Page 12 of Wanted: Forever (Murdock Brothers #3)
Parker
I paused at the door to my office.
The faint hint of paint and his Sauvage cologne sat in the room.
My office was complete. The walls had been freshly painted and the ceiling was a gleaming white.
The room felt more open, less like my predecessor’s hand me downs thanks to the soft gray area rug that took up half the room.
Now there was a defined space for where I worked and a small sitting area he’d created for meetings.
Professional, but leaning into the feminine without detracting from the fact that I was a cop.
How did he know to do that?
How did he know me better than any man with only a few intimate moments between us?
I touched the fat, waxy leaves of a plant by my window. Real, not plastic. There was a small card inside with a feminine scrawl.
She’s only thirsty once a week. Keep her by the light and she’ll flourish.
Anna M
Cash’s mother.
I shook my head and put the card in the window for the cleaning lady to have the instructions so I didn’t kill it. I wasn’t exactly known for my green thumb.
Nora told me her future mother-in-law was a plant lady and had been showing her how to beautify the house’s landscape.
“Boss?”
I turned at our day admin’s voice. “Yes, Patty?”
“The mayor’s on the phone.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Which line?”
“Three.”
“Thanks.” I moved to my desk, sinking in my chair and counting to ten before I picked up. “Mayor Finley, what can I do for you?”
“About the warehouse?—”
“Mayor, I’ve been trying to get together enough people to?—”
“Oh, I know. Could you meet me over there today? Say in an hour?”
To do what? Go over the endless list of things she wanted me to do? With what people and resources? I needed to hire at least two more officers, but that would only take some of the load off of me and my team. There was no extra until Jonas came back from leave.
That was if he came back at all.
He still needed to pass all his physicals and qualify at the shooting range.
I bounced my head against the back of my chair then pushed myself up. I didn’t bother with my vest since I wasn’t on patrol this morning. I clipped my holster to my belt and logged out.
August came in with a break in the humidity. The temperatures were still soaring, but the heaviness had finally lessened. I headed out to the edge of town where the warehouses were located. I frowned at the full parking lot. Mostly trucks with a few cars I recognized from town.
Music hit me as soon as I opened my door. Four large dumpsters were lined up near the biggest building. All of them full.
Gus Murdock waved, a load of broken pallet slats balanced on his shoulder. “Hey, Chief.”
I rolled my eyes. “Oh, stop with the Chief.”
He threw the boards in the dumpster. “Can’t believe Parker Olsen is now head of our fair town.”
I laughed and hugged him. “Nora said you’ve been down in Costa Rica since January. Nice to see you home again.”
“Hey, you were the one gone for years. What brought you back?”
I shrugged. “I was tired of the big city. So now, here I am.”
“Here you are, making my brother nuts.”
I hooked my thumb on my belt. “Which brother?”
He gave me a hard stare. “You know which one.”
I peeredaround him, ignoring the comment. “What’s going on?”
“Come see.”
I followed him down the alley. All the garbage had been cleared leaving cracked cement and dust behind. I got to the opening of the shared space between all the buildings.
A half dozen teenagers were stacking pallets, sweeping, and filling garbage bags with the leftover ashes and old food containers. A recycling bin was filled with empty bottles and cans.
I recognized a few of them from the party that started this mess. They wouldn’t look at me, but they were all working and that was enough for me.
Cam and Sully were breaking down the unusable pallets making more stacks like Gus had brought out.
The whole area was swept, and trash bags lined the building waiting to go out to the dumpsters.
Nora and Lexi had overalls on and were following the kids with brooms to make more piles behind them.
Even Mayor Finley was sort of helping.
I wasn’t aware she knew how to use a broom, but she was trying.
Kai and Ripley were stacking the rusted-out barrels onto the flatbed of Ripley’s tow truck. Cash came around with massive straps to tie them down.
All of them had come and taken this off my hands.
Cash looked up and spotted me, a grin on his face. “Hi, Chief.”
Everyone turned to where I was standing. Gus nudged me then went to help his brothers.
“I can’t believe you did all this.”
Cash pulled off his work gloves and stuffed them in his pocket as he walked toward me. He wore dusty coveralls like the rest of his brothers. “The mayor offered to take off a few hundred of my community service hours if I got my brothers and a few friends to help clear out the fire hazard.”
“Did she?” I glanced over at the mayor who was leaning on her broom with a grin.
“I said no, but got people to help anyway.”
“You said no?”
He nodded. “I did the crime now I gotta do my time. I have work to do to convince a certain Chief that I’m a fine, upstanding guy.”
I couldn’t stop the smile. “I like you just the way you are, Cash Murdock.”
He grinned, pulling me closer. “Yeah?”
I didn’t look around to who could see. I didn’t really care.
He’d done all this to help me. He’d redone my office above and beyond what was required for his service. And he was just the right guy for me.
“I think this Chief likes having a bad boy in her life.” I lifted my arms up to link my hands at the back of his neck.
He lowered to kiss me sweetly. “I don’t mind if you want to use your cuffs on me sometimes, Parker.”
I heard his brothers snicker behind him.
“Thank you for this. And for my office.”
“I like taking care of you.”
“I’m getting used to that.” I went on my toes and kissed him hard. “Now, what do you need help with?”
He lifted me off my toes and spun me around. “You can direct. I know how much you like to be bossy.”
“Then get back to work so you can earn your reward,” I whispered.
“That’s my Parker.”
I grinned as I pushed him away.
I really liked the idea of being his.