Total pages in book: 31
Estimated words: 28714 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 144(@200wpm)___ 115(@250wpm)___ 96(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 28714 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 144(@200wpm)___ 115(@250wpm)___ 96(@300wpm)
She groans, shaking her head. "You make it hard, you know?"
"Pretty sure that's my line."
She kicks me in the shin, making me chuckle.
"You set yourself up for that one, not me."
"That's precisely what I'm talking about!" she cries.
"What?"
"One minute, you seem so genuine and caring. The next, you're cocky and arrogant and saying ridiculous crap." She stares at me like she's trying to peel back the layers and see inside my mind. "I don't know which Easton is the real Easton."
"Why can't I be both?" I ask, leaning back in my chair. "No one is one-dimensional. We all have different sides. Maybe I am cocky and arrogant and fucking ridiculous. But that doesn't mean I can't mean every word I've said to you, too. I'm human, princess. We all are. Isn't that enough?"
"It's confusing," she says, her voice soft. Vulnerability floats through her expression, and I realize exactly what the issue is. She's afraid I'm playing her, putting on some act to get what I want.
"Want to hear something real?" I ask.
She eyes me silently and then nods.
"I left Dallas because the nightmares were so goddamn brutal," I admit, my throat tight. "I knew I still wanted to be a cop after what happened, but I couldn't fucking do it there. So being here, having you send me on all these bullshit calls, getting to see this side of things…I like it." I hold her gaze. "You help more than you know."
"I read about what happened," she murmurs softly. "He was a burglary suspect?"
"Home invasion," I mutter. "I wasn't even fucking looking for him. Someone flagged me down, said they saw him go in, so I went in after him." I exhale a breath. "He ran out the back and I took off after him. Didn't realize that he'd hidden behind the goddamn shed until it was too late."
"You almost didn't make it."
"Yeah." I exhale a breath. "It was close. Had the bullet been just another centimeter to the right…"
Her expression falls as she reaches for my hand, slipping hers into mine. "I'm glad you're still here," she whispers, holding my gaze.
"Me too, princess. Me fucking too."
Her sweet smile heals pieces of my heart I didn't realize were still bleeding. Christ, something about this girl is going to heal every goddamn piece of me. I already feel it happening.
She's been a balm against the nightmares for weeks. Now, she's slipping into those raw, festering places and soothing them too. Two months ago, I wouldn't have talked about this at all. I couldn't. Talking about it with her now barely even twinges. Soon, there won't be anything left but memories.
Chapter Five
Molly
"Hey."
I stop beside my car, glancing up when I hear Easton's voice. He pulls up alongside me in his SUV, smiling.
"What are you doing here?" I ask, my heart doing a flip in my chest. It's been another long night. But unlike every other night this week, we didn't see each other all shift. He was busy helping the fire department work a fire. Someone set a house on fire right outside of town. Easton and Dillon have been running around all night, trying to keep Emmett, the arson investigator, from losing his mind. Apparently, he has a thing for the girl they had to rescue from the fire. I know he has to be exhausted because I am, and all I did was work the scene from dispatch.
"Came to see you," he murmurs, his gray eyes locked on my face. "Missed that smart mouth and those pretty eyes last night, princess."
I blush, hiding my face behind my hair. "We talked on the radio all night," I remind him. But the truth is…I missed him too.
"It's not the same, Molly," he rumbles, reaching through his window to touch my cheek. As soon as he does, my stomach trembles. "You know it isn't."
He's right. It isn't. It didn't feel the same without him in dispatch, saying dirty things to me, kissing me, talking to me. I've gotten used to him stopping by every night. I'm not entirely sure I'm ready to go back to day shift yet. When I do, we won't be on every shift together anymore. There will be a lot more days like this—where we don't see each other every night. I'm not looking forward to it. But we only have one more shift together before we're back to our regular schedule.
"It wasn't the same," I whisper, my heat feeling like it's going to beat out of my chest with the admission. But when he smiles at me like I just gave him the moon…it's worth it.
"Go out with me this weekend," he says.
"Easton…"
"Please, princess. Don't make me beg. You know I'm shameless enough to do it." He cocks a brow. "I'll do it over the damn radio tonight if that's what it takes."