One of the hardest things Hunter had ever done was keep his hands and words to himself as he watched Layla struggle with some inner revelation. Her breath caught in an audible gasp, and before she looked down, he saw the bright sheen of tears in her beautiful eyes.
More than anything, he ached to comfort her, to wrap his arms around her and offer her his shoulder to cry on if she needed it, but knew he didn’t have the right. This thing between them—whatever it might turn out to be—was still too new, too uncertain.
After all, Layla still intended to go through with marrying another man.
Her fiancé should be the one to comfort her. She deserved that, as well as a man who would love her more than anything else, who would hold her close on wintry nights and celebrate her victories, large and small.
All of which, Hunter realized, he himself longed to do.
This should have stunned him, but it didn’t. He’d known since the first time he touched her that Layla Colton was special. She just didn’t realize it yet.
Hopefully, he’d be around when she did.
Pushing up out of his chair, he went into the kitchen, eyeing the almost empty wine bottle and deciding to pass it up in favor of water. “Do you want the rest of the wine?” he called out. “There’s probably enough left for one more glass.”
“No, thanks,” she said, her voice a bit wobbly. “But I’d love a glass of water if you don’t mind. For some reason, wine makes me dehydrated.”
He poured two tall glasses of ice water and carried them back into the living room. “Here you go,” he said cheerfully, handing one to her. She raised her head and thanked him. At least she didn’t appear to have been crying.
“Everything’s all going to work out, you know,” he told her, even though he had no idea of the nature of her inner struggle. “It always does.”
“True.” Sipping her water, she considered him. “You know what? Once I get back home, I’m thinking it’s time to get a dog of my own.”
She couldn’t have surprised him more if she’d tried. “Really? You’d have to cut way back on your work hours or hire someone to come let him or her out.”
“I know.” Her serene smile told him she’d clearly reached some kind of inner resolution. “I’ve actually realized that the time has come to make a lot of changes to my life.”
He waited for her to elaborate, but instead she started talking about how eager she was to get back to work at the K9 center tomorrow. Since he knew better than to push her, he didn’t. She’d tell him whenever she felt ready to.
Because they both had to be up early the next morning, they watched the evening news and said their good-nights. As he walked to his room, Hunter marveled how easily they clicked together, even when it wasn’t about sex.
He could get used to this.
Since that kind of thinking felt way too dangerous, he pushed the thought from his mind and went to bed.
The next morning, Hunter staggered into the kitchen with the intention of grabbing a cup of coffee. Caffeine first, then a hot shower. Hopefully, those two things combined would help wake him up. Even when he’d been younger, he’d never been much of a morning person, and switching from working graveyard to the day shift would take a bit of an adjustment. To put things mildly. It didn’t help that he and Layla had sat up late just talking.
He enjoyed her company. Even putting aside the constant attraction simmering between them, he admired her intelligent wit, her sense of humor and the passion with which she discussed things that mattered to her.
Since he could hear the sound of her shower running, he knew he’d have the kitchen to himself, which was exactly what he wanted. He made his coffee and escaped to his own room.
After his coffee and his shower, he felt a lot more human. Dressed in his uniform and ready to go, he made his way back to the kitchen to grab a second cup of coffee and something to eat.
Layla looked up and smiled when he entered. “I hope you don’t mind, I made a pot of oatmeal,” she said. “There’s more on the stove if you want some.”
Grateful, he nodded. “Thanks. That sounds a lot better than the bowl of cold cereal I was planning on having.”
Outside, the sun had not yet risen. The wind howled around the edges of the house, making the window screens rattle. He shuddered. “Sounds cold.”
“It is. I checked the weather on my phone,” Layla told him. “A cold front came in earlier. It’s snowing. They’re predicting three inches.” Since snow in South Dakota wasn’t unusual this time of year, no one was surprised.
“At least it’s just a dusting.” However, since this would be only the second snowfall of the season for Red Ridge, he envisioned numerous accidents. People appeared to completely forget how to drive on snow over the course of a summer.
Because of that, he went back to his room and replaced his shoes with snow boots. When he returned to the kitchen, Layla had just donned her down parka. A soft violet color, it looked both warm and expensive.
“Nice coat,” he told her.
“Thanks.” Pulling a pair of gloves from her pocket, she slipped them over her hands. “Stay warm today.”
“You too.” He didn’t tell her he’d probably be working some accident scenes, depending on how the chief wrote the assignments. Since it had been a good while, Hunter figured he was due to take a turn.
Once he stepped outside into the howling wind and near whiteout conditions, Hunter realized the weather forecast had been wrong. No way was a snowstorm this intense only bringing three inches. Hell, from what he could tell, four inches had already fallen, and the snow continued to come down in a steady curtain of flakes.
Despite the as-yet unplowed roads, Hunter arrived for work early, which was good, since he wanted to have a word with the chief. The night shift—his former coworkers—were just getting off, and they greeted him with waves and a few teasing comments about how soft he’d be now that he worked days. He teased them back and then asked how the last couple hours had been for traffic incidents.
“Most people are still home” was the reply. “Everything will start rocking and rolling for rush hour.”
Just what he’d been afraid of. Hopefully, people would wake up with the common sense they’d been born with and it wouldn’t be too bad.
Since Chief Colton always showed up early to have a few words with the graveyard shift before starting his day, he already was in his office, drinking black coffee out of an oversize mug and skimming through the newspaper. The board on the wall still held last night’s assignments, so Hunter didn’t know if he’d work traffic patrol or not yet.
In the meantime, he wanted to talk to the chief about Devlin Harrington.
Hunter poked his head in the doorway. “You got a minute?”
“Of course.” Putting down the paper, the chief waved him to a chair. “What’s up?”
Hoping he wouldn’t get in too much trouble for playing fast and loose with valuable evidence, Hunter filled his boss in on what he’d done with the baseball cards and Devlin Harrington. When he finished, Chief Colton pinched the bridge of his nose and considered.
“But what exactly are you hoping to accomplish?” he asked.
A reasonable question. “Goose alerted me three times when I visited Devlin’s office. He’s got some computer storage devices stashed there. We just need a valid reason to ask for a search warrant. If we could set up a sting operation, with me selling him the valuable baseball cards and then having me get busted, we could search there, since he knowingly bought stolen inventory. I brought a small recorder and I have it all on tape.”
To Hunter’s relief, the chief didn’t immediately discount his plan.
“It might work,” the older man finally allowed. “We’d have to bring a few of the others in on it. Let me ask you this. What exactly are you hoping to find on these storage devices?”
“Evidence that will incriminate Devlin for the Groom murders.”
Chief Colton whistled. “That’s a tall order.”
“True,” Hunter admitted. “But my gut instincts are rarely wrong.”
“You know, you might have something there. Yesterday when you were off, we received an anonymous tip. One of the murder weapons is supposedly buried on some land Devlin Harrington owns. A team is going out there with their dogs to search this morning.”
Hunter wanted to go, but that kind of search wasn’t Goose’s specialty, so he’d only get in the way. Despite the rush of triumph that flooded through him at the news, he kept this to himself. “Please let me know if they find anything,” he said instead.
“Will do.” The chief glanced at him. “Any news on the two incidents with Layla?”
“No. I’m frustrated. Whoever is behind them is too good. We don’t have any prints or witnesses. Nothing.”
“I hope something turns up.” Returning his attention to his computer, Chief Colton dismissed him.
Back at his own desk, Hunter sifted through the case files he’d brought with him from nights. He had a possible embezzling case to bring Goose to, which she’d love. The company had requested help locating evidence that could prove what they already suspected.
And the Mark Hatton/Layla Colton case. That would move slowly, and most of the interaction would be between the individuals’ attorneys. Of course, Hunter still had hope he could find real evidence to disprove Hatton’s claims.
When assignments went up, Hunter saw he wasn’t on traffic. Both relieved and surprised, he figured the work he’d been doing on Devlin Harrington had to be the reason.
At noon, after a morning spent pushing paper, Hunter stretched and headed out to grab something to eat. He’d take it home with him, just as he’d done on the graveyard shift, so he could spend time with Goose and let her out. She loved snow.
Outside, the snowfall had tapered off to flurries. It looked like the streets had been plowed, too, and traffic appeared steady. As he trudged through snow to his vehicle, he glanced over at the K9 training center and wondered how Layla was doing. Briefly, he considered stopping in and saying hello to her, but he knew that would likely cause speculation and gossip.
Instead, he drove slowly down Main Street. The sky continued to sporadically spit out snow. He picked up a burger and fries and headed home. As usual, Goose greeted him with enthusiasm, but since she was used to sleeping during the day, she appeared a bit confused. He let her out, standing by the back door since he knew she would stay outside too long if he didn’t call her in due to her love of the white wet stuff.
As he’d expected, she romped and burrowed, making tunnels in the snow. But when he called her, she returned to the door in record time, shaking the white flakes off her coat. Once inside, she shot him a mournful look before circling around to lie in her bed near the fireplace. Even though there wasn’t a fire, this was her favorite spot. She’d been known to drag her bed back there when he moved it elsewhere.
After he finished his lunch, he ruffled his dozing dog’s fur, which earned him another look, and headed back to work. On the way there, he passed a fender bender. Two of his coworkers worked it, both appearing miserable in the cold wind. He waved and one of them raised his gloved hand and flipped Hunter the bird, making him laugh.
As soon as he walked through the door to the squad room, he knew something was up. The entire department buzzed, and the energy level felt high. He’d barely made it to his desk when Detective Carson Gage bustled over. “Did you hear? We found the Groom Killer’s murder weapon.”
“Wow. Good work.” Hunter stared. “Where?”
“Some vacant land owned by Devlin Harrington.” Carson grimaced. “A couple of the guys went to talk with him. He claims he has no idea how it got there.”
“Of course he doesn’t.” Hunter didn’t bother to hide the sarcasm. “Are we going for a warrant to search his home and office?”
The detective glanced toward the chief’s office. “Chief is working on it with the DA’s office, but apparently the DA wants more evidence.”
With difficulty, Hunter suppressed a groan. Then they’d have to go with his plan involving the baseball cards. He’d honestly been hoping there’d be an easier way.
Ten minutes later Chief Colton summoned Hunter to his office. “Close the door,” the chief ordered. Judging from the steely glint in his blue eyes, he was furious. “I just got off the phone with Judge Kugen. He declined to grant us the warrant. So we’re going with your idea. Pick two guys who you’d like on your team and we’ll get them in here and fill them in. I want to get the ball rolling on this.”
“Yes, sir.” Hunter headed back to his desk to mull over which two officers he wanted to work with. Though he hadn’t been on day shift long enough to know them well, he’d dealt with several of them over time. He should be able to make a smart choice and get this operation up and running.
Layla’s second day at the K9 training center went by just as quickly as the first. While she knew most people would find it odd to spend one’s vacation doing volunteer work, she could honestly say she enjoyed it more than a week lounging on the beach at one of her father’s luxurious beach resorts.
Not only did she love being around all the dogs, but it felt fulfilling to be a part of something that contributed to the greater good. These canines would go on to become police and bomb-sniffing dogs. Watching the handlers train the animals put an itch inside her to learn what they knew so she could do it herself.
Which would be a total career change. And she had no clue what such a job might pay.
Still, as the day went on, she couldn’t shake the idea. She asked a lot of questions, earned some approving and curious looks, and paid attention. As possibilities went, she realized the logistics seemed staggering. At thirty-one, she’d not only have to attend the police academy and pass, since all trainers were also police officers, but she’d have to attend classes on dog training. And even once she’d done all that, she had no guarantee that they’d even hire her.
Yet she hadn’t gotten this far in her life by being a quitter. Despite her father owning Colton Energy, Layla had worked damn hard to get where she was today. And she’d continued to work hard to stay there. Long hours combined with a dedicated work ethic kept her at the top. And now that she’d gotten where she’d always wanted to be, was she really willing to chuck it all for something completely different?
An early midlife crisis, perhaps? She grinned at the thought. Was such a thing even possible at thirty-one? More likely, she’d finally opened her eyes and realized all she had to show for her hard work was an empty life. No pets, no friends, no special someone. Spinning like a hamster on a wheel trying to please a narcissistic father. Oh, and she’d also allowed herself to get engaged to a man she barely knew, someone she could not imagine spending the rest of her life with.
In short, she was a mess.
Today, everyone at the training center was talking about Thanksgiving. Sharing recipes, bragging about the size of their turkey or how many people were coming over. To her surprise, they included her in their discussions, even though she had little to contribute. She knew better than to volunteer how she usually spent her holidays and didn’t feel comfortable mentioning that Hunter had invited her to spend Thanksgiving with him, so she simply listened and nodded a lot.
She even asked for a recipe when one of the trainers described a particularly mouthwatering apple-caramel cheesecake she made. Though Layla wasn’t much of a cook, since Hunter didn’t bake, maybe she could take care of dessert. The thought of making something for him filled her with a warm, fuzzy feeling.
When she asked who trained the dogs like Goose, who were able to detect hidden computer storage devices, the group’s reactions surprised her. Apparently, there were only a few dogs like Goose in the entire United States, and that type of specialized training only took place in a facility on the East Coast.
Hunter had gone there and learned the technique. Then he’d applied that technique and trained his dog himself.
“Does that mean he hasn’t trained any others?” Layla asked, looking around at the group. One by one, they all shook their heads.
“When he started with the Red Ridge PD, he wasn’t part of the K9 unit,” one of the men explained. “He bought that odd little basset from a breeder and trained her himself. With a dog like that, he could have gone to work anywhere. The FBI, the DEA and a half dozen police departments from around the country all wanted him. Yet he choose to stay here once he was offered a spot as a K9 officer.”
“Wow.” As she looked from one admiring face to another, Layla realized Hunter had done something difficult and made it look easy. “I take it Goose must be good at what she does?”
Several people laughed. “Let’s just say that little dog’s talents are in high demand. Hunter is constantly fielding requests to assist in various investigations, usually FBI.”
Impressed, Layla changed the subject before someone asked her why she seemed so interested in Hunter.
Walking outside into the fenced enclosure with one of the dogs, she saw the snow wasn’t falling as heavily, though when she looked past the chain link, all the cars in the parking lot were covered in white. The roads looked good, though, which meant they’d been recently plowed. South Dakota residents were used to winter weather. Most natives even relished it, at least at first. By March, almost everyone had cabin fever and wanted the snow gone.
Hunter Black fascinated her. Where another man might have bragged about his own accomplishments, he’d only lauded his dog. From what she’d seen, the dog trainers were all a highly supportive—though slightly competitive—bunch, and even they hadn’t failed to give credit where credit was due. They’d spoken of Hunter with such affectionate reverence, indicating he was not only well liked, but well respected.
She’d never met a man like him. She doubted there were many. Physical lure aside, his strength of character and dedication to his dog and his job doubled his attraction to her.
Tired of so much deep thinking, she took a deep breath, enjoying the bite of the frigid air. Exhaling, she decided to try to simply live in the moment. At least for the rest of the day.
Right before it was time to leave, Clarice Kutchison called her into her office. “How are you liking things so far?” she asked, motioning at Layla to take a seat.
Feeling comfortable, Layla smiled at the other woman. “I’m enjoying myself,” she said. “So much so, I’m wondering what kind of training I’d need to make this a full-time occupation.”
Clarice’s eyes widened. “You do seem to have a natural affinity for dogs,” she mused. “Of course, you’d have to attend a training academy with a specialty in dogs. There are two nearby. Not everyone makes it through the rigorous K9 part, but if you pass, perhaps Danica, our lead trainer, would hire you part-time until something full-time comes up.”
“Part-time?” Layla swallowed. “Do you have any idea for how long?”
“That depends on the need and how well you do. As a rookie trainer, you’d be assigned to shadow various trainers here and study their techniques. Of course, we only use positive reinforcement, as well as NILF.”
“NILF?”
“Nothing in life is free. It’s a method of teaching dogs that they have to work for everything. We’ve had great success with it, especially with some of the behavior issues we see in animals coming here from a shelter.”
“Clearly, I need to do some reading up,” Layla said, smiling.
“And think very long and hard how serious you are about this,” Clarice continued. “This is the opposite of corporate management, the type of work you do now. You’ll never get rich working with dogs.”
“Getting rich has never been a dream of mine.” Aware her honest answer could still be misconstrued, Layla elaborated. “My family has money, and as far as I can tell, it’s never brought any of them happiness.”
Clarice laughed. “Said by someone who has no idea what it’s like to be truly poor. I’ve been there and never want to live like that again.” She shuddered. “Not knowing where your next meal is coming from, how you’ll manage to keep the electricity on...”
“I’m sorry,” Layla said. “I didn’t know.”
“Hey, it’s all in the past. No worries.” Reaching across the desk, she touched the back of Layla’s hand. “But it’s something to keep in mind, too. I mean no offense, but you’re a Colton. I know your sister, and she’s good people. She’s dedicated to what she does here.”
“It runs in the family.” Layla smiled. “I can assure you I’d be equally dedicated.”
“I’m sure you would. But you work for your dad. Carrying on the family business and all that. On top of that, your father is the mayor.” She took a deep breath. “He could make things pretty awful for us if he didn’t approve of you making a career change.”
Stunned, Layla could only stare. “My father doesn’t control my life. Anymore, anyway.”
Clarice’s arched eyebrow spoke volumes. Layla’s stomach churned.
Clarice opened her mouth to reply, but Layla held up a hand before she could speak. “He doesn’t seem to understand that I’m a grown woman and capable of making my own decisions.” With a massive effort, Layla managed to keep her voice steady. “I can assure you,” she continued, “while my father might sign my current paycheck, he doesn’t have the right to say what career choices I make or what I do with my life.” Taking a deep breath, she briefly debated whether to continue, but she hadn’t gotten to be a top-notch executive, regardless of what her father thought, by avoiding tackling difficult things. “I have to say, I’m disappointed. I find it appalling that you would let my father dictate who you could or could not employ.”
Instead of reacting defensively or with anger, Clarice laughed. “I’m glad to hear that.” Clarice flashed a brilliant smile. “To be honest, what Fenwick Colton does or doesn’t want has never been a factor in any of our hiring considerations. But I’ve heard you were a daddy’s girl and would do whatever he ordered. I’m glad to know I heard wrong.”
Though Layla could well imagine where the other woman had gotten such information, since all of her siblings had always been critical of her relationship with their father, she didn’t take offense. How could she? Because up until recently, even the prospect of her father’s disapproval would have had her scurrying to find a way to please him.
No longer. It felt weird to actually understand what her brother and sister had been telling her all along—that no child should have to earn a parent’s love.
Clarice stood. “It’s been great talking with you,” she said, her expression earnest. “You’re doing great and I’ve heard good things about you. You’re welcome to volunteer as long as you’d like. And if you decide you truly want to pursue a career training police dogs, you have my stamp of approval to work here once you’ve made it through the police academy.”
Pushing to her feet, Layla smiled at the other woman. She felt like she’d just aced a job interview. “Thank you so much. I really appreciate all your help and your insight.”
This made Clarice laugh. “Someone had to tell you, just in case you didn’t already know. It’s never good to have a super-controlling parent running around behind your back trying to undermine you.”
“True.” Layla stuck out her hand.
After they shook, Clarice walked with her to the door. “Remember, we’re closed Thursday and Friday for the holiday. You’re welcome to come in on the weekend, but it will be a skeleton staff until Monday.”
“Do I need to let you know?”
“No. I’ll expect you on Monday, but if you do decide to show up this weekend, just ask around and see how you can help.”
Layla thanked her and left. As she made her way back to the training arena, she reflected on what Clarice had said. A super-controlling parent running around behind your back trying to undermine you.
Exactly. Fenwick Colton had damn well better back off, or she might just decide to take an indefinite leave of absence. Right now, even the thought of returning to her once beloved job at Colton Energy made her feel queasy.