“You going to need any help keeping an eye on the doc?” he said, which was about as close to approval as Carter was ever going to get. “You may be unofficially off the duty roster, but there’re bound to be times when you need backup.”
There was an instinctive part of Carter that wanted to growl and say he had this, that he could protect Hadley all on his own. Then his two functioning brain cells re-engaged and he nodded. “Maybe Trey and Hale if you can spare them now and then? Preferably without Gage knowing about it.”
Mike didn’t look happy about not involving Gage, but he didn’t immediately say no, so Carter took that as a win.
“Okay, you have your back as much as I can spare them. But you do realize that if this serial killer comes after your psychiatrist, you aren’t going to be able to hide it from Gage. You know that, right?”
“Yeah, I know,” Carter murmured. “But I’ll worry about that when I have to. Maybe I’ll get lucky and Strickland will never show up.”
Mike grunted, clearly not thinking much of those odds. Turning, he started walking toward the training building only to stop and look at Carter. “It goes without saying, but keep everything you heard between me and the chief to yourself, huh?”
“I won’t breathe a word of it to anyone,” Carter promised.
He and Mike went their separate ways, Carter heading toward the admin building. Once inside, he immediately jogged up the steps leading to the second floor. He smelled Hadley’s strawberry and vanilla scent before he was halfway up, and he couldn’t help taking a deep breath as he went. He found her sitting at the table in the kitchenette, drinking coffee and petting the extremely happy pit bull mix that sat wiggling on the floor in front of her.
“I see you’ve met Tuffie,” he said as Hadley and the dog both looked up at him with a smile. Tuffie immediately came over to give him a welcome sniff, tail wagging.
“Yeah. She’s adorable,” Hadley said, watching as Tuffie did circles around his legs. “Does she belong to one of your pack mates?”
“Technically, she belongs to everyone in the Pack,” he said, kneeling to pet the girl. “We found her at a crime scene about two years ago. She’d been shot and left for dead. We nursed her back to health and she became the team’s unofficial mascot. She takes turns deciding who she wants to go home with.”
Hadley laughed. “That’s so sweet. Maybe Tuffie could come home with us sometime.”
It hit him a second later that Hadley had called his apartment home. He simply nodded and ruffled Tuffie’s ears again, refusing to let himself make too much out of a simple slip of the tongue—even if it sounded nice.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
“I didn’t get much of a chance to look around when we were here earlier, but your place is really nice,” Carter said as he stepped into the entryway of Hadley’s fifth-floor condo, closing the door behind them and taking a moment to look around the spacious open-air loft.
“Thanks,” Hadley said over her shoulder, her smile fading a little as she remembered that they were only there to grab some clothes and other essentials.
When they’d stopped by before the meeting at the compound, she’d had barely enough time to throw on something to wear, brush her hair, and fix her make-up before Cater rushed her out the door. Even now, they couldn’t stay long because Carter was worried Strickland might show up looking for her.
Her stomach clenched at the thought.
“There are parts of my job that can be stressful and my home has always been a refuge from all of that.” She glanced at him as they walked into the living room. “I can’t tell you how much I appreciate that you’re letting me stay with you, but it still hurts knowing that my home isn’t safe for me right now. It’s not fair that I can’t feel safe here because of Strickland.”
“I promise you won’t have to put up with this for long,” Carter said, reaching out to squeeze her hand. “Once Eugene Strickland is back in custody, everything will go back to normal, and you won’t have to stay at my place any longer.”
Hadley recognized when someone was just saying what they thought she wanted to hear, assuming it would make her feel better. She appreciated the sentiment, though, and had to admit that when Carter was the one telling her it would get better, she did believe him.
“Feel free to look around while I pack up some stuff,” she told him, heading up the stairs for the bedroom on the loft level.
As she pulled out a weekender from her closet, she tried to think about what she needed, something made more difficult by the fact that she had no idea how long her stay at Carter’s place would last.
She grabbed her laptop first, the one thing she couldn’t do without. Then it was over to her walk-in closet, thinking about the clothes she’d need. Working on the assumption that she’d be at Carter’s place at least a week, she decided on a few dresses, then some slacks and blouses, along with a pair of jeans and tops to go with them. She was tempted to grab a separate bag for shoes, but resisted the urge, forcing herself to stick with the heels she was wearing since they’d go with everything for work, then tossed in a pair of low sandals and tennis shoes to go with the casual clothes.
Finished with that bag, she went into the en suite bathroom to gather up her toiletries as quickly as she could. On the way back into the bedroom, she caught sight of the shorts and tank top she usually slept in. The sight of them made her think about last night and wearing Carter’s workout clothes to sleep with him.
She’d never done anything so impulsive in her life. She was much more likely to think through even the smallest decision for hours before taking a single step—sometimes to her detriment. But last night had been different. After what had happened at Coffield Unit, she’d been rattled beyond belief and simply needed someone to take care of her. She wasn’t used to having someone do that but had known Carter was that person. She wasn’t sure how she’d known since instincts weren’t a strong suit for her. But somehow, she knew it was true.
Standing in the middle of her bedroom with its light blue walls, king-sized bed, and fluffy pillows, she decided that sleeping with Carter had been more than nice. The fact that they’d only slept together in the literal sense of the word made her snort in amusement. It was remarkable how quickly she’d relaxed and fallen asleep once wrapped in his strong arms. She couldn’t remember when she’d slept so deeply.
Deciding she’d rather keep wearing Carter’s workout clothes to sleep in, Hadley double-checked her toiletry bag to make sure she had everything while at the same time wondering what it was about Carter that drew her to him so much.
Part of her worried that the attraction had more to do with Carter being a werewolf than anything real. Or maybe she was simply confusing the sense of safety and comfort she felt in his presence with attraction. But if either of those were true, then why did it feel so right?
Finally finished packing, Hadley headed back downstairs to find Carter wandering around perusing the framed photos she had hanging on the walls.
