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She could spend the rest of her life like this.

Sitting on a dock.

Kissing the man she loved.

Dawson hit save on his report and scrubbed a hand over his tired eyes. It had been one exhausting day. He reached for the coffee mug sitting on a warmer and scowled at the empty bottom. Maybe it was for the best. He’d had enough caffeine to fuel a jet.

But they’d put a murderer away for life. Not too shabby.

“What are you still doing here?” Noah poked his head over the top of Dawson’s cubicle. “Weren’t you supposed to go home an hour ago?”

The chief had ordered him to clock out, but Dawson hated leaving without filing his reports. “Just finishing up.” His gaze swept over his fellow detective. Noah looked worse for wear after working around the clock for the last week. His hair stood up in spikes, and the bags under his eyes were deep enough to look permanent. “You aren’t on duty tomorrow, are you?”

Noah shook his head. “I’m spending the day with my wife.” He grimaced. “Provided she remembers we’re still married. I haven’t seen Felicity in days. Every time I popped home to check on Hope, she was gone. She’s been working a big case too.”

Noah’s wife was a Texas Ranger.

Dawson grinned. “Going through withdrawal?”

“Yep, and not ashamed to admit it.” Noah grinned. “There’s only two things in life I need. My daughter and my wife. Not necessarily in that order, mind you, but it’s hard when work takes me away from them.”

A pang ricocheted through Dawson’s chest. There had been a time he’d felt the same way—when going home at the end of a long shift meant seeing the woman he loved. But those days were long over. Tragedy had shattered his marriage. And his heart.

Noah tapped on the top of the cubicle, pulling Dawson from his thoughts. “Go home, man. You look ready to drop.”

“I will.” He had one more report to get through first. “Good work, by the way.”

“You too.” Noah fist-bumped him. “We make a good team.”

“Yes we do.”

They’d come perilously close to losing Megan and Jax. If they’d arrived at the barn even a minute later… Dawson didn’t let himself finish the thought.

“Night, Noah. Give my love to Felicity and Hope.”

Noah yawned and nodded, waving as he headed for the front door.

Silence settled over the station. Dawson liked it when things were quiet. It was so different from the constant chaos of the Dallas Police Department, where he’d worked for ten years before coming home to Knoxville. Scrubbing his hands down his face, he opened his eyes wide and set his jaw. “Okay. Last report, then I’m out.”

He clicked on the document and started typing. Just as he was about to finish, his cell phone rang.

He answered it absently. “This is Graham.”

“Dawson.”

He froze as the all-too-familiar voice spilled from the Bluetooth speaker in his ear.

Payton.

His ex-wife.

“I’m sure… I know this isn’t…” She muttered something under her breath and then inhaled sharply. “I need your help, Dawson. It’s a matter of life and death.”