In Safe Hands (Search and Rescue #4)(53)

“Callum.” Daisy hurried after him. “I’ll let you out.”

Pausing just outside of the training room, he nodded and stepped back so she could lead the way. When they reached the entry, she unfastened the locks and opened the inner door for him. With a nod of thanks, he started to pass through the doorway, but then he paused.

“Don’t let them start shooting,” he said quietly, “from anywhere in your house.”

Daisy laughed. “I’m pretty sure Rory and Lou were kidding about that.”

“Probably.” Despite his words, his frown said clearly that he doubted it. “Thank you for letting us use your gym.”

“Anytime. It’s fun. I like having people to train with—besides Chris, I mean.” She kept her focus on Callum and off the exterior door. Her hands were sweating, and she wanted to dry them on her pants, but she didn’t want to give away her nervousness.

“We appreciate it.” His expression was analytical, and she knew he noticed the signs of her anxiety, even though she tried to hide them. “Take care, Daisy.”

“Bye.” She forced herself to count to five in her head before she allowed herself to close the inner door behind him and start locking the dead bolts. Her impulse had been to slam the door as soon as he was through, but she managed to quietly shut it and not embarrass herself by smacking him in the backside with the door. Even the thought of the potential humiliation that could have occurred made her squeeze her eyes closed.

Resting her forehead against the door, she took a minute to compose herself before heading back to the training room.

*

Since Ian had grabbed five doughnuts and headed home to sleep, only the four women, George, and Chris gathered around the dining room table for coffee, water, and breakfast pastries. Chris pulled out a chair, preparing to sit, but Daisy shook her head at him.

“I’m staying.” The stubborn set of his jaw made Daisy roll her eyes.

“You can if you want to,” she said, “but you look ready to fall asleep standing up. Why don’t you go home and rest? I promise to take really good notes.”

“My time off starts tonight. It’s better if I stay up as long as possible to transition over to days.” Despite his words, he remained standing, showing that he was at least thinking about his bed.

“Just sleep for a couple of hours, then, to keep you from being a complete zombie. You can’t violate confidentiality, anyway, so you’d only be listening. And snoring.” Encouraged by the upward quirk of his mouth, she continued. “If you have a digital recorder handy, we could use that. It’d be even more accurate than my notes, and you could listen to it after you get some sleep.”

It only took him a few seconds to consider it before he nodded. “Good idea. I’ll run out and see if I have a recorder in my squad.”

“Actually, now that I think about it, there’s no need.” Daisy nodded at her phone sitting in front of her on the table. “I can record our conversation using this.”

“Good idea. Thanks. I’ll take off then.” He leaned toward her, and she automatically turned her face toward his. His lips were just inches from hers when she realized what was happening and froze, staring at him. For a moment, it had felt like they were an old married couple, and he was about to kiss her good-bye. Her throat tightened with almost painful longing. How much she would love to have that easy, comfortable, content life with him. She wanted that good-bye kiss and all it represented so badly that her chest ached with it. It was just a daydream, though. She would never have that, not if Chris’s startled expression was anything to go by.

His eyes widened as he took a step back, bumping into a wall with an un-Chris-like lack of coordination. “Right. See you later.” Turning, he hurried out of the room.

His exit caught the others’ attention. “Is Chris leaving?” Lou asked—or Daisy thought she asked. It was hard to understand her exact words, since Lou’s mouth was full of doughnut.

“Yeah.” Daisy stood and followed the fleeing deputy to the door. “He’s following Ian’s example and getting some sleep.”

“Night shifts are tough,” Lou said, and Rory made a sound of agreement. “It’s hard enough dragging myself out of a warm bed to go on a dive team call.”

When Daisy caught up with Chris at the door, he was focused on unfastening the locks, not even glancing at her when she stopped next to him. Apparently, squirrelly-acting Chris had returned. Daisy hadn’t missed him.

“After you get a nap in, want to come over for a matinee?” she asked, deciding that at least one of them should try to act normal. “Dad picked up the mail, and Brutal Fists finally arrived.” His hand paused on the first chain lock. “C’mon. You know you want to make fun of their technique in the cage-fighting scenes.”

His exhale was audible, and his shoulders relaxed slightly. “Sounds good. I have a couple of errands to run first, so I’ll be here around five or so.”

“Perfect.” She knew her grin was too wide, but she couldn’t do anything about it. “I’ll make some cornmeal-crust pizza and a salad, and we can finish off the brownies.”

Smiling slightly, he finally made eye contact. “You’d better hide them from the sugar vultures in there, or there won’t be any left for tonight.”