DINA PLACED HER EMPTY bowl in the sink and ran water into the dish. Over the course of the day, as no other police had shown up at her door, she’d slowly relaxed. The stress of the unknown left her numb inside.

This wasn’t what she’d imagined for herself.

She leaned against the counter and stared at the flowers Trevor had left her.

The last flowers anyone had given her was on her birthday. She’d turned sixteen and Dad had brought her roses. He’d given her brother a car.

Growing up she hadn’t often had moments alone. From the time she woke up to the minute she went to sleep she was with her family, making nice with other families or serving as scenery. It had been hard to find herself in all that noise.

Mom and Dad favored Dominick. He was the son, the one who would carry on the family name. She was an extra, forever relegated to the shadows. At thirteen and fourteen, when Dad began taking Dominick along for rides, Dina had protested. She’d seen the divide between her and her twin growing. The day they turned sixteen was the real point of separation.

Dominick had a party. A huge shindig with cake and family.

Dina got a table in the back where her and a few friends split an ice cream sundae. That was the day she realized how things would always be different for her.

She and her best friend Rosetta had vowed to leave this all behind. They had this plan to move to L.A. or Miami, the destination changed every month, get an apartment and be free. Dina had found her voice because of Rosie. She didn’t take shit from anyone, and in the end that was what got her killed.

Dina opened the fridge and pulled out the bottle of rosé.

She’d taken her life in her hands the day she’d walked up to the tail following her mother and slid into the backseat, ready to spill the beans on Mom and Dad. When it came down to it, she couldn’t bring herself to rat out Dominick even though he’d grown up to be just as cruel and mean as Dad.

What would Rosie think of her now?

Dina poured herself a very full glass and sipped. It wasn’t the good stuff, but it would do.

She paused on her way to the living room to smell the blooms.

Trevor was everything her parents hated, namely a cop.

Maybe that was why she hadn’t left that bar the night they’d met. She’d gone in there, lonely and wanting something. He was the forbidden fruit. Attractive. Sexy. Confident. A cop.

She sipped the wine and picked up his card.

This was too complicated.

It wasn’t like she could offer him anything more than she already had.

Dina had never had a true boyfriend. As a teen she wasn’t allowed to go on dates. She’d seen some guys socially, but at the time things had been tense between her family and others on their level. Dina couldn’t date and offend her father’s peers. As an adult she’d spent most of it in Witness Protection, which meant there wasn’t a whole lot she could talk about. There were gaps in her history better left silent. It made small talk impossible when she couldn’t answer questions about her past.

Trevor would ask questions. Talking to him again would be a mistake. And yet, he wasn’t asking her for more. He’d apologized for running into her and offered her help.

Where did she think that was going to go?

She couldn’t call him up and ask for another night of drinks.

There wasn’t a future for her with a man. Especially one like Trevor. But that didn’t stop her from wanting to live in that moment, sitting across from him at that pub table, laughing about some story about high school kids harassing cows.

Dina should throw the card away.

She picked it up, but now both hands were full.

This problem could be pondered from the sofa.

She carried her wine and the card back to her little nest on the couch. Earlier she’d finished her latest updates and would spend the next few hours pushing those to the servers to be verified and implemented. Her career in phone app games was entirely by accident, but it also provided her a nice sized income that allowed her to live anywhere she pleased. Who would have thought that Dad’s breakthrough in online gambling would be the foundation for her career?

Dina placed the wine on the side table and stared at the business card.

Detective Trevor Walters.

There was a scar across his left brow that was new from the last time she’d seen him. How had that happened? Did he think about her? Was there another woman in the picture? Did it matter?

She’d never had to try her story out on anyone. Would Trevor believe her battered wife tale? Or would he see through it? Would it be so bad to have a friend that was a cop? They didn’t have to get close, but maybe he could be good for her. Protection. Insurance.

What could she possibly hope to get out of keeping in touch with him?

A friend wouldn’t be a horrible thing to have. Right now all of hers were on-line and went by pseudonyms. But Trevor was here. That complicated things that were already complicated.

She took another drink. By now she could recite Trevor’s phone number, badge number and email address.

He was easy to talk to. He’d made her laugh. And he’d brought her wine, ice cream and flowers. She was going to see him in passing if she stayed in this small town. Being awkward would draw more attention than a casual conversation or wave. Plus, it might be nice to have someone she could call on. Not often, or maybe ever, but she’d relied on a few lifelines since she’d left the family that had saved her.

Dina grabbed her phone, unlocked the screen and tapped her texts. Before she could think herself to death, she typed in his number and a quick message.

Thanks for the flowers. They smell nice.

She hit send, tossed the phone down on the cushion and emptied her glass.

Time for more wine.

Dina wrapped her hand around the wine bottle.

Her phone chimed.

Invisible fingers tickled her spine.

She turned her head and stared at the screen all lit up.

He wouldn’t possibly have responded immediately. It was more than likely a shipping notification.

She topped off her glass then scurried back to the sofa. She cradled her phone in her hand and stared at the message preview on her lock screen.

That wasn’t a shipping text. That was a Trevor text.

Not as nice as you. ;)

Dina could hear him say that with that smirk on his face. She shook her head and leaned against the arm rest.

Trevor was a flirt. He was doing what came natural to him, just like he’d do with any woman that caught his attention. She wasn’t special. Then why was she smiling? The warm fuzzies were because of the wine, not him. Five words didn’t have that much power over her.

The screen lit up again with another message before she’d considered replying.

Glad I got to see you again. Hope you got everything on your shopping list. If you missed anything I guess I owe you dinner.

She blinked at the message.

Three complete sentences.

No abbreviations or numbers instead of words.

Color her impressed.

Dina nursed her wine while she rolled the two messages around in her head. The first was his knee jerk reaction to her reaching out. Flirty. Cute. And damn if she didn’t remember his lips on her neck. The second was still flirty, but she didn’t hear the smirk. It was earnest. Then again, did she really know him? No, not really.

Now I wish I had a list.

She tapped out her short reply and hit send.

Dinner was never going to happen for them, but she could pretend it might. Just for tonight. Tomorrow she’d ghost on him, forget to respond, and eventually she’d fall off his radar.

She bit her lip and watched the screen, waiting for it to light up again. The seconds ticked by.

This was silly. She shouldn’t let this get out of hand. It was a little fun to break up the stress of her routine.

Dina grabbed the remote and turned on the TV.

Her phone chimed again. She dropped the remote and stared at the message.

I’d be willing to lend you my list. Have you eaten yet?

Danger!

She knew what the follow up question would be, and that wasn’t going to happen.

Just ate. Getting ready to crash. Long day.

None of that was a lie. She’d been up late and early working on the new patches. Tomorrow she’d need to be up early again to facilitate loading the updates to push out to devices, but it wasn’t like she kept an exact schedule. She worked as much as she could because the more she did the bigger the paychecks and the less time she had to sit around thinking herself to death.

Her phone vibrated against her thigh with another message.

You do some kind of programming, right?

Huh. How much had she told him about herself? The whole night was fuzzy, but in the best way. There wasn’t any real danger of him knowing about what she did so long as she kept specifics to herself.

I do coding for mobile device games.

That was the easiest way for her to explain what she did. Teenage her would have never expected to go in that direction. Mom had always told her that her place was in the kitchen, raising kids and being there for the family.

Again, her phone vibrated before she’d even set it down.

Smart and pretty. How did a woman like you end up in Ransom? Don’t most tech people live in California?

Dina could hear his voice as she read the words. She hadn’t seen him in months, and yet she recalled him well enough it almost felt like he was sitting next to her carrying on the conversation. But how did she answer the question?

She didn’t want to lead with her fake story quite so soon. He was a cop. If she wasn’t careful, he might see through it. Keeping it short and simple, not too many details was the best way to go.

I wanted a fresh start and I can work anywhere.

There. That was the truth and vague.

She grabbed her glass and took a sip of air.

It was empty.

Dina frowned at the glass.

When had that happened?

Trevor’s reply came before she arrived at an answer for the missing wine.

That’s neat. I’m born and raised here. Still here. Not very exciting.

She slid further down so she laid on her back the better to prop her phone on her stomach and type with both thumbs.

I used to think I’d never leave home. It’s nice that you have a place you belong.

She didn’t have that. She’d never belong anywhere or with anyone. She was adrift. An island alone. And man, she wanted to open that second bottle.

Her phone vibrated, but instead of a chime it rang.

Dina stared at the incoming call with a touch of horror.

Trevor was calling her.

The muscles around her throat tightened. She sat up, but the phone kept ringing.

He knew she was near her phone. She had no good reason to let it go to voicemail.

Dina tapped the answer button and swallowed.

One text was clearly too much, but she was invested now.

“Hello?” She pressed her hand to her chest.

“I’m sorry, I couldn’t understand your last reply.” Trevor chuckled. “What did you say?”

“What?” Dina pulled the phone away from her face and swiped to her text messaging app.

Sure enough, her last few messages to him were garbled.

Oh, boy.

“Shit,” she muttered at returned the phone to her ear. “I opened a bottle of wine.”

“Oh, I see.”

“What I was trying to say is that, I never thought I’d leave home.” Her tongue wasn’t quite cooperating. She could hear the slur in her words.

“What made you leave?” he asked.

Dina closed her eyes and leaned back against the arm rest. She had to keep this story straight.

“Some not so great things happened. I needed a fresh start, so I left.”

“And you picked little, old Ransom?” His rich, sinful voice was a full body experience. Listening to him brought her pleasure.

“I didn’t put a lot of thought into where I was going.” Wasn’t that the truth?

“Well, Ransom’s as good a place as any, I suppose. At least I try to keep it that way.”

“You do an excellent job.” She hadn’t had a complaint about anything except coming to terms with the closeness of wildlife since arriving in Texas.

“Thank you, thank you very much.” She could picture him tipping that imaginary hat of his. “I’d love to keep talking, but I have to go back on shift.”

“Oh, okay.” Well that was disappointing.

“It was nice to hear your voice again.”

Dina bit her lip. It was nice to talk to another human being about something that wasn’t work or related to a purchase she was trying to make, but she couldn’t encourage this.

Trevor spoke again before her muddled brain could come up with an appropriate response. “Well, I’d tell you to have a good night and sweet dreams, but you’re sweet already.”

She sputtered a laugh, unable to control herself.

“What?” Trevor demanded.

“That’s the corniest line I’ve ever heard.”

“I’ve got more of them, but you’ll have to stick around to hear ‘em. Night.”

“Good night.”

She hung up the phone and stared at the screen. There was this strange, buoyant sensation that had her feeling as if she could float. It was silly, or was it the wine?

TREVOR SAT ON THE back row and stared at the white board. He got to suit up with the town’s SWAT team so rarely since being promoted to detective that these instances were a rare treat. The other tactical officers were his best friends, but between Dad being a dick and Iris-Long Legs-Kate not texting him back for most of the day he wasn’t feeling his A-game.

A woman plopped down in the empty chair next to him. She tilted her head and laid it on Trevor’s shoulder.

“Nice to see you here,” Jenna Martin said.

“Nice to be here. Wish the circumstances were different.”

“Why? What’s going on?” Jenna turned to face him. She was still wearing her blue paramedic uniform which meant she’d come directly from one shift to another.

Trevor glanced behind him to make sure no one was in hearing distance then whispered, “We’re going to assist with arresting one of the guys who was there when Val’s parents got killed. Charles Ray is a slippery son of a bitch.”

“No.” Jenna’s eyes grew wide.

Trevor nodded.

The whole story was fucked up and proof that bad things could happen in small towns.

“What happened, exactly?” Jenna leaned closer.

“I think it was in ninety, this biker guy—Becker—gets crossways with the Peacocks after they buy the property where Becker’s crew liked to hang out. The Peacocks saw something they shouldn’t, went to the police and Becker went after them. The guy we’re going to assist in arresting was Becker’s right-hand guy and we all know he was involved with killing the Peacocks, but the evidence couldn’t place him there.” It was more complicated than that. Things always were in small towns.

Two unfamiliar men in suits strolled between the chairs toward the front of the room following Nigel Morgan. This was going to be Trevor’s first time working with Nigel since he was officially promoted to the SWAT Team Leader, a position that used to be filled by Jenna’s fiancé. The department had a firm no fraternization policy dating back to when the force almost became two warring sides over a divorce gone sideways in the worst way.

“How’s Alex liking Fort Worth?” Trevor hadn’t seen Alex for a few weeks, come to think of it.

“Good. It’s busier, more things to do and keep straight. He’s feeling a little pressure right now because there was this silly accident, but it wasn’t his fault.”

“He thinks it was, doesn’t he?”

“Of course.” Jenna rolled her eyes.

Trevor hadn’t been keen on his old TL and Jenna hooking up. She was like a sister to Trevor and in his eye no one would ever be good enough for her. But Alex had proven he was willing to go to any length to keep her safe. More than that though, Alex made Jena happy.

“Why do you keep looking at your phone? Hot date?” Jenna smirked at him.

Shit.

Trevor slid his phone into his pocket. He’d feel it vibrate if he got a text, but it wasn’t the same as looking at the screen.

“How’s Sterling settling in?” he asked to deflect the question. Jenna knew about his mystery woman and Jenna would pry if she knew he was in contact with Long Legs again. He wasn’t ready for that yet.

“Good. I think being out of the city and on her own is good for her. I do worry about her being by herself though.” Jenna’s smile vanished, and she stared at the floor. Sterling was one of Jenna’s girlfriends from her days with the Army. She had a few screws loose, but from what he’d seen of her, she was holding it together.

“Any more...episodes?” he asked.

“No. And guess where she’s working?” Jenna grinned.

“Where?”

“She’s just started working at the Jones’ shop.”

“No, shit.” That did surprise Trevor given Sterling’s PTSD. The Jones’ were on the extreme side of redneck and weren’t a quiet family.

“Yeah. Liam suggested it, I guess.” She nodded at Liam Jones sitting a few rows ahead of them. The man was one hell of a sniper. “So—who are you waiting to hear from?”

Trevor grit his teeth. Jenna was too smart for her own good.

“Afternoon everyone.” Nigel Morgan took a few steps away from the two unfamiliar officers flanking the desk at the front of the room.

Saved by the TL.

Trevor slid down a little in his chair and kept his eyes forward. Eventually he’d tell Jenna about Iris-Long Legs-Kate, but not yet. He knew Jenna would have a lot to say on the topic and he didn’t want to hear how this was a mistake and he was repeating his past all over again.

That was his problem. He had a type. He liked the damsels in distress and Iris had help me written all over her. Whatever problem haunted her it wasn’t the run-of-the-mill type thing. It was serious, and he couldn’t walk away from her in good conscience without getting to the bottom of it. And if he and Iris got close during that process, so be it.

He was damning himself to repeat his past, and he didn’t care.