want some Vicks for your nose?”
“Good cops don’t use stuff in their noses. Sometimes the smells coming from the scene can provide hints to the situation the eyes can’t see,” she says.
My lip twitches, but I manage not to smile.
“Damnit,” he mutters as he reaches into his pocket.
“Let’s go talk to the family,” I say, holding my hand out so Sophia can leave the room first.
“She didn’t even flinch,” Gaffey complains as he slaps a twenty-dollar bill into my palm.
“She’s a badass,” I tease, but as I head outside to deliver the bad news, I realize the absolute truth in my words.
Chapter 4
Sophia
“Don’t make those gagging noises,” I whisper, my throat threatening to close up.
“Really? You’re the one going on and on about the smoking hot cop that’s old enough to be your dad.”
“He’s in his mid-thirties. That’s not old enough to be my dad.”
“Well, he’s old enough to be my dad.”
“Not quite,” I argue. “Plus, stop thinking about his age. He’s sexy as hell.”
Izzy makes another gagging noise, and I nearly lose my dinner.
Keeping it together at that scene earlier was quite possibly the hardest thing I’ve ever done. When Gaffey started taunting me like he wanted me to get sick, I knew I couldn’t cave. I couldn’t be a joke or the laughingstock, even though they didn’t make fun of the other officer who couldn’t handle it.
I wanted to prove something to them, and I think I did. Detective Matthews—Colton as he prefers—was different when we left. His attitude, although not completely gone, was a little more muted than it was before we arrived.
“So, your first dead body, huh?”
It doesn’t surprise me that my friend would rather talk about a crime scene than anything resembling romance or sex.
“Really, Izzy?” I shake my head, grinning down at her smiling face on the Facetime video. “I can’t talk about it just yet.”
Izzy is Hound’s daughter, and although I grew up with Gigi, Hound’s woman, I’m closer to the former. She’s finishing her college semester in Albuquerque, and I already miss her even though we saw each other over spring break last week.
“Let’s talk about Colton.” I give her a wide smile, batting my eyelashes cartoonishly as I lean back against my headboard.
“Colton? First name basis, must be serious,” she deadpans.
I huff a laugh at her lack of enthusiasm. “Iz! He’s got muscles for days. His five o’clock shadow would make angels weep.”
“He sounds old.”
“He’s majestic and so tall.”
“You’re short,” she reminds me. “Everyone is tall to you.”
“Can you just hop on the Colton-Matthews-is-the-sexiest-man-alive train with me for ten minutes?”
If she doesn’t approve of my crush, then there’s no sense in even mentioning what happened during the case of mistaken identity first thing this morning.
“Choo-choo.” She smiles as she pumps her arm up and down like a train conductor.
“Better.” I grin into the camera.
“Are you going to keep flirting with him? Because that may make things weird while you’re working together.”
“I—” I snap my jaw closed because we’ve promised each other we’d always be honest. We get too many half-truths from the people in our lives under the auspices of protecting us. “I probably shouldn’t. I have to graduate on time.”
“True. Plus, you’re used to being around hot guys. He’s no different.”
I couldn’t even explain my attraction to Colton out loud without sounding like a fawning teen. Yeah, the man is possibly the hottest creature I’ve ever seen, but there’s just something else about him that makes me want to inch in closer to him, to crawl inside his head and figure out what he’s thinking.
“Professional,” I muse.
“I think that’s best. I know there are a couple guys on campus who are going to miss you.”
“That part of my life is over,” I explain.
“Over? Like dating?”
“Dating college guys,” I clarify.
“Who else will you date? And don’t tell me Detective Colton Matthews because he’s not an option.”
“I’ll have to date, eventually.”
“Not in Farmington you won’t.”
“He’s going to have to let me date eventually,” I argue.
“When you’re thirty, like Jasmine.”
God, she’s right. My older sister didn’t introduce a man to my dad until she was out of her twenties. She led a wild life, going to sex clubs and having a good time, much like I’ve done for the last four years at college, but I don’t want to have to move away to find a life. My family is here in Farmington. It’s where I want to work, and where I want to eventually raise a family.
“I’m not going back to college