But then I heard his voice, and all of that went away. The insecurities seemed redundant, the torture of waiting for his call seemed like nothing, and I knew in a heartbeat I’d do it all again.

“Me too,” I replied honestly. “What was so busy about tonight?”

“We had a five-car wreck on the highway right after I got on, a family assault not ten minutes after that finished up, a seven-year-old boy went missing and ended up being under his bed, and my favorite was at Mr. and Mrs. Andrew’s.”

He’d ended the last on a laugh, and my eyebrows rose. “Oh, really? And what happened with them?”

“Tonight it was throwing hot tea on his, uh, manhood because she didn’t feel like having sex.”

“Lord! Seriously? Poor Mr. Andrew. You said tonight, do you deal with them often?” What was it about this man? We hadn’t talked in days and now were talking about his job—and yet, I couldn’t remember being happier than I was in that moment.

“Oh, yeah, they’re my favorites. He’s eighty-six, she’s eighty-three, and they’ve been together since she was fifteen. Absolutely madly in love, have a great family, lots of kids, tons of grandkids, but they like keeping it interesting. I think they get lonely now that it’s just them, so whenever they do something to each other, they call the cops and make it dramatic. Like last week, she called because he wanted some kind of vegetable and she didn’t feel like cooking it. So she threw the can of corn she’d been planning on cooking at him; it missed him and ended up breaking a window and she wanted him arrested.”

I laughed out loud. “Oh, my God, they sound great.”

Brody was silent for a moment. “I really like your laugh.”

My cheeks warmed and my smile softened as I admitted, “I was afraid you wouldn’t call.”

“Shit, KC, I’m sorry. Nights are never this busy in Jeston. The Andrews’ house is one thing, but all of that on one night is rare, and I literally just finished all the reports when I called you. I’ve been dying to call you, and almost did yesterday, but Olivia didn’t leave home once because she was getting ready for this trip she left for tonight with her parents.”

“It’s fine. I mean, it’s what we have to do, right? It’s not like I have the right to talk to you whenever I want.”

“I wish that wasn’t the case,” he said softly, and didn’t talk again for a long moment. “Can I see you again soon?”

“Please?” I laughed lightly. “When?”

“Now.” I laughed again, and he added quickly, “I’m sorry, I forgot what time it is. Um, how about—”

“No, I want to see you,” I practically blurted, and held my breath for the few seconds it took for my heart to calm down enough so I could speak again. “Do you . . . did you want to come over?”

“Yeah,” he breathed. “Yeah, KC, I do.”

After giving him directions to my house and telling him I’d leave the garage open so he could park his patrol car in there—just in case I had any nosy neighbors—I jumped out of bed and tried to get ready for him to come over. Fortunately for him, and unfortunately for me, he had to pass by my neighborhood on his way home and he was already less than five minutes away.

Not having time for much of anything, I put on a bra, pulled my hair back in a ponytail, and did the essentials before heading into the kitchen. I was about to get a glass of water when I heard an engine in the garage and went to open the door that led from the garage to the laundry room. His big black-and-white patrol Tahoe pulled in next to my forest-green SUV, and I had to admit, I liked seeing them next to each other.

As soon as his car was off, I pressed the button for the garage door and watched him exit the Tahoe. The second he rounded the back of it and looked up at me, that crooked smile crossed his face and I’m pretty sure I melted into the door frame.

Brody’s smile broadened when he got closer to me. I’m pretty sure he knew what he was doing to me just by being near me. “Hi, KC.”

“Hi.” I smiled like an idiot and finally stepped back when I realized we were just standing there staring at each other. “Uh, come on in. Can I get you anything to eat or drink?”

“I’m good.”

His gray eyes didn’t leave mine as we walked into the kitchen, and we fell back into a silence. Neither of us knew what to say or do now that we were near each other again. I drummed my fingers on the island and forced myself to stay on the side opposite him rather than going to him like my body was craving.

“How’ve you been?” he asked at the same time I said, “Can you stay for a while?”

“Do you want me to?” When I nodded shyly, he smiled again. “I’ll stay as long as you want me to. Liv and her parents are in Washington until Monday morning.”

Throughout most of the years I’d dated Charles, I couldn’t wait for him to leave or drop me off back home. So why, after having been around this man for only about an hour total, was I already wishing he would never have to leave?

“You can make yourself comfortable. If you want to take off your gear, you can put it on the table.” I nodded over to the large rectangular kitchen table behind him. “Or you can stay in it, it’s totally up to you. I just figured, since I’m in my pajamas and you look like you’re about to arrest me, I’d give you the option. I don’t know why I said that—you know what, I’m just going to shut up.” Oh, my God, Kamryn! Shut up!

Brody’s warm laugh filled my kitchen, and I dropped my head into my hands after planting my elbows on the island. Biting back my embarrassed groan, I peeked through my fingers when I heard movement and let my hands fall from my face as Brody began taking off his gear. His gray eyes met and held mine as he unbuttoned his uniform shirt and slowly removed it. It felt like I was getting the best striptease of my life, and he was still fully dressed underneath.

His already gravelly voice was even huskier as he reached for the Velcro straps on the sides of his bulletproof vest. “If we’re going to take this slow, you really need to stop looking at me like that.”

My teeth released the lip I hadn’t realized I was biting down on, and heat instantly crawled up my neck and cheeks. I spun around so my back was facing him, silently cursing myself for how awkward I’d made tonight already, and pushed away from the island to grab a glass from the cupboard. As I was filling it up with water from the tap, I felt Brody come closer and turned to find him occupying the space against the counter where I’d just been.

It felt like I was fighting going to him, and it was draining me to stay away from him. The heavy silence filled the space between us, and for the life of me I couldn’t think of anything to say to him that seemed appropriate for us at this early stage of our . . . us-ness. I wanted him to hold me, I wanted to feel his full lips pressing against mine. I wanted to know what he wanted out of life—and yet, we still needed to get to know each other. We needed to figure out what exactly we were going to do. We needed to talk about everything we’d left unsaid the other morning in the bakery. None of this was making sense. It felt like we were way beyond this stage. Beyond having to take things slow and forcing ourselves to not go to each other. But we weren’t there yet. He was married. We weren’t technically anything. We just were.

I simply didn’t know how to start from the beginning when I already knew how we both felt about each other.

“This is ridiculous,” he finally said. “KC, I need you in my arms. Pulling you to me feels like the most natural and needed action right now. And to be keeping myself from doing that is taking every ounce of energy I’ve got and all my concentration. We’ll take this slow, I swear to you we will. But I need to be able to touch you again.”

I’d barely set the glass down on the counter before launching myself at him. My arms went around his neck and his hands crushed me to his body. I felt the rumble build in his chest and his lips went to my ear.