“I know you do.” Kyle’s voice held absolute confidence, and Charlie felt that warmth in her chest again. Kyle didn’t give compliments lightly. When he said someone was good at their job, he meant it.
Shane was watching her again, that knowing look in his eyes. “You good, King?”
“Fine.” She met his gaze steadily. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
“No reason.” But his slight smirk said he’d caught the way she’d reacted to Ben’s name.
Damn him.
She turned to go inside.
“Hey, King Charlemagne,” Shane called, using her full nickname. “Aren’t you forgetting something?”
She stopped and turned. “Forgetting—Oh! Shit!”
Flo sat patiently beside Pete, hopeful gaze glued to Charlie.
Charlie let herself smile this time. “Come, girl. We’ve got work to do.”
The Malinois sprang up and loped to Charlie’s side, tongue hanging out, big doggy smile giving away exactly how she felt about her new human.
Hide what you love.
The words echoed in her head as she headed to her locker to grab her go-bag. She kept a packed duffel for exactly this kind of situation—clothes, toiletries, tactical gear, everything she’d need for an unexpected protection detail.
As she checked the contents, making sure her backup weapon was loaded and her phone charger was packed, she let herself have one moment. Just one.
She was getting to see Ben Massey today. The man she’d been half in love with since the first time she’d seen him at Sean’s memorial, standing with his brothers, looking both powerful and gentle at the same time. The man whose picture she’d seen in Sean’s wallet for years before she’d ever met him, standing in the St. Vrain River with his friends, laughing.
She’d come to Lyons partly because of that picture. Because those guys looked like they were good men. Like they were the kind of people worth knowing.
And Ben... Ben looked like someone special.
Not that it mattered. He’d never see her that way. She was just Charlie King, Shane’s old crewmate, one of the Boat Guys. Too tall, too masculine, too intense. Not the kind of woman men like Ben would want to ask out. They liked dainty women. Women who had no problem showing their affections. Princesses they could rescue and protect.
Just like Princess Evelaine.
Otherwise, why did he avoid talking to her whenever they were at the same party?
You’re too masculine.
Stop it. Focus on the job.
Charlie zipped the duffel and slung it over her shoulder. She had a woman to protect. That was what mattered.
Not the fact that her heart was beating too fast at the thought of seeing Ben walk through those doors.
Not the fact that she’d finally gotten her own dog, something she’d wanted her whole life.
Not the fact that for just a moment, standing in that training yard with Flo at her side, she’d felt like maybe—just maybe—she deserved to have good things, too.
Hide what you love.
The mantra whispered through her mind as she headed for her desk to finish up her paperwork, Flo following her.
Because the only way to keep good things was to make sure no one knew they mattered.
Kyle buzzedher an hour later and she headed for his office, Flo heeling beside her. Shane met her in the hall. Sergeant George Williams arrived a couple minutes later. The older cop had the kind of weathered face that came from decades of seeing humanity at its worst and still choosing to believe in the good, like his daughter, Officer Sylvie Hoff. He nodded at Charlie.
