Page 9 of All the Missing Pieces

“You call me out here, demanding I break into a vehicle. Something that could’ve cost the citizens of this county more than I want to think about. And you want me to…chill?"

Celia shrugged. “No harm, no foul.”

A laugh did escape this time.

Colt’s gaze cut to me. “You think this is funny?”

It wasn’t a question but I answered anyway. “A little.”

His eyes narrowed. Eyes that were a brown so dark they almost looked black. Storm eyes. And they should’ve warned me about the thunder incoming. “I could’ve bashed your window in. Your irresponsibility could’ve prevented me from being on a call out where there was anactualemergency. The least you could do is leave a note saying the damned cat was fine.”

I stiffened, hackles rising. I had a healthy respect for law enforcement, when they were doing their job. I appreciated that they were often underpaid to do the impossible, just like teachers and nurses. What I didn’t appreciate was this too-attractive-for-his-own-good jerk suggesting that I was an idiot.

I crossed to the front of my van and tapped on the window. “You mean a note like this one?”

I knew it was sitting on the dash since I’d made it myself. It had paw prints drawn along the border and said,Tater has food, water, and AC. She is very happy to stare down at you in supreme judgment from her perch.

Celia let out a cackling laugh. “She does have a good judgy face.”

“Celia…”

The growl was back again and I hated the fact that it skated over my skin in a pleasant shiver.

“All right, all right,” she said and then waved at my cat. “See you around, Tater.”

“I fucking hope not,” Colt muttered.

I choked on another laugh as Celia hurried down the sidewalk.

Colt turned slowly to me. Those dark eyes flashed, and I swore there was a hint of mischief in them. “You know, this van should be parked in oversized parking. It’s not.”

My eyes narrowed on him. “It’s a van, not a monster truck.”

He shrugged, making what I saw now was a sheriff’s department uniform pull taut over a muscled chest. “Maybe so, but I’m guessing it meets the weight requirements to be ticketed and towed.”

I gaped at him. “You wouldn’t.”

“ID please.”

3

COLT

God,I was an asshole. But it had been the day from hell, and this woman was trying my last ounce of patience. The only problem was that the moment the challenge slipped free, her blue eyes flashed in a way that had me sucking in a breath.

There was no denying she was beautiful. That had been clear as day the moment I’d turned around. Long, blond hair that hung to her waist and looked bleached by the sun. She wore shorts that exposed long, tanned legs, and flip-flops revealing toes painted in an array of sparkly colors. Rainbow fucking toes and even they were cute.

Her face had the kind of symmetry that meant she could’ve just as easily graced the cover of a magazine as this cement sidewalk. But it was those eyes flashing that nearly did me in. Because there was fire in those eyes. A kind of fire that spoke of vitality and an absence of fear. That fearlessness grabbed me by the throat and wanted to pull me right in.

She tugged something out of her back pocket. A tiny wallet that looked more like a coin purse. A second later she was handing me a card. “Here you go, Officer.”

“Sheriff,” I corrected. Those blue eyes flashed again. They were a deep blue, the tones you’d find deep in the ocean, but when they flashed, it was as if they turned liquid.

“Sheriff,” she ground out.

The annoyance had me fighting a laugh as I took the offered piece of plastic. Her driver’s license, I realized. My gaze dipped. Ridley Sawyer Bennett. Twenty-seven. From Ohio. “Far from home.”

“Is that a crime?” she challenged.

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