Dylan wasn’t random. He was an ex who couldn’t move the fuck on.
Jesse looked up just as Claudia was passing his office.
Perfect timing.
“Claudia,” he called. She was a deputy, and the best they had at digging up information.
She turned back and stepped inside. “Hey, Sheriff.”
“Just Jesse. I need you to do a background check on someone for me.”
“Sure.”
Jesse wrote down Dylan’s name and the town he lived in. If there was something to find, Claudia would find it. “Thanks.”
She took the paper. “No problem. I’ll let you know when I have any information.”
She left the office, and a part of him hoped she didn’t find anything. That Dylan turned out to be a normal guy who had a problem letting go of his ex and who’d disappear soon enough.
But another part of him had a strong fucking feeling that wasn’t going to happen.
CHAPTER 10
Jesse stepped out of the shower and pulled a towel around his waist. It had been a cold shower. Stone fucking cold. He’d had a few of them lately, living in the same house as Aspen.
The other morning,she’dstepped out of the bathroom in a towel. Just…a towel.
His dick twitched at the memory of water droplets on her shoulders. At the way the towel had squeezed her breasts. And he’d been so damn aware that she was naked beneath that cloth.
Shit, he was losing his goddamn mind and it was no one’s fault but his own.
He stepped into his bedroom and had just pulled on some briefs when he stopped.
What was that sound? Was Aspen…singing? It couldn’t be. It was seven in the morning, and Aspen wasnotan early riser. Well, unless she was trying to leave before he woke up.
Then the distant clatter of pots and pans hitting counters had him frowning.
Was she cooking? She rarely ate breakfast, and when she did, it was cereal.
He pulled on his uniform and stepped out of his room. His feet ground to a halt in the living room at the sight of Aspen in the kitchen.
She had her back toward him as she leaned over the counter to watch something on her laptop. Her hair was pulled up in a messy bun, she wore denim overalls, and she was singing “Love Shack” by the B-52s.
And Jesus Christ, was she out of tune. He’d never heard someone sing so off-key, and somehow the sound was cute as hell.
She stepped back from the counter and opened an overhead cabinet.
His gaze shifted to the laptop. A baking show? What was she baking so early?
He’d started crossing the space between them when Aspen climbed onto the counter.
What the hell was she doing?
She reached up for something on the top shelf, and he saw it before it happened. Her foot landed in some spilled milk and slid.
Shit.
Jesse lunged across the kitchen as she screamed and fell. He caught her a split second before she hit the hard counter.
