Chapter 3
THREE
Feeling the invisible weight of a stare, Bronwyn pulled her attention from the conversation with Xanthe and Willow to glance over her shoulder. The second she saw him headed her way through the crowded room, her pulse skipped.
Sheriff Rafe Torres, protector and defender of Skeleton Island. Six-feet-plus of commanding charisma and authority with a dark, neatly groomed full goatee that framed his mouth, and mesmerizing amber eyes.
Eyes that were currently locked on her.
Oh, my, my…
She’d never seen him out of uniform before, but the way those worn jeans and crisp dress shirt hugged his muscular frame was a glorious sight to behold.
He was an impressive physical specimen, and not just because she was a human bioarcheologist. Although she’d bet the entheses on his bones were damned impressive.
“Rafe, you came,” Willow said with a big smile and hugged him.
“Did you think I wouldn’t?” Over her shoulder, his gaze cut to Bronwyn and held. While her internal temperature climbed several degrees.
It had been a long time since that had happened.
She caught his sinful scent on her next breath. Soap and a subtle woodsy cologne that made her want to get closer.
A lot closer.
“Evening, Sheriff,” she said when he stepped back from Willow.
“Evening. Fancy meeting you here.”
“I know, right?” She’d organized this with some help from Mae. The woman was a lifesaver and a human dynamo in a tiny package. “Glad you could make it.”
“Wouldn’t have missed it. Especially since it meant getting to see you again.”
Oh, his charm was so well-practiced it came across as effortless, yet the flattery felt sincere. That said a lot for the delivery. She’d been hit on enough that she considered herself an expert when it came to detecting bullshit and empty flattery from men.
His wasn’t that. “That’s nice to hear.”
“When did you get in?”
“Caught the last ferry from Victoria last night. That’s why this was spur of the moment. I stayed at Mae’s so Willow would be surprised. Tripp made sure he kept her out of the house all day while we got everything ready. He’s a good fiancé.”
“That’s because he loves her to death.”
She smiled, ignoring the tiny pang of…regret or something like it.
Her studies and fieldwork had kept her busy for the past year, but there was no denying she felt lonely sometimes.
Or that she’d used her work as a reason to swear off dating and give herself a break from the crushing disappointment of getting involved with emotionally unavailable men.
She’d given up on finding her own soulmate, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t ecstatic to be here celebrating her friend’s victory in the dating wars. Willow and Tripp were lucky to have found real, lasting love, and they both knew it. “They’re amazing together.”
“They are. I’m really happy for them. It’s been great to see Tripp loving life again.”
“I’ll bet.” Hot sheriff was divorced—she knew that much from Willow—but apparently it hadn’t been bitter. His ex was a nurse. Toll of the job maybe? Stress, ships passing in the night for too long because of shiftwork and they’d drifted apart? Or maybe they just weren’t right for each other.
Whatever the reason, Bronwyn found it refreshing that Rafe didn’t hold any animosity toward his ex-wife. Mad respect for that.
“So, what have you been up to since we talked last?” he asked her.
He’d called her a few weeks ago to consult about some bones found on the beach. Some vertebrae. She’d told him they weren’t human and suspected they were cetacean. Xanthe had confirmed they were probably dolphin.
She’d done a mental fist pump when she’d found out she’d been right. “Still working on a research paper I hope to get published.”
“Working where?”
“From home lately, and I did some in the UK before I moved back. Deadline for submission is in a few weeks, so I’m just finishing up the writing now, then I’ll let it sit for a week before I give it a final polish with fresh eyes.”
“I wanna read it when you’re done,” Xanthe said.
“Why, you suffering from insomnia lately?”
Xanthe frowned in confusion. “No. What?”
“I just wondered if you were looking for some bedtime reading to put you to sleep, that’s all.”
Rafe laughed at her joke. “Pretty sure any kind of scientific paper would just make Xanthe stay up later.”
“Hundred percent,” Xanthe said with a grin. “Especially if it’s got a juicy amount of statistical analysis in it.”
Bronwyn groaned. “Oh, God, that’s the literal bane of my academic existence.” Why were stats programs so hard to learn? “Well, that and cremated remains—and please, don’t ever call them cremains. That’s just icky.”
“I would never.” His tone was dry.
“They’re extra challenging to identify.”
“I can imagine.”
“Have I missed any more bone sightings lately?” Bronwyn asked Rafe.
“Have you noticed any missed calls from me since we talked last?”
Her lips twitched at his dry tone. “No. Kinda disappointed, actually.”
“Trust me, you’d be the first person I’d call if anything else turned up.”
“Really? Aw, that’s so nice to hear. Thank you.
” The man was fine. Distractingly so. It was so hard to imagine him as a hellion in his youth, but Willow swore he’d been a bad boy.
Was there anything sexier than a reformed bad boy?
Except maybe one who’d turned protector.
“What about the tibia Rufus found? Have you heard anything about the analysis yet?”
Willow’s brown shep-mix rescue was currently stuck to her leg, watching the room fill up with anxious eyes.
Poor guy wasn’t a fan of strangers or being in a room full of people, but he sure had a good nose on him.
He’d sniffed both parts of that human tibia out of the rocks despite all the other smells at the beach, no problem. He’d make a great cadaver dog.
“No. It’ll be a few months longer, I’m sure,” Rafe said. “There’s a big backlog at the lab.”
She nodded. Forensics labs had a longer wait time than most people realized. A single tibia that may or may not be of forensic context and unlinked to any specific crime would be low priority. “Willow said you’ve been continually slammed since you came on as sheriff.”
He was only one person, and his department was small. The mystery of who had shot the man who’d tried to kill Willow and Tripp was still unsolved, and then he’d had the recent craziness with Blaine and Xanthe to deal with on top of the more usual things that came with his job.
Rafe rolled his gorgeous eyes. Wolf eyes.
“The workload’s been brutal, and the investigations are taking forever because of all the different agencies involved.
Fortunately, the Seattle PD is going to loan us a full-time detective to assist me for the next few months, so I’m looking forward to that. ”
That’s where he’d been a cop before running for sheriff here. “I can imagine. Anyone you know?”
He nodded. “We worked some cases together before.”
“Bronwyn? Can I get a hand in the kitchen?” a voice called out from across the room.
She glanced over to find Mae watching her from the kitchen entryway. “Be right there. Excuse me,” she said to Rafe. “Duty calls.”
“Don’t let her keep you from us too long,” he said as she walked away, the deep timbre of his voice sending a ribbon of heat curling through her.
She smiled to herself and added a little extra sway to her hips, knowing he was still watching. Wasn’t a bad idea to keep him waiting. A man like him would be accustomed to getting what he wanted when he wanted it.
There was a whole list of reasons why she should stop at flirting. They had great chemistry, though chemistry had gotten her in trouble a few times in the past.
Not only that, her life was uncertain right now. She would be traveling a lot in the foreseeable future and living in the UK for at least three months starting next spring.
He was also a good friend of Willow’s, and the island was small. Everyone knew each other. People talked. She didn’t want messy and was sure he didn’t either.
A relationship was definitely not in the cards for them. But that didn’t mean they couldn’t have a little fun as long as they agreed on clear ground rules up front and nobody got hurt when it ended.
She hadn’t had fun in too long. And everything about Sheriff Rafe Torres told her he’d be a whole lot of it.