Page 176 of Back in the Saddle

Then he turned to me and said, “Have a seat, sweetheart. It doesn’t take both of us to keep an eye. The way this goes is shifts within shifts. That means, on our shift, I’ll take the first half hour. You spell me. And so on.”

“Right,” I replied, thinking this made sense.

I let my binocs drop to my chest and sat down in one of the camp chairs to sip needed coffee and hork down a Bismarck.

I kept my eyes on Eric as he stood off to the side of the window, binoculars held to his eyes, scanning.

I munched into the cream-filled, chocolate-covered dough thinking I really loved the length of his body, how he naturally held himself so straight, and the width of his shoulders.

Okay, so I could forgive him the Kind bars.

“How was surveillance room duty?” I asked.

“Over, and good I don’t have to do it again for another week.”

I heard that.

I didn’t even know what surveillance room duty was, but if what we were doing now was anything close, I wanted no part of it.

“So, Javi and Harlow shared about a half dozen moments in the ten minutes he was in the Sportage with us tonight,” I informed him.

Eric’s head turned to me and he dropped the binocs. “Moments?”

“Instant attraction,” I explained. “Though, I think he might have blown it by going all he-man, macho alpha on her and questioning her ability to be an Angel.”

I couldn’t be sure. It was dark and we had zero light up in our little station (for obvious reasons), but I still thought I caught his smile.

“Not the way to go with you women,” he remarked.

“Totally,” I agreed.

“Somehow, I feel this is a good thing, at the same time I’m not so sure,” he stated.

“My thoughts exactly,” I agreed.

I munched more donut, chased it with coffee, and through this, he’d turned his attention back to the camp, before I asked, “Are you okay? You’re not running on much sleep.”

“I’m fine, honey,” he murmured to the window.

I finished my donut and decided to let him concentrate, thankful I’d been smart enough to wear warm clothes, because it was damned chilly outside.

While I did this, my body decided to go back to sleep.

I knew this last part when I jerked awake, the coffee still in my hand sloshing, because I felt my phone vibrate against my ass.

I looked to Eric as I slid my coffee cup in the holder in the camp chair’s arm and leaned forward to grab my phone.

He was looking at me, and I hoped I was only asleep for a couple of seconds (though, I could tell my coffee was no longer warm), thus, I hoped he didn’t notice I fell asleep approximately five minutes into my first stakeout.

“You in dark mode?” he asked.

He meant my phone.

I nodded.

I mean, I was me. I was dark mode through and through.

I pulled my cell out, quickly processed the fact that Eric had to notice I fell asleep, considering my screen told me it was after 5:00 and I’d way missed my turn keeping my eye on the camp (which meant, along with processing that, I had to process how sweet it was he let me sleep), and then I focused on the number.

---