Page 25 of The Aster Valley Collection, Vol. 2
He took the top two bottles and turned to hand them to Solo, who’d walked over to say hello. “Thanks, Sheriff Stone,” Solo said. “Acting’s hard work.”
I blinked back at Finn, who scraped his teeth over his bottom lip.
“I’m, ah… working with these guys on some…
stuff.” He handed out the rest of the bottles except for one, taking the final water and cracking it open.
He took a big slug without ever losing eye contact with me.
“What are you up to today? No uniform must mean a day off?”
I looked down at the rumpled hiking shorts I wore. My favorite T-shirt topped off the lazy-ass look with its six-year-old fundraiser logo half-gone from wear. “I look like I belong under a bridge,” I muttered.
Finn reached out and put a hand on my chest, directly over my heart. I wanted to lean into his touch and sigh with relief, but I forced myself to remain still. “You look like someone I’d like to haul under a bridge,” he said even more softly.
I glanced at him in surprise before looking around to see if we were being watched. Finn started to pull his hand away, but I quickly clapped it to my chest again and squeezed just for the briefest moment before letting it go.
There was nothing left to do but make a big, giant fool of myself.
“Uh, I thought… um… uh…” Jesus Christ, how did people do this dating thing?
I swallowed and tried again. “I’d like to…
ah…” My heart started thundering with embarrassment.
I tried to recall some of my law enforcement training. Steady on, Sheriff.
Finn’s eyelashes fluttered like they, too, were laughing at me. I didn’t blame them.
“Dec?”
“Mm?”
He leaned in and deliberately brushed his nose across my cheek until his lips touched my ear. I squeezed my eyes closed and tried to remember a public park boner could get me fired. “Will you please come over tonight so I can suck your?—”
“Finn!” Solo called, making me jump back and reach for my sidearm. I quickly shook it off and shot a glare at Finn for distracting me. He only grinned proudly and shot me a wink.
Solo called over again. “We gotta finish before I’m due for my shift at the diner, remember?”
I gathered my wits about me and finally got my head out of my ass. “Let me make you dinner,” I offered quickly, before he left to finish… whatever it was he was doing with this group of kids. “I’ll text you the address, okay?”
He nodded. “You sure?”
I clenched my jaw for a moment, debating about whether or not to share my thoughts with him. Fuck it. I stepped closer and lowered my voice. “I’m not just interested in the sucking, okay?”
The playful grin melted away as his eyes met mine. He nodded. “Yeah, okay. It’s… yeah. Good. I… same.”
I reached for his hand just long enough to rub my thumb across the back of it. The sounds of snickering from the group of teens met my ears, but I ignored them. “Seven o’clock.”
When I returned to Tessa, she gave me a knowing look. Thankfully, she waited until we were in the car before beginning the third degree.
“You and the Clover kid.”
“His name is Finn,” I said a little too peevishly. “Sorry.”
“It’s okay. I just didn’t realize you were quite so…” She lifted her hands up and wiggled all her fingers in the air. “With the feelings.”
I shrugged. “Not sure there can really be feelings there, but… yeah. I… yeah.”
She made all kinds of squishy sweet noises like she was watching puppy videos. “What do you like most about him?” she asked next.
“He’s feisty but vulnerable. I can tell he’s fighting to figure out who he is underneath all the expectations on him.”
Tessa studied me. “Sounds familiar, huh?”
I glanced at her. “What do you mean?”
“You forget we grew up together. I know your family. I know what it was like for you trying to figure out who Declan was outside of all those highbrow Stone brothers.”
She was right. It hadn’t been easy telling my father, a renowned oncologist at Cedars-Sinai, that I wanted to join the LAPD right out of high school. In fact, he’d been so angry, he’d made me a deal. Get a college degree first, and then if I still wanted to become a cop, he’d support me.
So that’s what I’d done. And it had damned near killed him to watch me put on the uniform and put myself at risk every day.
When I’d told my parents I was moving from the LAPD to a small county sheriff’s office in Colorado, they’d celebrated.
“The distance is a small price to pay for your life,” my mother had said over and over at the big family dinner she’d thrown.
“And if we have to buy a share in a private jet service, then so be it.”
Leave it to my mother, who’d inherited a fortune from her own parents, to mention hiring a private plane as if it was as easy as arranging for an Uber.
My brothers, on the other hand, had been supportive despite the same worries.
Two of them had followed my father into medicine, another had gone into investment banking, Patrick had become an attorney, and I’d become a police officer.
And I’d never regretted it. Not once. Not even when I had to testify against my fellow officers.
Maybe, in fact, especially when I had to testify against my fellow officers.
“Not everyone has such a supportive family,” I said. “I was lucky.”
She made a pensive sound and looked out the window. I remembered too late that hers was one such family. Her parents had insisted on marriage when she’d told them about the pregnancy. “Shit, Tess. I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking.”
She shook her head. “No. It’s fine.”
But it wasn’t, and we both knew it.
It started with a sniffle. Before I knew it, she was crying full-on. I whipped the SUV into my driveway and slammed it into Park. “Christ.”
She waved a hand through the air. “Pregnancy hormones. Ignore.”
“Not possible,” I told her before coming around to her side of the car so I could pull her out and hug her as tightly as I could with a giant beach ball between us. “C’mere. I’m so fucking sorry.”
She cried even harder and clung to me as tightly as she could. “I just wish… I just wish I had someone like Finn.”
It took me a minute to realize she meant she wished she had someone like I had Finn. Not that she wanted a man like Finn. I knew she wanted someone to be there for her, care for her, and love on her the way she deserved. Assure her everything was going to be okay.
I brushed my hand over her hair. “Aw, sweetheart. You will. I know you will.” I didn’t add that I didn’t have Finn.
It wasn’t important. She simply didn’t want to go through the scary pregnancy and delivery, not to mention parenthood, alone.
And there was only so much I could offer her in the way of support.
After getting her into the house and settling her on the sofa with her favorite blanket, a glass of milk, a bag of fresh cookies we’d picked up at the vendor stalls, and the next episode in a sci-fi show she was into, I returned to the kitchen to look through some of my cookbooks.
I’d forgotten to ask about any dietary restrictions he might have during a film shoot, so I decided to stick with something relatively light and healthy just in case.
When I was almost ready to head to the market to pick up the necessary items, the doorbell rang. It was Shawn Graham, looking sheepish.
“Hiya, Deputy,” I said with a grin, happy to see a face that might make Tess feel better. “How can I help you today?”
He was holding a small handful of wildflowers tied with ribbon. “Oh, uh… is Tessa here?”
I was so happy to see him, I decided to mess with him a little. “Are those for me? You shouldn’t have.”
He whipped the flowers behind his back. “Back off, Sheriff. You’re not pretty enough for flowers.”
I let out a laugh. “Please tell me Truman Sweet didn’t see you picking flowers on the highway. He’ll file a formal complaint, and then I’ll have to jail my own deputy for destruction of public property.”
He stepped past me when he caught sight of Tess on the sofa. “No, I actually bought these from a stall he had at the market today. It was either wildflowers or a bottle of smoked paprika.” His face softened as he handed the flowers to Tess.
She frowned and met his eye. “I’d rather have had the paprika.”
His face fell so fast, I laughed again. “She’s messing with you.”
Tess flashed Shawn a teasing grin, and I let out a sigh of relief. She was going to be okay. I’d make sure of it.
I turned and headed out the door to the market.
When I returned, I showered, shaved, and changed into nicer clothes.
Nothing fancy, but at least these shorts weren’t wrinkled, and the T-shirt had been replaced with a short-sleeve button-down.
When I walked back into the living room, Tessa whistled, and Shawn, who was snuggled up with her watching her show, threw me a thumbs-up.
I rolled my eyes and continued into the kitchen.
“Am I making enough for four?” I called out a few minutes later. “Shawn, you’re welcome to stay and eat with us.”
There was no response. When I wandered back to the doorway between the kitchen and living room, I saw Shawn kissing Tessa softly with a gentle hand behind her head. I cleared my throat just to watch Shawn jump away like a guilty teen.
“You staying for dinner?” I asked again. “I have plenty.”
Tess glanced between Shawn and me before murmuring something to Shawn and getting up to follow me into the kitchen.
“After Finn gets here, I’m going to, ah… go for a sleepover at Shawn’s.” She held up a hand. “And before you jump to any conclusions, I’m only doing this to give you and your man child some privacy.”
I held my tongue long enough to fake a serious nod. “So generous,” I murmured. “How can I thank you for sacrificing yourself this way?”
She punched me hard in the gut with a small fist. “Asshole.” Then she turned and walked out of the kitchen to continue her snuggle on the couch while I gasped for breath through my laughter.