Mastered by Mavericks (Doms of Destiny, Colorado 3)

A pistol-packing doll. Hot damn.

Reed smiled and walked to the table where they’d put their guns. He wrapped his belt with his holstered Ruger forty-five around his waist. “Neither are we.” Reed grabbed up the other weapon, his Colt, and walked it over to Sawyer. He turned back to Nicole. “Should the commies come knocking, isn’t it smarter to triple your odds, Chicago?”

“Seems I’m outvoted here in Podunk, Colorado.” She put her hands on her hips.

The sarcasm wasn’t lost on any of them, but Sawyer wasn’t taking the bait. “Nicole, give us a chance.”

“It seems I don’t have a choice.”

“You always have a choice with me,” he told her honestly.

“What’s it going to be?” Reed asked, his sudden fascination so evident it nearly filled the entire room.

She sighed. “I’m game. My car is parked outside the sheriff’s office.”

Sawyer shook his head. “I doubt it will make it up the mountain. What are you driving?”

“A Honda Civic. Why won’t it?”

“The roads are mostly dirt and the majority of them take a four-wheel drive on good days to get up to our cabin. On bad days even more so.”

“Fuck.” The swear word on her pretty lips shouldn’t have surprised him, her being a cop and all, but it did. “Fine. Let’s go then. I need to get my stuff out of my car though.”

She marched out the door, clearly in a hurry to get this over with.

“Damn, Jason.” Reed blew out a big blast of air. “What have you gotten us into?”

“I guess you two will soon find out.” Jason’s shoulders sagged. “I know she’s a cop, fellows, but with everything I’ve found out about her in the last couple of days, I know she’s in real danger. She’s got to be protected.”

“We’re on it, buddy.” Sawyer rushed out of the room to Nicole, the woman who needed Reed and him. When he finally caught up to her, she was already walking past the Blue Dragon across from Lucy’s.

She turned and rewarded him with a hint of a smile. “Your sheriff needs a course in manners.”

“You’ve got that right.”

“I think your brother isn’t far behind him in that department either.”

“Right again.” As they continued down South Street, he watched her taking in the sights of his town. “Destiny has to be quite a change from Chicago.”

“Yes, but take away the trees, mountains, and songbirds and add in throngs of people, high-rises, and screaming sirens and it’s exactly the same. Have you lived here your whole life?”

“I have,” Sawyer said as they turned onto East Street. “It’s a great place to grow up.”

“Any other siblings besides your brother?” she asked.

“Yes. We have a younger sister. Erica.”

“I bet your parents had their hands full.”

The old grief stirred inside him. God, he missed his parents. “This is our truck,” he said as they passed Maude, the 1976 yellow four-by-four Chevy truck that had over two hundred thousand miles on her. They’d rebuilt her engine seven years ago. The old girl was once again on her last leg. The best course would be to junk Maude and buy a newer truck, but neither he, Reed, nor Erica could seem to let go of her. Maude had been their dads’ last vehicle.

“This is mine,” she said, pointing to the silver Honda next to Maude.

“Isn’t that interesting that we are parked next to each other? Maybe this is fate playing out.”

“I’m not a big believer in such things.” She unlocked her door and pulled out a small suitcase. “Why didn’t you park the truck in front of your club instead of a block and a half away?”

“Reed and I only come to town a couple of times a week. Today’s trip started with a visit to the courthouse to get a copy of a deed to an acre of land we just paid off. Helping Mr. Gold, the owner of Phase Four, was the last task for today.”