Rebound (Seattle Steelheads #1)(22)

I lost track of time. We probably only stood there for a minute or two—it just felt like a lot longer than that because I was such a train wreck. The whole time, Geoff didn’t say anything, and he didn’t loosen his embrace. Not until I started to draw back. Even after he’d let me go, he kept a hand on my shoulder, but at least he had the decency to look away while I pulled myself together.

“God. I’m sorry.” I sniffed. “I’d say I’m a hot mess, but I think you figured that out already.”

“Anybody would be in your situation.” How was his voice that soothing? “You have nothing to apologize for.”

I wiped my eyes again. “Ugh. I really hope this is the end of it. I’m so looking forward to my life not being defined by him anymore. I don’t even care if he goes to jail or…” I shook my head. “I just want him gone, you know?”

Geoff nodded. “I absolutely understand.”

I sagged against the counter, and as I did, a coffee grinder on the counter caught my eye. Nathan’s coffee grinder. “Fuck. He still has to move all his crap out of the house.”

“Make arrangements through Mercer Island PD, and they can have someone on the premises until Nathan and all his shit are gone.” Geoff paused. “I can be here too, if you want.”

I looked in his eyes. “Really?”

“I’ll have to make sure I’m off that day, and it’s off the books, but yeah. Whatever you need. Just give me a call.”

Could you just stay here all night and talk to me in that super calm voice?

Or, you know, stay here all night and—

I shut that thought down before it had time to sink in. This was so not the time, and he hadn’t come here for that, and it didn’t matter how desperately I needed a distraction.

“I will. Thanks.” I cleared my throat. “Damn, I’ve probably kept you longer than I should have.”

“You going to be all right tonight?”

“Knowing you put the fear of God into Nathan again?” I nodded. “Yeah. Might make it easier to sleep.”

“Good.” He gently squeezed my shoulder, then withdrew his hand. “Don’t hesitate to call me or Mercer Island PD if you need anything.”

I could think of one thing…that I absolutely should not be in the mood for right now. What is wrong with me?

Except it kind of made sense, I realized. As we walked down the hall toward the front door, neither of us moving like we were in any hurry, I knew damn well why I wanted Geoff to stick around. I had no idea what was on his mind, only that I really wanted to ask him to stay. It wasn’t just because I was irrationally afraid that when Mercer Island PD let Nathan go, he’d come back here. I didn’t want to be alone. I didn’t want to sleep alone.

If I was honest with myself, it wasn’t just that I didn’t want to sleep alone. I wanted to sleep with him. Geoff was safe in ways I hadn’t experienced in way too long. I wanted to drag him, his broad shoulders, his soft voice, and his strong arms into my bedroom, and I wanted to absolutely lose myself in being with someone who didn’t scare me.

But that wasn’t why he was here. He was the nearest warm body who wasn’t dangerous, but he was here as a cop. It wouldn’t make any more sense to make a pass at him than it would if he were some State Trooper who’d driven me home after a car accident. Yes, the brightest spots of the last few days had all been when Geoff was there, but that totally explained everything. It wasn’t him I wanted—it was the calm that seemed to follow every time he showed up. My life had been so chaotic lately, of course I was going to get hooked on someone who walked in and made everything settle. Someone who just had to speak, and everything in me would chill.

So yeah, of course I wanted to jump his bones. If we were screwing, he wasn’t leaving, and if he wasn’t leaving, I wasn’t alone. It was that simple.

Still, as he went around to get into his car, I indulged myself and ogled how his ass looked in those pants, especially framed by his police belt. Let’s face it—I wouldn’t exactly have to force myself even if everything was right in my life. Tonight, when everything was fucked up…

Well, it didn’t matter. He was backing out of the garage. He was waving goodbye. He was leaving.

And after the night I’d had, I wasn’t going to feel guilty about the things I’d be thinking about after I went to bed.





Chapter 5


Geoff



“Don’t you have better things to do?” The middle-aged Caucasian woman—Jackie Horton, according to her driver’s license—sneered up at me through her driver’s side window. “People are out there committing actual crimes, and you’re—”

“If you know of the location and nature of a crime being committed right now,” I said cheerfully without looking up from the ticket I was triple-checking against her license, “I’ll be happy to radio it in.” I handed the clipboard and pen through the open window. “Now if you could sign here, and—”

“This is bullshit.” She yanked the clipboard out of my hand, and immediately erupted into curses as her elbow knocked the venti latte from her cupholder. “For God’s sake.” She shoved the clipboard back to me. “Hold that for a second.”