Maddie handed me a travel mug, a hint of anxiety playing across her features. “Are they sure it’s a good idea for you to train again?”
I wrapped my arm around her and ghosted my lips across her temple. “Lawson is keeping an eye on things. And we’re double-checking any gear we use.”
There had been no progress on finding out who had tampered with the SAR gear. Holt had changed the locks on the storage shed where things were kept and installed a camera to prevent any further issues, but it was still unsettling to think someone wanted to mess with us this way.
Maddie rolled her lip between her teeth. “Did he talk to Dan?”
I tried to keep the grimace from my face at the name.
Maddie pulled back. “What’s that look for?”
“We have to tread carefully when it comes to Dan because he filed a report against me with the mayor’s office.”
Her jaw dropped. “You have got to be kidding me.”
I ran a hand up and down her back. “I doubt he’ll see the complaint through, but we need to be cautious.”
“I can’t believe the mayor’s office would even take that seriously.”
“They don’t have a choice.”
Maddie’s mouth pressed into a hard line. “That’s just another reason why Lawson needs to question him. He obviously wants to hurt you.”
I shook my head. “But he’s also lazy. I have a hard time imagining Dan getting his act together enough to break into a storage shed and so carefully damage equipment. You’d have to research just how to cut the ropes so people wouldn’t notice at first, too. I heard he lost his job at the hardware store because he couldn’t be bothered to even show up half the time.”
Maddie’s thumb swept back and forth across my stomach. The touch was so casual, as if she’d been doing it for years. “I guess I can’t really see that either.” Her ministrations paused. “What about Adam?”
I pulled back a fraction. “Seems like a stretch that he’d do something that could hurt anyone and not just target me.”
Her fingers twisted in my T-shirt. “You might have a point, but he doesn’t care who he hurts as long as he gets his way.”
A weight settled in my gut. “I’m sure Law will check him out, too. But he’s also talking to everyone else who didn’t make the team, and the family and friends of anyone we failed to rescue.”
Her face paled. “That’s awful.”
“Grief can twist people in weird ways.”
“I guess you’re right. Just promise me you’ll be careful.”
I brushed my lips across Maddie’s. The temptation to deepen the kiss was so strong.
A playful growl sounded, forcing us apart.
“You’re a bit of a cockblock.” I glared at the dog, who looked a lot better this morning.
Maddie smacked my chest and then dropped to a crouch. “He is not. He’s a total love.” The dog crossed right to her and nuzzled into her side.
It was then that I saw he had something in his mouth. “Hey! Those are my damn gym shorts.”
I made to reach for them, and the dog darted away, letting loose another playful growl. I dashed forward, but he dodged me, almost sending me sprawling.
Maddie laughed. “You know if you chase them, they just think it’s a game.”
I turned my glare in her direction. “Fine, oh wise dog trainer. How are you going to get my freaking shorts before he puts a hole in the crotch?”
Maddie grinned and grabbed a stuffed beaver from the counter. She squeaked it twice and the dog’s head cocked to the side. He dropped my shorts and went loping toward Maddie.
She crouched, giving him the toy and lots of praise.
“I’ll be damned,” I muttered.
Maddie scratched under his chin. “He needs a name.”
“How about woman stealer?”
She shook her head but grinned as she did. “I think he kind of looks like a Clyde.”
“It fits. He’s stealing my woman and my shorts. Pretty sure I’m missing a shoe, too.”
Maddie’s brows pulled together in confusion.
“Bonnie and Clyde? The epic robbing duo? He can be the Clyde half of that pair.”
Maddie laughed, the sound warming parts of me I hadn’t even realized were cold. She turned back to the dog, rubbing his sides. “Clyde, it is.” She leaned closer and dropped her voice to a stage whisper. “Just go for Nash’s shoes, not mine.”
“Rude,” I huffed.
Maddie pushed to her feet. “I need to get going or I’ll be late. You sure your mom’s okay with watching him today? I just don’t want to leave him alone yet.”
“She can’t wait to meet her new granddog—her words, not mine.”
Maddie grinned. “You’ll win her over in no time, Clyde.”
The dog let out a happy bark.
I closed the distance between me and Maddie and brushed the hair back from her face. “You’ll call me if you see Adam at all?”
Maddie’s hand fisted in my tee. “I will, but I’m hoping he gets the message and takes off. He won’t be able to stay long because he always has work commitments.”
I hoped she was right, but I’d seen a determination in her ex-fiancé’s face that I hadn’t liked.
Holt grinned at me as I crossed the parking lot at the ranger station on the outskirts of town. It wasn’t a normal smile. This one made him look like the Joker.
“What’s wrong with your face?”
Holt’s grin only widened. “I’m happy. Is there something wrong with that?”
I studied him carefully. “You look like a rabid clown.”
He slapped me on the back. “I can’t be overjoyed that my brother finally got his shit together and made a move on the woman he’s always loved?”
I let out a low growl. I should’ve known Lawson couldn’t keep his trap shut. “Law is a gossip who’s going to get shanked one of these days.”
Holt barked out a laugh. “What would you do without your interfering siblings?”
“Live a peaceful, relaxing life.”
Holt only laughed harder. “I’m happy for you, man. Truly.”
“Happy about what?” Caden asked, walking up.
I sent Holt a look that told him to bite his tongue upon penalty of death.
Of course, he didn’t heed that warning. “Just reveling in the news that Nash finally pulled his head out of his ass. It might’ve taken him over two decades, but he got the girl in the end.”
Caden’s eyes widened. “No shit?”
I shuffled my feet, needing some sort of movement. I was getting twitchy. “Why are you two suddenly so interested in my dating life?”
“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe because we’ve had to watch you pretend not to be in love with Maddie for two decades,” Lawson answered helpfully as he strode up.
Grae bounded behind him, her gaze seesawing between the two of us. “You and Maddie finally got together?”
I glared at Lawson. “You have a big mouth.”
He gave me his best innocent smile. “Was this supposed to be a secret or something?”
Grae scowled at me. “You’d better not be keeping Maddie a secret.”
“I’m not keeping anyone a secret. But I also don’t think I need to put an announcement in the town paper.”
Caden chuckled. “Oh, you won’t need that. Gigi will take care of that for you in no time.”
Grae’s scowl turned a few shades colder as she glanced in Caden’s direction. “What’s he doing here?”
“Come on. I know you missed me, Gigi. You don’t have to pretend.”
I swore Caden used that childhood nickname just to piss my sister off more.
“I missed you like I’d miss a bad case of hemorrhoids,” she shot back.
Lawson choked on a laugh. “Didn’t you hear, G? Caden moved back and is requalifying for SAR.”
Grae’s face paled, and something niggled at me. This wasn’t the kind of reaction you had to a surrogate older brother who annoyed you. This was something more. My gaze narrowed on my sister’s face. But as quickly as the panic had appeared in her expression, it was gone.
She straightened her spine and turned to Holt. “Just do me a favor and don’t pair me with that moron. I’d prefer not to get dead because he tries to pull some Superman stunt.”
Caden’s jaw hardened, a muscle along it fluttering like crazy. But he didn’t say a word.
Holt looked between the two of them. “Is this going to be an issue?”
Grae launched into all the reasons she and Caden shouldn’t be on the same team, but I was distracted by a figure hovering just on the outskirts of our group. I turned to face Roan. Something about the image of him on the outside made an ache take root in my chest.
It wasn’t because we didn’t invite him in. It was because he seemed more comfortable there. But every now and then, I got the feeling that maybe a piece of him longed to be a part of things.
I gave him a chin lift. “Hey.”
Roan simply nodded.
I waited, wondering if anything else would follow.
His hands clenched at his sides as if he were struggling for words. “You and Maddie. It’s good. I’m glad for you.”
It was possibly the most my brother had said to me in months, but I fought to keep the shock from my face. “Thanks. How are things with you?”
He looked at me as if I’d asked the question in a foreign language. “Good. Busy.”
Because Roan threw himself into his job with Fish and Wildlife. And when he wasn’t on the clock, he was tracking the animals near his cabin way in the middle of nowhere.
I knew I shouldn’t push my luck, but I did it anyway. “You should come over to Maddie’s for dinner.”
Roan swallowed. “Maybe.”
That was a hell no, but I just nodded. “You just let me know if you get a free night.”
He nodded, but then his gaze hardened at something in the distance. “Isn’t that…?”
I turned, and everything in me stilled. Ice slid through my veins, so cold it left behind third-degree burns. The man across the street stared straight at me, a deadness in his eyes. I’d have recognized him anywhere. Jimmy Byrne. Maddie’s father.
