Page 10 of Final Inning

Even the vicious scar over his eyebrow didn't detract from how attractive he was. A very, very beautiful man. Yes, she was a professional; and yes, this was a serious matter they were dealing with—but some men, just…wow.

This was one of them.

She'd always liked men in business suits. They tended to be more successful, articulate, educated. And they tended to listen to a woman a bit better than most of the guys around here.

Unless, of course, they were assholes.

She worked with plenty of those. She was almost convinced every single man between the ages of twenty-five and fifty in Helery County teetered on the edge of total asshole. And when they found out she carried a badge and a gun—well, that ended every relationship prospect she’d had in the last four years.

She was almost determined to give up completely. And get a second cat.

Childless cat lady—well, she could seriously rock that look. And probably be perfectly happy doing it. If she decided she wanted children, well…there was always foster care or something. Helery County had more kids in care than it had beds. Kids who needed people to care about them the way no one had really cared about her. Kids she could help someday. That would matter.

Kids who were in crappy situations like she had been—they deserved safe places, too.

Hagan had stayed with a close friend’s family for almost a year, until she could move in with her own aunt when she’d been seventeen. She’d never forget her friend’s family being there to help her when she’d needed them most.

Her best friend’s aunt, a nurse, had driven Hagan from the hospital herself after Hagan’s father had gotten drunk and almost killed her for the last time. Right to her own already crowded house a few miles past the post office. Hagan had finally felt safe there, for the first time in her life.

Her foster family had moved away over a year ago—she missed them so much. She visited when she could, but it just wasn’t the same.

Both the FBI agents were taller than average. Even the woman was almost six feet. Hagan had felt like a Smurf in her dark blue deputy’s uniform walking between the two beautiful tall people.

Hagan barely squeaked by five-two. She’d almost not made it past the physical ability test at the academy. If she hadn’t been able to jump as well as she had—well, she had passed. Whether Johnson liked it or not.

Even if he said she had rigged it on multiple occasions.

How would that have even been possible?

His prevailing theory was that she’d slept with the evaluator. He’d said before that was the only thing that really made sense. Like he was joking or something. Asshole.

Sometimes…Helery County got to be a bit much.

She drove, of course. Thought about the two agents as they followed behind her.

When she parked, they were just seconds behind her. Hagan really didn’t know what to say when she joined them. “I’m sorry about that—the sheriff…well, we don’t exactly get along.”

Talk about understatement. Johnson liked doing everything he could to make her miserable every chance he could get. He hadn’t wanted to hire her. But the five member county council had overridden his objections, since she was the most qualified candidate who’d applied at the time. He hadn’t let her forget it since.

“We understand. Knight and I rarely get along, either. He’s a stick-in-the-mud,” the woman, Dr. Talley, said. She had a friendly smile and seemed far more relaxed than her partner. Dr. Knight just sort of…grunted and glowered at her. But Dr. Talley didn’t seem afraid or intimidated by him at all. They had a good working relationship, Hagan suspected. They were too easy with each other not to. She envied them that. “But I can say one thing—I can really count on him when the chips are down. He comes in handy.”

Lucky woman. Hagan would give anything to have a partner she could count on in this job.

No one in Helery County wanted Hagan on the force. No one at all. And they made that very well known. She swore they all drew straws to see who got stuck with her when they’d have to work together at times. Except…possibly Damien. Damien just liked working with her to torment her, because he was a bully and that was what he did. And Hagan had what Damien found fascinating—girl parts.

Girl parts Damien had made it clear he wanted to see.

He disgusted her completely.

"Tell us about Harper,” Dr. Knight said. He had a rich, beautiful voice. She bet he sang beautifully. Or…whispered sweet nothings well enough to have a woman…seriously heating up and everything.

She fought the urge to shiver in a good way. Yikes.

Well, maybe that single life didn’t look that appealing, after all. At least not at the moment. Of course…men like him didn’t come to Helery County often. They just didn’t.

He was definitely intimidating. No denying that. Even Sheriff Johnson had been less of a jerk with this guy. Maybe Hagan would just keep Dr. Knight between her and Johnson until this blew over.

At least maybe then she’d feel…safer.