“You’ve been acting out of sorts ever since you welcomed the fire victim and her son into your home.” He arches a gray eyebrow. “Is there something you want to tell me?”
“Nothing, sir.”
“If she’s causing you trouble, we can arrange for her to be put into temporary?—”
“She’s no trouble at all,” I assure him.
Trouble for an entirely different reason.
So much that I’m at war with my morals—and cock—because of her.
Keller doesn’t look convinced. He stuffs his hands into the pockets of his work pants and goes on regarding me. “James Taylor is pressing us for reports we don’t have.”
“He saw the case file.”
“Yes,” Keller says. “But now he’s requesting other documentation.”
“Like what?” I panic.
Keller shrugs. “The case file is all we have. It’s not our business to know what the man is doing, but since you’ve taken in the woman, I thought it would be in your best interests to know something.”
“Know what?”
“That Mr. Taylor has decided to launch a full investigation.”
“I know. I was there.”
Keller narrows his eyes. “I would tread carefully if I were you. No matter how attracted you are to the woman, you should know better than to bed and board a criminal.”
“Piper Hart is not a criminal,” I assure him. “As you know, we’re friends, and used to know one another?—”
“People change, Rourke,” he reminds me. He decides to leave the conversation there and walks over to the boiled kettle, pouring coffee. Instant.
Fuck, how I’ve missed Piper making her specialty coffee for me.
I take sips of the cheap stuff and wait for Marco to arrive.
We’ve been out on the road a fair bit over the past few weeks, but most were drills. Calls to dispatch trigger automatically if smoke detectors go off in schools, so we paid a visit to Ellie and Sonny’s establishment last week. The boys especially look up at us like we’re saints. Like we’re knights in shining armor, like they want to be us when they grow up.
The door swings open, revealing Marco. “How’s the hot houseguest?” He winks.
I turn into a furnace. “Don’t call her that.”
Marco stands back, stunned. “Sorry, man. Just a joke to lighten the morning.”
“We have the sun for that.”
This grabs Keller’s attention. “Rourke, you’re on school duty today.”
“School duty?”
“Yes. This uncontrolled temper is not making you fit to be an officer. I want you to do a talk on fire safety today at the elementary school.”
Ellie and Sonny’s school.
He has to be fucking with me.
But I’m still on probation and can’t risk losing my job. “Okay.”
