“Morning,” I said hoarsely.
Her head turned, and I found myself staring into warm eyes, the shade and a clear amber that was unlike anything I’d ever seen before.
Sutton propped her chin on my chest and smiled sleepily. “You’re in bed late.”
“Ah, yeah, overslept,” I said quickly, though I had no idea what time it actually was. “I was up late preparing for testimony.”
Tony Walter had finally pushed too far, strangling his wife damn near to the point of asphyxiation—right in front of me.Though it had taken place when I was off duty, I was still the prosecution’s key witness.
She slapped my stomach playfully. “Well you better get up, or you’ll be late for court.”
With a groan, I rolled over, but toward her, not away, hovering above her and caging her in with my arms beside her head and my knees on either side of her hips. Sutton tipped her head back and laughed, exposing the long column of her throat, which I bent to nip at playfully.
“Chief,” she groaned. “We don’t have time for this.”
I scoffed. “Please, sunny. You know I can make you come in twenty seconds flat.”
“Triple that and then some,” she quipped.
“You wanna test that?” I asked, my mouth hovering right above hers.
Her hands came up to my bare chest, slightly chilled against my perpetually warm skin. I thought she was going to pull me closer, to wrap those gorgeous legs around my hips and let me bid her good morning properly—especially since she’d just gotten off shift, and I knew orgasms helped her sleep—but she shoved me away. I landed on my back next to her with anoof.
“Go!” she demanded with a laugh. “You can’t miss this court appearance.”
“Fine, fine!” I grumbled. “I’m up.”
A quick glance at the clock on my nightstand revealed I was going to be late if I didn’t get my ass in gear. I hurried through my shower, didn’t bother shaving, and dressed in my uniform, knowing I’d be heading to the station after my testimony this morning.
Plus, it looked good for the jury. I may have been off duty when the incident occurred, but I was still the sheriff of this county.
Right before leaving, I popped back into the bedroom and pressed a feather-light kiss to Sutton’s forehead, careful not to wake her. Normally, when she was on shift, I was responsible for getting the kids up and ready for school, but for whatever reason, she’d let me sleep in and handled it herself this morning.
Damn, my wife was a rockstar.
I drummed my fingers on the steering wheel to the Johnny Cash song on the radio as I drove into town, then two more older hits from my favorite station before I reached the courthouse.
The sun shone brightly, and the sky was my favorite shade of blue. Birds chirped. The trees were starting to show signs of blossoming after a long, brutal winter.
It was a beautiful day, the perfect kind to put a mean bastard behind bars.
Once I was swornin on the stand, the prosecutor took a moment asking me softball questions to confirm my credentials: I’d been the Owyhee County Sheriff for over fifteen years, had received several commendations for my service to Dusk Valley and the surrounding areas, and had been injured on more than one occasion in the line of duty—including the bullet to the chest that nearly killed me ten years previously.
“You’re a local boy too, aren’t you?”
I pursed my lips. “I’d hardly consider myself a boy, but yes, I was born and raised here.”
“What’s that like, servicing the county where you grew up?”
“It’s an honor.”
“And you take your job seriously, don’t you?”
“Of course I do. The people of this county elected me. The least I can do is ensure their faith wasn’t misplaced.”
“Where were you on the night of January nineteenth?”
“At the Swallow.”
