“I don’t blame you. I bet the woman was upset.”
Sierra took a deep breath of the aroma of the coffee and eyed the cup sitting in the console for her. “Ohmigod, I can’t believe you got my favorite coffee before I go on my trip.” Sierra smiled at him. “You are my hero.” She sipped some of the coffee and sighed. “You sure know how to help me unstress in a big way.”
He smiled at her and drove in the direction of the airport. In a subtle way, he kept hoping he could convince her she didn’t need to return to Texas to see the boyfriend ever again.
He was glad he had convinced Sierra to work with them at the police bureau. He loved watching her work on witness sketches. She always had such good rapport with everyone at the bureau and with witnesses she worked with. And with the pack members too. She was fun to be around at pack functions, but she avoided going out with any male wolf alone that could signal she was dating someone other than the out-of-state-wolf.
He didn’t think she would say yes to a boat outing, but since Brad had spoken to him about it, he had to ask. Again. “Hey, I was going to take the boat out the weekend after you return from your vacation and—”
She gave him a look that said he was pushing his luck.
He smiled. “It would be with your brother, his mate, and his sister-in-law. And Josh and Brooke will come too.”
“I’ll see how I feel when I get back.”
He figured that was a no.
Ever since she’d moved in with the pack, Adam had been interested in her but disappointed she was still seeing another wolf. He’d hoped once she began working for the bureau as a sketch artist and teaching art to the kids in the pack, who adored her, she would realize her home was truly here with the pack, her brother, and his mate. Even though Adam was an alpha wolf and would love to try to change her mind about dating the other guy, he just didn’t feel right about it. He considered himself one of the good guys.
Stealing another wolf’s potential mate wasn’t something he was interested in doing. He supposed it had to do with that happening to him when he was a younger wolf in love with a she-wolf. A wolf passing through had convinced her to leave the pack and go away with him. Adam figured the woman he’d been dating wasn’t as interested in him as he’d been in her, but he wouldn’t do that to another wolf.
“I’ll see if my brother can pick me up at the airport when I return.” Sierra was wringing her hands and appeared to be uncomfortable about something. Flying? Seeing the boyfriend?
He hoped she was having second thoughts about returning to see the guy.
“Sure.” Adam didn’t offer to pick her up. He could be in the middle of an important criminal case when she returned for all he knew and wouldn’t be able to spare the time. He didn’t want to dig deeper into the feelings he had about her. The fact that she was seeing someone as a possible mate—that she wasn’t free for him to pursue. If he had been seeing her, he would have damn well made sure he could pick her up from the airport. Criminal case or no.
He wasn’t the only one who didn’t want her flying out to see the boyfriend in Texas. Even her brother had told her several times she needed to give the guy up. Adam suspected Brad knew who he was, but he wouldn’t tell anyone his name. Neither would she.
If she was that interested in him, wouldn’t she have mentioned him by name at some time or another and let on how much she cared for him? Maybe she wouldn’t share her feelings with the guys, but why not with the she-wolves in the pack?
He got a call from his dad and answered on Bluetooth.
“Hey, are we still on for fishing this weekend?” his dad asked.
Adam and his dad were close, and whenever he had a chance, Adam tried to run down to fish with him at the pack leaders’ ranch or they would go out on the boat. Since his dad was a retired police officer, he was working security for the pack leaders’ ranch now. So was Adam’s mother, who had met Adam’s father on the police force. His mother would undoubtedly be going on a shopping trip in town with some of her lady friends when he and his dad went fishing.
“I sure am, Dad.”
“Hey, about Sierra…”
“I’m taking her to the airport.” Adam had to warn his dad she was in the Hummer before his dad said something that would get Adam into trouble. “She’s off to see her boyfriend.” Why did she always have to go to see the boyfriend? Adam wanted to tell the boyfriend it was his turn to make the effort and come see her. He should have checked out the pack to see that Sierra was fine living here with them. Did he at least pay for her airfare?
“Oh, hey, Sierra, have a great time. I’ve got to run,” his dad said.
“Thanks.” Sierra frowned at Adam.
“See you and Mom Saturday, Dad.” Then Adam ended the call. Hell. He shouldn’t have mentioned on their last fishing date how he wished Sierra would call it quits with the boyfriend. His dad had instantly believed Adam had the hots for her and had started in on how Adam should change Sierra’s mind about leaving town to see the guy. No matter how many times Adam told him there wasn’t a lick of truth to it—because he didn’t want his dad slipping up like this in front of Sierra—his dad knew him too well and didn’t believe him.
In reality, a bunch of hungry bachelor male wolves would jump at the chance to date her if she wasn’t still seeing the guy.
She looked over at Adam. “What about me? What was your dad going to say before you cut him off?”
Great. He would have to tell his dad not to mention anything more about this. “I have no idea, but I wanted him to know you were with me.”
She stared daggers at Adam.
He shrugged. “Who knows?”
“You do. You know just what he was going to say.” She let out her breath in a huff. “You’re going to be in the doghouse, you know.”
“With you?”
“Well, until you tell me what your dad was going to say about me that you were so eager to stop, yes. But no, I wasn’t thinking of that.”
“Then what?” Adam couldn’t think of one reason why he would be in the doghouse over anything except for the other matter.
“Did you tell anyone beside your dad that you were taking me to the airport?”
“My boss. Well, not him either. I just let him know that I was going there about the stolen rental car.” What had that to do with anything?
“Okay, good. For your own sake, keep it that way. Unless your dad tells everyone. No one else would take me to the airport. Brad and many of the bachelor males made sure of it.”
Raising his brows, Adam glanced at her. “Seriously? Why?” He was surprised because whoever had an in with her might end up with a mate if she dumped the boyfriend.