Only Her (A K2 Team Novel)(27)
“Trust me, Riley, you’re far from old. I’m Mike.”
Well then. That grin he gave her should have melted her bones, and a week ago, it might have. Instead, she had to be hung up on a moody bad boy who couldn’t tell her exactly what he did and never seemed to sleep.
“Glad to meet you,” she said. “Here’s a statement of the timeline and the pets involved, along with all the information I have.” She handed him the report she’d created. “Thought it would save time to have it ready.”
Mike took the pages. “This is great. Do you mind if I take a few minutes to read it? See if I have any other questions.”
“Sure. My first patient is waiting, so why don’t I take care of that while you’re reading? I won’t be long. Just routine vaccinations.”
“No problem. If you don’t mind, though, I’ll take that water you offered.”
She took a bottle from the mini fridge and handed it to him. His fingers brushed over hers, intentionally, she was sure. Yep, he was interested. “I’ll be back in a few.”
“Man, I’m digging all the hot guys coming in here lately,” Brooke said after they finished with their first patient of the afternoon. “The cop is like a beautiful angel and the other one is all dark, dangerous, and sexy.”
Her assistant had nailed them perfectly, but she wasn’t going to admit to noticing. Otherwise, there’d be no end to Brooke’s teasing. “They’re just men.”
“Pfft. Keep telling yourself that. Which one you keeping? I’ll take the other one.”
Riley winked. “Why can’t I keep both?” She walked out before Brooke could respond, returning to her office and the waiting angel.
Mike stood when she walked in. “Good timing. I just finished going through your statement and made a list of questions.”
His eyes tracked her as she moved around her desk, and she wished she’d taken a few minutes to run a brush through her ponytail and put on lipstick. Other than the brief kisses with Cody, her dry spell had gone on way too long.
“You’ll let me know when you get the results on the meat?” Mike said after she’d answered his questions.
“I will.” They’d decided that she would get faster results from the lab she used than if he sent the poisoned meat to the police lab.
He handed her a card. “Until we get a lead on who’s doing this, not much we can do other than beef up patrol in this area. I’ll make sure everyone keeps an eye out, though. I wrote my cell number on the back. If anything more happens, call me direct instead of going through dispatch.”
“Thanks.” She walked him out. At the front door, he paused.
“Are you married, Riley?”
“No. Are you?”
“Came close once, but no dice.” And there was that killer smile again. “Now that we’ve established neither of us is married, would you like to go out tomorrow night? Dinner and dancing, maybe? Or a movie . . . or just drinks if that makes you more comfortable.”
She pushed away the image of brooding caramel-colored eyes. Cody had made it clear that he wasn’t interested, and the truth was, she was ready for a life outside of work. “I’d be good with dinner and a movie. I’ll text you my address, and you can let me know what time.”
“So I get the dangerous one?” Brooke asked when Riley turned back to the counter.
In your dreams. “Don’t you two have something to do?” Her employees were too nosy by far, and the thought of either one of them going after Cody made her want to say something snide.
As she headed for the exam room where her next patient waited, it occurred to her that it was Cody she wished she had a date with, not Mike. Go figure. She was smart, though, so she would put Cody out of her mind. Mike was the perfect choice to begin her foray back into the dating game, and if things went well, who knew? To be on the safe side, she’d stop at the mall on the way home and do some sexy underwear shopping.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Ashamed, Cody kept his gaze on the trees when Ryan sat on the steps next to him. What if the situation had gone south in a really bad way? He couldn’t be trusted, and that was the cruel truth. Hell, he wouldn’t want himself on an operation, so he couldn’t expect his teammates to think any differently.
If Ryan was sitting here, though, that meant he’d talked some sense into the two inside. Cody exhaled a relieved breath. At least he wouldn’t have the guilt of his teammate or one of the kids being hurt on his conscience. He should say something, but he had no words to explain what had just gone down.
“Have you had flashbacks before?” Ryan finally asked.