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He doesn’t skip a beat. “Army man, huh? How’d you know I was in the Army?”

“I, uh, well, umm, you see…” I trail off, my mind going blank on how to explain.

“Relax, it’s not a secret.”

“A friend of a friend may have mentioned it,” I squeak out, my mouth going dry.

“Emerson, I’m teasing you. I like the fact you may have been looking into me.”

“I wasn’t looking into you, per se. Maren told me—” I clamp my mouth shut, not willing to further my embarrassment.

“Well, regardless, yeah, I was in the Army for twelve years. Worked as Military Police.”

“Do you miss it?”

“Sometimes, but I like my life here. It was time to move on.”

“I’m sure Captain Cornelius was happy to have you.”

“Captain Corny is a lot of things, but I’m not sure he’s happy about me.”

“Captain Corny is a hilarious name for him.”

“He doesn’t think so.”

My alarm starts beeping for the first round of the ‘wake Emi up’ process, and I hit the snooze button.

“What the hell was that?”

“That was my alarm. Usually, it takes a few tries to get me out of bed.”

He mumbles something under his breath that I can’t understand, then speaks up. “Send me that information as soon as you can, and I’ll make sure the body shop knows Carlton’s footing the bill.”

“I’ll do that now.”

“We’ll talk soon, Emerson.” The line goes dead.

I practically float into the kitchen and snap pictures of the estimate to repair my car and the shop information. Once I send it to him, I hurry through my morning routine and get ready to work.

Before I log in to my system, I allow myself a few minutes to browse back through the pictures of Walker.

Maybe I’m a little obsessive, but a little eye-candy to start my day won’t hurt anything.

Chapter 3

Walker

I drop in my chair and scrub my hands down my face. The drive to the station did nothing to calm my anger.

Emerson is right; Carlton is a fuck-tard. But after today, he isn’t going to bother her anymore, or else he answers to me. With the way I left things, he doesn’t ever want to see me again.

I log in to my computer and start checking my emails, welcoming the mundane tasks. Fifteen minutes into it, I feel eyes on my back. I turn to find Oliver standing behind me with the captain by his side.

“Can I help you?” I bark in irritation.

“You’re late,” Cap’ says with a hint of humor.

“Didn’t realize I punched a time clock.”