Huck walked inside, looking tall and broad in dark jeans, flak boots, a black T-shirt, and a Fish and Wildlife jacket. He carried a ballistic vest with one strong hand. “Hi. What’s going on with Ena and Walter?”
Laurel sat back and studied his topaz eyes and rugged jawline. Did he get more good-looking every day, or did she become more enamored? Her continually growing attraction to him could be understood through a biological and evolutionary lens: as emotional bonds deepen, hormones like oxytocin and dopamine reinforce feelings of attachment and reward, subtly enhancing perceived physical attraction. From a biological anthropology standpoint, consistent displays of competence, protection, and emotional stability signal strong mate potential—traits historically linked to survival and reproductive success. Her brain, wired for long-term security, could associate his presence with safety and reliability, causing her perception of his attractiveness to intensify over time.
Or, he was just hot, as Kate would say.
Laurel pushed her laptop to the side. “I noticed Walter smiling at odd moments earlier in the interview. Supposedly he asked Ena a question in the Japanese language, and she might’ve said yes.”
Huck’s eyebrows rose. “They’re engaged? They haven’t been dating long.”
“Not at all.” She shrugged. “Walter went through a near-death experience and may be trying to get on with life, as my mother would say.” She glanced at the vest. “Are you heading into hostile territory today?”
“Not yet. I haven’t caught the bear bugging the Finderson Subdivision yet, but we dropped a bunch of doughnuts in the cage earlier today, so we’ll get her. I’m coming with you to execute the warrant at that lab, and Officer Tso will be flanking your other side.”
Laurel sat back in the chair. “I don’t need bodyguards. If I did, I’d request them from the FBI.”
“You didn’t do so, so we’re coming.”
Laurel sought out his reasoning and then countered. “I’m a trained FBI agent, as is Walter. We don’t need babysitters.” It was a mite insulting, really.
“Someone keeps shooting at your head, Laurel.” Huck’s voice had an interesting manner of lowering quietly in a way that somehow sounded threatening.
She needed to learn that skill. “You’re being illogical and over-protective. Our jobs can’t interfere with each other’s.”
“We often work together, and I’m a trained sniper. I’ll know if there’s a scope on you.”
That made zero sense. “You’ll just feel it?”
“Yes.” His tone sounded dead sure now.
With his experience, he’d probably note all good sniper positions, narrow in on them, and see movement or odd shapes. It wasn’t instinct. He had training and field experience. Yet she couldn’t allow this. “No. Huck—”
“You’re my reason, Laurel.” Simple words. Intense eyes. Sharply handsome face.
She blinked. “Your reason for what?”
“Everything.” He lounged against the doorframe, appearing as if he could lunge in a second if danger rolled down the hallway. “Growing up, the wilderness was my reason. In the army, protecting this country kept me going. Afterward, I worked tough cases in Portland, lost one, and headed up to the mountains to live with my dog. You took me out of that comfortable and slightly lonely world. Dragged me back into this one. For you.”
Her mouth slightly opened but no words emerged.
His grin was quick and then gone, replaced by more intensity. “I love you. I know you’ll tell me all about hormones and biological imperatives that make us feel love. I don’t care. I feel you in my bones. Deep. I’ll kill for you and I’ll die for you. Definitely take a bullet aimed at you. Not because of a baby we almost had, not because we’re colleagues or even lovers. Because you’re it for me. The reason I get up in the morning and double-check my security at night. I need you in this world with me. My reason.”
“I love you, too.” The words rolled out of her naturally before she could think.
He barked out a laugh. “You look shocked about that.”
“I don’t understand love like this,” she said honestly.
“Don’t need to. Just feel it and enjoy. And let me be me while I let you be you.”
That appeared to be a fair request. “What if those two realities conflict?”
“Then we’ll work it out. And how we’re going to do so in this situation is that Tso and I are accompanying you and Walter to the building where somebody shot at you the other day. We’ll stay out of the way unless I need to get in the way.”
She’d already gotten two people shot, one dead, and she didn’t want to lose the captain. “We’re parking in the underground garage and going right up to the offices. We’ll stay away from windows.”
“Good plan. Walter is driving and you’re sitting between me and Tso in the back seat on the way there.” He glanced down at his watch. “I’ll grab Tso. It’s time to go.”
Laurel watched him walk by the conference room windows to the hallway, a mite nonplussed.
