She nodded. “It’s just…different now.” Haunted. When he silently watched her, she added, “Do you remember when you saved my ass at a bush party one night?”
He shook his head.
Her throat tightened. She wondered how many happy memories had gone away. “I’ll never forget that night. You came to the bush party and picked Harry Sanders up by the back of his pants, hooked his belt hook onto a tree branch, and left him hanging there.”
Rhett’s brows drew together. “I don’t remember that.”
“No?” She chuckled at the memory. “We were in the forest down by Old Man Butler’s. Harry had been feeding me shots all night. I guess you and Boone got wind of my being there and being drunk, and suddenly you came over and had Harry hanging like he was a two-year-old.” Warmth touched her at the lightness in Rhett’s eyes that night. It’d been a long time since she’d seen that. But that had been the first night she’d suddenly looked at Rhett differently. Hell, she thought at that time he looked at her differently too, protecting her when he really didn’t have to, considering her brother was also there. But the moment Boone marched up and glared at a very drunk Kinsley, Rhett shut off all emotion on his face.
A cloud of air escaped from Rhett’s mouth. “Shit. Right. Yeah, I remember that now.” He chuckled, shaking his head. “I’d never seen you like that. Or Boone so pissed.” His gaze fell to hers and he broke into a smile. “I gave you a piggyback ride, and you laughed the entire way home.”
Her breath caught in her throat. “See,” she said, pointing to his face. “That’s it. Right there.”
The smile stayed in place. “What’s it?”
She nudged his shoulder with hers again. “That’s the easy smile you used to have. I think that’s the first time I’ve seen it in a really long time.”
He stared at her for a long moment then turned his head and looked up at the stars again. She did the same, thinking that this was the first time in a very long time that Rhett looked comfortable.
Long minutes went by, and she thought that would be the end to the conversation, but Rhett surprised her. He took her hand in his then lifted it up to his lips. Eyes on hers, he pressed his mouth to her hand. “Thank you, Kinsley. For that story. For sharing this place with me.”
Warmth touched everything cold. “You’re welcome.”
Chapter 10
The next afternoon, on the way home from Whitby Falls, Rhett was ready to crawl out of his skin. He’d spent all day with Detective Anderson in the Whitby Falls PD, doing the hard and long detective work that, in the end, usually solved cases. Sadly, nothing had jumped out at Rhett as trouble within the biker gangs in the area. Dalton had recognized the guy in the photograph, and Rhett’s instincts told him to stay there. Bikers knew bikers. While Rhett doubted this was the Red Dragons, he felt that tug in his gut that there was a connection to Dalton. But that connection didn’t lie in Whitby Falls. He found no restlessness within the streets of the city that spoke of trouble. The past month had been full of petty crimes, domestic disputes, and a few minor crimes within the Red Dragons, but nothing that stood out as dangerous or serious.
Frustration cut through him as he drove down the snow-covered two-lane country road heading back toward Stoney Creek. He took the roads slow and easy but wanted to do the exact opposite. He wanted to get to Kinsley. Last night she’d touched on something inside him that still shook him this morning.
Rhett didn’t do shaken.
And with his frustration building over the case, as well as this edginess she brought out, he couldn’t stand it any longer.
Only ten minutes away from town now, he hit the phone button on his steering wheel. His Bluetooth kicked in. “Call Boone,” he said.
The phone rang twice. “Knight,” Boone answered.
“Any updates?” Rhett asked.
“Tattoo recognition is still running,” Boone reported through the car’s speakers. While tattoo recognition software was in the works, it was still in its infancy, and Rhett doubted they’d find anything there. He kept the thought quiet as Boone added, “Asher’s making some calls within two hundred call radiuses to see if any arrests have been made with a similar tattoo, but nothing yet on that front.”
“Nothing else?”
“Nope,” Boone said, sounding as frustrated as Rhett felt. “Nothing on your end?”
“Negative,” Rhett said. “I’ll be back at the station in forty-five.”
“I’ll be here.” The phone line went dead.
When Rhett finally rolled into town and stopped at the stoplight, his gut twisted, his chest impossibly tight. He bounced a knee, tapping his thumb against the steering wheel to the beat of the music playing on the radio, but nothing helped. What he needed to do was shed the restlessness burning through him to center himself again. He considered calling Theo, who Rhett knew would come no matter what he had going on, because that’s what they did for each other. When the adrenaline rose, once Rhett gave up counting on Jack Daniel’s to calm himself, they got into the ring to discharge the excess energy. Though today, Rhett’s agitation wasn’t only about the job or about settling back into civilian life. It had to do with why he could barely sleep last night. Kinsley, and the shit she was making him feel. And instead of driving himself crazy, he decided to do something about it.
He pulled over to park in the first spot he found and got out, locking the doors behind him with a loud beep. The bright sun warmed him as he walked along Main Street, a stark contrast to the brisk air. He shoved his hands into his pockets and kept his head down, not wanting to see or speak to anyone. Only one person was on his mind now.
A handful of minutes later, he found that woman sitting at her desk in her small office. She wore a big cozy-looking cream sweater and dark gray leggings, and just the sight of her hardened his cock to steel. The bar had been busy when he walked in, but the people out there were none of his concern.
Kinsley slowly turned, surprise in her eyes. “Oh, hey. I wasn’t expectin
g—”