Page 35 of Sergeant's Christmas Siege

“We got sidetracked,” he rumbled from beside her. And around her. And in her, too, because he was that overwhelming. “But I didn’t come all the way to Juneau to sit in a car and get a taste of you, fun as that is.”

“Apparently you came all the way to Juneau to chat about family history, the judicial system, and the possibility that I might be the focus of one or another group of malcontents. Or in other news, it’s just another Tuesday.”

“Do you find dead bodies every Tuesday?”

She forced herself to stop gritting her teeth. “Obviously not. That’s clearly an escalation, though I’m not convinced it’s aimed at me. I live here, not out in the islands where most of these suspicious activities occurred.”

“And now you’re on leave. And as we’ve already established, not about to surround yourself with the big, happy, gun-toting family to help keep you safe over the holidays. What are your plans?”

“If you’re inviting me over to watchShawshank Redemptionwith you, Templeton, I’ll have to take a hard pass on that,” Kate managed to bite off, still glaring straight ahead at the city spread out along both sides of the channel far below them, sparkling in the dark. “I’m not sure I really understand the obsession men have with that particular movie, as I, personally, already know that prison is unpleasant and that I would not enjoy tunneling my way out through—”

“It’s okay that you’re dead inside,” Templeton interrupted her. “My concern is with you turning up dead, not movie dates. Because if someone is escalating a campaign with you at the center of it, you sitting all alone for the rest of the holiday season is pretty much begging them to take that as an invitation.”

Kate wanted to punch him for suggesting that she’d be sitting alone. Especially because it was true.

She focused on the other part instead of the urge toward violence—which, she had to admit deep down inside, no matter how she would prefer to pretend otherwise, could possibly be nothing more than an excuse to get her hands on him. “If someone does come for me, I’m more than capable of handling myself. Even if I hadn’t spent my entire adulthood in law enforcement, I was also raised by paranoid survivalists. I knew more about weapons and self-defense by the time I was five than most people will ever learn in their entire lifetimes.”

“Unless, of course, the people coming after you have the exact same history.”

“Thank you, Mr. Cross,” she said, biting off his surname like it was a weapon, because she wished it were. And that she could aim it at him because she wanted to take him out, and not because her body wanted things she had no intention of giving it. “I really do appreciate you coming so far on this, the first day of my unasked-for and unwanted leave. Not only to goad me into completely forgetting who I am and acting in a manner both deeply unprofessional and personally horrifying but also, clearly, to go out of your way to make me feel insecure in my own home. You’re about as helpful as a December night in Juneau, aren’t you?” She nodded toward the example right there before them, on the other side of her windshield. “Dark early, dark late, dark all the time.”

“You can look at it that way if you like,” Templeton drawled. “Or you could take your leave in Grizzly Harbor.”

“What?” She blinked at him, because that didn’t make any sense. Like everything else this afternoon. “Why would I want to spend more time in Grizzly Harbor?”

“Trooper. I know I spun your head around there, but you need to focus.” And Templeton laughed when she glared daggers at him. “You and I both know that you’re the best possible person to investigate the situation. Andyou can’t do it if you stay here. Where you’re also very likely at risk of actual, physical bodily harm. Whether you believe it or not. So come to Grizzly Harbor. Work with us.”

“Workwith you?” she repeated, as if he hadn’t been speaking English.

“Unofficially, of course. We could use your help.” Kate had always been under the impression that men, as a whole, were bad at admitting they needed help with anything. Ever. But Templeton looked relaxed and unbothered. “And it turns out I feel pretty personally invested in keeping you alive. Why not kill two birds with one stone?”

“I don’t kill birds, with or without stones. And I don’t work with questionable private military operators.”

“Also,” Templeton continued conversationally, as if she hadn’t spoken, “I have every intention of kissing you again. A lot. Which is going to be hard to do if you’re all the way over here in Juneau. Or dead.”

Kate’s head really was spinning, which was probably what he wanted.

But she didn’t have time to do something about her spinning head. Or contemplate his astonishing offer. Because he was touching her again.

She told herself it was panic that seized her then, ripping through her like another brush fire and dousing all those flames she’d thought she’d put out—with kerosene. She pulled in a ragged breath, but then, belatedly, her brain asserted itself.

Yes, he was touching her. Templeton’s big, callused hand was over hers on the gearshift between them. And he wasn’t taking liberties. He was carefully easing the car out of reverse and back into park.

And later she would no doubt wish she hadn’t given herself away so easily, but right now all she could do was whip her hand out from under his like he was a hot burner on a stove.

“Give me a list of pros and cons,” Templeton said, still sitting there like he planned to lounge around in the front seat of her car forever.

So unhurried. So confident. So deeply sure that whatever it was he was doing, it was worth doing simplybecausehe was doing it.

Why was she thinking about how he wassitting? Again?

“The pros and cons to what?” she clipped out at him. “If you mean your intention to kiss me a lot, there are no pros.”

The look he gave her made that flush flare up all over again, and she had to force herself to unclench her hand when she realized how hard she was gripping the steering wheel.

“Now, Kate,” he drawled. “Liars never prosper. Or so I heard one time while ambling past a church one Sunday afternoon on my way to engage in far more pleasurable activities.”

She sighed. He grinned.

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