Chapter Seven
Cole winced as the second stair from the bottom squeaked under his foot. It was five in the morning, and he was working on three hours of sleep—albeit the best sleep he’d had in years. He’d drifted off almost as soon as he closed his eyes, then woken a few minutes ago with Sienna snuggled tight against his chest, his arm wrapped around her waist.
He’d wanted to run his hands along her curves, to kiss the sweet spot at the base of her neck, to press himself into her—all those things and more. But she’d said no “hanky-panky” and he was going to honor that request, even if it killed him. So he’d gingerly climbed out of bed, grabbed his boots and let himself out of her bedroom without waking her.
He sure as hell didn’t need any early morning runners to notice his patrol Jeep in front of The Bumblebee and start asking questions. Crimson was a small town and a close-knit community and gossip traveled faster than a prairie fire across the drought-plagued plains.
“Coffee, Sheriff?”
He cursed under his breath, then pasted on a smile as he turned to meet Paige’s questioning gaze. “I’ll get some at the station later.”
“You must have arrived late last night,” she said conversationally, sipping from a mug that said I drink coffee for your protection. “Now you’re heading out before sunrise.”
“This is not what it looks like,” he said through clenched teeth.
“Is that so?” She scrunched up her nose. “Because despite the fact that you seem a little worse for wear with those bandages, it looks like a booty call.”
“Nothing happened between Sienna and me.” He ran a hand through his hair, unable to figure out how to explain why he’d parked in front of the inn last night in the first place. Not when he barely understood the reasons himself. “I was here but we slept. Not together. Next to each other. That’s all.”
She studied him for a moment, then nodded. “Okay.”
“Okay? Just like that?”
“I don’t know you well, Sheriff, but you don’t strike me as a liar. Plus, I think you like Sienna.” She wiggled her eyebrows. “You really like her.”
He didn’t bother to deny it. “It doesn’t matter how I feel about her. She’s here temporarily. She could leave town at any time.”
“Even she isn’t sure how long she’ll stay,” Paige agreed. “I guess it depends on how things go with Jase and her dad, whenever she actually has a real conversation with either of them.” She shook her head. “Family stuff is always more complicated than you want it to be.”
Cole thought of his parents and his brother, of the lies and drama that tore apart his family. His biggest regret in life was being unable to fix what his father broke.
“Yeah. Would you mind not mentioning me being here to anyone? I don’t want...”
“You like her,” Paige told him. “That matters. She needs someone in her corner.”
Cole blew out a breath. How could he be in Sienna’s corner and still remain loyal to his friendship with Jase? But he couldn’t deny the connection he felt to her.
“I’ve got to go. Thanks for understanding.”
She smiled. “I don’t understand it, but I don’t need to. Just don’t hurt her and we’ll have no problems.”
“I’ll do my best,” he promised with a low chuckle, then let himself out the front door. It was funny to think of the petite inn owner, with her bohemian dresses and crazy curly hair, giving him an implied threat. He couldn’t imagine what kind of problem Paige could possibly create for someone like him, but he still appreciated her loyalty.
He glanced at Sienna’s bedroom window as he climbed into the Jeep and turned the key in the ignition, his shoulder still aching. Where did last night leave the two of them? As he drove through town toward his house on the other side of Crimson Creek, those late-night hours spent in Sienna’s bed felt more and more like a dream.
He showered, grabbed a stale bagel from the cabinet, then headed to the station. He checked in with a couple of his deputies, then called the county jail to get an update on the men they’d arrested. There was a mountain of paperwork to process, and he was on his fourth cup of coffee when a knock sounded on the door to his office.
“You got a minute?” Jase asked, peering in. “I brought muffins from Life is Sweet if that makes a difference.”
“Katie’s muffins make all the difference.” Cole sat back, stretched his arms over his head and then winced at the pain in his arm. “Come on in and have a seat.”
“I heard last night was intense.”
“Yeah.”
“But you took down Elton’s operation.” Jase set the brown bag from the bakery on Cole’s desk, then folded his tall body into a chair.
Cole inclined his head. “For now. The guys running the bigger operation in Denver will have another lackey in place within months. We need to make sure we don’t let down our guard.”
“It was still a win,” Jase insisted. “Can you ever just take credit for something and bask in the glory for a day?”
“There’s no glory in what we did last night. But I’m grateful my men came out unscathed.”
“What about your shoulder and face?”
“Minor.”
“Of course.”
Cole reached in the bag and pulled out a blueberry muffin, his favorite. “Did you come here for an official report on last night?” He took a big bite, tossing the remainder of his bagel in the trash as he did.
Jase gripped the arms of the chair, his shoulders stiffening. “She saw my dad.”
“Her dad, too,” Cole said quietly, choosing not to mention he knew all about Sienna’s encounter with Declan. It would reveal too much when he wasn’t sure yet what Jase wanted from him.
“Apparently she sat in her car in front of his duplex.”
“No law against that.”
Jase blew out a breath. “Dad noticed and walked out to talk to her. But she took off right after. Now he’s worked up that he scared her away and wants me to reach out.”
“Okay.”
“Not okay,” Jase countered. “I don’t know what to say to her. I have no idea what she wants or why she’s still in town when she hasn’t talked to either of us.”
“Maybe she’s getting her bearings,” Cole suggested.
“What does that mean?”
“We both know she didn’t plan this trip. She might need some time to figure out exactly what she wants from a relationship with you and Declan.”
“I don’t believe she wants any kind of relationship.” Jase shook his head. “I think she’s hanging around to stir the pot. I get the feeling she’s angry with both of us, although I can’t figure out why. Hell, she was the one who got out. I stayed behind and dealt with Dad’s demons while Sienna lived the good life in Chicago.”
Cole concentrated on pulling the wrapper from the oversize muffin. He took another bite, then a long drink of coffee. He’d hoped Jase would just continue his rant, but obviously he wanted Cole’s take on the situation.
“You chose to stay.”
“It wasn’t much of a choice,” Jase muttered.
“But you got to make it. Maybe the life you had was difficult, but it was yours. Your mom took Sienna. She had no choice.”
“Are you telling me I got the better deal spending my childhood trying to keep Declan away from the bottle—unsuccessfully for years as everyone knows? I went to my mom’s house last year when I was in Chicago. Remember the movie Home Alone?”
Cole nodded.
“They live around the corner from the house where it was filmed. It’s a hell of a nice neighborhood. That’s where Sienna grew up. She went to great schools, played tennis and rode horses if the framed photos our mom has displayed are any indication. Am I supposed to feel sorry for her?”
“You know a bunch of material crap doesn’t necessarily make for a happy childhood.”
“You’re defending her.”
“There’s nothing to defend, Jase.” Cole blew out a breath. “I’m telling you that from what I gather, the grass wasn’t always green for Sienna, despite where she was raised.”
“I need her gone,” Jase said suddenly.
“Why?”
“It’s not the right time. We’re about to have a baby. Em is worried about how Davey is going to take to having a little sister or brother. He seems excited by it now, but it’s going to be a lot of work.”
Cole knew that Emily’s son from her first marriage had Asperger’s syndrome, and helping him manage social situations and interactions with other people had been Emily’s priority for years.
“Work is crazy busy,” Jase went on. “Did you hear a private equity group out of California bought the old ski resort?”
“Seriously?”
Jase nodded. “Colorado has had some great ski seasons the past few years, but the popular places are getting too crowded. There aren’t too many independently owned mountains left, but if these people get the resort and the lifts operational again, it would be a game changer for the town.”
“That’s great, I guess,” Cole said, although he thought Crimson was just fine the way it was. “But none of what you’ve told me has anything to do with Sienna.”
“It’s not her exactly,” Jase said with a sigh. “It’s everything—the baby, working with the resort’s new owner, plus my dad. Mainly my dad. He’s been doing great since we moved him into his new house. But the last time he fell off the wagon, it was after he got the letter from Mom. Now Sienna shows up here and he’s worked up about it.” He rubbed a hand across his jaw. “I know his issues aren’t her fault, but the timing of her coming back into his life...”
“Why are you telling me all this?”
“You know her.”
“She’s been in town less than a week.”
Jase lifted a brow. “Katie told Emily you bought her lunch the other day.”
“People around here talk to each other entirely too much.”
“True,” Jase agreed. “But maybe you can help with Sienna. I don’t want to set her off—”
“You’re not at all interested in having a relationship with her?”
“I’m not against it. But I’m not sure I trust her motivation. My mom reached out to me last year, and I saw her in Chicago. She was going through cancer treatments and her desire to reconnect with me seemed genuine. Then she let it slip that her husband was brokering some big merger at work and couldn’t have any whiff of scandal attached to his name.”
“How are you a scandal?”
“It was during the mayoral election, and the other company was headquartered in Denver. I’m not sure what was going into the deal or why her background mattered to anyone. But it was like she was trying to acknowledge she had a past in Colorado while still making sure it didn’t affect her current life.”
“That’s cold.”
“Don’t get me wrong, we had a fine visit. She genuinely feels guilty about ripping apart our family the way she did. I also think she’d do anything to protect the life she has now. Maybe it was more like she was putting her affairs in order, although now that she’s in remission I haven’t heard from her. Bottom line is it all felt too coincidental in timing, like there was an underlying agenda I wasn’t privy to.”
Jase shrugged. “I don’t know Sienna, but it makes sense that she’d be cut from the same cloth. Will you talk to her?”
Cole wanted to agree to help. He didn’t have family in his life, and his friends meant all the more to him because of it. But he couldn’t make his mouth form the words. Not after spending the wee hours last night with Sienna tucked against his body, even with the bedclothes separating them.
“I can’t get involved like that.”
Jase stared at him for a long moment, then closed his eyes and let out a soft laugh. “She’s more like my mother than I even realized.”
“What does that mean?”
“I heard a ton of stories growing up about my dad’s side of the family. The Crenshaws are infamous around Crimson as a bunch of hard-drinking, hard-living hooligans. It took a lot of work to make people in this town believe I wasn’t like that.”
“You do look remarkably like your great-great grandfather.”
Among a group of pictures that displayed life in the early days of Crimson was a sepia-colored photo in the county courthouse of a man sitting in the original town jail. A man who happened to be Jase’s forefather. Cole had been shocked when he’d first met Jase at his resemblance to “Black Jack” Crenshaw.
“Trust me, I know.” Jase blew out a breath. “But I also heard plenty of stories about my mother—how pretty she was, how she could have had any man in town when she arrived here with her family from Alabama. People couldn’t seem to stop speculating on why she’d chosen my father. Of course, no one was surprised when their marriage fell apart. But Sienna must take after her in some ways if she already has you wrapped around her finger.”
Cole bristled at the implied accusation. “I’m not wrapped around her finger,” he shot back, “but I get what it’s like to be alone.”
“She’s not alone,” Jase countered.
“She is,” Cole insisted. “And whatever her reasons are for coming here, she’s not looking to cause trouble for you.” It was funny he could assure Jase with no reservations, even though Sienna was the most troubling thing that had hit his life in years.
“I hope not.” Jase ran a hand through his hair and stood. “At least keep an eye on her. That shouldn’t be too difficult.”
“Give her a chance, Jase.”
“Maybe I will,” his friend agreed as he backed toward the door. “I just hope you don’t give her too big of one.”