Page 68 of Embracing Desire
“What is it?”Josh asked.
“Not sure.Katie asked me to stop by.Something tells me it isn’t good.”Ry loped out of his office and into his SUV.
Within ten minutes, he was in front of Miss Mazie’s house.Katie was sitting on the front porch.She stood when he got out.
“Are you okay?”he asked, his gaze sweeping her from head to toe.She wore a pair of jeans and a cute white blouse.She looked okay, and his breath eased in his chest.
“Yes.”She wiped her hands down the front of her jeans.“You didn’t have to rush over here.It wasn’t an emergency, and I didn’t mean to make you think I needed the sheriff.”
Her words hit him in the gut, and he grinned.“I’m glad you called, period.”He strode up to her and drew her into his arms.“As long as you’re okay.”
“I’m fine.It’s nothing, really.”
He leaned back and stared down at her.
“Oh, all right.”She put her hands on his shoulders and pushed.Ry released her.“Gran made me call.I didn’t think I needed to, but…” She gestured to the driveway.
Ry’s gaze followed the movement, and he swore softly.Her red, older model car had four flat tires, and someone had scratched the hell out of the paint job with a key or a knife.“When did you notice this?”
“I didn’t.”She folded her arms over her chest.“Gran saw it when she started weeding the garden.”
Ry strolled over to her car.Damn it was a mess.Whoever did this had to have done it under the cover of darkness.“Miss Mazie’s car?”
“Not a mark on it.”Katie walked over to him.“She was parked behind me too.”
“Damn kids.”It had to be.
“Is that who you think it was?Kids?”
“We’ve been having some issues with some kids lately—petty thefts and such.Today, they tried to rob Roc.”
“Is he okay?”
“Yeah.”Ry made a mental note to call the man tonight.“When did you last look at your car?”He pulled the small notebook out of his back pocket and a pen from the front one.Even if Katie hadn’t called him as the sheriff but as her lover, he was still the sheriff.He took his responsibility seriously.
“Last night, when I came home from your place.”
“Nothing amiss then.”
“Not that I saw.The security lights…” Katie looked up and shook her head.“They were working, and now they’re all broken.”
The lights and fixtures were totally destroyed.Ry pulled his phone out and dialed.He was going to need help to get those lights fixed.“Jed, can you come over to Katie’s?Thanks.”He slipped his phone back into the belt holder, and then he put his arm around Katie’s shoulders when he noticed her slight tremor.“Jed will be here in a few, and we’ll get it all fixed.”
“I don’t understand it,” Katie said.
“I don’t, either.”And he didn’t.But something was going on, and he was going to get to the bottom of it.It might mean long hours for Josh and himself, but if it meant catching these punks in the act, he’d do it.
Jed’s truck squealed to a stop at the curb.He got out and jogged up to the pair.“What happened?”
Ry gestured to the scratched-up car and the broken security lights.
Jed swore, and Katie’s trembling increased.Ry frowned.
“I’m going back inside.”Katie shrugged away from Ry’s hold.Ry’s frown increased as Katie went back to the house.She didn’t even greet Jed.Why?He wanted to call her back, but Miss Mazie met her at the door and guided her inside.
“How is she?”Jed asked.
“Scared.She doesn’t understand why someone would target her car, and frankly, neither do I.”
