together, even in jest.
She and Kyle had never even moved in together, although she realized now that his aversion to the idea had probably been because it would’ve made it harder for him to cheat.
“What made you want to go for a walk?” she asked when they parked in the public lot at Blue Mile Beach.
“Weird day at work.” They shed their sandals and left them side-by-side in the sand by the beach access steps. “Couldn’t think of a better way to get away from it all and relax.”
Twilight cast the beach in soft pastel tones: shades of grey, pink and blue that blended together. Their footprints looked like shadows in the damp sand as they walked at the edge of the surf, into the wind. She hadn’t put her hair up this time, and it streamed behind her.
The sea breeze combing through her hair like that and making her scalp tingle was one of the best feelings in the world.
“Anything to do with Sanders? Or don’t you want to talk about it?”
“My lieutenant is taking some time off to care for her sick mother. Weeks or months – nobody knows yet. We had a little get together to wish her well after work today – met at the Due South Bar and Grill, down on the east end of the island. Sanders showed up.”
“Oh.” She frowned. “Let me guess – he said something?”
“He made sure to rub it in my face that he’d gotten off the hook. Implied that Elijah – he’s my roommate I went through the academy with – only supports me because we’re gay lovers, then made some vague promises of retribution. The whole trifecta of petty bullshit.”
“What a dick. I’m sorry.”
“I can handle the bullshit. I can even handle his stupid smirks. I can’t handle him walking free with a badge and a gun.”
“He should be kicked off the force, if not fed to sharks.”
Jackson took one of her hands and raised it to his mouth.
When his lips brushed her knuckles, a hot shiver raced down her spine.
“You’re a woman after my own heart, you know that?”
His smile made her feel as if he were squeezing her heart instead of her hand. God, he was hot, and that smile hit her like a freight train every time, flattening her defenses.
“I feel bad for his wife,” she said, forcing her mind back into the conversation. “I bet things have been even worse for her since the arrest.”
“I know it. And I feel guilty as hell. Guilty for doing the right thing.” He frowned.
“Imagine if you hadn’t, though. Imagine if you’d shown up and left without doing anything. She would’ve known it was hopeless then. At least now she knows she has some sort of recourse, if she’s brave enough to use it. You showed her that there are people willing to help.”
“All I can do is write charges. I can’t help her out of the situation unless she wants me to.”
“That’s not your fault.”
“Doesn’t matter. This job gives you a front row seat to all sorts of shitty things that aren’t your fault, and if the fact that you can’t fix them doesn’t bother you, I think that means you’ve turned into a useless bastard like Sanders.”
She squeezed his hand. The fact that he cared – about Kate Sanders, and all the other people he couldn’t rescue as he would’ve liked to – melted her heart.
She didn’t have anything to take the edge off the truth of what he’d said, so she didn’t try. The minutes ticked by, at least five before either of them spoke again.
“Jellyfish,” she said, pointing toward a transparent mound in the sand. “Watch out.”
They gave the washed-up creature and its trailing tentacles a wide berth, and when they were well past it, he pulled her closer and wrapped an arm around her waist.
The feel of his muscular arm circling her and his hard body against her side took her breath away for a second.
“It’s almost dark,” she said, “do you want to head back?”
“No, but we should. I didn’t bring a flashlight.”
“We can go somewhere else. Walk out onto the fishing pier
She and Kyle had never even moved in together, although she realized now that his aversion to the idea had probably been because it would’ve made it harder for him to cheat.
“What made you want to go for a walk?” she asked when they parked in the public lot at Blue Mile Beach.
“Weird day at work.” They shed their sandals and left them side-by-side in the sand by the beach access steps. “Couldn’t think of a better way to get away from it all and relax.”
Twilight cast the beach in soft pastel tones: shades of grey, pink and blue that blended together. Their footprints looked like shadows in the damp sand as they walked at the edge of the surf, into the wind. She hadn’t put her hair up this time, and it streamed behind her.
The sea breeze combing through her hair like that and making her scalp tingle was one of the best feelings in the world.
“Anything to do with Sanders? Or don’t you want to talk about it?”
“My lieutenant is taking some time off to care for her sick mother. Weeks or months – nobody knows yet. We had a little get together to wish her well after work today – met at the Due South Bar and Grill, down on the east end of the island. Sanders showed up.”
“Oh.” She frowned. “Let me guess – he said something?”
“He made sure to rub it in my face that he’d gotten off the hook. Implied that Elijah – he’s my roommate I went through the academy with – only supports me because we’re gay lovers, then made some vague promises of retribution. The whole trifecta of petty bullshit.”
“What a dick. I’m sorry.”
“I can handle the bullshit. I can even handle his stupid smirks. I can’t handle him walking free with a badge and a gun.”
“He should be kicked off the force, if not fed to sharks.”
Jackson took one of her hands and raised it to his mouth.
When his lips brushed her knuckles, a hot shiver raced down her spine.
“You’re a woman after my own heart, you know that?”
His smile made her feel as if he were squeezing her heart instead of her hand. God, he was hot, and that smile hit her like a freight train every time, flattening her defenses.
“I feel bad for his wife,” she said, forcing her mind back into the conversation. “I bet things have been even worse for her since the arrest.”
“I know it. And I feel guilty as hell. Guilty for doing the right thing.” He frowned.
“Imagine if you hadn’t, though. Imagine if you’d shown up and left without doing anything. She would’ve known it was hopeless then. At least now she knows she has some sort of recourse, if she’s brave enough to use it. You showed her that there are people willing to help.”
“All I can do is write charges. I can’t help her out of the situation unless she wants me to.”
“That’s not your fault.”
“Doesn’t matter. This job gives you a front row seat to all sorts of shitty things that aren’t your fault, and if the fact that you can’t fix them doesn’t bother you, I think that means you’ve turned into a useless bastard like Sanders.”
She squeezed his hand. The fact that he cared – about Kate Sanders, and all the other people he couldn’t rescue as he would’ve liked to – melted her heart.
She didn’t have anything to take the edge off the truth of what he’d said, so she didn’t try. The minutes ticked by, at least five before either of them spoke again.
“Jellyfish,” she said, pointing toward a transparent mound in the sand. “Watch out.”
They gave the washed-up creature and its trailing tentacles a wide berth, and when they were well past it, he pulled her closer and wrapped an arm around her waist.
The feel of his muscular arm circling her and his hard body against her side took her breath away for a second.
“It’s almost dark,” she said, “do you want to head back?”
“No, but we should. I didn’t bring a flashlight.”
“We can go somewhere else. Walk out onto the fishing pier
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