| |
Bailey Moore was back.
Clayton Addy, sheriff of Value, Texas—population eight hundred and nine—knew it from the first moment he walked into his office that ridiculously sunny Monday morning. Bailey was back.
He could almost smell the shampoo she used.
He dreamed of that shampoo sometimes. Dreamed of her shampoo, dreamed of her blue eyes, dreamed of her slightly crooked smile. The smattering of freckles over her smooth cheeks. The tiny dimple that flashed every once in a while when she was truly happy about something.
That dimple had teased him from the very beginning.
Clay also dreamed of finding her almost dead every damned night.
Those were the dreams he could never get past. He had failed her. Through his stupidity, he had failed her.
He never should have left it at one guard all those months ago. He should have known they were dealing with far too many unknowns. She had paid the price for his stupidity.
First with a bullet, and then with hours of captivity at the hands of the one man who never should have let someone hurt her. Bailey's father and his friends were still out there somewhere. Clay hadn’t been able to find them yet.
But Bailey...Bailey was back.
And he had no idea how he was supposed to deal with her.
Clay fell back on his go-to position. He looked out of his office toward the four desks that stood silently in the middle of the small bullpen. They had a total population of just over eight hundred, but that was mostly in the five-mile region surrounding the town. He still covered the entire Barratt County population, of nearly four thousand. He had three deputies on duty now at all times.
He'd forgotten Jeremy had taken over the scheduling for him two months ago. Forgotten that Verity, the dispatcher, had made a point to remind him that Bailey was coming back today. She’d even provided cake and fruit punch. A welcome-back banner hung over the bullpen.
Veri’s doing, no doubt.
It was one hell of a thirty-sixth birthday present for himself, and he knew it.
Bailey Moore had no business ever setting foot in a Texas State Police building. Especially his. Maybe doing forensics, or something off the radar like that—if she felt like she needed to do this job for some reason.
Maybe he could nudge her toward a transfer to nearby Finley Creek County. It was far bigger and had a much better forensics unit than he did. His entire unit consisted of one deputy who'd had forensics training. Bailey.
Movement caught his eye.
Blond hair in a high ponytail.
He stood where he was and just watched her for far too long, feeling like a damned asshole. He should go out there and talk to her. Welcome her back, as her boss, at least. But he didn't. Eat cake, drink punch. Any of it. He hid.
Because he didn't want her there, and they both knew it.
She had known how he felt about her from the very beginning. He'd made no secret about it. And that had driven a wedge between them. A chasm he regretted, after what had happened to her.
If she had trusted him more, she could have come to him that morning. He would have done his best to help her deal with what had been bothering her. And something had, but he’d never learned exactly what.
If they had found Bailey an hour later than they had, she would have been gone. Possibly minutes.
The doctors had lost her at least once that he knew of on the operating table.
It had been four months and two weeks since that hell had happened.
And now...Bailey was back.
And Clay didn't know what to do about her once again.
He just stood there and watched her.