1
Zoe
The precinct lights hummed overhead, casting everything in sterile white. Cal Harris was locked in an interrogation cell, smug as ever, and the file in front of me was thicker than my patience.
Itold myself I didn’t need backup. I told myself I didn’t need anyone.
Then the door opened, and Forest Reed walked in.
Dark eyes, steady stride, built like a man who carried the weight of the world and made it look easy. He didn’t belong in the city—Frasier Mountain was stamped into his bones—but the second I saw him, my pulse betrayed me.
“What are you doing here?” I demanded, sharper than I meant to. After I had just had crazy hot sex with this man, in an empty room at city hall. Right after Lane and Jason’s wedding.
“I was making sure you don’t get yourself killed,” he said calmly, like it was the most natural thing in the world.
I hated the way my heart skipped. Hated it. Because this wasn’t supposed to be anything. That night in the closet and themany other places we pulled each other into—heat, adrenaline, lust—weren’t supposed to follow me here. This was my territory. He needs to stay on the mountain.
But Forest’s gaze pinned me, steady and unshakable.
And deep down, I knew I was lying to myself. But that was my secret.
2
Forest
The city had never felt like home. Too many lights, too much noise, too many people who looked but didn’tsee.
But Zoe Brewer? She saw everything.
I leaned against the wall outside the interrogation room, arms crossed, watching her work Harris over with that razor-sharp glare of hers. Most men would’ve folded under it. Harris smirked. He thought he still had control.
Zoe didn’t even blink.
God, she was fire. Fire wrapped in steel, every word she spoke burning with conviction. I’d guarded her once, back on that ship, and then while she was recovering, and something in me had shifted. I told myself it was just duty. But every time I caught her profile in that harsh light, every time I remembered the way she’d kissed me like she wanted to erase the world, I knew it was a lie.
She thought it was lust. Fine. Let her think that. I could be patient.
But Harris’s eyes lingered on her too long, and something cold and primal moved through me. He wasn’t allowed that. He wasn’t allowed her.
I straightened, stepping into the room, my voice calm, controlled. “Detective Brewer, we need a word.”
Her head whipped around, irritation flashing in her eyes. But beneath it, I caught the flicker she didn’t want me to see—relief.
Because she might be the toughest woman I’d ever met, but I wasn’t about to let her fight this battle alone. Not now. Not ever. I was staying for now.
3
Zoe
Harris laced his fingers on the metal table like he owned it. “Detective Brewer,” he purred, “you brought a bodyguard to an interview. Cute.”
I didn’t look at Forest. If I looked at Forest, I’d remember hands, heat, and an empty Closet at the hospital, and city hall, and many other empty rooms he pulled me into. But I have to admit I pulled him into a few of those rooms.
“He’s not my bodyguard,” I said crisply, flipping open the file. “He’s the guy who hauls you out of a ditch when your mouth writes checks your crew can’t cash.”
Harris smirked. “Crew? I’m just a man who likes food trucks.”
Forest’s shoulder brushed mine as he came to stand behind me. Not touching, not quite—just heat and gravity. I hated how my heartbeat counted it.
