“I heard gunshots and called you, but your line was busy, so I went to take a look.”
“Alone, when there is a murderer out there?”
“I can handle myself, Cubby.”
“What about the Finlay brothers, were you going to handle them alone too?”
He was angry, his hands clenched, the muscles in his jaw bunched, and Katie wanted to wrap her arms around him and kiss him into a better mood, but thought now was not the time for that.
“I wouldn’t have approached them, Cubby; I was just checking to make sure no one was hurt until you got there.”
“How’d you know I was coming?”
He wasn’t about to give her an inch.
“If I heard the gunshots, chances were someone else did too. Plus, with the two deaths already, people would be especially jumpy, and if you hadn’t come soon, I would have called you again.”
“It was dangerous of you to walk about out there alone, Katie.”
“I’m a cop, Sheriff.” Katie felt her anger simmer. “I worked some of the meanest streets in LA. I can handle myself; maybe you need to start trusting me.”
“I trust you!”
“Really?” Katie raised a brow. “How is this trusting me?”
“There’s a murderer still on the loose, princess. I’m just making sure people are cautious.”
“I’m cautious. I can’t afford not to be; so back off and stop trying to protect me.”
“It’s what I do,” he snarled, taking off his cap and sending it flying across the room. “Serve and protect.”
“Ditto,” Katie said, feeling her body start to hum as he stripped off his shirt, then started on his belt buckle.
“That’s just gonna take some getting used to is all.” He kicked off his boots, then dropped his jeans and boxers, and he was suddenly gloriously naked and heavily aroused. “I’m used to looking out for you.”
“I don’t need you to.”
“Tough.”
“Neanderthal.” Katie’s voice was raspy as he walked toward her.
“Josh is whining that you broke his shoulder.”
“Good. Now shut up and come here.”
“Newman told me that asshole Kurt from LA arrived tonight,” Cubby placed a knee on the bed beside her. “I don’t want you getting close to him.”
“Awww, now that’s sweet. Big, strong Sheriff Hawker, jealous.” Katie wrapped her arms around his neck as he lowered his weight on top of her.
Chapter Fifteen
Cubby woke early the day of Jilly Lee’s funeral. He left Katie asleep and looking so goddamn sweet, he had to make himself get out of that bed when what he’d really wanted was to kiss her awake and then hold all that warm softness close, because he knew the day ahead of him was going to be an emotionally charged one.
Jilly’s siblings carried her coffin into the church, their faces ravaged by grief. It was filled with somber-faced locals dressed in their finest clothes. Cubby had known this day would be hard on everyone, and that he had to be prepared for the questions that would no doubt be asked. This was his town and therefore his responsibility, and the people who lived in it had a right to know what was happening. He just didn’t know what he was going to tell them, because so far he hadn’t turned up anything concrete to indicate who had killed Jilly and Melanie.
Cubby told himself he wasn’t looking for Katie when his eyes scanned heads. She was seated three up on the left, sandwiched between Jake and her father. He watched as she leaned on her dad and he wrapped an arm around her and the other around his wife and held them close, while Jake did the same for his wife and child. They were a family, there for each other no matter what, and Cubby felt an irrational need to be the person Katie leaned on. He wanted to be her main support, the person she turned to when she wanted comfort. Before her family, before anyone, he wanted her to look to him.
Hell, I’m in trouble.
