Back then, late-night shifts meant late-night rendezvous. Chemistry that shouldn’t have existed, but it did. We had to stop hooking up when both our eyes were on the lieutenant position. There was no way I was jeopardizing my most coveted role, and neither was she.
Now, though? Now we’re both lieutenants. The conflict is gone. The rules have changed.
Now, we can choose to get back into our inappropriate workplace shenanigans.
Angela’s… pretty. Not Millie-level of pretty—hell, no one ever will be—but pretty enough to make me consider crossing a line I didn’t think I’d want to cross again. A woman who knows the job, knows the risks. Could it be so wrong to try?
I reach out and brush my fingers against her cheek, feeling the warmth. “Can we talk about it later?”
Her smile is subtle, but it’s there. She nods once. “Okay.”
And just like that, we step into the town hall.
I spot Liam first, sitting in a corner, fiddling with his phone. He lifts his head when he sees me, eyes wide. He’s been nervous about the town getting a new sheriff.
I rush over to sit beside him. My ass is barely on the chair before he decimates my whole worldview with just a few words.
“Millie slept with someone else.”
That is not at all what I expected him to say.
Time slows. My stomach flips. My chest tightens. The scent, the way she smelled different when I hugged her today… it all clicks.
I was so used to her smelling like Liam when they were fuck buddies. That was a tough enough pill to swallow. However, it never even occurred to me that after Liam and her called it quits, she’d move on and sleep with someone else.
“Who…?” I ask, voice tighter than I intend.
“I’m not sure,” Liam says. His face is pale, shoulders slumping. “I went home after we gamed last night. She wasn’t there… and then she came home, smelling like a man.”
I feel the sick, sharp twist of jealousy and confusion. Another man. Fucking hell.
I glance at Liam, who is devastated, and I realize he’s too wrecked to notice my own devastation mirrored back at him. That’s probably for the best.
Another man.
Who the hell is he?
Does she like someone else?
I swallow hard, leaning back in the chair next to him. I can’t even think straight. Millie, fucking someone else… and I’m here, pretending I’m fine.
But I’m not fine. Not even close.
Millie
The smell of coffee and lemon cleaner fills the café, the kind that sticks to your clothes and lingers even after you’ve gone home. I stand behind the counter, towel in hand, pretending to focus on wiping down the espresso machine while my mind drifts somewhere it shouldn’t.
Knox.
I can still taste him. Still remember how he looked at me in that dim truck light, like he was caught between restraint and ruin. It should’ve been nothing—a one-night stand, the kind you chalk up to impulse and alcohol and hormones—but it doesn’t feel like nothing. It feels like a problem that’s too big to name.
My first one-night stand was with an out-of-towner at the bar. His name was Henry. And at the time, I had only been with Liam. But my best friend was out of town, and I decided to dip my toes in the water….
It went terribly.
The second man I slept with had thoroughly ruined the experience for me. Sloppy kisses. Too much talking. He was a Beta after all.
After that, I stuck to what I knew, what I was sure of. Just picked up where we left off, the way you step back into an old habit you know you should’ve outgrown.
