Zane took a deep breath, banishing the thoughts that plagued him. He didn’t have to think out here. He could let it all go. This place was so far from where he’d come from. El Paso had been dusty and hot, the sun scorching everything in its path. The very air had been dry. It was odd because he’d grown up in Texas, was used to hot summers, but something about El Paso had been different.

Or it had been the job. Maybe it had been the constant tension, the knowledge that any tiny mistake he made would put his life in the balance. And it had.

Colorado was different. Everything was green here. Alive. This place was so damn alive.

He watched as Nate’s truck pulled away. They hadn’t spoken this morning. Zane had waited until he was fairly certain Nate was leaving to walk out of his bedroom.

He stretched and pulled his sneakers on, warming up his long limbs in preparation for his morning run. He liked this time of day, just as the sun was coming up.

Where was Callie? He was almost certain she was here somewhere. Nate would have told him if she wasn’t. He knew something about her. It was there in the way his shoulders tightened when Zane mentioned her name.

He started by the road, but quickly turned and jogged up the trail that led down by the river. The Rio Grande wound through the town. This particular spot was a deeper part of the river where he would often see people rafting and canoeing. Not that they saw him. He kept to the trees, preferring the fantasy that he was alone in the world.

His lungs burned as he climbed up and away from the river.

At some point he would be on National Forest land, but he didn’t care. If the rangers wanted to run him off let them. And if some bear came along and decided to gnaw on him, then that was how it would be.

Nothing scared him anymore. He’d lived through the worst. He’d survived torture and pain. He’d lost more than he’d thought he had to lose.

Sometimes he thought he’d lost his soul.

He forced his legs to move, pushing past the pain. Hell, he welcomed the pain. The pain reminded him he could still feel something.

He reached the top of the hill and felt his muscles pushed to their max.

A field of green spread out in front of him. Perfect green. It was beautiful. Pristine and surrounded by forest, as though someone had carved out a meadow and hidden it.

A secret place.

He stood there, dragging air into his lungs and considering that piece of land. He’d run up a ragged spot where no grass would grow but there wasn’t an inch of that ground that wasn’t covered.

Why was it so perfect when other pieces of land got ruined? What protected it from insects and drought and blight? Why did it thrive?

Why? Fucking why?

The question welled inside him. It was always there, always sitting in his gut, eating away at him. Why? Why had he been the one who was tortured? Why hadn’t he died?

He was still there, still in that chair where he’d learned how weak he was. He’d never fucking gotten out of it.

Zane took off, running like a madman down the hill and out into that perfect grass. The most insane urge to mess it up overwhelmed him. He wanted to pull it out, leave his tracks everywhere, maybe piss on it and see if he could get it to die.

A scream of rage burst from inside him, echoing through the space.

He stumbled, losing his balance and hitting that ground hard.

Every muscle pulsed with pain, and for a moment he couldn’t breathe.

He stared up at the clearest, bluest sky he’d ever seen.

If this was his last moment, he would take it. He would lie here in this perfect place and let his body sink into the grass and ground beyond. He could become a part of it.

He closed his eyes, wishing he could forget everything and simply be.

“Are you okay?” A soft voice pulled him out of his agony.

He opened his eyes and stared up at the woman standing above him. She had ridiculously long brown hair and eyes to match. He placed her age at somewhere around thirty, though she could be younger. There was a startling air of innocence about her.

He was suddenly ridiculously aware that he wasn’t wearing a shirt. He never saw anyone on his runs. Naturally the first time he lost his shit, he got caught.

“Do you understand English? It’s an Earth plane language. Did you fall? I’ve heard there’s a door to another plane somewhere around here, but my mother used to say they can be tricky to find,” she said with a smile. “Might I be the first to say welcome?”

“Earth plane?” Had he hit his head?

She nodded and he realized she was carrying a basket. “Yes, that’s what we call this particular plane of existence. Where are you from? You have the look of a mighty warrior. Are you from one of the faery realms? My mother claimed that’s where I’m from. She’s gone now, but she used to tell me all sorts of stories about the Seelie plane. If I had to guess I would say you’re Unseelie, though. They have a bit darker look about them, though they shouldn’t be judged for it.”

“Lady, are you insane?”

Her smile widened. “Some people say so. Could you move just a tad to your left? You’re about to ruin some very nice-looking curly dock.”

Yep, he’d bashed his own head in and now he was in some crazy coma and she was a figment of his imagination. Still, he moved his foot. He rolled over as she knelt down and gently started to work what looked like a weed out of the ground. Her basket was full of green leaves and red berries.

“You think I’m some kind of fairy? I’m not sure how to take that.”

She frowned at him. “Why it would be bad to be a fairy?”

He kind of got the idea that their relationship depended on how he answered that particular question. “It wouldn’t be.”

“Excellent,” she replied. “And I didn’t really think so. Though I wasn’t joking about the door to other worlds. It’s here somewhere. I know it. It’s precisely why we have so much psychic energy. But I knew you weren’t some lost Fae creature. They don’t tend to wear Nikes. They like boots. Usually made of some kind of leather, and I disapprove of that as well.”

His whole body hurt, but he was fascinated. Callie had told him this was a strange place with weird people. Of course, she hadn’t put it like that. She’d used words like “magical” and “unique.” This chick must be one of the unique ones.

“What should boots be made of?”

She kind of floated over to another patch of ground where she harvested her weeds. “Natural things.”

“Leather’s pretty natural.” He wasn’t sure why he kept talking, but it had been weeks since he’d had interaction with anyone but Nate, and lately their discussions consisted of whether to watch baseball or football.

And this chick kind of reminded him of Callie. She probably knew Callie.

God, he hadn’t realized how lonely he was.

The woman’s eyes had narrowed. “Yes, leather is natural. It naturally belongs to the cow. How would you feel if someone came along and brutally murdered you and then wore you as boots? You would be pretty upset, wouldn’t you? And we wonder why we have such anxious livestock.”

“You’re Nell.” He hadn’t forgotten a word Callie had said to him that weekend so long ago. She’d told him about her hometown and her friends there, and she’d mentioned her friend Nell. Nell, the champion of all marginalized creatures great and small. “Nell Finn.”

“It’s Nell Flanders,” she said with a smile. “I’m married to my soul mate. Henry. He’s as gentle as they come and has such a deep connection to the earth. It’s a beautiful thing to see. How do you know me?”

He managed to get to his feet. Everything still worked. Mostly. “I had a friend from a long time ago who lived here and told me a lot about the place.”

He wasn’t about to mention Callie’s name. Nell would likely go right to her and tell her all about the crazy guy in the woods.

“Well, welcome to Bliss,” she said. She gestured around the meadow. “I’m more than happy to share my grocery store with you.”

“You run a grocery store?”

She twirled around, her skirt swirling. “The world is my grocer. I come up here in the mornings to gather ingredients. I like to get them when the morning dew is still fresh on the leaves.”

“You eat weeds?”

The prim look was back on her face. “I eat the bounty of nature. I live in harmony with the land.”

“It is beautiful here.” He would give her that. “I come from a place that wasn’t so pretty. I’m still trying to get used to it.”

“Is that why I haven’t seen you around town?” She found another mound of nature’s bounty. “I assume you’re the sheriff’s partner.”

He moved in, kneeling before she could and pulling the plant up for her. He held it out. “Yeah. I guess I need time to see if I can fit in here. I’m not so sure I do.”

She gave him a beatific smile and accepted the hunk of weed. “Thank you. And why wouldn’t you fit in? You have to know Bliss is a tolerant place. No one will think twice about your lifestyle. Love is love here. Though you might talk to your boyfriend. He’s extremely cranky. I know an excellent shaman who could remove all his negative energy, and he would be so much happier.”

The thought of Nate meeting with a shaman was pretty damn funny. But what? “Boyfriend?”

“Oh, are you married? That’s lovely. I wish Marie and Teeny would legalize their union. Not because I particularly believe they must have a piece of paper in order to love each other, but I would love a nice party. Max and Rachel and Rye’s wedding was so lovely. Where did you get married? Henry and I were married right here in Bliss. Everything was recycled, of course, and we had the loveliest vegan cake.”

“Whoa.” Was that the rumor around town? “Wait. Nate and I aren’t married. Like to anyone. Definitely not to each other.” She started to give him the evil eye again. “Not that there’s anything wrong with that. We don’t swing that way. But again, totally cool with people who do.”

“Then why are you worried you won’t fit in?”

“Uhm, have you seen my face?”

“Of course. It’s right there. You are an extremely attractive man. Not as handsome as my Henry, of course, but lovely all the same.”

“I scare small children.”

“Well, those must be very anxious children. Their parents should work on that. I’ve found children tend to be more accepting than their adult counterparts.”

How to make her understand because it was suddenly important that someone did. Maybe if someone understood, he could feel better about the distance between him and Callie. He could feel good and settled that he was doing the right thing by staying away from her. “I’m not this meadow of yours. This place is perfect. It’s so beautiful it almost hurts to look at it. Imagine there was one section of this place that was barren. That would be me. I’m that space and I bring everything around me down. I’m damaged.”

She stared at him for a moment. “We’re all damaged. We’re all scarred. Sometimes you simply can’t see the scars. Besides, perfection is boring. Perfect things tend to be the most fragile.”

So no understanding there.

“I’ve got to get back,” she said. “Henry gets worried if I’m gone too long. I hope to see you around town. You’ll like it here if you give it a chance.”

He nodded, knowing he likely wouldn’t follow her advice. Despite her kindness, he’d come to know that sleepy little towns didn’t welcome people like him.

She started to walk away, her basket swinging. She stopped at the tree line. “Do you know why this meadow is beautiful and fertile and green?”

He shook his head.

“Twenty-five years ago lightning struck here and started a terrible fire that almost took out the town. That happens a lot here in the mountains. The fire burned most of the land you see and for years it was dark. But not barren. You see, all the ash and waste that was left behind, the earth soaked it up and created something new and alive. This place is beautiful because it came through the crucible and survived. If you look closely you can see the signs that this land is scarred, too. It isn’t perfect. It’s strong and alive.” She turned and disappeared into the woods.

Zane dropped back down, his muscles still weak.

This place had been barren? It was almost inconceivable, and yet somehow the land had slowly come back, stronger than before.

Was it possible for a soul to do the same?

Something moved in the distance. Something large.

Was that a moose?

Yep. That was one massive moose. It lumbered out into the meadow, staring at him before huffing and lowering its enormous head to the grass. He started to munch. It appeared Nell shared her grocery store with a lot of creatures.

He should probably run, but he found himself lying back. If the moose wanted to crush him, he would. Or they could share the space.

Zane stared up at the perfect sky and wondered if Callie was doing the same.

 

* * * *

 

“How much longer you planning on keeping me locked up, Johnny Law?”

Nate gave serious consideration to killing his one and only prisoner. Two weeks into his new life, and he was thinking about going out of it with a bang.

The station was quiet, with only Nate, his deputy, Logan, and the prisoner currently occupying the neatly kept rooms. Nate leaned on the reception desk and considered the man in the small cell. Bliss County Jail was a tiny operation with two simple cells. If he could catch a serious offender and shove him in there with Max Harper, he might be able to solve a major problem. If said prisoner shivved the mouthy horse trainer, then Nate wouldn’t have to put up with the son of a bitch. Nate stared over at his deputy, Logan Green. The lanky, too-young-for-a-uniform boy had his nose in a comic book.

All in all, it was a long way from the Drug Enforcement Agency.

When Stefan had offered him the job of sheriff of Bliss, it seemed like the perfect place to start over. Of course, Stef hadn’t mentioned that he’d have to deal with Max or crazy-ass Mel, who insisted daily that the aliens were coming. No one had bothered to warn him that he would be the law enforcement liaison to a nudist colony, or that once a year the new agers came in to soak up the vibrations or some shit that Bliss gave off.

It was a weird town, and he was rapidly getting fed up with it.

“Damn it, Max.” Callie walked into the sheriff’s office, pushing her glasses up her nose. Yeah, there was one thing he wasn’t fed up with and that was looking at her. She was so adorable, Nate wanted to walk up to her and hug her. Of course, hugging would lead to rubbing, and he knew if he laid a hand on her, he’d end up humping her leg like a dog. She was such a sweet armful. Even dressed in a denim skirt and blousy shirt, she was sexy as hell. Why hadn’t Stef bothered to mention that the woman of his dreams would be his secretary? Stef sure as hell hadn’t forgotten that he had a past with Callie. Not that he seemed to care.

Two weeks in and he was starting to think he would go crazy if he didn’t get his hands on her. Not that he was close to doing it. She barely spoke to him except to lecture him on all the things he was doing wrong. Then he would get sarcastic and broody and she would go back to not talking to him.

Callie completely ignored him. She blew past him, her hands on those curvy hips of hers, and plowed toward Max Harper. She never did anything without a great deal of energy. It was one of the hottest things about her. She was always moving, but Nate remembered a time when her energy had been spent and all she could do was sigh. He’d give anything to get her underneath him again.

But she was still off limits.

Harper’s boots tapped against the floor. “Now, Callie, don’t you yell at me. Talk to that tight-ass boss of yours. He’s pulling people off the street for no reason. Can sheriffs get impeached? Because he should be impeached. Rye would never have done something like that.”

Nate came off the desk, prepared to defend himself. He’d heard an awful lot about how the old sheriff handled things. Nate wondered if he would ever come out of the man’s shadow. Everywhere he went, he was compared to Rye Harper.

He couldn’t see her face, but he knew Callie was rolling her eyes. She had that sarcastic stance. He’d learned an awful lot about reading Callie’s body language since he’d started the job. Mostly that was because he couldn’t take his eyes off her.

“Rye didn’t arrest anyone because he was as lazy as the day is long,” Callie declared. “I could barely get him to write a ticket. Sheriff Wright is an actual, honest-to-goodness cop, and not some high school kid who didn’t want to work at Stella’s Diner.”

Logan’s head came out of the latest issue of X-Men. “Stella works too damn hard, if you ask me. This place is way calmer than the diner, what with all the tourists and having to deal with Nell and Henry’s protests. And seriously, have you seen what happens when you get that guy’s order wrong?”

Harper slapped at the bars of his cell. “I like my burger dead, man. Hal tries to cut corners by shoving a live cow in between two buns and calling it a burger. You want to arrest someone, Sheriff? Go arrest Stella’s short-order cook.”

Logan nodded as though happy to have confirmation of his life choices. “You see what I mean? Being a deputy is way less dangerous than working at Stella’s. And I graduated three years ago. Stop calling me a high school kid. At least move me up to college. Speaking of college…I’m thinking about taking one of those online courses. Any way I could use the computer here?”

Nate narrowed his eyes, and Logan suddenly bolted out of his chair.

“I’ll go catch some speeders. That’s a good idea.” Logan was smashing his hat on his head as he nearly ran out the door.

“Will you stop scaring the crap out of your deputy?” Callie frowned Nate’s way as the door literally hit Logan’s ass on his way out. The deputy yelped. “Do you have any idea how hard it was to get someone to agree to this job? This is a whole town full of antiestablishment hippies. They weren’t lining up to put on a uniform.”

Nate shrugged. Scaring the piss out of Logan was one of the highlights of his days here in Bliss. He attempted his most angelic look. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Now he could actually see the eye roll. It was an expression she used a lot on him. “Sure you don’t. I heard you recounting all of your so-called kills to him. Do you want to give that boy nightmares? And you…” She whirled back around to face the man in the cell. “What is your wife going to say?”

Max Harper grinned arrogantly. He wore jeans, a western shirt, and boots. The man was all cowboy, all the time. “She’s going to say nothing because once I get my phone call, I’m calling Rye. He won’t tell Rach anything. I have too much on him. We’ve got a nice, mutually assured destruction balance going on.”

Nate sighed, a genuine sense of pleasure running through his system. This might be even better than giving Logan Green a bunch of baloney stories. This one was real. “Don’t worry about that phone call, Harper. I took care of it for you. Your wife said she’d be here as soon as she…what were her words? Oh, yeah. She’ll be here as soon as she sharpens a knife so she can cut your balls off.”

It took everything he had not to burst into laughter at how green Max Harper got. The cowboy’s hands fell to his sides, and he sat back on the cot. “You didn’t.”

“I did.”

“You asshole. We had a friendly game going and you have to play hardball?” Harper looked like a little boy who had his toys taken away.

Was the man insane? “Friendly game? You call doing seventy-five miles an hour in a forty mile an hour zone a game? Then you didn’t stop when I put on the lights and the siren.”

“I was looking for a safe place to pull over.” Harper shrugged.

“For ten miles?” He’d followed that son of a bitch all the way down the damn mountain.

There it was, that arrogant smirk that made Nate want to clobber him. “Those roads are damn dangerous. I was giving you a signal that I would pull over as soon as I could.”

“You flipped me the bird, asshole.”

Harper pointed his way. “See, now is that any way for a cop to talk? When my brother was the sheriff, he would never have used that sort of language.”

“He cursed your name on a regular basis.” A stern female voice was added to the mix.

Harper shifted back as though the bars wouldn’t keep him safe from the terrifying newcomer. Rachel Harper was roughly five feet two and, if rumors were true, expecting a baby. Maxwell Harper was utterly terrified of his pretty, pregnant wife. She crossed to the middle of the room and stared a hole through him.

“Hi, baby.” It was obvious Max was going for sympathy. All of the arrogance on his face had fled in favor of a sad-puppy look. “That man does not like me. He looks for any excuse to mess with me.”

Rachel ignored him. She turned to Callie. “Does he need to make bail?”

“No,” Callie said.

“Yes,” Nate interjected.

Now it was Callie staring at him, and Nate understood Max for a moment. Nate might not have impregnated Callie, but she had a hold on him all the same. “You are not leaving him in jail until the judge gets back from his hunting trip.”

“No, I need him to come home. I have a few words to say to you, husband number one,” Rachel said.

“I can stay.” Max nodded his head vigorously. “I don’t want any special treatment.”

Rachel stood in front of the cell. “Max Harper, you will get out of that cell and get your sweet ass into the car or there will be hell to pay.”

A long, slow smile tugged at Harper’s lips. He got up from the cot and stalked to the bars. “Hell to pay, huh? What kind of hell you going to put me through, Rach?”

Rachel cocked her head to the side as she stared at her husband. “I think you know what I’m talking about, Max. I’m going to need at least twelve hours.”

Max’s face flushed. He suddenly seemed anxious. “I should get arrested more often.” He turned to Nate. “I am very, very sorry for the shameful way I taunted you, Sheriff Wright.” He snickered, his mouth curling up in a smirk. “Sorry, it’s just the most clichéd name ever for a sheriff, but I utterly respect your authority.”

The asshole didn’t, but Callie was already getting the keys to the cell. He needed to hide the damn things. Every time he put someone in custody, his admin let them out.

The door to the station house slammed open, and Max’s twin brother, Rye Harper, ran in, his boots sliding across the slick floor.

“Callie, I need to get Max out of here before…hey, baby.” Rye plastered a smile on his face. “I was at the diner and found out Max had done it again. Damn it, Max, when are you going to grow up? Don’t you know we got a baby on the way?”

“Yes, you’re here to lecture Max.” Rachel obviously wasn’t buying it. “BS, Rye. You’re here to bail him out and be his alibi, like you always are.”

Max strode out of his cell and crowded his wife, one hand sliding across the nape of her neck, the other rubbing her belly. “Don’t worry about it, bro. Me and Rach have a system worked out. If I screw up, then I have to be her sex slave for a while. It’s a terrible punishment. It’s going to get me on the straight and narrow one of these days.”

Rye was immediately at her other side. “Well, I would like to point out that I was going to bail him out and then hide the evidence from you. That makes me every bit as guilty as him.”

Rachel’s laugh filled the station as she sent her husbands out to the car. The men ran to do her bidding, and she turned to Callie. “Sorry. Max is worried about the baby. You know how he gets when he’s anxious. He tends to take it out on the world around him.”

Callie hugged the pregnant woman, her affection obvious. “He’s obnoxious all the time. It’s part of his charm. Don’t worry about it. I’ll talk to that one about being more tolerant.”

Nate stood a bit taller because he was pretty sure he was about to get lectured. Rachel left to follow her husbands. Husbands. Damn, as much as he hated Max Harper, Nate was also completely fascinated with the way the man lived his life. The Harper family consisted of the twins and their shared wife, Rachel. No one in town even blinked. Nate had caught some of the tourists shaking their heads when she smooched on both, but the citizens of Bliss took it all in stride. One of these days, he was going to sit down with Rye, who seemed far more reasonable than his brother, and talk about how it really worked.

But for now, he had to deal with Callie. He went on the offensive.

“You have to stop doing that.” He made his tone firm. He wasn’t Max Harper, afraid of one small woman. After everything he’d been through, he knew all about fear, and it didn’t come in such a soft package. He’d been wary of dealing with her. He’d spent the last two weeks mooning over what he couldn’t have, and now it was time to take the situation in hand. “You are my administrative assistant, Ms. Sheppard. If you want to be a deputy, you can take the test, and I’ll put your name on the waiting list.”

“If you don’t like my work, Sheriff, you should feel free to fire me.” She turned on her kitten heels and stomped back toward the front desk. She sat down on her chair and immediately began to straighten a bunch of stuff that was already neat and organized.

She had him there. He was never going to fire her. He couldn’t even stand the possibility of her quitting. Hell, he didn’t like the days she took off, and more often than not found some damn silly excuse to see her. Feeling utterly impotent, Nate stalked into his office and slammed the door shut. He slumped down into his comfy chair and pondered his situation. Zane was getting worse, not better. He hadn’t been able to get him out of the cabin to come into town in the two weeks they had been living in Bliss. Zane still didn’t know Callie was here. Nate hadn’t told him for fear that Zane would take off on that bike of his, and Nate wouldn’t see him again until he had to identify his body.

It had seemed like a good place to start over after everything that happened. He couldn’t go back to the DEA, and there was no way Zane would go back even if they would let him. When he’d quit the DEA, Nate had been told that the director would hold his job, but he couldn’t even consider it while Zane was recuperating. Zane’s body had healed, but his mind was still in a dark place. He’d needed a place where Zane could get better, but the bastard didn’t seem to want to recover. He wanted to brood. He wanted to rage. He wanted to beat the shit out of anything that came in his path. Nate kept hoping that would change, but now he wondered. Maybe they should have gone back to Dallas.

It would be easier if Callie wasn’t here, but he needed her, damn it, and in more ways than one. Nate wasn’t used to small-town politics, and he doubted anyone on the planet was used to Bliss politics.

He was fumbling, and he didn’t know how to stop.

There was a brief knock on the door, and Callie popped her head in. If things were different, this would be the point where Nate would haul his hot secretary into his arms, shove her skirt up, and have his way with her. His eyes glazed over as he thought about freeing his cock and settling her in his lap. He’d lower that tight pussy onto him and fuck her hard. It would be a nice break. They got three a day. That might start to satisfy him.

“Are you still here or have you checked out?” Callie stared at him like he was from another planet.

Nate sat up carefully. His cock was painfully hard, but then it had been in that state for the last two weeks. “What’s going on?”

“It’s Mel. The aliens have landed, and he has proof.” Callie wrinkled her nose. “You need to get out there and talk to him. I have the Detector 4000 out on the desk.”

Every muscle in his body was suddenly weary. The Detector 4000 was one of the reasons he should have stayed in Dallas. It was a video game controller Stefan had “enhanced” with various bells and whistles to placate the town crazy—well, one of them, anyway. It made a lot of sounds and had lights that went off and told the user that no alien technology was in evidence.

It was complete bullshit.

Maybe it was time he took his job seriously. Nate stood up and placed the Stetson on his head. Yes, that was exactly what he needed to do. Why should he fit in? He was the sheriff. He was the authority figure for the town. Maybe the town needed to fit in with him. Yes, it was time to take this town in hand.

Callie watched him as he walked past her. “I don’t like that look.”

He waved her off. “Get used to it.”

Nate walked past the front desk, pointedly ignoring the Detector 4000. Mel would have to learn to deal with reality.

There was a new sheriff in town, and Bliss would have to face the music.

 

* * * *

 

Boy, he was about to screw up big time. Callie just knew it. She grabbed the Detector 4000 and raced after her boss, turning the sign on the door from Come on in to Don’t commit any crimes. We’re fishing.

He was already in the Bronco, starting the engine. Callie had quickly realized that Nate Wright was a man who took his time making a decision, but once he’d settled on his course, he was quick to follow it. She had to be fast or he’d be in trouble.

Before he had a chance to back out, she swung open the door and slammed into the passenger seat.

“Damn it, Callie, who is minding the store?” His lips thinned, and he looked pointedly at the station house. He was not amused by the sign she’d made when Rye had been sheriff. He’d been famous for his fishing afternoons.

She didn’t argue. It wouldn’t help to point out that no one would think a thing about the station not being manned. If there was trouble, they would call her on the radio or her cell. Nate hadn’t left his big-city mentality behind. She leaned across him and grabbed the radio. “Logan, this is Callie. I need you to get back to the station house.”

There was a slight pause. “Is he still there?”

She felt Nate stiffen beside her. Well, if he wanted his staff to like him, he should be less rude. Hell, she didn’t like him most of the time and she’d slept with him. Not that anyone knew that except Stefan. “No. It’s safe. He’s going out on a call, and I’m going to make sure he doesn’t cause trouble.”

She could hear Logan’s voice lighten. “Awesome. Then I’ll be right there.”

She would make sure to put a call into the station before they came back. More than once, she’d found Logan taking a nice nap on one of the cell cots. She didn’t think Nate would find it amusing. She replaced the radio as Nate backed out.

“I swear I should fire you all. I’ve never been in such a shoddily run operation before.” He kept his eyes on the road in front of him.

“Or you should feel free to head right back to the big city where everything is sunshine and roses.” She kind of wished he would leave. It would be infinitely easier on her. Logan could be sheriff, and as long as absolutely nothing ever happened, everything would be all right. Of course, if anything went wrong, they were screwed. Still, she might be willing to take the risk. The tension was starting to wear on her.

“At least in Dallas we don’t mollycoddle crazy people.”

She was rapidly getting fed up with the sheriff’s bad temper. He took it out on everyone, but since she was with him all the time, she got the brunt of it. “Well, if it helps at all, you won’t have to worry about me for too much longer.”

The Bronco stopped suddenly, the tires screeching against the pavement. She was glad she’d slipped on the safety belt, or she might have flown through the window. “What does that mean?”

She shouldn’t have mentioned it. And why not? It wasn’t like he hadn’t made his displeasure of her services plain. She turned in her seat to look him in the eye. He was so gorgeous it hurt. She wondered what had happened to Zane. She’d asked the second day he’d worked there, but he’d refused to answer. She hadn’t brought it up again, but she thought of Zane often. She wondered if Zane would be as disappointed to see her again as Nate had been.

“It means I’ll be turning in my notice soon.” She’d promised Stefan she would stay for a while. A month seemed long enough. She’d give him two weeks to find someone else. It was time to move on. She just wasn’t sure where she was moving to.

“Why?” He asked the question softly, his eyes on her.

She softened slightly. “You know why. You’re not happy with me. I’ll find something new, and you can find an assistant you trust.”

She wondered if he wouldn’t give Laura Niles a call. Laura ran the cash register at the Stop ’n’ Shop, but Callie had heard talk of her working for the FBI before she came to Bliss. Maybe Nate would ask to try out the tall blonde. She was willowy with light blue eyes. Perhaps that was Nate’s type. Hell, Laura was pretty much every man’s type. There wasn’t much of a call for plump brunettes, no matter how comfy they were in their own skin.

“I trust you.”

She laughed but was well aware nothing about this mess was funny. “You can’t stand me, Sheriff. I’m not an idiot. You don’t want me around. I do get why Stef thought this was a good idea. I’ll be honest, I don’t understand why it isn’t working. We’re adults. We should be able to get along, but we don’t. So I’ll move on. I promise to make the transition as easy as possible.”

He swallowed before he opened his mouth to talk. “I don’t want a transition. I do want you around. I was just surprised to see you again.” He turned his attention back to the road and started driving toward Mel’s. “I’ll settle down. I need a little time. That’s all.”

It was the first opening she’d had since he came to town. It bugged her, his obvious displeasure at seeing her again. It didn’t make sense to her. It had been the best weekend of her life. She had no illusions that he felt the same way, but she had thought he’d enjoyed himself. “Why were you so angry to see me?”

“I wasn’t angry.”

He was going to be difficult. She wasn’t surprised. She decided to push it. She was leaving anyway. If he got really pissed, maybe he would fire her, and she wouldn’t have an excuse to hang around anymore. “You sure were. I don’t understand. I didn’t make a nuisance of myself. I didn’t call you or anything.”

Not that she could have. They hadn’t left a number. Only a note. Have a good life. It hadn’t been that great so far.

She watched as his hands tightened on the steering wheel. His eyes stared ahead, but she knew how uncomfortable this whole conversation was making him. If he’d been Zane, he would have turned to her by now and told her to stop asking him so many damn questions. But this was Nate, and he’d try to smooth things over. It was funny. She’d spent two days with them a long time ago, but she felt like she knew them so well.

It was an illusion.

His voice was soft now. “Callie, I wasn’t mad. I was surprised, that’s all. I don’t want you to leave. Where are you going to work? Logan is right about the diner.”

She hadn’t exactly figured that out yet, but she knew she had to make a change. Since her mom died the year before, she’d been in a bit of a fog. Five years of taking care of her had left Callie a bit dazed. She loved that her mother had managed to last so long before the cancer had come back and ravaged her body, but the long-term care had taken its toll. Her life had been on hold, but it was time to move forward. She owed it to her mom and herself. “Well, I was thinking about moving to Denver. I talked to Marie the other day. She knows how to sell property. I thought I’d put my cabin up for sale. There are plenty of people who would probably like to use it as a vacation property. I’ve got a nice view of the river.”

Marie had been really upset at the thought of her moving. She and Teeny, her life partner, ran the general store and had known Callie all of her life. It hurt Callie’s heart to think of leaving Bliss, but there was nothing for her here. She would never get married if she stayed. She would be surrounded by friends, but it wasn’t enough. She wanted what Max and Rye had found with Rachel. She wanted a family.

The Bronco turned up the steep road that led to Mel’s cabin. Nate was careful on the mountain passes, driving like a man who wasn’t used to them. If only he was as careful with the people around him. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. You’re a small-town girl. The big city would eat you up.”

She smiled at the thought. “At least somebody would.”

It had been so long since she had sex she couldn’t remember what it felt like.

Nate stopped the car again. “Are you telling me you’re leaving your home because you want to get laid?”

His voice held a hint of outrage, and Callie nearly laughed at the prim set of his mouth.

“Well, I’ve heard worse reasons.” She didn’t have to justify herself to Sheriff Wright, but she found it almost impossible not to explain. “There’s no one for me here in Bliss. Unless I want to sleep with Logan, I’m pretty much on my own. And I really don’t want to sleep with Logan, though he’s tried.” It had been sweet, but she’d had to turn him down.

“He did what?” Nate threw the car into park and was reaching for the radio.

She swatted his hand away. “What is your problem?”

“What’s my problem? How about the fact that my deputy is hitting on my…secretary? It’s wrong. It’s setting us all up for a lawsuit.” He reached for the radio again. Again she slapped his hand aside. He sat up and started the car moving again. “You’re right. I shouldn’t warn him that I fully intend to kick his ass. It might send him running.”

She could see Mel’s cabin in the distance. If she was leaving, she needed to use the time she had with Nate to try to get him to see reason. “You want some advice?”

“No.”

“Well, you’re getting it.” She might as well go out with a bang. “Stop being such a jerk. You’re getting a worse reputation than Max. If you don’t watch it, these people will vote you out of office next year.”

He snorted. “I’d like to see them try. Who are they going to elect? Logan? That boy can’t get his head out of a comic book long enough to put his name on the ballot.”

“Well, Nell said she might run.” It was exactly what Bliss needed, a pacifist sheriff.

Nate threw his head back and laughed. It was the first genuine laugh she’d heard out of him since he’d walked into town. It lit his face and made her wonder what happened to the sweet, funny man who’d taken her virginity with such care.

“Losing an election to Nell would be like losing to a Disney princess. I swear, I expect small woodland creatures to follow that one around. And she wouldn’t wear the uniform.”

Callie smiled. The idea really was funny. “She wouldn’t. Polyester isn’t natural, and the shoes don’t fit with the vegan lifestyle. But, seriously, Nate, if you don’t watch it, they could run a rubber duck against you and that duck would win.”

Nate turned up the long drive, the car tilting back as the four-wheel drive took over. “Good luck with the duck, then, baby.” He stopped as though startled he’d used the term of endearment. “Sorry. I’ll try to do the job to the best of my ability. But I don’t think a lot of the people around here will appreciate it.”

They were quiet the rest of the drive. She forced herself to turn away from the sheriff. He was too lovely, too remote. What had happened to him? Which man was the real Nate Wright? The playful, sweet lover she’d known years ago, or the hard, distant lawman she’d had in her life for the past two weeks.

She’d asked Stefan, and all she could get out of him was that Nate had worked with the federal government, his last job had gone sideways, and now he wanted a quieter job. You didn’t get much quieter on the law enforcement front than Bliss. Of course, there were other things to consider.

“I got proof now.” Mel jogged down from his one-bedroom cabin, his eyes darting around, trying not to miss a thing. He held a shotgun in his hand.

Nate’s hand was immediately on the Colt in his hip holster as he got out of the Bronco and faced Mel. “You set that down now.”

Mel stopped in his tracks. He was a tall, angular man. Deep into his fifties, Mel still had a strange innocence about him even as he held a shotgun. “Set what down?”

“The gun that you better not point this direction,” Nate replied.

She glared his way. “You’re going to get someone shot one of these days. And no, I’m not talking about Mel.”

She walked up the trail and placed herself solidly between Mel and the sheriff.

“Goddamn it, Callie Sheppard, you get your ass back here. That man has a gun.” Nate’s bark cut through the peaceful afternoon with all the grace of a hacksaw. His face was red, and every muscle was at angry attention.

Callie sighed. Stef had been right to ask her to stay on. He’d simply been wrong about the timing. Nate hadn’t integrated in two weeks, and she was beginning to doubt he would ever feel comfortable. “Everyone has a gun here, Nate. Except Nell and Henry.”

“I told them they should, but they insist that the aliens are peaceful,” Mel said, looking over her shoulder. “I promised to protect them when the invasion starts. I think I found a camp for the first wave. It’s up here, Callie.” He stared back at Nate and lowered his voice. “I don’t trust that one. I think he might be one of them. Why did Rye have to quit?”

Because Rye wanted to be home doing what he loved. She didn’t blame him, but sometimes she wished he hadn’t quit, either. It left her in the unenviable position of protecting the town from the sheriff and vice versa. She turned back to Mel, who was fully dressed for war in his fatigues. It was always best to take Mel as seriously as possible. It settled his mind if he thought someone was working on the problem. “Why don’t you show me this encampment?”

Nate was frowning fiercely as Callie turned and started to follow Mel. His long legs ate up the distance between them, and his hand was on her arm before she knew what was happening.

He spun her around on the small dirt trail. She had to put a hand on his chest to steady herself.

He growled at her, as fierce as any bear in the mountains. “You ever do that again and I swear I’ll put you over my knee and spank you. And I won’t care who’s looking.”

Callie could see it. She would be naked, the air cool on her cheeks. His cock would be rock hard and pressed against her belly. He would take his time because the anticipation was part of the tease. And then, his hand would make contact. She would squeal a little, and when he was done with the spanking part, he would turn her around and she would suck that big cock of his.

“What the hell are you thinking?” Nate asked the question in a hurried, hushed tone.

Callie grinned as they walked behind Mel. Nate’s face was flushed as though he could tell what was going through her brain. When she glanced down, she realized at least one part of her fantasy had come true. The sheriff of Bliss sported an enormous erection in those khaki pants of his.

“Nothing. Nothing at all.” She wasn’t about to tell him what she’d been thinking.

Nate swore behind her but followed anyway.