Beautifully Broken Pieces (Sutter Lake, #1)(22)

Thoughts of the missing hiker we still had no signs of filled my head. “No, I’m not happy. You shouldn’t be running alone, it’s too risky.”

Taylor stopped in the middle of the road and whirled on me. “Oh, but it’s okay for you to run alone? Why? Does you having a dick, magically stop bears from attacking you?”

My frustration bubbled to the surface. “No. This stops bears from attacking me.” I pulled my 9mm out of the specialty athletic shorts I wore that allowed me to carry while running.

Color leached from Taylor’s face, and I immediately regretted my decision. Shit. I slowly slid the gun back into the holster. “Why are you running with a Glock?”

Surprise flared at her correct identification of my weapon. She wasn’t scared of that, but something had her freaked. I crept closer. “Because I’m a cop, and there are wild animals around here that don’t always react kindly when startled.”

Her head bobbed up and down slowly. I slipped a hand around the juncture of her neck and jaw. Fuck, her skin, damp with a sheen of sweat, was one of the softest things I’d ever felt. “Look at me, Taylor.” Her gaze came back to focus on mine. “Everything’s fine, I just don’t want you running alone.”

She made no agreement. I squeezed her neck. “Please. I’ll run with you before or after work, anytime you want. But you could get seriously hurt while you are by yourself, and no one would know because you don’t tell anyone where you’re going.”

Stubbornness came into her eyes. I liked that a hell of a lot more than the fear that had been there earlier. Taylor’s chin raised in defiance. “I’d run with you, but I’m pretty sure you can’t keep up with me.”

“All right, Short-stack, let’s try it out. I’ll take you on my typical morning route.” She’d be begging me to turn back before we reached the halfway point, I just knew it.

“Lead on, Bigfoot.”

I chuckled and took off towards my favorite spot in all of Sutter Lake. Somehow, her quick, short strides matched up perfectly with my slightly slower long ones. There was a peaceful rhythm to our run. Side by side in silence.

I led her through winding dirt roads around the outskirts of my family’s ranch. She was a trooper when we had to scale over a fence to get back onto Cole land, and even as we climbed a hillside. She never tired, never slowed. She was amazing. We went higher and higher until we reached the top of the ridge.

Taylor gasped when she saw the view. All of Sutter Lake—the town and the lake itself—was bathed in the pink light of early morning. I’d never come here with anyone who wasn’t my family. Never even brought Julie here. It had been instinct to bring Taylor here. I hadn’t even really thought about it.

“It’s beautiful,” she breathed.

“It’s my favorite place in the whole world.”

“Thank you for sharing it with me.”

“You’re welcome.”

We stood shoulder-to-shoulder, staring out at the view, neither of us saying anything for a moment. Taylor cleared her throat. I tilted my head to take her in. She was still looking forward, but she rubbed the ring on her right hand with her thumb. She seemed to do that when she was nervous. “I can’t sleep.”

My brows pulled together. “What?”

“I have a hard time sleeping. That’s why I work out so much. It’s the only thing that seems to help.”

My chest felt tight. It was the first thing she had freely told me about herself. It was worth its weight in gold. I was honored that she’d given it to me, but I knew if I made a big deal out of it, she’d shut down. “Makes sense.”

She turned her head so that her gaze met mine. “I’ll text you the next time I want to go running.”

My lips tipped up. “I’d appreciate it. It’d be bad for business if a tenant got mauled by a mountain lion.”

Taylor shoved her shoulder into me, and I wrapped an arm around her. She fit perfectly.





I paused outside Caitlin’s door, my hand hovering just in front of her apartment number. Fuck. I did not want to do this. I knocked three times.

Hurried footsteps sounded, and the door swung open. “Baby. I’m so glad you’re here.” Caitlin’s hair was piled on top of her head in artful curls. Her face was done up to the nines, including her lips with that red stuff I hated because I always came away from kissing her looking like the Joker. She wore a low-cut tank top and shorts so short, they looked more like underwear.

I shuffled my feet. “Hey, Cait.”

She leaned in to kiss me, but I brushed my lips against her cheek instead, then hurried inside. I headed for the couch, patting the seat next to mine. “Come here.”

Caitlin’s lips pressed together in a thin, hard line. “Is something wrong, honey?”

What was with all the pet names all of a sudden? She’d only ever called me Walker before. I steeled my spine. “I think we should stop seeing each other.” I’d thought of at least a dozen different ways to say it. But, at the end of the day, I needed to shut the door, and she needed to know I wasn’t leaving it cracked open for later. Some people might consider me a bastard for just coming right out with it and not tempering the blow, but I’ve always thought honesty is the kindest route you could take.