Declan Nash lived in a simple house furnished with simple things. Remi walked into the entry and slowly turned in a circle to take in the open floor plan. The living room was to the left, the kitchen was straight ahead, and an open archway to the right showed a small office. The door off the living room must have led to the bedroom. Declan moved to it while waving her toward the kitchen.
She’d spent most of the car ride to the Nash Family Ranch complaining about being hungry, complaining about not being able to drink more than a cup of coffee and then complaining about how cold it was getting.
Remi didn’t know if it was pregnancy hormones making her grumpy or if she was looking for safe topics to talk about. Nothing that brought their future with a child into account. Nothing about the uptick in Overlook’s bad-guy population. Nothing about any notes in the wall.
Just the two of them going down a dark road, her complaining about nothing in particular and him nodding along.
It was nice in a way.
Comfortable.
But now they weren’t on the road.
Remi accepted his hospitality by raiding his pantry with a squeal.
“You okay?” Declan called out from the open bedroom door.
“You have Pop-Tarts,” she yelled back, mouth already watering.
Declan didn’t respond, and Remi settled at the small four-chair dining table set up between the kitchen and the living room couch. She was already through half of her pastry when Declan reemerged.
It was a struggle to keep her jaw from hitting the tabletop.
Remi had seen Declan naked. That was how she came to be sitting at his table, scarfing down Pop-Tarts and knowing in less than ten minutes she’d have to go pee. Again. She knew that the boy she’d grown up around had developed a firm chest and stomach and all the lines that muscles had carved in between. He even had the V that some actors and models sported in the movies and magazines. The one that led the eyes from the stomach and right down into the imagination.
She’d run her fingers along one of those very same lines, marveling that she had found herself in the situation where that touch was wanted.
After that Remi hadn’t had to imagine where those lines led.
So when her lust for the sheriff went from a passive five out of ten to a red-hot, volcanic two thousand in the span of him walking through the doorway to dropping down onto the couch cushion, Remi had to double-check the scene.
Declan wasn’t naked, first of all.
In fact, he’d merely swapped out his button-down and pants for a plain tee and sleep pants.
But, boy oh boy, was he wearing them.
The shirt hugged his muscled frame while the pants hung lower and a bit baggier than his jeans. It was such a casual outfit, and yet somehow sexier.
It was a glimpse into Declan behind the scenes.
A place where he could just be.
It spoke of vulnerability and it spoke right to Remi’s hormones, apparently.
“I couldn’t remember if I had them or not,” Declan said from his spot on the couch. He leaned back, put his feet up on the coffee table and met her eyes with a smile. If she looked like an idiot, he didn’t say it. Even when she scrambled to look normal while finishing her bite of Pop-Tart. “I babysat Riley’s nephew the other week and that boy was all about some frosted strawberry. I didn’t really think about it until we were in the car.”
Remi held up the uneaten portion in a salute.
“Well, I thank you for it.”
Declan seemed satisfied that she was satisfied and leaned his head back, put his arms over his chest and closed his eyes.
“I’m sorry I’m so tired,” he said after a yawn. “Sometimes I forget that I need to recharge, even though I tell Caleb and my deputies to do it all the time.” His eyes opened again, but there was a lag to the movement. He didn’t move his head as two grass-green eyes found hers.
Remi put her food down. She felt a tug at her heartstrings. Declan Nash might not be a great talker, but when he did speak he managed to put a whole lot into what he said. Simple statements, yet with so much depth they were nearly overwhelming for Remi to hear, especially when she thought of the always-smiling and mischievous boy she’d once kissed on a dare beneath the moon and stars when she was nothing more than a quiet girl.
The time after they’d parted ways had been kind to him in some respects, but Remi believed it had also run him down in others.
And then he said as much to her utter surprise.
“My dad always used to say that even though there’s never enough time to do everything you want to do, there’s always time to do at least one thing. Just make that one thing count.” He let out a small breath and domed his fingers over his lap. Remi realized she was hanging on his every word. “I didn’t think I had a one thing for years until I met Bobby Teague.”
The name rang a bell.
“The mayor when we were teens?”
Declan shook his head.
“His son,” he replied. “Not the nicest man, not the most patient, either. I didn’t like him, just like his dad hadn’t liked mine back in the day. They were men who wanted attention and became annoyed when they actually got it. A son who became an even grumpier version of his father. And then a pain in my backside. Then one day Bobby Teague came into the department with nothing but fear in him. His sister had gone on a date and hadn’t returned to her house.” Declan sat up a little. The frown of remembering settled into his lips as he took a moment. “It hadn’t been twenty-four hours yet so we couldn’t count it as a missing person but, well, after what happened to the triplets, the rules for missing persons in Wildman County are a bit different. I wasn’t waiting around hoping that his sister was fine and was just lost in a new love bubble. And Bobby refused to be sidelined. So, he rode with me as we went all over town looking for her.”
Remi saw the subtle shift in the man, though she couldn’t place the emotion behind it.
“It took us a bit to track down where her date lived, but when we did everything changed between me and Bobby. His digs at me and my family, his sarcasm and ego getting into every word he said, it just all went away the moment we got to the end of that driveway. One second we were two people who didn’t much like each other. Nothing in common. No love lost at all between us. And in the next, we were two people who wanted nothing more than for Lori Teague to be okay and would do anything to see that happen.”
His words were tired and the rest of what he wanted to say seemed to stall out. Remi hated to prod the man, but she wanted to know what had happened.
“Was she there? At the date’s house?”
“She was and she was fine, too,” he said with a small smile. “Her phone had died so she hadn’t gotten any of the calls and then she lost track of time...doing what happens with some dates, if you catch my drift.”
“I do.”
“It was a good call. One that could have turned out much worse. Weirdly enough, that was when I realized what it was that I wanted to be my one thing.” Remi leaned in as Declan’s expression hardened, resolute. “Making sure people like Bobby Teague didn’t have to spend their lives worrying. Instead, they could sigh in relief or, ideally, never have the need.” Declan shrugged. “So I threw everything I had into my career, to Overlook, to the county. I woke up worrying about everyone and went to bed wondering how I could make their lives better.”
A vulnerability that Remi hadn’t been prepared for took over the sheriff. Not only did it pull at her heartstrings, it made something else within her stir.
“When you told me you were pregnant, I didn’t act the way I should have. Running off to work, losing track of time and not calling, and then pulling you back into trouble... I should have said, and done, more. It’s just... Well, I think I’ve been so focused on what everyone else wants and needs for so long that, along the way, I forgot to wonder what it is I want.”
Every part of Remi went on alert. She could have sworn if a pin had dropped in between his earlier words, she could have heard it as easily as if a bowling ball had been dropped onto the hardwood.
“And what do you want?” she chanced.
The father of her unborn child smiled.
“I know I want to be a part of my kid’s life, from now until I’m old, gray, and then in the grave. Everything else? Well, I’m just too tired to think about any of that right now.” His mood darkened. He didn’t need to say it but Remi knew his thoughts had found their way back to Cooper Mann and then the attack and chase at Claire’s.
It was the only reason she didn’t push him for more.
And the only reason she didn’t give any of what she wanted to say back.
Instead, Remi tried to be reassuring.
“No one has their entire life planned out. You’ll have plenty of time to figure out what’s next for you. Until then, why don’t you go get some sleep.”
Declan snorted. He kicked his feet up and swung his legs over onto the couch. Then he slid down against the cushions with a sigh. It reminded Remi of when she slid into a much-needed warm bubble bath.
“I’m good right here,” he said, his eyes closing. “Feel free to eat whatever else you want. There’s a spare toothbrush in the cabinet over the sink and some more pj’s in the dresser.”
That surprised Remi.
“You want me to stay?”
He nodded, eyes still closed. Then he yawned.
“I can’t make you but I’d feel better if you were close. Last time I—” He yawned again. This one was deeper, longer, too. The man was dancing near the edge of sleep, there was no denying it. “Last time I left you all hell broke loose. Not gonna happen again. Bed’s yours.”
Remi smiled into her Pop-Tart. Then she remembered something she needed to tell the man before sleep claimed him.
“Hey, Declan. I told Jonah about the baby in the hospital today.”
Declan opened his eyes.
“Did you tell him I’m the father?”
“I did.”
Declan surprised her with a nod and a simple response.
“Good.”
Remi smiled. Declan returned it. Then his eyes closed and, just like that, Declan quieted. By the time Remi had finished her Pop-Tarts the man was sound asleep.
* * *
THE HOUSE WAS different in winter.
The heater made it smell like something was burning sometimes. Not like an all-out fire or anything but more of a lingering firepit smell that always reminded Declan of the day after a bonfire had burned out. That smell, rare since Declan hardly ever turned the heater on in the house, combined with the lack of noise he was used to surrounding the ranch, sometimes disoriented him when he first woke up. It didn’t matter that he’d had just as many years knowing winter in Overlook as he’d known summer. There was just something about the cold outside that threw off his internal navigation and understandings.
Like when he opened his eyes to the darkness, smelled something burning and heard something he wasn’t used to hearing.
Declan sat up so quickly he nearly pulled a muscle.
It was dark in his immediate area, but on the other side of the room there was a soft glow. That light was enough to show him a space he knew. It clicked in place with the smell of the heater and the feel of the couch beneath him.
And the old wool blanket he was particularly fond of that he’d thrown to the ground in half-asleep earnestness.
He rubbed at his eyes and then worked at blinking away the haze of sleep. Wondering what had wakened him, he turned toward a window. Through the open slats of the blinds he could just make out another glow, though this one wasn’t as focused.
It was dawn, and Declan bet that routine had been the thing that had wakened him. He’d never quite shaken waking up early on the ranch as a kid, especially when school was out. As the oldest child he’d had the most to do. Now he normally used the time to go on a run or drink coffee and worry.
He snorted in the dark.
I sure am exciting, he thought ruefully.
His gaze returned to the soft glow nearest him. The one that he knew came from his bedside lamp in the bedroom. Moving slowly, careful to be quiet, Declan got up, went to the open doorway and looked inside.
Dark blond hair was splayed across a navy pillowcase while the covers he hadn’t gotten beneath in days housed a woman wearing his clothes.
Remi.
She’d stayed.
Her face, slack with sleep, was turned toward Declan, as beautiful as when she was awake.
And what do you want?
Declan hadn’t meant to come clean with what he was feeling the night before. He hadn’t meant to admit he’d had tunnel vision with his job the last several years. Just as he hadn’t meant to say that her news had finally made him confront the fact that he’d forgotten about himself in the grand scheme of things.
He’d honestly just been tired as hell and ready to fall asleep so he could start fresh in the morning. Yet, when he’d seen Remi sitting at the dining table eating a pack of Pop-Tarts of all things, Declan hadn’t been able to stop himself. He’d seen the woman just as he’d seen the girl who had once been his friend.
He’d felt comfortable. So, he’d opened up.
What he had meant to say was his realization that, no matter what his future held, he knew without a doubt he wanted it to include their child. It was just a declaration he’d hoped to make in better circumstances, not in his sleep pants after a majorly crappy day.
Also, not immediately before he’d fallen asleep.
But there she’d been and there he’d told her.
And now there she was, asleep in his bed.
It wasn’t a new sight for Declan to see her asleep. One time he’d seen her drift off at a school assembly, bored out of her mind. Lon McKinnley had tried to pull her hair to wake her then, so Declan had thumped the boy on the head and dared him in silence to do it again.
What was new was how it felt to watch her do so.
The urge to join her was almost as strong as the urge to run a hand across her cheek and tuck behind her ear the strands of hair that had escaped. To feel the warmth of her skin. To feel the smoothness. To—
Adrenaline shot through Declan’s bloodstream. It zipped his spine straight and had him retreating into the living room to look for his phone.
Shame, deep and biting, mingled with the new sense of urgency.
How had he not put together the pieces before?
How had he been so blind to not understand what was going on?
Declan cussed, low and with vehemence.
How had he not seen the pattern until now?
Rose hadn’t been targeted, per se, but her face had.
Sam wasn’t the plan, getting shot in the arm was.
Just like Madi and Caleb.
The day they had been abducted.