or night, but El Chapo had the respect of the citizens in his community, and we all know that drug dealer wasn’t a good guy.
Women in Farmington find their mysterious demeanors attractive, like they’re the holy grail of what men should be like. To me, their high level of privacy is suspicious.
“It’s locked,” Sophia says on the other side of the glass, and I look through the passenger door, wondering when I climbed inside the car and sat down.
I hit the unlock button and wait for her to climb inside.
The fabric of her athletic leggings draw tighter on her thighs, and I try to refocus my attention on something that doesn’t have the potential to end with me buried in a shallow desert grave, because honestly, is there a legitimate biker club in existence that is a hundred percent on the right side of the law?
“Detective Matthews?”
I loosen the death grip I have on the steering wheel before looking over at her. She’s kept the top part of her outfit on, the thin white fabric hinting at the delicate outline of her bra, and I snap my eyes straight forward again.
“Call me Colton.”
“Colton,” she repeats, letting the sound play on her tongue.
Big damn mistake.
I clear my throat.
“We’re heading across town. A neighbor reported a foul smell, and patrol discovered a deceased person when they went for a wellness check.”
“Okay.” In my periphery, I see her snapping her seatbelt in place, and it reminds me I need to have mine on as well.
I’m going to have to call Dominic and tell him this just isn’t going to work. I can’t even climb in the car and head out on a call without getting distracted. My damn job is dangerous, and I don’t want to get hurt. I sure as hell don’t want to be responsible for this girl—woman, my mind reminds me—and her safety.
Maybe I can find someone else in the office that would be willing to take her off my hands. As I put the car in gear and roll out of the parking lot, my mind thinks of Gaffey, but then I remember how I felt when he put his hands on her, and I know that shit won’t fly. Granted, he’s old enough to be her dad and has worked long enough in the community to know to keep away from her, but Sophia is beyond gorgeous and a temptation to any man that gets hard for the opposite sex.
“Was it back there?” I look at Sophia to see her hitching her thumb over her shoulder.
A quick look in the rearview mirror proves that I can’t handle much more of this. The flashing lights of two police cruisers are behind us because I just fucking drove right past the scene we’re responding to.
“I want to park on the opposite side of the street,” I lie as I pull into an empty driveway and turn around.
A tiny grin plays on her lips as I pull up across the street from the house in question and put the car in park.
“Do you want to stay in the car or come inside?”
I don’t know why I’m giving her an option. I know exactly what we’re going to be facing in there, and I’d bet there’s no quicker way to get her out of my hair than insisting on her tagging along, but for some reason I want to protect her.
“I want to go inside.”
“You’re sure?” She nods, her eyes looking past my shoulder to take in the activity going on behind me. “There’s a dead person in there.”
“Correct.”
“Have you seen a dead person before?”
“My aunt died when I was twelve.”
“Murdered?” I feel a rush of sadness wash over me at the thought of this woman suffering with such a loss.
“Heart failure. She died in her sleep.”
This is getting eerily familiar.
“The person in that house probably died in their sleep,” I warn, not wanting to trigger her.
“Okay.”
“Days ago,” I amend.
Her eyes finally meet mine.
“It’s cold at night, so the heat in the house has been on. The neighbors called because of the smell.”
“Okay.”
“You can stay in the car,” I offer again.
“Is that where you want me?” There’s no sexual inflection to her question, but that doesn’t mean that my body knows the difference.
My body wants you under me, a million miles away from the stench of death.
“You’re welcome to come inside. I just wanted to warn you, give you a heads-up about what you’re going to be walking in on.”
“I appreciate that.”
She