was a good six or eight inches shorter than him, wearing a sleeveless red dress that hugged her curves and a pair of open-toed heels that showed off her deep red nails. Sunglasses hid her eyes, but it was a good bet they were brown, fitting with the creamy milk-and-cocoa hue of her skin. Her lips were deep red, too, and her shoulder-length brown hair was smooth. Probably the result of an hour’s worth of wrestling with a flatiron.
She was... Not beautiful. Not pretty.
Lovely. She was absolutely lovely.
And Tyler Gadney was a sucker for a lovely woman.
* * *
Of course you’ve seen it before. You’ve taken the virtual tour on the website a dozen times in the past week. You’ve looked at the pictures enough to blur the line between reality and dream, right?
Right? Because that was certainly what Nev had tried to do.
Still, standing here on the sidewalk, the square on her left, the coffee shop on her right, staring ahead at the river, was raising goose bumps all up and down her arms.
“—help you? Are you okay?”
The words came from right in front of her and shook her into consciousness. A man stood before her, the kind of man who made her blink twice and back up a step. A dangerous man.
Then her rational self took over. Dangerous only if she was ever foolish enough to get involved with such a man, and she wasn’t. She’d never even had a chance, because men like him took one look at her sister and forgot she existed.
He’d asked her something and, judging by his raised brows, was waiting for an answer. Something about help? “Um, no, I’m fine,” she said, her voice hoarse. She cleared her throat and forced a slight smile. “Really. I am.”
“You sure? You look a little shaken.”
His frown and concerned tone seemed vaguely familiar but couldn’t possibly be. If she’d ever met him before, she wouldn’t have forgotten him. Heavens, she didn’t even go places where guys like him went. Sporting events, trendy clubs, modeling shoots, hangouts for the beautiful and adventurous. She went to church and shopping and the occasional movie.
“You want to sit down? Maybe have some coffee?”
She saw the coffee in his hands, quickly losing its frozen texture, and the cookies in a thin paper sleeve, and her stomach rumbled. She’d bet Marieka’s stomach never growled in front of hot men like this.
“Have a seat.” He set down his cup and cookies on the wrought iron table beside them and then pulled
