JENNA PEERED AT THE interior of her little hatchback car. Her heart beat could have been a bass drum for a metal band. She could practically hear it beating against her ribs.

Someone had driven her car. Hadn’t they?

“Is it safe?” Alex asked his mechanic friend.

“Yeah, nothing was wrong with it. Changed the oil, cleaned the air filter. Looks good,” the man said.

“I appreciate you doing that.” Alex shook his friend’s hand.

“Not a problem. If you run into anything else, give me a holler.”

“Hey, thanks for staying open for us. I know this is late for you.”

“Least I could do. I’m headed home. See ya.” The mechanic ambled toward his pickup truck, his duty done and absolved of responsibility.

“It’s really okay?” she asked Alex.

“He said it was.” Alex nodded at the car.

“And you think it is?”

“Well, yeah. You don’t want to drive it?”

“I’m just...what if I did it? What if I moved the car?”

“Then why would you have moved the seat?”

“I don’t know. But, maybe I did?”

“I don’t think so, Doc.” His steadfast faith made her knees weak. He believed in her more than she did herself.

“Okay.” She wrapped her arms around Alex, needing his strength and certainty, because she was out of any tonight. He rubbed her back, pressing her against his chest.

“We need to hit the bar.” His voice rumbled in her ear.

“Do we have to?” She sighed.

“If we want to be the only two not there, no.”

It was a SWAT tradition to grab a drink after briefings and shoot the bull. Jenna had avoided going to The Watering Hole, more often just called The Hole, for a while in the beginning, but after her first trip there she’d discovered a fun, easy way to get to know the guys. It was team building in the bottom of a cup.

If she and Alex didn’t show, it would be obvious something was up. All the guys would comment on it like a bunch of gossiping girls.

“Fine.” She pushed him away and turned toward the car.

Alex grabbed her shoulder and spun her. He swooped in before she realized his intent and set his mouth firmly against hers. Her insides turned to jelly. She curled her hands over his shoulders and lifted up on tip-toe, drinking him in.

He straightened, leaving her to claw at his chest and pant.

Damn, the man could kiss.

“I changed my mind. Let’s go back to your place. Now.” She wasn’t even joking. Let the girly-boys talk.

“Get in your car.” He slapped her bottom with one hand and tugged her hands from around his neck with the other.

“You’re going to ignore me when we get there, aren’t you?” Yes, she sounded whiney, but he couldn’t kiss her like that then expect her to pretend he hadn’t banged her lights out last night.

“Because that’s what we have to do, Jenna.” He held the driver’s side door open for her.

This sucked.

She plopped down into the car and let him close her door, shutting her inside this bubble.

Stupid, stubborn man.

The rules blew a big one.

She spent a moment adjusting her seat, the mirrors, all the little things until she was satisfied her mark was on everything.

Alex’s headlights flashed, his high beams reflecting in her rearview mirror, momentarily blinding her.

“Alright, alright, I’m going,” she grumbled. No, he couldn’t hear her, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t going to grouse at him.

Jenna eased out onto the deserted street and headed for The Hole. It, like many things around Ransom, got their start back when the town was just a string of wooden buildings on the way to the Ft Worth Stockyards. The brick and mortar structure sat on the same foundation as the original saloon. It wasn’t very modern, but it had character and the lawmen of the town were regulars.

Her phone rang with an incoming as the old building came into view. Alex hadn’t been kidding when he told her the shop was around the corner. She glanced at the screen a scant second before hitting the Answer button.

“Sterling. Hey, what’s up?” Talk about unexpected.

“Hey, I just wanted to say sorry about earlier.” Sterling’s voice was soft, muted, nothing like the sassy officer Jenna had come to call her friend.

“No problem. I get how things can be.”

“Yeah. I’ve got good hours and bad hours.”

“I hear ya.” Jenna smiled though her heart ached for her friend.

She turned into the tiny lot across the street from the bar and wedged her car into a small spot no one else would be able to fit. What was it about these country boys and their big ass vehicles?

“How’s it going tonight?” Jenna asked after a few moments of silence.

“Better than usual.”

“Good to hear.”

“I realize this is random and probably totally inconvenient, but if you aren’t doing anything tomorrow do you want to try to hang out? Not for long or anything, I can’t do long, but I think I’d like to see someone besides my doctor and parents, you know?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’d love to see you. Tell me when and where and I’ll be there. Actually, I’m going in the morning for a psych thing. I would like to talk to someone who knows what this is like.”

Alex filled her rearview mirror. She turned and pointed at her phone. He gave her a thumbs up and strode out of view. It was probably a good idea to not go into the bar together, either, regardless that he’d let it casually slide that she’d needed a ride.

“Psych thing? What’s going on?” Sterling asked, bringing her back to their conversation.

“I don’t know. I’ve just been...weird lately. Makes me wonder if all my screws are tight, you know?”

“Do I ever.”

“So yeah, I’d like it if we could hang out tomorrow and talk about missing marbles or how freakishly hot it’s getting. And, if you decide you can’t do it, it’s okay. I totally understand bad and good hours. I’ve had them.”

“Thanks, Jenna, you’re the best.”

They chatted a bit more before Sterling said she had to go. It would be good to catch up with an old friend, talk about the kinds of things no one else understood. A lot of the law enforcement guys got it. At least a quarter had served at some point or another, but it was different for her. As a woman and a medic, her set of experiences were unique. She’d been in the trenches, carried a gun and fought back when she had to, but her mission was different. What drove her wasn’t the same.

Jenna got out of her car, pushed her shoulders back and screwed her smile on. She needed to pass at least an hour before she could scoot out. An hour of ignoring the man she was going to go home with, and if she were really lucky, she’d be sleeping with him again tonight. Though she didn’t want to sleep a whole lot. At least they’d have tomorrow morning off.

Both the PD and hospital gave the active SWAT team time off around an operation to accommodate the long hours they spent in the seat of danger. All that meant was that they had more time to fool around before Jenna got her butt to Ft Worth for her appointment.

First, she had to get through tonight

“Jenna!” Trevor bellowed her name, a beer in both hands, as she entered.

“Wow, hey there. You supposed to be drinking that?” She prodded him in the ribs.

“I wish. Sadly, I’m just helping Jessica serve these lousy asses.”

“You suck as a waitress.” Jessica grinned from behind the bar. Twenty-something, pretty and the daughter of the owner, everyone knew Jessica North was off-limits. Which made her the perfect evening co-conspirator when the guys got a couple beers in them.

“I need a short skirt, don’t I?” Trevor frowned at his jeans.

“You’re hopeless.” Jessica poured another beer and slid it over to Alex sitting with Val, their heads together.

He didn’t even glance her way. Figured. Would he if she pulled her shirt off and danced on the bar? He’d probably be on her before she got more than a couple buttons undone.

“What’s that smile for?” Trevor asked.

“Nothing. Can one of those be for me?” Jenna helped herself to one of the beers.

“Another coming right up,” Jessica said.

Jenna took the cup and gulped down nearly half the liquid. If she was going to make it through the next hour or two without biting someone’s head off, she needed a good, happy buzz going in her favor. The sooner the better.

She joined the table of guys near the bar followed by Trevor.

“Jessica find your long, lost girlfriend yet?” Liam grinned at Trevor. He was another of the born-to-be-a-Ransom-cop kind of guys. His roots went back generations. There was something a little bit redneck about him, but in an endearing, hat tipping kind of way. No one on the force could sharp shoot like he could.

“Yeah, said your mom sends her love.” Trevor made kissing noises as he sat.

Liam flipped Trevor the bird and everyone had a good chuckle. It was bar business as usual.

“Oh, the girl you took home last week?” Jenna propped her chin up. She hadn’t been at The Hole when long-legs-and-gorgeous happened, but she’d heard all about it from the guys.

“Who?” Trevor scrunched his face up. The stitches made him look a little like Frankenstein’s monster. No doubt it would add to his repertoire of character.

“He keeps pretending it didn’t happen, but we were all here.” Sean toasted Casey and the two men drank.

Jenna caught Trevor’s gaze and lifted her eyebrows. He hadn’t said anything to her about the mystery woman, which meant he really must not want to talk about it. And that just made her all the more curious.

“Well guys, good news for me since he’s all mine tonight.” Jenna slung her arm around Trevor’s shoulders and chugged the rest of her beer. Their friendship could go both ways as far as diverting attention. Still, she was going to get him to dish later whether he liked it or not. She wasn’t jealous of the woman, but Trevor was one of her closest friends and she wanted to know what was going on in his head. In a logical world, he was the person she should have called about her fears. Not Alex. But everything had changed.

The conversation turned to sports and hunting, two topics she was useless at, despite her shallow Texas roots. Her family had been decidedly suburban while others like Liam Jones’ stressed hunter education and the value of procuring food for the family table.

She’d been invited out to the Jones homestead a time or two. The grand-dame of the family was one of the few other founding families who hadn’t shunned Jenna’s grandparents after the fire. They were all smiles, laughter and hard work. Good people, but after learning squirrel was a regular ingredient in the meal pot, she’d passed up the last couple of offers to partake of meals there. She was adventurous, just not when it came to furry little creatures in her food.

“I need another beer,” she announced and slid off her stool.

More locals had drifted in until it was fairly busy at the bar. She found a spot that wasn’t directly across from Alex and settled in to wait for Jessica.

“Thanks for the save.” Trevor slid in next to her and leaned against the wooden surface.

“No problem, but dude, you have to spill. What happened?”

He scrubbed a hand over his face and glanced away before shifting closer.

“Nothing, really. Hot chick comes in. We struck up a good conversation. She went home with me and after I passed out she left. Just took off.”

Interesting.

Trevor scrubbed a hand across his mouth and glanced away from Jenna, toward the door. There was something he wasn’t telling her. Had this woman gotten under his skin? Was there more to the story?

“I didn’t think you liked them to stay. I mean, the one nighters.” She drew circles on the wood with her finger, doing her best to act casual.

“No, but...”

“But?”

“There was something different. I don’t know. It’s stupid. Anyway, I made the mistake of coming in here a couple nights later and asked Jessica if she knew the woman. She said no.”

“And someone overheard you asking about her?”

“Yeah.” He rolled his eyes.

“What’s your new name?” She grinned. Sucked to be the one left, but it wasn’t like Trevor was hurting for company if he wanted it. A single night together didn’t make a romance, and there was no such thing as a magic vagina that could change a man.

“Romeo.” He said it with as much disgust as she’d expect from him.

Jenna laughed and made a mental note to work in a few good jabs this week before letting it die.

“What’s up with you?” Trevor’s casual tone set off warning bells. He was great at getting people to say what they meant to keep to themselves. Case in point, the several instances she’d told him some of her war time sob stories.

“Friend of mine called. Just got me thinking.” She shrugged and nodded at Jessica when she held up a finger.

“Bad news?”

“Maybe. I’m going to go see her tomorrow. She just got out. It can be pretty rough.”

“You are a stronger woman than me.” Trevor shook his head.

“Whatever.” She rolled her eyes at him.

“Keep something between us?”

Jessica slid a plastic cup Jenna’s way and kept going.

“Sure.” She wrapped her hands around her beer. If she wanted a buzz, she’d need to drink a lot more.

“I got my shield.”

She almost didn’t hear what he said, his voice was so low. His shield. As in—his detective’s shield? She sucked in a breath and swallowed, staring at him with wide eyes.

“You—shut up! That’s awesome.” She wrapped an arm around Trevor, giving him a squeeze. “Who knows? Do your parents know?”

“No, not yet. I want to surprise them. Do something silly.”

“Your father is going to be so proud of you.”

“He’ll probably tell me to go be an accountant again.”

“He’s proud of you.”

“No, no I know he is.”

Some legacies were hard to live up to. Trevor’s was huge. Everyone knew Detective Walters, the man who single handedly stopped a ring of bank thieves and put the worst kind of filth behind bars. Trevor had to figure out how to be his own man, but it was a lesson she couldn’t teach him.

“That’s awesome, Trevor. When will they make the announcement?” She squeezed him one more time before settling her hands around her cup once more.

“A week, I think.”

“We have to celebrate.”

“It’s kind of surreal.” Trevor tore a napkin into strips and absently rolled little, white fluffy balls from the stuff. “You know, I’d have let it go this time if it weren’t for you?”

“Shut up. You would have applied.”

“I’m not so sure.”

The way Trevor stared at the wooden surface without seeing it made her wonder which memory was stealing him away. She’d never met Detective Walters, but she’d heard the stories. Heroes didn’t always make good fathers.

“Well, Romeo, I’ll drink to your new shield.” She lifted the cup.

Trevor scowled and tossed bits of the napkin at her. Some landed in her drink, a few in her face and the rest tickled her cleavage.

“Hey!” Jenna put her cup down and peered down her shirt. Yup. Napkin bits were stuck in her bra. “Not cool.”

“Think about—”

“Walters.”

Ice laced with fire licked down her back. Jenna sat up straight and glanced over her shoulder at Alex standing at the end of the bar, glaring at Trevor, his hands clenched at his sides.

Oh shit.

TREVOR PEERED AT HIS TL. Alex had something up his ass lately, the question was what?

“Something you want to say, Myers?”

“Trevor,” Jenna muttered, the nuances of what she was trying to tell him completely lost in translation. Her gaze darted around as if Alex’s anger had her spooked. And why wouldn’t it? The man rode her hard when it came to work. More than the rest of them. It wasn’t fair.

“Cut that shit out.” Alex’s gaze narrowed. There was a decidedly dangerous air rolling off him.

“Chill out.” Trevor turned, putting himself between Jenna and Alex. The way Alex treated Jenna rubbed Trevor the wrong way. He’d never said anything because Jenna was more than capable of fending for herself, but Alex might as well have steam coming out from his ears.

“Talk to me outside.” Alex thumbed over his shoulder.

People were watching now, both their team and the average bystander. This was not the kind of bad PR stunt he needed right now.

“Alex, we were just playing around,” Jenna said, but Alex ignored her.

Like usual.

“It’s okay, Jenna, Alex and I are going to have a little chat.” Trevor never took his gaze off Alex.

Trevor liked Alex. Respected the hell out of the man. But he had a serious issue when it came to women in the field that were downright archaic. Jenna would never point it out, that wasn’t who she was, but there were dozens of instances that showed how little Alex trusted the two women on their team.

They exited through the front doors, waves of heat radiating up despite the sun having set long ago. The patio area reserved for smokers was full, so they wordlessly stalked around to the side of the building. A single street light cast illumination on the broken, crooked sidewalk.

Alex wheeled around to face Trevor and jabbed his finger at his chest.

“Your behavior is completely unacceptable,” Alex said.

“My—what?”

“We all see it. You’re going to get yourself slapped with a sexual harassment.”

“Me?” That was the stupidest load of horse shit he’d ever heard. “What about you?”

“What?”

“Man, you’re riding my ass? How about the way you try to side-line her every chance you get?”

“Side-line her? You don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about.” Alex’s eyes were wide, rage wrinkling his brow and his stance wide, aggressive-like.

“Really?” Trevor took a step back. An outright fight with Alex would leave them both hurt not to mention neck deep in trouble. “You need to calm down, man. I don’t know what’s set you off tonight, but you’re about to make a decision neither of us will like.”

Alex inhaled and his gaze narrowed. Trevor dropped his right foot back, ready to brace himself if Alex lunged. Trevor didn’t want to fight, but fuck Alex if he thought Trevor was going to back down he had another thing coming.

“Stay away from her.” Alex pivoted and stalked toward the parking lot.

What the fuck?

Trevor stayed rooted to the spot while Alex crossed the street. Something wasn’t right. Maybe it was the job or something else, but Alex was on a hair trigger. Why? He was always so calm. The picture of control. But lately...

There was no telling what was going on in that idiot’s head. The only person who could talk sense into Alex was Delores.

Trevor pulled out his phone and jabbed the contact. It was late enough he didn’t want to take the chance Delores was asleep, so he fired off a quick text. There wasn’t a department Delores hadn’t worked in, a cop she didn’t know, and yet it was Alex she treated like a son. If anyone could talk some sense into him, it was her.

Satisfied he’d done as much as he could tonight, Trevor turned and entered the bar. The guys glanced his way immediately. He shrugged and took a step toward the bar, but Jenna wasn’t there. Two farm hands sat where they’d been chatting and her drink was gone. He swept the rest of the room, looking for her blonde hair, but all he saw were trucker caps, cowboy hats and their team.

He shoved through to the bar and leaned over.

“Jess, where’d Jenna go?”

“Uh...” She poured two beers without glancing up. “I think she went to the bathroom?”

“Thanks.”

He wove his way through the bar to the bathrooms. Saloon style doors didn’t hide much, but a glance over the swinging half-door told him what he needed to know.

Jenna was gone.

Trevor pushed the emergency door open and stepped out into the alley between the buildings. He glanced over his shoulder, but it was empty. Where had she bolted to? And what was going on?

“WHAT THE HELL WAS that?” Jenna stalked around the front of Alex’s truck. If she were a big, testosterone fueled guy, she might consider decking him on principle.

Alex dropped his hand from the driver’s side door and turned to face her. His features were shrouded in darkness, but she didn’t need the light to tell her his gaze was stormy, his mouth a tight line. She crossed the space between them and prodded his chest.

“What about your whole ignore each other act?”

“Stop it, Jenna.” He batted her hand aside.

“No. You don’t get to ignore me, then police who I hang out with. That’s not how this works.” She jabbed his arm, straight up pissed. If she were buzzed, it might offer her some flimsy excuse for her behavior, but honestly, she hurt. He didn’t trust her. This possessive asshole act with Trevor underscored how little her word meant to him.

“Don’t poke me.” He held up his hand and this time she kept her fists at her side.

“You don’t get to make the rules.”

“He—flirts—with you.”

“Yeah, and so do the rest of the guys. So what?”

“I don’t like it.”

“Well, too bad buttercup. That’s the way it’s always been, and unless you want to give them a reason why they shouldn’t, it’s going to keep happening. And for the record? Nothing has ever happened with any of them, least of all Trevor.”

“You could call them on it. Talk to HR. File a sexual harassment claim.”

“Seriously? This is a cake walk. You want to talk about sexual harassment? You should have seen what basic was like.” She rolled her eyes. The worst day on the force couldn’t hold a candle to the things men had tried to do.

“What?” The notes of danger rippled over her skin.

Jenna took a step back, her self-preservation instincts kicking in. Alex reached out and grasped her upper arm.

“What did you say?”

“Please. The guys aren’t bad.” She splayed her hands against his chest and forced herself to stare up at him. Her brain recognized Alex’s he-man act for what it was, protective jealousy. It didn’t change how her lizard brain screamed at her to run.

“No, what did you say about basic?”

Jenna smoothed his shirt over his shoulders. If he didn’t like a few off-color statements tossed her way, he would blow a gasket over the stuff she’d gone through in that first year.

“Army medics do boot camp like everyone else. Ten plus years ago? It was a scary place for a girl. Before you jump to any conclusions—nothing happened to me.” But she’d heard stories. The whispers. The world was an ugly place. She just wanted to make it a little better.

“That’s not right. You were enlisted.” His arms slid around her, his embrace warm, protective.

“Hey, that’s in the past. Let’s focus on tonight?” And how much of an ass he’d just made himself out to be. She pushed his arm away, but it didn’t make a lot of difference.

“Just because what happened in the past wasn’t that bad, doesn’t mean this is okay.”

“Can you pull your head out of your ass long enough to see that it’s not really flirting? It’s their stupid way of accepting me, and if you screw that up, I’m on the outs again. It’ll fuck up our flow. Can you see that at all? Can’t you trust me to know where the line is?” He was a smart Team Leader. He had to know she was right.

“Trevor didn’t have to stick his hand down your shirt.”

“What? He did not. He threw a napkin at me. You’re being an obnoxious caveman. This jealous act isn’t cute and I’m not putting up with it. And it’s totally unfair to ignore me, then get pissed when someone else talks to me.”

“I didn’t say Trevor couldn’t talk to you.”

She stared at him.

Seriously?

“What?” he asked.

“This isn’t okay, Alex.” She pushed at his chest. “I like you, a lot, and I get why we can’t tell anyone about us, but stuff like this? I can’t do us if you can’t pack in the jealousy. Or do you really think I’m the kind of girl who would cheat?”

“No.”

“And do you think any of those guys would keep going if I told them to stop?”

“Hell no.”

“Why be jealous then?”

“Because...it’s not me.”

She blew out a breath.

It was both an endearing and frustrating answer.

“I get it.” She patted his chest. “But we have to figure something out. Quick. Because now all the guys are going to talk and I’m pissed at you for how you behaved.”

He was going to fight her on this. She braced herself for the argument while tiny muscles constricted and relaxed across his face. One micro-expression after another. After a few, long moments his shoulders dropped, and he blew out a breath.

“You’re right,” He said.

Well hell. The caveman could learn. That was promising. She could forgive this once, maybe twice, but that was it. He had to trust her.

“We should get out of here.” Alex glanced around the lot.

“Meet you back at your place?”

She should be pissed at him yet the prospect of what might happen once they were behind the safety of his front door sent a shiver down her spine.

“Yeah. And Jenna?”

“Hm?”

Alex didn’t reply. He tugged her closer and kissed her, hard, fast and deliciously deep.

THERE.

That was his Jenna—in another man’s arms. He couldn’t let another outsider take her from him. He gripped the metal pipe and ground his teeth together, watching the bull of a man kiss his Jenna.

She was his. Had been ever since he’d met her. She loved him. They were perfect for each other. So what was she doing with this man who was not him?

He turned and punched the brick wall. Pain shot up his arm. He hissed and shook his hand out. Jenna’s little car backed out of the lot.

Shit!

This was what he’d been waiting for, the chance to find out where she was staying. He’d had to remove the tracking device before the cop found it and hadn’t had a chance to replace it.

He hoofed it down the street to where he’d left his vehicle and got in, but by the time he pressed the accelerator—she was gone. The empty street yielded no clues, no matter how many times he drove the quarter mile or so to the main intersection. He hadn’t paid much attention to the men she worked with. They weren’t important enough to bother with.

Oh how short sighted he’d been. She wasn’t the angel of virtue he’d thought her to be.

His Jenna had just made a mistake. He’d teach her.