Deputy Daddy

“Good.” He released them then, and her waist felt suddenly cool where his arm had been. She looked over to find his eyes pinned to her, his expression revealing nothing of what he was feeling underneath. She was struck by how quickly he’d moved and by how easily he’d caught her.

She let out a shaky breath.

“Let’s go then,” she said quickly, unwilling to admit to herself how nice it had been to fall into those strong arms. She couldn’t get used to that. He was helpful, he seemed genuine, he was willing to look into Aaron for them...but he was also very temporary, and he knew too much. She should at least try to regain some professional composure with this man. He was her first guest, after all, and she wanted to do this right.

Unfortunately, she was bringing him to a family dinner to investigate her aunt’s fiancé. “Doing it right” had pretty much sailed. She might have to start fresh with the next guest, and just accept that things had gotten out of hand with Bryce from the start.

Chapter Four (#u892e2ff7-b5d1-566a-8074-3c88b2ad6476)

Even though the baby was in a rear-facing car seat, Bryce kept looking back to check on her. From her silence, he concluded she was sleeping. He didn’t have to worry; she was most certainly Lily’s job now, but Piglet had snuggled her way into the back of his mind. Maybe it was how he’d met her at the police station, or her clear preference for him his first night at Lily’s place, but he still couldn’t shake a certain feeling of responsibility for the kid.

“Is she sleeping?” Lily asked.

“I think so.”

The sun was low in the sky as they drove down a rural gravel road, the shadows stretching long and slow like taffy. The road ran straight, going up and down unending hills so that they went from golden evening sunlight to chilly shadow, and then back up again. The mailboxes at the end of driveways out here didn’t have numbers, they had names: the Wetsteins, the Millgroves, the Burnetts.

Lily leaned back in the driver’s seat, comfortable and relaxed. She tugged her fingers through her hair, pulling it away from her eyes, and Bryce looked quickly away. She was pretty in a way that seemed to draw him in—her milky skin, those sky-blue eyes, her long lashes—and he had to keep some firm control on his impulses. He wasn’t here to get attached, and just because he’d landed in Lily’s B and B with nothing but time on his hands didn’t mean that he had the luxury of letting himself feel.

Lily had tried to back off to more professional territory this evening, and he hadn’t complied. That had been selfish on his part, but he found himself liking this view into her life. She was tender but tough, and he’d realized that her opening up the way she had was comforting. She was one of the few people who hadn’t treated him like a live grenade since he’d punched Leroy.