I stiffened. “What do you mean?”
“She’s really skittish. I just wondered.”
He was fishing, and I wasn’t about to betray Hallie’s secrets.
“She’s shy, that’s all. Don’t overwhelm her.”
Daniels’ eyes narrowed, and I knew he didn’t believe me. Still, he nodded. “Sure. We’re taking lunch. Be back in sixty.”
I just nodded in agreement, but some movement caught my attention. Wren, Holt’s fiancée and one of our dispatchers, moved through the sea of desks with one hand on her pregnant belly. She’d be on maternity leave any day now, but she wasn’t letting it slow her down.
“Everything okay?” I asked as she got close.
“Not sure. We’ve got a missing hiker. I already called Holt. He’s getting the word to SAR, too, but I told him I’d grab you and Nash.”
I muttered a curse. “He calling in everyone?”
Wren nodded, her light brown hair swishing around her with the movement. “It’s already below freezing. He doesn’t want her out there overnight.”
Her. Below freezing. Overnight.
It brought back too many memories already humming at the surface: a terrified girl cut to hell but so determined to fight for her freedom.
I shoved all that down, locking it away with everything else I couldn’t let myself think about. “Give me the details. I want every officer on the lookout, too.”
Wren nodded, handing me a pad of paper. “I thought you might say that. Everything’s right here. I’ll get an APB out.”
I nodded in thanks, already moving toward my office and maps, Nash on my heels.
I’d have to call Hallie and tell her I might be late. And I’d need to tell her why.
What would news of a missing woman bring back for her?
15
HALLIE
I teased openthe door to Lawson’s bedroom but didn’t enter. He’d said it was fine to go into all the rooms, but something about crossing the threshold to his made me pause. Being in the place he slept each night felt intimate somehow.
Dumb. Dumb. Dumb.
I was getting his dirty laundry, not waiting for the man in sexy lingerie. Just the thought made my cheeks heat. I wanted that with someone. To feel so safe I could let myself be completely free.
But seeing as I’d had a freak-out when a man had simply tried to talk to me today, surprising someone with sexy lingerie was a long way off.
I forced myself to walk into Lawson’s room. The minute I was inside, I realized my mistake. His scent wrapped around me: sage, bergamot, and something else I couldn’t quite put my finger on that was achingly familiar.
The feeling of being engulfed by it all was too good. I never wanted to leave.
My phone buzzed in my back pocket, jerking me out of my spiraling thoughts. As I tugged it free, I expected to see Emerson’s or Adrian’s name. Instead,Lawsonflashed on the screen.
My gaze darted around the room as if I were looking for a camera. Some paranoid part of my brain wondered if he somehow knew where I was and what I was thinking.
I forced myself to take a deep breath and slid my trembling finger across the screen. “Hello?”
I said it like a question instead of a greeting. As though I wasn’t sure he’d meant to call.
“Hey, Hallie. Everything going okay today?”
