CHAPTER 19
The incident report on Sabrina’s desk had zero chance at holding her attention. She’d read the same paragraph eight times and still had no idea what it said. Something about trail maintenance blah blah blah.
As if that mattered when her entire world had imploded because a man had the audacity to order her to move in with him. No asking for Noah Colton. Just—Live here. I love you. We’re going to do everything together!
Where was her agency in all of this? Why did he get to say what happened? Where was her right to demand they go back to having fun, the way their relationship had started?
She bristled again, holding on to her anger, because if she let it go…well, she didn’t want to think about that.
Noah should have known better. Everyone knew better. She had standards, boundaries and a firm policy against letting anyone think they could waltz into her life and tell her what to do. Even if he’d given her a huge leg up toward her promotion by selflessly working with her and Ripley. And giving her the dog in the first place.
Speaking of dogs, Bonner drifted in her direction, a deceptively casual expression on his face that didn’t fool her for a minute.
“Well, well. If it isn’t Officer West, actually at her desk for once instead of playing with dogs and SAR experts.” His voice grated across her nerves like sandpaper on a sunburn.
She didn’t look up. Her emotions simmered pretty close to the surface, and it might not take much to lose it completely. Which would result in a fist through Bonner’s face and disciplinary action for her.
Though honestly, the fact that she had all this stuff seething behind her rib cage was Noah’s fault. She’d been doing just fine before he showed up with his gorgeous smile and his thing about honesty and his complete inability to understand that some people weren’t built for happy ever after.
“Some of us do actual work around here, Bonner.” She deliberately kept her tone bored. Unaffected. He’d never clue in on her turmoil.
“That’s what I hear.” His tone dripped false sympathy. “Though I also heard your boyfriend’s not training you anymore. Trouble in paradise?”
Her pen snapped in her grip, spattering ink across the report. Perfect. Just perfect. Like she needed one more sign from the universe that her life was spiraling.
“Don’t you have something better to do?” She grabbed a tissue to clean up the mess, still refusing to meet his gaze. “Like actually patrolling your sector?”
“Already done.” He leaned against her doorframe, radiating smugness like a cat who’d found an injured bird. “Even checked out that suspicious activity report near where you found your body. Nothing there, of course. Waste of time, just like I told Reynolds it would be.”
That got her attention. “What suspicious activity?”
“Oh, you didn’t hear?” His grin widened, showing altogether too many teeth. “Someone reported movement up there last night. Lights where there shouldn’t be any. Probably just kids messing around. I did a thorough sweep of the area this morning. All clear.”
Thorough. Right. Bonner’s idea ofthoroughmeant a cursory drive-by, if that. And lights in Peavine Canyon after dark? That wasn’t kids. Not in January, and not that far from the road. But Bonner wouldn’t know the difference between suspicious activity and his own reflection in a mirror.
“Really?” She kept her voice carefully neutral even as her pulse picked up. “You checked the whole area? Including the upper ridge?”
“Please.” He waved a dismissive hand. “I know how to do my job. Unlike some people who need their boyfriend to help them get ahead.”
The dark satisfaction in his voice made her stomach turn. He’d heard about her and Noah. Probably through the gossip machine that passed for interagency communication around here. And he was loving every second of her personal drama, the tool.
If there was anything she hated, it was her personal life being trotted through the office like some kind of game. She was a professional. No one had a reason to doubt her.
“If you’re done throwing all that swagger around,” she said with perfect calm that she definitely didn’t feel, “I have work to do.”
He lingered another moment, probably hoping for a reaction, then finally pushed off the doorframe. “Have fun with your paperwork, West. Maybe if you’re a really good girl, they’ll let you have my desk when I leave for the district office. You know, after I get the promotion.”
Fortunately—for him—he waltzed off then, or she would have rounded this desk to take great satisfaction in rearranging his face.
She waited until his footsteps faded before slumping back in her chair. Her hands trembled slightly as she tried to salvage the ink-stained report. What was it about men and their need to stake claims on everything? Territory, promotions, women’s hearts. As if they had some divine right to plant their flag wherever they wanted.
Not that Noah was anything like Bonner. He at least truly cared, which somehow made it worse. Because caring led to feelings and feelings led to love and love led to…
Nope. Not going there.
Instead, she focused on what mattered. Suspicious activity near Annie’s site. And Bonner had brushed it off without a second thought.
He hadn’t seen the baby supplies hidden in that apartment. Hadn’t connected the dots between Annie and the woman they’d rescued from the fire. Didn’t know what she and Noah had discovered about missing women and—
