I didn’t care.
“I didn’t have a choice,” he said, voice thick with some emotion I refused to acknowledge. “I didn’t have a choice because I was deployed. The military told me to go, and I went. They didn’t care all that much that I had a dog that needed me.”
“You could’ve had your grandmother watch him,” I countered. “Or your parents. You didn’t have to take him to a shelter.”
Malachi’s jaw worked.
“I…” he started to say, then thought better of whatever he was about to say. “What makes you think that I didn’t try that first?”
I bit the inside of my cheek and was just about to tell him that he was shit out of luck when it came to my dog when we were interrupted.
I hadn’t been aware of how close we’d moved to each other until we practically flew apart.
“Sierra Nevada,” someone called. “What are you doing here?”
Malachi moved closer to me, not because he was protecting me or anything, but because I was the lesser of two evils.
He didn’t like having his back to people—something in which he did on instinct.
Okay, so I may or may not watch him. A lot.
He was an intriguing man, and I couldn’t help my obsession.
I was attracted to dark and dangerous things.
And with how much I watched him, I knew that he always—and I do mean always—kept his back to the wall to ensure that nothing ever surprised him.
He most certainly didn’t like having someone dangerous at his back—someone like Luke Roberts.
I smiled and walked into Luke’s arms, feeling the leash tug as Axe refused to move away from Malachi.
“Hey, Luke.” I smiled.
When I let him go, he looked over at Malachi with a frown.
“This the guy that you’re seeing?” he asked.
I blushed seven shades of red.
Why had I said what I’d said earlier in front of my father?
Malachi’s eyes went calculating.
“Ummm,” I said, not sure what to say.
I didn’t want to say mostly because if I did, then I’d have to provide someone that I was seeing… and I wasn’t seeing anybody at all.
Oh, God.
I was so going to hell for lying to everyone.
“What would it matter if I was?” Malachi asked stiffly.
It was almost as if he was pissed that Luke had asked and looked somewhat put off by the idea.
My lips twitched.
“Was just fucking thinking that would be the first smart thing you’ve done in the last couple of weeks that didn’t almost get you fired,” Luke countered.
My brows rose and I looked over at Malachi out of the corner of my eye.
Oh, man.
He looked pissed at Luke’s words.
Almost as if he was outraged by the fact that just the thought of him dating me would be that abhorrent to Luke.
Before Luke could say anything more, he was called away by his son, Derek.
Seconds later, we were left standing there with a dancing dog between us, both of us glaring hard at the other.
“I want my dog back,” he said.
My brows rose. “He’s been my dog for years,” I said. “You can’t have him. He sleeps with me and keeps my feet warm at night.”
A weird expression took over Malachi’s face.
“I wouldn’t take him from you.” He paused. “I just want to be able to see him.”
I instantly felt like a heel.
I had no clue what happened with his dog.
Maybe there was more to the story and he just wasn’t willing to admit it.
“I have a proposition for you,” Malachi said carefully.
I looked over at him with surprise.
“What?” I asked, feeling something flutter in my belly.
“How about we pretend that we’re together?” he suggested. “It works out for you. It definitely works out for me if it gets the chief of police off my back… it’s a win-win.”
“They’ll think you fathered my child,” I pointed out.
Malachi’s warm eyes met mine.
“Is that a bad thing?” he asked.
I frowned. “You knew I was pregnant?”
“I knew that you were.” He paused. “Your brother has done nothing but bitch about how horrible the timing is for the last few days. Kind of hard not to put two and two together.”
I rolled my eyes.
“My brother’s the biggest turd I know,” I grumbled. “What did you do to get on the chief’s bad side?”
He sighed. “Apparently he’s not liking all the complaints I’m getting from people.”
“Complaints?” I wondered.
“Complaints,” he confirmed. “Apparently, I’m not the nicest person in the world, and I come off as an asshole. And when people bitch and complain, I’m not sympathetic enough, and don’t really care about their sob stories. So then I give them tickets, and they bitch about me and the Kilgore Police Department on social media, and then I’m once again in the hot seat.”
I burst out laughing. “You, not sympathetic?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” he asked, his hand going down to rub Axe’s ears.
“It means that you’re very intimidating, and that I can see why you’re not the favorite cop in KPD,” I answered.