SEAL Wolf In Too Deep(7)
Chapter 3
Debbie really loved working with Allan, though he was…different. Maybe that’s why she loved working with him so much. She could tell he really wanted to see her after hours, and he did sometimes—to talk more about a case. But she believed he wanted more. She wanted more. And yet he was clearly reluctant, probably because of his work ethics. Which was another reason she really liked him.
They would keep working on cases no matter the hour, have dinner together, and work on them some more. Get up early, start on it again. This month, they’d rescued four people who had fallen through the ice while ice fishing, saved a baby moose that had fallen through ice, and rescued two victims of accidents due to icy road conditions. Not only that, but they’d been working on this murder case, and though the vehicle and body had already been removed from the lake, she and Allan planned to see if they could find anything else in the water around the site of the accident.
She glanced at him, trying to read his expression. He had one of those faces that made her think of a really nice guy—sweet, cherublike—but she’d seen him arrest a man high on PCP and knew Allan could be all business when it came to taking someone in hand. He used military moves that she wanted him to teach her in case she ever needed to take a guy down like that. Allan’s hair was a rich, dark brown, and his dark-green eyes seemed to see right through her. It should have been disquieting, but she really found it amazing.
He appreciated her training and often remarked on what a great partner she was. She knew he wasn’t saying it just to be nice. He truly meant what he said, and she really respected him for it. She felt the same way about him.
“Are we still on for pizza?” she asked. She wanted to check on the baby and mom at the clinic to see for herself they were okay, but she was also dying to have a pizza. She hadn’t had one in ages, and it would be a nice way to take a break once she dried her wet clothes and her hair. At least the car heater was warming her up now.
“You bet.” His eyes always lit up when his gaze caught hers. He was seriously sexy, muscular, and in great shape, and that appealed too.
She always wanted to hear his SEAL stories, the ones that he could share with her. He’d told her about a couple of rescues he and his team had performed for private contracts. They’d been in the Amazon a number of times on dangerous missions. She found him to be the most fascinating man she’d ever met.
Some of her fascination was because his family was so important to him. She was estranged from her own. Her father had been the town drunk and her mother the perfect enabler. Good thing Debbie was an only child so she was the only one who had to suffer the consequences of a dysfunctional family like theirs.
When Allan had asked her about her family, she really hadn’t wanted to say anything about them. On the other hand, she appreciated how thoughtful he had been in asking. Not too many police officers she knew cared anything about their partners’ families. Maybe about a husband or wife and kids, but not about parents and siblings, unless they lived in town. But Allan seemed really family-oriented.
“While you were getting Franny’s purse, she told me a red car had nearly hit hers and slid on the ice, and she turned to avoid it. That’s how she ended up careening down the hill and sailing into the culvert. She said he did it on purpose, but she doesn’t remember the SUV being upside down. Just that somehow she managed to get out and then couldn’t get to her baby. So I suspect she just imagined the driver had caused the accident on purpose.”
“Hell, I thought she was mistaken,” Allan said. “The driver didn’t stop to help? Call it in or anything?”
“It wasn’t technically a hit-and-run, and he might have been afraid that if he tried to brake on the ice, he’d be where she was.”
“If it was a woman or someone elderly, I’d give the driver the benefit of the doubt, but her baby could have died. And Franny could have too.”
“Agreed. She said he was wearing a camo cap and his hair was cut short, but that’s all she could see before she swerved to avoid him. He was about our age.”
“Then he should be strung up.”
She wasn’t surprised at the way Allan felt. She had thought the same thing, though she had tried to see it from the other driver’s point of view too. But she had to agree with Allan.
“We can eat at the pizzeria for lunch, unless there’s a problem at home,” she said, giving Allan an out. She didn’t want him to think she would be upset if he couldn’t make it because of family obligations. His sister was pregnant with triplets and Paul’s wife with twins, so maybe one of them was having some difficulty. She sure hoped not.
When he drove into her duplex driveway, he finally said, “Uh, about lunch, yeah. I’ll give you a call in just a bit.”
Then he dropped her off, and she knew, as distracted as he was, that whatever was the matter had to be really important.
Allan pulled out of her driveway, a frown on his face as he talked to someone on his cell. She wondered again just what the trouble was and if she would be going alone to the clinic.
She realized she really wanted to be part of his life, to be there for him if he needed someone to talk to about family stuff. Not in a boyfriend-girlfriend relationship particularly, but just as a friend. That had been something she’d had trouble with growing up. She hadn’t had anyone to talk to about her parents. Better to just leave home and stay away. As a kid, that had meant spending hours at the library after school and immersing herself in books until it closed for the night. Often a police officer would drive her home.