Page 8 of The Aster Valley Collection, Vol. 2

DECLAN

I was running on two hours of sleep, a giant cinnamon roll from the new bakery, and a vat of coffee. To say my mood was less than ideal would be an understatement.

So when one of my brothers called to ask me a favor, I was inclined to tell him where to shove that favor.

The only thing that kept me from biting his head off was the knowledge I owed him one.

A big one. He’d been the one to offer pro bono legal help to my partner when all the shit had gone down with the department’s bribery scandal back in LA.

And even when Nick had been clearly guilty of the charges against him, my brother Patrick had given him a strong defense and had negotiated an impressive plea deal for him.

I owed Patrick big-time, and seeing Tess, Nick’s ex-girlfriend, on my stoop last night was a reminder of it.

“Can’t I have one of my deputies do it?” I asked with a sigh. “You have no idea how high-maintenance Finn Heller is.”

Patrick laughed. “No way. I promised her he’d get the best man on the force. One has to assume that’s you, Peanut.”

Leave it to one of my brothers to be loving and condescending in the same breath. “How do you even know this agent? Is she a client?”

“You know I can’t tell you that. But I can tell you she’s Olivia’s tennis partner at the club.

She and her husband are friends of ours.

In fact, you’ve probably met them at the holiday party before.

Iris is tiny, and her husband is a giant.

Olivia always makes rude jokes behind their backs about the physics involved during sex. ”

That rang a bell. I remembered the husband more than the wife. Sexy as hell, but a pompous jackass who name-dropped in every sentence.

“Yeah, okay. Whatever. But this is a big ask, so now you’re going to owe me one.”

His warm, familiar laughter made me smile. Moving away from my family had been the only downside to my relocation to Colorado.

“That’s not how this works,” he said. “We’ll be even if anything. Don’t you remember when Nick wanted to bribe the judge on his case?”

Heat flooded my face. My partner had hidden his corruption incredibly well until he’d been caught. Then it had seemed like almost a game to him.

My hesitation must have betrayed my emotions because Patrick’s voice dropped the teasing tone. “It’s okay, Dec. You know I’m used to shit like that. He wasn’t even close to the worst of my clients. And I was happy to do that for you. Okay?”

I was the youngest of five boys. They’d always been just as protective and loving toward me as my parents had been.

“Okay. Yeah. Ah… speaking of Nick, Tessa showed up here last night.”

“Really? Is she okay? I saw her about six weeks ago when Nick signed away his parental rights. Since you’re listed as her next of kin, she told me I could disclose it to you.”

I hadn’t known she’d listed me as next of kin, but she’d told me about the parental rights. Thank god. Nick Kimball had never been father material.

I thought of how Tess had been so exhausted she’d burst into tears before I’d taken her inside and put her to bed.

“She’s not okay. It’s been rough on her back in LA, financially and emotionally.

Her business dried up, and all her so-called friends have suddenly evaporated.

I told her to stay here with me for a while.

I have room, and she needs someone in her corner. ”

“She’s lucky to have you. It’s probably good for her to disappear until this crap dies down. As long as some of these bribery cases are still making their way through the courts, it’s going to remain active in the tabloids.”

At least Nick’s plea deal had saved us all that long, drawn-out process. He’d begun serving his long sentence as soon as Patrick had made the arrangements.

“I’ll have to find her a doctor or midwife, but I have a friend whose sister is a nurse. I’m sure she can help.”

“Good. Listen, I have to go. Things might not be busy in a small-town sheriff’s department, but they’re bonkers here. I’m due in court in about twenty minutes. Call Mom. She got downright sniffly the other night because you weren’t there for her special spaghetti and meatballs.”

I ended the call laughing. Our mother made spaghetti from a jar with frozen meatballs and tried to pass it off as an old family recipe passed down through generations from some Italian ancestor who didn’t actually exist. As soon as we were old enough to figure it out, we started calling it “Mom’s special spaghetti and meatballs,” and it cracked us up every time.

Leave it to Patrick to lift my spirits. My improved mood lasted all of ten minutes until Penny announced the arrival of “that adorable boy from that show.”

“Send him in,” I grumbled.

Somehow in the twelve or so hours since I’d seen him last, Finn Heller had become exponentially more attractive. Maybe my mind was playing tricks on me with an attempt to downplay his looks in my memory. But here he was in the flesh, about as sexy and compelling as a human being could possibly be.

What was it about him that made my breath come faster and shallower? He was too young, too… perky, too… everything .

“Hi, Sheriff,” he said, holding out his hand. “I’d like to apologize for last night and thank you for your intervention.”

He said this like he’d been rehearsing it on the way over. Still, I glanced down at his hand like it was going to bite.

“Just doing my job,” I said. As soon as my hand clasped his, my lower belly tightened. His grip was warm and firm, but his hands were soft and tender. I didn’t want to be attracted to him, but he was making it (and me) hard.

“Great. That’s what I’m here to see. I appreciate you agreeing to let me shadow you this week. I hope it’s no bother.”

I bit back a complaint that of course it was a bother. I had a county to keep in order, new deputies to train, and a large film project causing all kinds of traffic, zoning, and crowd control problems.

“No bother at all,” I said instead. “Have a seat.” I led him into my office and gestured to the plastic guest chair in front of my desk before taking a seat in my own chair. “What exactly can I help you with?”

I figured the best course of action was to determine what he wanted to learn or observe and then dive right in. Maybe once he had the information he needed, we could finish early.

Finn blinked at me, sooty eyelashes dusting his cheeks just above the sprinkling of freckles that made him look so young. “I, um…”

“I was under the impression this was an action film,” I said. “With shooting and explosions. Car chases and stuff.”

He scraped a tooth over his bottom lip. “Well, yes.”

“Which, as you probably know, isn’t normal fare for a small-town sheriff’s office in the Rocky Mountains,” I added.

His forehead crinkled. “But you’re not from here. You were a special operations detective in Los Angeles until recently. Weren’t you?”

I nodded. “I was. But it was a rare day when I chased a suspect to the inevitable mountainside cave explosion,” I said drily.

Pink suffused his face. “You know about the cave explosion scene.”

I nodded again. “My first official day as sheriff was spent talking the county council down from allowing your people to literally blow up the side of Rockley Mountain. Yes, I’m familiar with the plans.”

“They wouldn’t have actually blown it up,” he said. “Most of it is done with special effects.”

He must have had more faith in his director than the guy warranted. Nolan Trainor had actually submitted a request to use blasting agents for a live explosion shot. Thankfully, Tiller Raine’s attorneys had been better than Nolan’s, and the landowner had prevailed.

“They actually attained approval for a live detonation of a temporary structure. So, they’re still blasting, just not making a permanent dent in our mountain.”

Finn’s eyes widened. “They… they wanted to blow up part of the mountain?”

He was very good at acting naive.

“The movie apparently ends in an explosion that creates an avalanche.”

He nodded. “Well, sure, but that… I thought that was the kind of thing that would be done with CGI.”

“The show runner told me this director prefers shooting things as real as possible. Just be glad there’s such a thing as a stunt double.”

Finn’s forehead creased in a frown. “I’m not using a stunt double.

It’s one of the reasons Nolan cast me in this role.

You’re right about him being a stickler for authenticity.

There are several rock climbing scenes, and I’m…

I’m good at climbing. I just didn’t think it meant he’d want to blast into a real mountain. ”

He looked down at his hands which were clasped in his lap. Gone was the flashy celebrity who’d handed me his keys with a dismissive wave the other night in front of Mikey and Tiller’s place. In his place was someone I couldn’t figure out.

Finn Heller wasn’t just good at climbing.

He was famous for it. The show he’d been on was about a family known for their unusual luck.

Everything went right for them, regardless of how dangerous or ill-advised.

As a result, the youngest Clover kid had been a danger-seeker until finally finding his passion: rock climbing.

Finn had spent the next several seasons playing a serious rock climber.

Finally, I understood why this particular actor had been cast in a big-budget action film.

He was known for climbing, and the hero in the movie they were here filming was a rock climber.

I only knew about it since they’d had to schedule extra security and crowd control perimeters the days they were shooting climbing scenes on the other side of the mountain.

No matter how skilled I knew him to be, when I pictured Finn hanging from Slye Peak, my palms started to sweat. Just one more piece of the Finn Heller puzzle that was driving me crazy.