Page 146 of Beyond the Badge: Crew

He drove straight over to Fletch’s house after dropping off the kids. Since he wasn’t on his bike, Cami might not even be aware he’d arrived.

You should go.

Getting involved with her was a mistake.

You don’t need a woman like her in your life, complicating it. You already deal with more than enough conflict with Sasha.

Cami was headstrong. Independent. Highly intelligent.

And a damn challenge.

Unfortunately, one he couldn’t resist.

If he walked through that door, she might no longer be a fling, but become athing. And that was not what he was looking for. It could make a mess of his life and screw up his career.Hell, fuck over the task force. Especially if thisthing—whatever it was—turned sour.

Worse, if he hurt her, even without meaning to, it wasn’t only her he’d have to deal with. It could be the HR department and maybe even her father.

His chest tightened. If that happened, would he ever be able to look the man he respected in the eyes again?

That alone was a reason going inside that house again wasn’t a good idea.

He needed to fucking leave before it was too late.

As he reached for the start button to do just that, the front door opened and, for a second, he only saw her back-lit silhouette before it shut again.

“Fuck,” he muttered.

His opportunity to escape just slipped through his fingers.

As she approached, he tracked her shadow through the dark and once she got within range, the motion light over the garage door lit up both the driveway and her.

Holy shit, the woman was so fucking beautiful. She had taken his breath away the very second he saw her and he never got it back.

Unfortunately, they were at different stages of their lives. She at the beginning, he in the middle. She was ready to tackle her career and life with energy and optimism, while his optimism and outlook had been tainted a few years ago.

More than that, he wasn’t ready to start all over again.

For fuck’s sake, he couldn’t.

He knew now he couldn’t save the world. Determination and grit were not enough.

He’d also done the love and marriage thing and learned a lesson he wouldn’t soon forget. He jumped in with two feet and ended up crawling back out on skinned hands and knees.

But he needed to consider one other thing… He couldn’t have any more children.

Some divorcées took what they considered the “easy” route and started fresh by creating a whole new family and ruthlessly discarding the old.

He couldn’t and wouldn’t ever do that.

Despite the resistance from Dylan and Chloé, he would keep chipping away at them until they were back to loving him the same way he did them and the same way as when they were young. Before they’d been told lies. He wouldn’t give up until they wanted to spend time with him by choice and not only when it was forced.

His children were the two most important humans in his life. Always would be. Hewouldnot andcouldnot let them go. He would fight like hell for them both until nothing was left to fight for.

Any woman in his life would need to accept the fact his kids would always come first. Always.

He stared at Cami through the closed driver’s side window as she waited only about a foot away.

That woman was also the type to never give up. She would fight for what she wanted. She would do whatever was needed to be done to protect the people she loved.

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