started to look really tempting, I could always take care of things myself. Make my own cookies, so to speak.”
“Jesus, Gav.”
“I’m just saying. It’s like a release valve.”
“Okay, I get it. Look, Skylar’s a grown woman. She can be friends with who she likes. You don’t need my permission.”
“Awesome.”
“But Gavin.” He met my eyes.
Wow. I’d never taken the full force of a protective father stare before. It gave me a quick hit of adrenaline. “Yeah?”
“She’s been through some stuff recently. Be careful with her.”
“I will. She’ll be totally safe with me. In fact, she’ll be safer with me than she would be on her own because I’ll be able to help her steer clear of any guys who you’d want to keep her away from. Not that I’m assuming she’d date those guys if left on her own. She’s probably too smart for that.”
“Even smart girls can get caught up with the wrong man.”
“One of the many reasons she needs me.”
He nodded slowly, and I could tell he was getting into this idea.
I sure was. Okay, yes, I was attracted to her, and usually when I was attracted to a girl, I pursued her relentlessly. But I could hang out with Skylar and help her acclimate to Tilikum without crossing that line. I wasn’t a total animal. I had some self-control.
I could resist the cookies in this cookie jar.
It was simple. I’d be friends with Skylar, and that was all.
Now I just had to talk her into it.
8
Skylar
The water pouring out of the faucet in the kitchen sink caught my eye. Absently, I rinsed off the plate in my hand, pondering the clear liquid flowing from the tap.
A waterfall. No, a dam—maybe one built by beavers. Sticks and debris everywhere. Maintenance workers wade into the murky water to clear some of the mess and find it’s not just river detritus causing the blockage. It’s a body.
I made a mental note to research the effects of prolonged submersion in water on a corpse.
Again.
My Google search history was rather morbid. Job hazard.
But… where was the story?
The homicide detective trying to make a name for herself gets caught in a web of lies and danger as she digs into the murder? Internal cover-ups and conspiracy? Or is it a family member of the victim, intent on proving it wasn’t suicide, who stumbles on a secret society, and the penalty for revealing its existence is death?
A knock at the front door jolted me from my thoughts. I took a quick breath and turned off the water. Leaving the plate in the sink, I went to answer the door.
If the knock had startled me, the person standing outside almost made me jump out of my skin.
Gavin Bailey.
My heart suddenly beat too fast and a flush hit my cheeks. Great, I was blushing for no reason. I opened my mouth to say… something, I didn’t really know what, although hi would probably have been a decent start. Only I got all tangled in my thoughts, still half-thinking about a body caught in a beaver dam and how it had gotten there.
“I don’t know,” I blurted out.
The corner of Gavin’s mouth hooked in a smile. “You don’t know what?”
Oh god, how embarrassing. “Nothing. I’m sorry. I was thinking about something else and I guess my brain wasn’t finished thinking it.”
“What were you thinking about?”
“A body caught in a beaver dam.”
“How’d it get there?”
“That’s what I don’t know. But that’s not even the most important question.”
“It’s not?”
“No.”
“Then what is the important question?”
“Where’s the story?”
“That is an important question.” He shifted his weight on his crutches. “Can I come in?”
“Oh, yes. Sorry again.”
“No problem. I’ve just been on my feet a lot today.”
I stepped aside so he could come in and it was impossible not to notice the way his muscles flexed as he walked. The crutches necessitated use of his upper body strength, something he clearly had in spades. He wasn’t huge and bulky, but he was athletic. That was a good word for it. And toned. So very, very toned.
And now my face was getting warmer.
I couldn’t stop thinking about what Ginny had said about Gavin being a hot firefighter. Because Gavin Bailey was the definition of hot firefighter. He was January and December and all the months in between in every hot firefighter calendar ever made.
If you were into that sort of thing, of course.
Which I wasn’t.
Okay, that was a total lie.
Gavin had thick dark hair, sharp cheekbones, a strong jaw, and soft brown eyes that