He’d woken up before her and couldn’t help but smile that she’d pulled off his boots, covered him with a blanket, left him a bottle of water on the coffee table and his phone charging on the kitchen counter. After a quick shower—because how could he not when she’d left a towel, new toothbrush and toothpaste for him in the guest bath?—he called Max, who wasn’t happy at all about the predawn wake-up, and asked him to bring Hunt’s uniform and drive him out to Rad’s place to pick up his truck.
For all her grumbling about him and glaring at him all the time, she still made him feel welcome in her home.
Feeling better after seven solid hours of sleep, he’d snuck a peek at Cyn in her bed, the covers in disarray, looking like she’d had a hell of a time falling asleep. And no wonder with so many unanswered questions about Angela and Lana. Then he left to get his truck and head to work.
On his way, he couldn’t stop thinking about her in that skintight black tank top and those tiny little shorts and all that creamy skin. But once he arrived at the office, it was all business. He’d gone in to read the reports and statements from the officers who interviewed Rad and his parents. Rad gave basically the same statement he’d given to Hunt last night. The officers didn’t find Angela or Lana with Rad’s parents, who were dismayed and upset to discover they were both missing. They blamed Angela, said their son would never hurt anyone and demanded the cops find Angela and bring their granddaughter home immediately.
He’d only been in the office twenty minutes when he heard Cyn call out, “Wilde, where are you?”
He stood and went to the office doorway and stared at an aggravated Cyn holding a foil-covered plate in one hand and a large coffee in the other.
“Wilde,” she called again.
“Right here.”
Her eyes scanned over him in one hot sweep before her eyes narrowed into that annoyed glare she always gave him.
What would it take to actually make her happy to see him?
“Why did you leave this morning without waking meup? You could have at least said goodbye and told me why you left so early.”
Two of the women in the office glared at him. The other three male officers snickered and looked expectantly at him for an answer.
He wondered how long it would take her to figure out they all thought he and Cyn slept together last night and if she cared. Apparently she didn’t even give it a thought as she closed the distance between them, giving him a better look at her in dark denim jeans, a white see-through crisscross top over a black bra, all those sexy curves and that wild purple hair. He wanted to slide his fingers through the strands and pull her in for the kiss he’d been dreaming about sharing with her for too long.
“Did you even get enough sleep after you’d been up for so long?”
The guys’ eyes went wide with knowing and amusement. The ladies gave him a good long look of appreciation, since they thought he’d spent the night making Cyn happy, even if he’d left early.
Cyn stopped right in front of him.
He looked down into her blue eyes and read the surprising concern there. “Good morning, Cyn.” He’d like to say that to her on another morning. While they were in bed together. Right before he really did make love to her.
Her lips scrunched. “I wanted to make you breakfast and thank you again.”
More chuckles from the peanut gallery.
He leaned in close, so only she’d hear him. “You do realize that you’ve made everyone here think I left you in bed after we had some wild night together.”
“I realized a long time ago that it doesn’t matter what I say or actually do, people will always assume and tell tales about me. Ninety percent of it is bullshit. If I actually slept with all the men in this town who claim to have slept with me, I’d never get anything else done.”
“Well, there’s at least one here who did sleep with you.” And it irritated the living daylights out of him to think a guy he knew and worked with had been with the woman he’d wanted for more than a year.
She didn’t hesitate or break eye contact when she simply said, “No, there isn’t.”
“Are you sure?”
“That I know all the men I’ve slept with and who they are? Yes. I’m sure. But thanks for that dig. I’m sure I deserve it after the way I’ve treated you, but... really?”
Hunt spared one second of a glance for Officer Reid, then wrapped his arm around Cyn’s shoulders as she was trying to walk away from him, steered her into the office and slammed the door.
“I only meant that maybe you hadn’t seen all the men out there, particularly the one who likes to tell tales about his nights with you.”
Cyn stared up at him, not a trace of embarrassment or deception in her eyes. “I have not slept with any of the three men out there. And if you want to know about my past, then ask. I have nothing to hide. I don’t apologize for having healthy relationships with men I wanted to be with for however long or short it lasted. I do expect a level of privacy from them I don’t always get, which is one of the reasons why things didn’t work out. I don’t want to be someone’s conquest or bedmate and nothing more. I know the truth. The people who really knowme know who I am and what matters to me. I don’t care what anyone else thinks.”
“You care what I think, or you wouldn’t have given me that explanation.”
“You said something last night...”