She swallowed hard, a ball of dread forming in her belly. “Tanner, I’m sorry. I said something wrong, didn’t I?” Damn her inability to process emotions like other people. “I love you.”
Some of the cool melted from his brown eyes. He brought his thumb up and trailed it down her cheek. “I know you do, freckles. And I love you. I want you to be able to do all the things you want to do.”
There wasnothingshe wanted to do without him. “There are things I want to do, but—”
Tanner muttered a soft curse as his phone began buzzing on the porch rail next to his coffee.
“Hold that thought,” he muttered as he grabbed the phone. “I’m on call so I have to take this.”
The way she’d already butchered this conversation it was probably best for them to completely restart it anyway.
“I’ll go inside and start breakfast,” she muttered, getting off his lap. He looked like he wanted to argue but the phone buzzed again so he just nodded.
Good. Maybe she could figure out how to fix what she was trying to say.
TANNERGRABBEDHISphone as he watched the woman he loved, the same woman who just said that love didn’t equal marriage—bundle herself into her blanket and walk inside the house.
That talk hadn’t gone the way he’d planned.
He hit the receive button with far more force than necessary. “Tanner Dempsey.”
“Tanner, it’s Richard Whitaker.”
“Hey, Whitaker. I thought you were taking some vacation time and heading back to Dallas. Are you in Grand County already?” Whitaker was the other deputy captain of the Grand County Sheriff’s Department.
“No, I actually just got off the phone with Sheriff Duggan. I’m going to be taking a little more leave, helping out here. Dallas has a serial killer, Tanner.”
Tanner winced and gave a dry laugh at the same time. “You always did complain there wasn’t enough action around here.”
“Believe me, this particular case is more action than I ever wanted to deal with.”
It almost seemed like the man was asking for his help. “You calling me for backup?”
Tanner couldn’t imagine many scenarios where he would be tremendously helpful for a murder investigation in Dallas.
“We do need help. In a big way.” Whitaker’s voice was strained. “This is personal for me. One of the victims was a girl from my old neighborhood.”
Tanner straightened. He and Whitaker might not have always seen eye to eye, especially since a few months ago the man had thought Tanner was responsible for three murders, but Tanner would still do whatever he could to help him.
The fact that Whitaker was calling him at all spoke volumes.
“Richard, what do you need?”
“Actually, I need Bree. We’re on a strict countdown—literally—and she may be the only one with the computer skills we need. The killer is sending live footage of the victim, and that’s the only thing we’ve got to go on.”
Tanner swallowed a curse. “That’s messed up.”
“I know. We’re going to have another girl dead within a few days if we don’t get someone in here who can think outside the box when it comes to tech stuff. I trust Bree, and we both know there’s no one better in the world.”
The only other possible person as good as Bree was currently waiting in jail in the city where he’d been assigned federal trial.
Dallas.
Tanner let out a curse. “You know Michael Jeter is being held in Dallas, right? I don’t like the thought of bringing Bree into the same town as him, even if he is in a cell.”
“I know, man. And trust me, if I had anyone else to ask, I would do it. We’ve got good computer people here, and they’re stumped. We need the best.”
That was Bree.
