“From?”
“Colorado Springs. He’s a dentist. We went on a few dates.”
His brow furrowed at that, but he pulled his phone out again. Still holding onto her with his left arm, he pressed a number. Esther didn’t want him to let her go, but Taylee was probably already texting her friends, family, and her gossipy mother. Joleen would be composing a cute social media post complete with photos of both of them and set to romantic music:The hot sheriff and the Delta daughter who we never thought would settle down to one man.Everybody loved Joleen and Taylee. They were both dolls, but they couldn’t keep a secret or juicy tidbit to themselves to save their lives.
Reed studied her while the call connected, his brown eyes full of questions. She loved the contrast his dark eyes and tanned skin made to his short sandy-blond hair and beard. His hair and beard both had highlights of red in them. Women would pay insane money for that hair color. She wanted to trail her fingers through his hair, then his beard, and then trace his lips with her fingers before she leaned in and kissed him again.
Oh my. She had to focus. She wasn’t dating Reed and she most definitely was not allowing herself to kiss those intriguing lips of his again. She’d only kissed him to get Garret to leave her alone or to somehow discover that Garret couldn’t care less about a relationship with her but had been using her, and trailing her, to get closer to the secret’s location. Right now she’d bet on the former, but she couldn’t be too cautious. There had been several deaths lately because of people coming after the secret and being willing to do anything to get it, including kidnapping, threatening, and hurting her beloved family members.
“Allie,” Reed said to his office manager. “I need you to check into a Garret Thomson. Spelling?” he asked Esther.
“G-a-r-r-e-t T-h-o-m-s-o-n,” she spelled out.
He nodded and repeated it, then continued, “He’s a dentist from Colorado Springs.” He paused. “Oh … Cameron already called in a license plate number on him? Good. Clean record?” His lips pursed as if he wished it wasn’t clean and he could arrest him on the spot. “Okay. Have them trail him, but no detention yet. Thanks.” He hung up, pocketed his phone, and unfortunately released her.
She shivered.
“Cold?”
“I’m fine.”
“Why don’t we get some ice cream and you can explain?” Reed suggested.
The thought of ice cream made her stomach churn, but she forced a smile and turned to Taylee. “Hi, you darling girl. Sorry to keep you waiting.”
“It’s okay.” Taylee grinned. “You look gorgeous, Esther.”
Reed looked her over and nodded his agreement.
Esther’s body warmed up. She knew many men were taken by her blondish-brown hair and bright blue eyes, and she received compliments often. It wasn’t much of a concern to her … until Reed looked at her like that.
“I didn’t know you two were dating.” Taylee licked her lips in anticipation as she leaned across the ice cream display case awaiting the spicy info. Taylee simply loved having secrets to share, and her mom exaggerated any information her daughter gleaned.
Reed grinned and took Esther’s hand. He lifted their joined hands, brushed his lips across her knuckles, and made her quiver from head to toe. “It’s pretty recent,” he told Taylee. “We wanted to see how it went before word got out.”
Esther clung to his hand. That was as good as telling Taylee to share it with the town. Her mistake of choosing to kiss Reed instead of someone else was getting out of hand quick. They weren’t dating and though she would love to date Reed, she couldn’t let herself. Esther had given her heart fully to a relationship only once. With a police officer to boot. She’d thrown herself headlong into love and thought Roman was her soulmate. She’d become obsessed with him and couldn’t stand to be away from him. He’d tried to break up with her and told her she was “psychotic and scary.” It had broken her heart. She’d called him repeatedly that night and when he didn’t answer, she went to find him. She’d had no idea he was on duty and shadowing a drug deal. He’d tried to protect her and had gotten shot in the back. She’d been in shock and hadn’t even been able to do basic first aid. He was gone before the ambulance arrived.
His partner had blamed her. His friends had blamed her. His family had blamed her. She’d blamed herself.
She was doing better now, ten years later. Her pastor had helped her find her Savior’s forgiveness for the tragedy and helped her accept the fact that the drug dealer had killed Roman, not her.
After a year of counseling, her with-it and patient therapist helped her truly get it through her head that many factors had combined to make her issues explode. The combination of the breakup and Roman’s tragic death. The pressures of college and wanting to get into law school. Hearing she was “perfect” from everybody in her life for years—parents, grandparents, teachers, coaches, etc. Even the responsibility she’d always piled on herself to help raise her five brothers up right, but she’d moved away from home and hadn’t been able to help much, which had only caused her to worry more. Everything had piled up and become the perfect breeding ground for extreme OCD and panic.
She’d learned to manage her compulsion, break any habits that weren’t positive or could hurt herself or others, and be on guard for signs she was falling back into that pit of rules and obsessions she couldn’t break.
One of the good rules she’d stuck with was three dates or less before moving quickly on. In three dates, she could tell if there was any future potential. She hadn’t found a man yet she was willing to risk more than three dates with. Mostly because she dated safe and boring men, like Garret.
She knew someday she’d have to trust a man with her heart again and trust herself not to smother him, push him away, or put him in danger, but it was like jumping into the lake in her family’s valley in the spring and freezing instantly. She would avoid another relationship, and the pain that came from it all imploding, as long as she could.
Staring into Reed’s eyes, she didn’t know how she’d move on from him. As incredible as he was, if he was hurt because of her, or told her she was “psychotic and scary,” she might need years of counseling to be whole again.
She tried to mentally slap herself. They weren’t dating, for heaven’s sake, and she was on top of her OCD. Had she just put him in danger by kissing him and using him to draw Garret out? No. Garret was the farthest thing from an armed drug dealer. The dentist wasn’t dangerous or a threat to anyone, least of all a tough, experienced sheriff like Reed.
“Well,” Taylee drawled out, “it looks like it’s going pretty fabulous. If that kiss I saw out the windows was any indication.”
Reed gave Taylee a conspiratorial smile. “Don’t tell anyone, but Esther is more than fabulous.”
Esther would’ve rolled her eyes, but she felt all lit up inside. Reed was just playing the part. Right? It certainly didn’t feel like it. It felt like he was her boyfriend and would love, protect, and cherish her. If she could get more kisses like their first one, maybe she’d take the plunge into the icy waters of a relationship. Maybe with Reed it wouldn’t be ice but fiery hot.