Way of the Warrior (Troubleshooters #17.5)(40)
“Welcome back, buddy,” Jackson managed through the smack, smack, smack of his chewing gum, extending his hand to Joe. “Glad to see you’re back up on your feet.”
Joe shook the offered hand and sent a glance Sadie’s way, wondering just how much people knew about him. “Thanks.”
“So…what? You two together now?” the coach asked, gesturing back and forth between the two of them.
But before either of them could respond, Jackson suddenly blew his whistle before barking out instructions at his players, berating them rather colorfully for screwing up the last play. When he’d finished, he turned his overly white grin on Joe and Sadie. “What brings ya by?”
Joe narrowed his eyes a little at the coach, marveling at how the guy could just turn his anger on and off like a switch. “You know anything about the notes someone’s been leaving Sadie?” he asked pointedly, not liking the way Jackson’s gaze kept flicking down to Sadie’s cleavage.
“What kind of notes?” Jackson asked. He grunted. “Another parent pissed that their precious snowflake flunked a test?”
“Parents are always getting upset if they think their children were graded unfairly,” Sadie explained, shrugging it off. “The notes I’ve been receiving are far more…personal in nature.”
Jackson pulled back just a little, glancing back and forth between Joe and Sadie before his lips curled up in a wide grin that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Oh, I get it. And you think ’cause Sadie and I had a thing for a while that I might be leaving her these notes.”
Joe lifted a shoulder in a half shrug. “Gotta ask.”
Jackson suddenly caught a glimpse of the play going to hell on the field and blew sharply into his whistle. “What the hell was that?” he demanded. “Get your heads out of your asses!”
Joe shook his head. Oh yeah, total tool.
Jackson’s face was still flushed from his outburst when he turned back to Joe, puffing out his chest. “Well, it ain’t me. I’ve got babes linin’ up to have a go. I sure as hell don’t need to chase after some chick who doesn’t know what she’s missin’.” He jerked his chin at Sadie. “No offense.”
Sadie laughed drily and shook her head. “None taken. Trust me.”
That was Joe’s cue to wrap it up. “Thanks for chatting with us, Coach. I’ll be in touch if I have any other questions.”
Jackson gave him an absent nod before yelling, “Seriously, Parker? What the hell was that? You got a sister? Maybe she can throw worth a damn!”
As Joe led Sadie back to his patrol car, he rested his hands on his gun belt, vaguely noting how good it felt to have the heft of it around his waist again, even if it did pull at the still-sensitive skin on his stomach. “Charming guy.”
“I seem to recall more than one questionable choice in your dating history, Joe Dawson,” she shot back.
Couldn’t argue there. The biggest one being that he’d never asked her out. “Yeah, well,” he chuckled, “they all had their finer points.”
“Oh, uh-huh,” Sadie said, nodding with mock agreement. “And if I’m not mistaken, most of those ‘finer points’ were right about”—she brought her fists up near her breasts and made a popping sound as she shot out her index fingers—“here.”
Joe threw his head back with a laugh and draped an arm around her shoulder, hugging her close for a moment before he remembered he was still on duty. His arm dropped back to his side, and he edged to his left, putting a little space between them.
After a moment of tense silence, Sadie linked her arm through his, leaning on him to keep the heels of her pumps from sinking into the grass, and asked, “So what now?”
He took a deep breath and blew it out in a frustrated burst. “Hell if I know. I guess we wait until he makes another move. I just wish you’d told me about this sooner.”
Her gaze flicked guiltily up to his as they reached the car, but she quickly looked away when he opened the door for her to get in. “You were a little busy getting your life back together, Joe,” she muttered. “I didn’t really want to burden you with my problems.”
He wanted to argue with her, insist he hadn’t been such a f*cking wreck that she couldn’t have confided in him. But the truth was, he had been. And it was her love and support that had gotten him through it. Now it was his turn to be there for her, unconditionally. He chucked her gently on the chin. “Let’s worry a little less about me and more about you, whaddya say?”
She rested her hand on the top of the door, brushing her fingers briefly over his. “I can’t make any promises there.”
Taking a chance and knowing he was a total idiot even as he did it, he slid his hand forward just enough that their fingers were laced together. “Try,” he pleaded, his voice low.
She glanced at their intertwined fingers, then lifted her eyes to him. “Okay,” she relented. “For you.”
He smiled down at her, loving the way her eyes danced when she looked at him that way. And, like an idiot, he burst out with, “Sadie, I…” But his voice trailed off, the words that sat on the end of his tongue, still too heavy to give voice to.
And there it was—that sudden tension that filled the air between them, that unspoken desire that simmered just below the surface. She must’ve felt it too, because she quickly turned away and got in the car, slamming the door shut and nearly nailing his fingers in the process.