Page 31 of Engaging the Deputy

Without a thought, she slipped into his arms. He drew her close, the two of them moving to the rhythm as they danced between the two vehicles as if they’d been doing it for years. She could feel his breath in her hair. She closed her eyes, relishing his hard body, the strength of his arms around her. This was the one place she’d ever felt truly safe and secure.

In his arms, she’d had no doubts. She’d known what she’d wanted and needed—something she apparently couldn’t have since he’d broken off their engagement.

The song ended and she pulled back to look up at him in the dim glow of the bar sign. The urge to kiss him was so strong that she felt herself leaning in, her lips only a breath away when a horn blared, making them both jump apart. Headlights washed over them as a pickup pulled into the parking lot.

Jaden swore under his breath. “We need to get you home. I’ll follow you.”

It was exactly what she wanted, yet she started to tell him it wasn’t necessary. One look at his expression and she knew it would be a fight she’d lose. It was a relief. She nodded since she’d been dreading the drive home.

Jaden opened her car door. His hand brushed her shoulder as she climbed in, sending shivers up her arms. They’d been so close to kissing. Why did she believe in her heart that with one kiss, he would know that they belonged together?

Foolishness, she told herself as she started the engine and pulled out, Jaden right behind her. The glow of his headlights behind her seemed to warm the dark autumn night even more as she drove toward home.

Her body still quaked, emotions running hot and wild. Being in his arms… Holding her like that, dancing, he had to remember how good they were together. She couldn’t get the almost-kiss out of her mind or the ache of disappointment that they’d been interrupted. She wondered if Jaden was feeling the same way right now and shook her head.

You need to tell him how you feel.

“Now? I’m a suspect in his murder investigation. Do you really think right now is the time?” she demanded of herself.

No answer, which was an answer in itself, wasn’t it?

“You really need to quit talking to yourself, too,” she said and glanced in the rearview mirror to see his headlights. They stayed a safe distance behind her until she turned into her mother’s driveway and parked.

Jaden pulled in behind her. For a moment, she thought he might get out, but instead, he flashed his lights and then left.

She felt bereft as she watched his vehicle lights disappear down the road. “Don’t let one dance make you think anything has changed,” she said to herself. She was still a suspect and would be until the killer was caught.

But she knew it wasn’t just that keeping her and Jaden apart. She’d known this wouldn’t be easy. Wasn’t that why she hadn’t gone straight to Jaden when she’d returned home? She hadn’t been able to stand the thought that he might turn her away and not hear her out.

Patience, she told herself with a sigh. But even as she thought it, her only other option had to be something besides hanging out here at the house with her mother watching her every minute, wondering what she was doing with her life. She needed to figure out who’d killed Rob, who’d attacked Cody, who’d flattened her tire. And maybe why Emery had left the bar so fast when he’d gotten that call.

As her mother came out on the porch, she cut her engine and lights, and climbed out, determined to clear herself.

* * *

Jaden cursed himselfall the way back to town. What was he doing? Just racing headlong toward heartbreak. He’d broken off the engagement because he’d felt in his heart that Livie wasn’t ready. Did he really believe that something had changed? She’d come back to town and gone straight to her old boyfriend. Her going out with Cody the minute she’d hit town… What more proof did he need?

But dancing with her, holding her in his arms, almost kissing, had felt so right. He’d wanted that kiss desperately. Like one kiss was going to chase away any doubts he still had.

Yet just before they’d almost kissed, he’d looked into her eyes and he’d known heart deep that she still loved him. He couldn’t be wrong about that. Not that it meant she’d ever want to be the wife of a small-town deputy.

He slammed his hand into the steering wheel. He didn’t have time for this. He had a job to do. Determined to concentrate on work, he recalled what Livie had told him about Emery. He didn’t know what to believe. Emery’s story sounded like boys would be boys. Did he believe Elden Rusk had planned to kill Emery and Rob with a shovel? He thought of the boogeyman from his nightmares while living in Starling. Maybe.

Rusk had scared him as a boy. It was the man’s eyes. When they lit on you, it felt as if he could smite you on the spot. Jaden had been terrified of him. He couldn’t imagine what he would have done if Rusk had ever brandished a rusted shovel at him.

Yet something felt off about Emery summoning Olivia to the bar to tell her about his and Rob’s run-in with Rusk—especially with someone flattening her tire. Could it have been some kids looking for trouble? Unfortunately, he didn’t believe it. Krystal? Maybe. He cursed at the thought since he’d told Livie that he had handled it.

The woman kept crowding his thoughts, reminding him of her in his arms, in his bed, always in his head and still lodged deep in his heart. He needed to stay away from her, but he was working a murder investigation—and Livie was right there, right in the center.

He should never have taken her in his arms to dance. He should definitely have not almost kissed her. Especially in public and not in the middle of an investigation involving her. He didn’t know who had been in that pickup that had pulled into the bar parking lot, but he knew how quickly word spread in this town. The deputy and his suspect just a breath away from kissing in the parking lot would be all over town by morning.

The worst part was that he had wanted that damn kiss more than his next breath and now he couldn’t get it out of his head. He kept remembering their deep, long kisses, the passion they’d ignited, their need for each other. Olivia Brooks had done more than stolen his heart. She’d ruined him for any other woman.

So why in the hell hadn’t he ignored his doubts and married her? If he’d offered to follow her to her job— He pushed the thought away. She hadn’t wanted that, or she would have suggested it. She’d needed her freedom to chase her dream. She’d needed it more than him. But what about now?

He knew he wasn’t going to be able to sleep. It didn’t help when he got a call the moment he walked into his rental.

Elden Rusk had been found.

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