The Cowboy's Second-Chance Family

“Taking on a few more shifts while Carla is out. I can always use extra money for my group.”

His dark brows drew in. “Aren’t you missing a meeting tonight?”

Lucy shrugged. “I am, but my girls understand. Sometimes we have to cover for each other.”

He took a sip of coffee from one of the disposable cups. When he pushed off the doorway, Lucy thought he was about to turn and leave, but he crossed the room and headed for her desk. Lucy spun around, pretending to stare at the monitors. It was a slow night, but she still wished for a call to come in right then. She couldn’t handle all this tension. Well, the tension on her part at least. She never could get a grasp on what he was feeling.

“What do you do in your spare time?” he asked as he took a seat beside her.

The question threw her off as she glanced to the clock. He was early for his shift by about twenty minutes. Why was he choosing to sit in here with her?

“Spare time?” she asked, fidgeting with her watch. “I’m usually looking for speakers for the group or community projects we can do. Giving back and lifting others up is a great way to—”

“No.”

Lucy jerked her attention back to him. “What do you mean, no?”

Noah set his cup on the desk and leaned forward. That dark stare of his zeroed in on her and she could easily see him cornering a suspect with those eyes, or seducing a woman. Those eyes held every secret, letting no emotion slip through. That whole guarded, sultry thing he had going might be the sexiest thing she’d ever seen in her life.

The uniform didn’t hurt, either. But she’d rather have a man not so committed to danger and more committed to...well, her. As selfish as that sounded, part of her hated knowing that her husband had sacrificed his life defending their country, but that was the type of man he’d been. And she could tell that was the type of man Noah was.

“I know you work and volunteer your time for the group,” he stated, still holding her in place with that mesmerizing gaze. “But I’m asking what else you do.”

“Oh, I study. I’m almost done with my online classes.”

Noah shook his head. “For fun. What do you do for fun?”

Lucy opened her mouth, then shut it. She thought for a second, but nothing came to her. Surely she’d done something for fun lately...hadn’t she? Her friends were always texting her or calling for some reason or another. But she couldn’t recall the last time they went out and did anything.

“I have horses,” she replied. “Two of them. They were my husband’s, so they’re mine now.”

Before she could even think of something she actually did just for herself, a call came in. It took great effort on her part, but she blocked out the presence of the powerful man beside her. The call didn’t take long and didn’t require anyone to be dispatched. An elderly lady had locked herself out of her home, but ended up finding her key in the bottom of her purse while she was talking.

When Lucy disconnected the call, Officer McCoy came in the back door. “Evening. Gettin’ chilly out there.”

Noah spun in the chair. “It’s downright frigid to me. I guess I’ll have to invest in thicker coats.”

“Drink more coffee,” McCoy suggested as he passed on through to the break room.

“It’s not too bad here,” Lucy replied once Noah turned back to her. “But I guess coming from Texas, Stonerock does seem cold in the fall.”

“Everything is different from Texas,” he muttered.

There went that darkness settling over him again. If she could just break through...but that would require her getting closer and spending more time with him. That probably wasn’t smart. Maybe she should have Tara or Kate reach out to Noah. Definitely a better option.

A sliver of jealousy speared through her at the idea of her friends getting one-on-one time with Noah.

“Are you upset about missing the meeting?” he asked.

Lucy tipped her head and eased back in her chair. “Why would you say that?”

“Because you’ve looked upset since I walked in.”

Upset? That’s what he got out of her appearance and attitude? She was seriously out of practice. Granted, she’d never had to initiate conversation or flirting with a man. Evan had asked her out and he’d taken charge. He was her first love, so...yeah, right now she was seriously out of her element. Maybe she should give up and stop trying. Had she even started, though?

“I’m not upset,” she assured him.

Noah grabbed his cup, but never took his eyes off her. “You hide it well, but something is bothering you. None of my business, though.”

He rose to his feet and turned to leave the room.

“Wait a minute,” she called. “You’re the one who seems all brooding and quiet. Over the past week you’ve barely said a word to me other than hi and bye. You talk to everyone else but me.”

Noah glanced over his shoulder. “I speak with you over the radio every day.”

Yeah, and that grated on her nerves because his low, gravelly voice always made her tingle and she did not want to tingle. Damn it, she didn’t know what she wanted, but she at least wanted him to stop torturing her. Maybe acknowledge her as more than an annoyance or someone not to be bothered with. But the casual greeting as he came and went didn’t sit well with her.

Well, maybe she wouldn’t mind so much if he did the same to everyone, but it was only her as far as she could tell. Had she done something to offend him? How was that even possible when she’d barely spoken to him other than to dispatch calls through the radio?

“Face-to-face, you ignore me.” That sounded so childish. Lucy came to her feet and sighed. “We’re like a family here, so I don’t want any tension.”

Noah shifted to face her fully. “Are you feeling tension?”

She was feeling sexually frustrated, but she figured announcing that wasn’t professional. Was this what it would be like getting back into the dating world? She wasn’t so sure she was up for this game.

Instead of answering his question, she asked one of her own. “Are you telling me you aren’t?”

Shut up, Lucy. Just shut up.

“Because I don’t try to cover my feelings,” she went on, ignoring that inner voice. “Attraction is a natural emotion.”

When his eyes widened, she seriously wanted to die. He seemed shocked, whether at her blunt statement or the fact he wasn’t feeling the same, she had no clue. Regardless, it was out there now and she really, really wished she didn’t always take the advice of her therapist and tell people how she felt.

McCoy came back through, whistling and holding his own cup of coffee. At the same time, another call rang through the room, effectively severing the awkward silence that had descended since she’d opened her mouth and opted to pour out her thoughts.

Lucy took the interruption as a sign that it was indeed time to shut up and stop telling Noah...well, anything. She quickly answered the call and sat back down at her desk. By the time she was done, Noah and Sergeant McCoy were gone and Lucy’s heart was still beating like mad.

She’d stepped over some professional boundary and she had no clue how to come back from that. Noah was now well aware of how she felt about him, and from the look on his face, he didn’t want to accept it.

Fantastic. How on earth did she come back from this embarrassing moment?

* * *

Okay, cooking wasn’t necessarily her thing. Actually, she was terrible at it. But Lucy knew how to bake and actually loved doing it.

Which was why she found herself standing on the porch of one adorable little gray-and-white cottage on the edge of town. Lucy secured the basket of cranberry scones under one arm and rang the doorbell with her free hand.

Nerves gathered in her belly and she couldn’t believe she was actually standing here. Hadn’t she made a big enough fool of herself yesterday? At work, no less.