Chapter 3
Sutton
Dammit to hell.
Who is this woman?
And why did she have to run across my cruiser?
I take her through booking. My brother Silas clocks us the moment I walk her through the door. His smile melts away into a studious expression, but he quickly settles on amusement when he notices my scowl.
“Stand here for your photo.” I direct her to the place in front of the solid gray backdrop. Before my colleague can snap her mug shot and move us along, she fucking smiles like she’s getting her picture taken for the high school yearbook.
“Fuck me,” I mutter.
I rush through her fingerprints like my ass is on fire.
“This way,” I order, doing my best not to actually touch her. This is strictly procedural. I doubt she’s going to sprint out the doors if I don’t hold her arm and lead her around like she committed a felony.
“Are you taking me to a cell? I wouldn’t mind seeing one. For research purposes, of course,” she says brightly.
I don’t bother asking what research she might be conducting. For all I know, she’s some internet influencer, and the last thing I need is my privacy being invaded for content.
“This isn’t funny,” I insist as I open the door to a holding room.
Her dazzling grin nearly knocks me on my ass. “It absolutely is.”
I clench my jaw.
“Wait here.” The demand leaves no room for argument. Not even from her.
I leave her in the room while I sort through the paperwork. On a slow day, the process would be welcome. But when I want nothing more than this woman to get out of my hair, I couldn’t think of anything less enjoyable.
I study the information in front of me from Arizona’s motor vehicle department.
Alice Jane Thompson
Age 32
Unpaid traffic ticket
No response
Failure to appear
I think about the woman waiting for me and roll my eyes. My lips twitch. Fits the bill. Easy enough for her to clear up if she’s able to pay the fines.
Which means I can get her out of here and back on the road to anywhere else.
On my approach back to the holding room, I remind myself to remain unruffled. I shake off her amusement and straighten my spine, rolling my neck on my shoulders until the bones pop and release.
Only for a second later to stop in my tracks.
“You’ve got to be kidding me.”
The large glass window reveals a mess across the table. Silas leans across the opposite corner, grinning at something she says, with his arms crossed over his vest.
“What’s this?” I bark. Bemusement fills me when neither of them shrinks in the slightest.
In fact, Silas grins wider.
“Did you know she’s carrying around a cactus?”
I cut a hard glare at Silas. He holds up both hands in surrender.
“I can see you have business to attend to. I’ll see myself out.”
“Thank you for keeping me company,” she calls sweetly after him.
The edge of my clipboard bites into my fingers.
“Enjoy your stay in Fairview Valley. Try to stay out of trouble.” Silas tips his chin.
“Trouble isn’t exactly my middle name, but it does seem to follow me around.”
“Of course it does,” I huff as Silas walks past. His amused chuckle ticks my irritation up a notch.
I dig out my key and unlock the cuffs on her wrists. My fingers cramp as I avoid touching her skin.
“Arizona cleared the paperwork.”
“Do you always get this excited about paperwork?”
My tongue wets my bottom lip. Jesus. This woman isn’t just going to break the law. She’s going to break me.
I pinch the bridge of my nose. “You need to finish this up with them, but you’re free to go.”
“Oh, good. I have plans.” She dances to her feet and begins shoving phone chargers, what looks like twelve tubes of lip gloss, and a small stack of papers back into her purse.
Plans?
Not once during this eventful detention has she mentioned that she had somewhere to be.
I cut my gaze through the glass and find Silas with his back to the room.
There’s no way my brother would ask out a detainee in handcuffs. He might be single, but he’s not desperate.
My jaw hardens. At least I don’t think he’s that desperate.
I hold out her paperwork. “Do not drive until you clear this with the Arizona Motor Vehicle Division. Your license is still suspended.”
She spins toward me, her black hair fanning around her shoulders, and throws her purse strap over her head. “Define ‘cannot’ for me.”
I stare. The jokes just keep flowing. About me. About my authority. About this absurd situation. Does she take anything in her life seriously?
And yet…
I can’t entirely find it within me to care.
“You’re impossible,” I mutter.
“And you’re grumpy.” She skips out the door with her cactus in hand.
I follow her to the exit and pause against the doorjamb. “Somehow I think we’re going to be seeing a lot of each other.”
She pretends to shiver. “You’re a little too chilly for my tastes, Officer…” She tilts her head in confusion, and I realize she’s waiting for my name.
I straighten. “Stone. Officer Stone.”
I swear her eyes fucking twinkle at my name. Is that recognition? “See you around, Officer Stone.”
God, I hope not.
Gray hairs are already starting to dust my temples. My eight-year-old Nellie is responsible for most of it, but this woman might have encouraged a few more to sprout during this short encounter.
My shoulders sink with a sigh as I track her across the parking lot to a bench parallel to the road. Thank fuck her car isn’t here. Without a doubt, she would have climbed into the driver’s seat in defiance of my strict instructions. And the law, for that matter.
I scrub a palm over my face.
The radio at my shoulder crackles to life. The incoming call serves as a swift reminder of my sworn duty and why I don’t have time for infuriating, albeit compelling, women.
I answer with an affirmative and return inside to find my brother.
I have him and Spence and Mom. I have Nellie. I have a large group of friends.
They’re enough.
They’re more than I can possibly keep safe, I remind myself.
The front porch light suspended from my house twinkles at me as I pull onto my street. The yellow light reflecting off the several unexpected cars in my driveway is unusual. I wipe my palms on my slacks and remind myself that dispatch would have told me if there was an emergency at home.
This is more than likely one of Mom’s wacky ideas.
I can only brace for what sort of event I’m about to walk into.
Her babysitting shenanigans can go far beyond princess tea parties and border on irresponsible, not that she’d ever admit it.
The rights and wrongs of modern parenting don’t penetrate when she successfully raised my two brothers and me as a single mom.
I sigh heavily as I exit the car. Mom has saved my ass more times than I can count when I needed a last-minute sitter.
The usual avenues don’t last when my hours are long and unpredictable.
The late nights are one thing, but when I’m needed for a SWAT call?
Forget it. Most quit the moment I return home.
The polite ones wait until they’ve left the premises before rescinding their employment.
Opening the door feels like cracking open an ancient, long-buried text.
One foot crosses the threshold, and I freeze amid an exponentially larger pile of shoes in the small foyer.
“Hey, Officer Smiley.”
My brows snap together. “What the hell are you doin’ in my house?”
Her face scrunches somewhat adorably, but I can’t focus on that right now. The woman I arrested not a handful of hours ago is standing in socks in my goddamned kitchen like she pays the mortgage.
Ms. Thompson, Alice, cocks a brow. “I’m pretty sure that’s a quarter in the swear jar.”
“Daddy’s too broke for a swear jar. If he says a bad word, I get to say one,” Nellie helpfully chimes in. She beams up at Alice from her side.
I zero in on her small hand wrapped tightly around Alice’s wrist, before slicing through the small crowd of people standing in my kitchen.
My mom, Silas, my other brother Spencer, and his fiancée, Cortney Powell.
Whitney and Jack Powell, two people I’m surprised to see wrapped up in whatever this is.
Half the damn town is in my kitchen, and somehow, I’m the last one invited. I tread fully into the room and stand to my full height.
“Does someone want to tell me what the hell is going on?”
I narrow my gaze on Silas.
His conversation with my detainee seems far too convenient for whatever the hell this is to happen randomly. “Did you have something to do with this?”
His palms rise in surrender, but his grin stretches across his face. “I had no idea.”
I study my brother for signs of deception. Finding none, I let out a sigh and pinch the bridge of my nose. “So I’m to believe what, exactly?”
“I heard you need a nanny.” Alice removes Nellie’s hand to spread her arms wide and step forward. “Here I am!”
“Absolutely not,” I snap.
This woman doesn’t so much as flinch as she ticks off her fingers. “I’m an expert in children.”
“You were arrested this afternoon.”
“That was unrelated to the children.”
“Somehow I doubt that.”
“I passed my child development class with an A plus.”
“What, like a decade ago?”
She crosses her arms. “Some things are hard to forget. I’ll have you know I’m very well loved by the four-to-seven crowd.”
Nellie tugs on Alice’s arm. “I’m eight,” she whispers loudly.
Alice crouches down to Nellie’s level. “That’s perfect. Eight-year-olds are actually my specialty.”
“They are?” Nellie’s dark eyes grow round.
“Absolutely. They’re old enough to know princesses don’t need a prince to save them. Do you still like princesses?”
Nellie nods solemnly, soaking in every word. “Miss Cathy at the diner said we needed a nanny too.”
Great. This woman has been here all of five minutes and already won over my kid.
Alice straightens. “Four to eight,” she amends.
How is it that she continues to mock me—this time in front of my family? I’m pretty sure steam might be billowing from my nostrils.
Mom crowds my space and places her palm on my arm. “She’s well qualified, honey.”