Page 41 of Indigo Ridge (The Edens 1)

The cold air from the window skated over my naked skin, but I didn’t move from the bench. I waited while Griffin grabbed the sheet and brought it over, wrapping it around my shoulders before finding his boots amid the boxes.

An awkward quiet settled in the room. Casual hookups were completely out of character for me. Even in my early twenties, the only men I’d been with had been boyfriends. Then Skyler.

I wasn’t sure what to say. I wasn’t sure what to do. So I stayed put, listening to Griffin buckle his belt. It had been easier at the bar to simply get in my car and drive away.

Mom had told me once that I wasn’t the sleeping-around type. I was like her, a woman who loved. Did it make Mom wrong that I liked this fling with Griffin? There was no love between us, simply lust.

I didn’t want Mom to be wrong about anything. I wanted her to remain a perfect memory, the

beautiful woman who’d loved me before the nightmare.

“Hey.” Griffin’s hand came to my shoulder, his thumb drawing a circle on top of the sheet. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah.” I swallowed the lump in my throat. “Tired.”

“You sure?”

I nodded and slid off the bench’s ledge. “Thanks for staying. When Skyler was here.”

“Is he going to be a problem?”

“I don’t know.” But after Griffin’s display with the condoms, I doubted I’d see Skyler again.

“So, um . . . this.” He gestured between us. “Probably not a great idea if it becomes a regular thing. I’m busy.”

Busy. That term grated on my nerves but it didn’t matter. I was busy too.

“Agreed.” The orgasms had been out of this world but I was too raw for any sort of relationship, even if it was only for sex.

“Good.” He breathed, like he’d expected me to argue. “Lock up behind me.”

I was the chief of police, I had a black belt in karate, and I knew my way around a pistol, yet this man wanted to assert his protectiveness.

I hated that I liked it.

“See you around, Griffin.”

“Bye, Winn.” He waved once, then headed for the door.

I waited beside the window, watching until his truck disappeared down the block, then I locked the door and went to the bedroom. The air smelled like Griffin and sex.

The fitted sheet on the mattress was rumpled and my comforter had been kicked to the foot of the bed. The black alarm clock on the floor beside a discarded pillow showed it was three thirty. There was no way I’d get back to sleep, not now, so I dropped the sheet and went to the bathroom for a scalding shower.

Dressed in jeans and the black button-down shirt that every officer wore as part of their uniform, I headed to the station.

The night shift was just a skeleton crew, so it was quiet when I parked in my reserved space. The dispatcher at the desk jerked in surprise when I walked through the door.

“Oh, uh, hi, Chief.”

“Good morning.” I smiled. “Hope you guys have some coffee on.”

“Just brewed a fresh pot.” He nodded, then buzzed me in so I wouldn’t have to use my key.

With a steaming mug in hand, I retreated to my office, where stacks of files from yesterday were waiting, and I wasted no time diving in. The shift change at six was a bustle of activity and more than one officer gave me a wide-eyed look when I emerged from my office to join them in the bullpen.

Conversation was stunted. Laughter limited. I listened in as the night shift gave their summary report, then returned to the solitude of my office so they could have a few minutes without the boss eavesdropping.

Maybe one day, they’d welcome me into their huddle.