“Sierra.” Adam sounded totally exasperated with her.
“What? I had to chase him off the only way I knew how. I didn’t bite him, but I would have if I’d known it wouldn’t turn him. I didn’t know he had a gun.”
Adam let out his breath. “We’re certain this guy is part of a team of thieves who have hit numerous hotels. We still don’t know how they’re breaking into the rooms using the hotel keys, but you’re the first one who has actually witnessed a break-in.” He looked over the sketch and glanced at her. “Hell, this is really good.”
“Thank you.”
“You’re hired.”
“What?”
“We need an additional sketch artist at the Portland Police Bureau. It would be part-time so you can still teach your art classes. I’ll talk to the boss when I get back, if it’s something you would consider doing for us.”
She opened her mouth to speak, and Adam said, “The kids need you for your art expertise, but we need you to help us catch criminals. You’re hired.”
She smiled. Adam had such a way with words. And the more she got to know him, the more she really liked him.
Chapter 2
Seven months later
Adam was glad Sierra had come to work for the Portland Police Bureau seven months ago as their part-time sketch artist and still had time to teach art lessons to the kids a couple of days a week and adults in the pack at night, mainly because she was so good at her job and she seemed to love doing both. He’d had a ball when he had gone to her first adult art class where she’d showed them how to create photoshopped artwork and was teaching them about perspective, lighting, and shadows. Most of her class had been made up of bachelor males vying to win her attention, even though she was still seeing an out-of-state wolf who used to work with her in the army.
Adam had been trying to learn about art from her, but he was truly smitten with her—the way she smiled at her students and the way she tirelessly showed them over and over again how to create a simple picture using clip art and different layering techniques, laughing at some of their sillier comments and questions. She appeared to enjoy teaching them as much as they enjoyed getting to know her better.
But now it was back to the grind for him. Since he had to investigate the case of a stolen rental car from the airport and Sierra had to catch a flight, he was on his way to her house to give her a lift, which worked out well for both of them. Though the reason she was flying out of Portland bothered him. She was still seeing her boyfriend in Texas, and he sure wished he could convince her that she didn’t want to leave the pack. To be honest, Adam didn’t want the boyfriend to join them here either.
On the way over to her place, Adam got a call on Bluetooth from Sierra’s brother, Brad. He suspected Brad hoped Adam could convince Sierra she didn’t want to leave for Texas today or any other day. Not that Adam had told Brad he was taking her to the airport. “What’s up, Brad?”
“You should tell Sierra you’re taking the boat out the weekend she gets back. We’ll go with you. Ask Josh and Brooke and my sister-in-law, Dorinda, to come too, and maybe Sierra won’t think it’s anything more than a family and friends get-together.”
Adam chuckled. “I’ve asked her before, and she said no.”
“Yeah, but right after she has seen her boyfriend, she’s more willing to go out. I think she feels everyone understands she’s ‘with’ him so none of the bachelors make a move on her.”
“I’ll ask.” Adam was certain she would decline the invitation again.
“Okay, I’ll keep working on her at this end.”
Adam laughed.
“It’s hard for Sierra to deal with change all at once. Retiring from the army, then moving here, she’s having a hard time letting go of the last tie she has there. But he’s not good for her.”
Adam didn’t know if that was really true or if Brad just wanted his sister to live close by.
“Okay, I’ll ask.”
“All right, good. And be sure and take another art class of hers. The more we can convince her that everyone needs her to stay here, the better.”
Adam smiled. “I am. She put them on hold to take a trip back to Texas, but I’m on the list for her next one coming up.” He didn’t think he’d ever really be able to do anything art-related that was newsworthy, but he was having fun taking the classes because she was teaching them. “Talk to you later.”
Adam dropped by the coffee shop and picked up a chocolate-caramel-hazelnut coffee for Sierra—her favorite. He’d gotten into the habit of getting it for her at work once she’d teased him about drinking boring coffee and he had learned that was her favorite. Of course his former partner, Josh Wilding, had told him it was obvious Adam was making a play for her.
After Sierra had drawn the police sketch of the man who had tried to rob from her hotel room, the police had also rounded up three staff members at three other hotels who had given the robbers access to the rooms. Sierra identified Dover Manning in a police lineup, though the robber denied he’d ever seen her before. Because he’d been armed with a gun and threatened her with it, even though she was a wolf at the time, he was charged with first-degree robbery. During the trial and his testimony, he had stated that he’d been protecting himself from a vicious guard dog. Of course no one—hotel staff, cleaning crew, or police officers—had seen any sign of a “guard dog” so Dover Manning was looking at twenty years in prison.
Adam arrived at Sierra’s one-story brick home with flowers filling its flower beds and planters. He hadn’t realized she was quite the little gardener, never having been to her place before. While he was getting out of the Hummer, she came out of the house carrying two bags and he loaded them in the back of the vehicle.
“Thanks, Adam.” Sierra pushed a loose red curl behind her ear—the rest of her curly hair held in a chignon, a few wisps of tendrils framing her face—and climbed into the passenger seat.
He sure wished he could change her mind about going back to Texas so he could date her. He couldn’t imagine successfully being in a long-distance relationship like that. And the fact that she’d left the boyfriend behind had to say something about their relationship.
“No problem. I had to be at the airport anyway,” he said. Her eyes were a clear blue like her brother’s and were spellbinding. She was petite but when she tussled with her brother as wolves, she was more than aggressive, and Adam would love to play with her like that. “Did you get everything you needed?”
She checked her purse. “Yeah, I’ve got my ID. We’re good. Last year, I was behind a woman at the check-in counter at the airport who had forgotten her ID. She said she would never get back to the airport on time if she went home to get it. She was in tears when she left. I always remember that whenever I have a flight scheduled and check to make sure I have my ID on me.”