“I know. And after his meltdown at the grocery store the other day…” She shakes her head. “I got this.”
Fuck, I love this woman. “You do.”
She climbs into my lap and rakes her fingers across my back. It drives me crazy and she knows it. “I know it’s borderline arctic outside, but it’s a full moon. Want to look at it with your telescope with me?”
“Why does that sound dirty?”
“Everything sounds dirty to you.”
“That’s your fault,” I tell her. “I think about your pussy all damn day.”
“Weston,” she exclaims, faking shock and bringing her hand to her chest. “I’m a lady. How dare you speak like that in front of me.”
“You were not a lady last night when you had me pull your hair and fuck you from behind.”
A little moan escapes her lips. “Fuck that was good.”
“We can do it again.”
“Oh, we will. But…the moon.”
“Yeah, let’s go look at it.”
I check on Jackson before we go outside. He kicked off his blankets and is covered in goosebumps. After fixing the covers and adding one more blanket to make sure he’s not cold, I grab socks and a sweatshirt from my room and meet Scarlet in the kitchen.
“It’s not that cold,” I tease, seeing her bundle up like it’s the middle of winter.
“Promise you’ll warm me up later?”
“You know I will.”
We go outside onto the back porch and bring the telescope into the middle of the backyard, trying to get a good view of the moon. Trees and the roof of the house obstruct our vision. I pick the heavy thing up and lug it around to the front, even though Scarlet protests and says I shouldn’t go through any trouble.
But doing anything to see her smile will never be trouble for me.
“I’m starting to really love this quiet,” she whispers, looking up and down the street. It’s dimly lit from a few street lamps and porch lights. I set the telescope down on the sidewalk and adjust it until the moon comes into view.
“It’s really bright tonight. It looks awesome,” I tell her and step aside so she can have a look. A car drives by on the street perpendicular to ours, rolling through the stop sign. Things are pretty quiet downtown once night falls, but it doesn’t become a ghost town.
“It’s amazing,” Scarlet whispers, and I find myself smiling as I watch her. “I can see so much detail.”
I zip up my coat and stick my hands in my pockets, turning around. It feels like someone is watching us, and unease creeps over me. After years as a soldier and then a cop, I know to trust my gut. I take a few steps away from Scarlet and look down the narrow stretch of grass that separates my house from the neighbors’. I don’t see anything…and then I remember that we went out the back door and walked around to the front.
The back door is unlocked.
Jackson is inside.
“I’ll be right back,” I say and start forward, only to stop. “Come with me.”
Scarlet looks up from the telescope. “Where?”
“Inside. The back door is unlocked.”
“Oh, shit. Go lock it.” She waves me away and bends her head back down.
“Come in with me. Please?”
“I thought you said this was a safe town.”
“It is.” I inch toward the house. “But I’d feel better if you came in with me.”
She looks up and sees the worry in my eyes. “Yeah, I’ll come in. I need more warm cider anyway.”
I run around the house and leap up the porch steps. The door is still closed, but that doesn’t mean anything. I don’t stop until I’m in Jackson’s room, seeing him safely sleeping in bed.
I sit on the edge of his bed, resting one hand on his back. I used to sit up with him like this when he was an infant, making sure he was still breathing. I still do this when he’s sick. I’ll probably always do this.
“Everything okay?” Scarlet whispers, appearing in the doorway.
“Yeah.” I pull my phone from my pocket and log into the alarm system app, checking the activity. Other than me opening the door less than a minute ago, the last time the back door was opened was when Scarlet and I left the house. “I worry about him.”
“I know.” Scarlet comes into the room and perches on the bed next to me. “I do too.” She takes my hand and brings it to her lips. “He’s lucky to have such a caring father.”
I give her hand a squeeze. The words are burning in my mouth, wanting to come out.
Wanting to tell her I love her.
Chapter Thirty-One
Weston
“Are you getting nervous?” Scarlet asks, pouring herself a cup of coffee.
“No.”
She looks at me incredulously. “Not at all?”
“Honestly, I’m looking forward to election day so this campaigning bullshit will be over.”
She laughs. “I don’t blame you there. You’ll know if you won that night, right?”
“In theory.”
“I have a good feeling about this. Come Tuesday night, I’ll be calling you Sheriff.”
“Even if I do win, I won’t be the Sheriff until the term ends.”
She sits at the table next to me. It’s early Friday morning, and she woke up when my alarm when off. Instead of going back to sleep, she came downstairs with me for breakfast. “I’m still calling you it. And I’ll make sure to be a bad girl who needs to be arrested and appropriately punished.”
“It is my duty to uphold the law.”
She takes a sip of her coffee, smiling. “I’ll make sure you catch me jay-walking or something.”
I laugh. “Living on the edge.”
“I’m a regular criminal.”
“Please. Like you’ve ever broken a law.”
She chokes on her coffee, eyes going wide.
“Forget how to drink?” I raise my eyebrows.
“Went down the wrong pipe,” she says between coughs. “And it’s hot.”
“You okay?”
“Yeah. And I have broken laws before.”
“Really?”
She casts her eyes down. “Yeah. What if I told you I did some bad things but never got caught?”
With one question, she’s back to being hard to read. I think she’s joking, but she says it seriously. Her body language changes as well, and she’s still looking down at the table. Before I can question her, my phone rings.
“It’s the station.” I answer, talk to my boss for a minute, and then stand. “Gotta go.”
“Already?”
“Yeah. We got a lead on a meth lab in a garage.”
“Be careful.”
“I will.” I grab my plate and carry it to the sink. “We bust meth labs more often than you’d think around here.”
“Is it like Breaking Bad?”
“Most aren’t that cool-looking.”
“Sounds dangerous, though.”
I nod, not one to sugarcoat anything. “I know what I’m doing.”
“Good. Because I need you home tonight.”