Perfect Fit (Serendipity's Finest 1)

He ran away.

Mike hadn’t been able to look himself in the mirror since. He hadn’t answered his brother’s or sister’s calls. He’d come back here for breathing space and thinking time, but it hadn’t taken long for him to wonder why the hell he had thought he needed either one.

Everything he wanted had been staring him in the face in Serendipity. A woman who understood him, accepted him, completed him in a way he’d never believed possible. He missed Cara, her smile, her laugh, and most of all, he missed the way she called out his full name when he was deep inside her. Hell, he even missed the dingy office at the station and how he could hear Cara’s laugh when his door was left open. But every time he thought about going back, he remembered her face when she realized his suitcase was open and half-packed in his apartment.

Destroyed.

That was the only word he could think of. He’d destroyed—not her, Cara was too strong to let him defeat her—but he’d trashed whatever faith she’d had in him. And though he’d given her no reason and even discouraged it, she’d believed in him enough to invest her heart.

What had he done? He’d thrown that gift away.

His cell rang, and he glanced down. For the first time all week, he answered a call from home. “Hey, Sam.”

“I’m on my way up the stairs to your apartment. Open the damned door and let me in. We need to talk.”

Mike heard his brother’s voice in the hall and opened his door as Sam finished his sentence. “Come on in,” Mike muttered.

Sam walked inside and looked Mike over. “Thank God you look like shit too.”

Mike drew his shoulders back, Sam’s words hitting him hard. “Cara’s in bad shape?”

“What do you think, asshole?”

His heart hurt at that, and he expelled a long breath. “I deserved that.”

“You’re lucky I don’t haul off and hit you.” Sam headed to his brother’s fridge and pulled out a soda. “Are you that damned selfish that you couldn’t see what you had? Or are you that stupid that you really don’t want her?”

Mike sat on the couch and leaned his head back, staring at the ceiling. “I fucked up. I’m not going to go into all the crap in my past, or why I did it. Suffice it to say that everything was coming at me at once, and when I left, I thought I needed time and space to think.”

Sam flung himself into the nearest chair. “And now that you’ve had it?”

He shook his head, disgusted. “I know how badly I screwed up. Everything I want is what I left behind.”

“Then why are we sitting here?” Sam patted the arm of the chair.

He leaned forward and met his brother’s gaze. “Because Cara made it clear that with my actions, she can trust me to keep my word, at least when it comes to leaving.”

“So you’ve got some work to do. Since when are you afraid of hard work?”

He was afraid of many things, but work wasn’t one of them. “Never. But I’ve done nothing but prove to her that I don’t want commitment. Why the hell would she believe I feel differently now?” He studied his younger brother’s serious expression, wondering what words of wisdom Sam could possibly offer.

“Are you coming back?” Sam asked, point-blank.

Mike swallowed hard. “Yeah.”

“For good?”

He nodded. “I’m going to get my girl.”

“That’s what I was afraid of.”

Mike stiffened. “What the hell does that mean?”

“It means, what happens if you can’t convince Cara to take you back? What if she’s too battle-scarred from her mother staying in a relationship that hurts her?”

His gut cramped at the too-real possibility.

Sam leaned in close. “If Cara doesn’t come around, are you still taking the job as chief? Will you stay?”