bedroom and over to the mini fridge serving as a nightstand, pulled out two of the domestic beers he’d inherited from his predecessor, studied them a moment, then put them back and grabbed one of the energy drinks. Giving a resigned sigh as he glanced at the bed, he strode through the station, exited through one of the open bay doors no one had bothered to close, and casually sauntered down to Spellbound Falls’ first community campfire.
He just barely stifled a snort when he saw that, instead of taking a seat next to Katy, the smooth bastard had chosen a stump at a diagonal, so he could look her directly in the eyes. “I hope you’re not sneaking my crew alcohol in coffee cups, Officer Sheppard,” Gunnar said, choosing a stump right beside her.
“No, it’s hot cocoa,” Katy rushed out with a soft laugh. She pulled off the plastic cover and tilted the cup to show him its steaming contents. “Jake said he was almost to the campfire when he saw I was the only one here and decided to run back to the Drunken Moose and get us both hot cocoas. Wasn’t that sweet of him?”
“As sweet as apple pie,” Gunnar said, returning the bastard’s smirk while popping the tab on his energy drink. “So, Shep, how’s your jaywalking conspiracy coming along?”
Katy leaned closer and nudged Gunnar just as he was taking a drink, making him spill some on his shirt. She smelled of campfire, sea, and vanilla. Intoxicating. “Shep is the dog,” she whispered. “This is Jake.” She used her cup to gesture at the now grinning bastard. “He was about to tell me how those children ended up in the water this morning.”
Three-to-one Jake had pushed them in out of sheer boredom. “Do tell,” Gunnar drawled.
“Oh, I don’t know,” Jake drawled back. “It’s a rather long story, and you look a bit . . . haggard. Why don’t you turn in, Chief, and I’ll catch up with you tomorrow?”
“Oh no, Jake,” Katy injected brightly. “We don’t use titles here. Just first or last names or both, depending on your mood.”
Okay, he needed to tone it down, because either Katy understood the male ego far better than she let on and had caught the undertone in both their voices, or—
Or else she was a completely oblivious airhead. He really couldn’t believe it was the latter.
“And I’m sure Gunnar,” she continued to Jake, “is used to functioning on very little sleep, considering his former line of work.”
Gunnar stilled with his drink halfway to his mouth, even as he saw Jake nearly choke on the sip of cocoa he’d just taken. “My former line of work?”
The firelight reflected off a sudden gleam in Katy’s eyes, which Gunnar began to realize meant—hell, he was fairly certain it meant he didn’t have a clue what was about to come out of that lovely mouth.
She glanced in Jake’s direction, then leaned closer again. “What you did during all your world travels,” she whispered, “back when you lived in—on the island.”
Good God. He definitely hadn’t been expecting that. How in hell could she possibly know where he was from? Unless she’d spent those two missing weeks on some library computer in freaking Idaho researching the idiot her best friend was trying to hook her up with.
Even though Jane had sworn she’d never mentioned his name?
Katy fired off one of her smiles at Jake, who’d obviously heard the whole exchange and seemed as confused as Gunnar. “So, Jake, how did those children end up in the water this morning?”
“Children?” Jake repeated, his eyes appearing to be locked on her mouth.
Oh yeah. The woman definitely knew what was going on.
Which meant Miss MacBain was likely the only person at this campfire in full possession of their faculties at the moment. Which also told Gunnar that apparently the only weapon an angel or enchantress—he was pretty sure there was a difference—needed to take down a world-class Lothario was a killer smile, which was why he was sitting beside her. Hell, the way the firelight danced in those beguiling eyes, there was a good chance even Grouchy Gretchen would crack.
“I assume the girl fell in,” Gunnar said, “and the older boy jumped in after her.” Let’s keep this moving, he thought. The sooner Jake got the story out, the sooner the man could be on his way.
“That’s mostly what happened.” Jake frowned. “Except Evan kept insisting they’d seen a large bird. From his description, I’d say it was