Total pages in book: 31
Estimated words: 28714 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 144(@200wpm)___ 115(@250wpm)___ 96(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 28714 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 144(@200wpm)___ 115(@250wpm)___ 96(@300wpm)
"I said I'm looking at something."
"What?" I ask, genuinely curious what she's noticed. Molly is smart as hell. There isn't much she doesn't see or piece together with ease. I don't know how she landed in dispatch, but she's damn good at the job. I'm fucking dying to know every little thing about her. What I've learned so far fascinates the hell out of me.
She pretends she's prickly as hell, but beneath it, she's so goddamn sweet it's unreal. The way she's able to relate to everyone and calm even the most hysterical callers is a skill most don't possess. There's just something…soothing about her. I don't just come in here because I want to fuck her—which I do. I come here because, even though it's fucking chaos in here some days, she makes me feel peaceful.
I haven't had much of that since I was shot. The nightmares have been a bitch. The days I come in here and see her, they're not nearly as bad. It's like I feel her presence long after I leave or something. I don't know. It doesn't make any goddamn sense. I just know that the days I see her, I sleep better.
She holds my gaze for a long moment and then huffs and hands me a stack of break-in reports. "These have all happened in the last two months," she says. "All over Silver Spoon Falls. Different neighborhoods, all hours of the night. Even during the day occasionally. But…" She stretches, grabbing a flyer to hold out toward me. "In every case, they happened within two or three days of an open house being held next door."
I glance at the flyer, noting the address for the house beside the break-in we worked a few days ago. She's right on all accounts.
"Impressive," I murmur, not really surprised she put it together. She should be wearing a badge herself. I haven't quite worked out yet why she isn't. From what I've learned about her, she graduated with a degree in criminal justice. "How'd you get the flyer?"
"House shopping," she mutters.
"You're house shopping?"
"Can you focus, Easton?" She rolls her eyes at me. "I'm not talking to you about my future house."
"So, what I'm hearing is that you don't want me to tell you not to bother looking because you'll be living with me soon?"
Her eyes go wide, her mouth popping open. She's so goddamn cute when she's surprised. It doesn't last long. Within half a second, she's shaking it off, narrowing her eyes at me. "Will you stop doing that?" she growls.
"What?"
"Flirting with me. Saying ridiculous stuff. I'm not one of your badge bunnies."
I throw my head back, laughing loudly.
"What's so funny?"
"The fact that you think I have badge bunnies." I touch her cheek, shaking my head. "You've got the wrong motherfucker, Molly. One day, you'll actually hear me when I tell you that I am not that guy."
I've thought about telling her that I'm still a goddam virgin, but she's determined to believe that I'm fucking everything that moves. I have a feeling she won't believe the truth even if I spell it out for her. It is the truth, though. I never really fucking cared what people thought about it because it's always been my business, but I want her to know me—really know me.
"Right. And you're just in here, annoying me every day for the fun of it." She rolls her eyes again. "I've heard it before from guys just like you, Easton. My dad was one."
Well, shit. Her comment draws me up short. Is that what this is about? She won't give me the time of day because she grew up with a cop as a father? Fuck. That is not good news for me.
I'm well aware of the reputation a lot of cops have. For some of them—a lot of them—it's earned. Women throw themselves at a man with a badge, and too many don't say no. They sleep around like it's part of the job description. But I've never been that guy. I didn't get into law enforcement because I wanted to get laid or had an ego that needed stroking or any of that bullshit.
Like her dad, mine is a cop—a federal agent. It's in my blood. He takes his oath seriously. He's also been devoted to my mom since the day they met. That's the kind of future I want—one woman to go home to at the end of the day. One woman who makes all the bullshit worth it.
My mom has always been that woman for my dad. Molly already feels like that woman to me. I barely even know her, but I feel it in my bones. It's this sense of…rightness, of completion. When I look at her, I feel like I'm looking at fate. I just need her to give me a chance to prove to her that I'm not another asshole with a badge.