Chapter Eight

Cameron

I was in a good mood, for obvious reasons. I had slept better than I had in a long time after Scarlett left last night. I woke up this morning feeling great and ready to tackle another day of fighting crime. Well, maybe not exactly fighting crime, but I was doing my part to keep the city a little safer.

I walked into the briefing room and found Noah already sitting. He waved me over, and I took the seat next to him.

He looked at me funny. “You look…” He paused, as if he couldn’t find the right word.

“I look…?”

“Happy?” he said, as if it was a foreign word.

I shrugged. “I’m not angry if that’s what you mean.”

He shook his head. “No. That’s not it.”

He didn’t get a chance to figure it out. The chief took his place at the podium and began the morning briefing.

Later, when we walked to the patrol car, I tossed Noah the keys.

“Now I know something’s wrong,” he said, shaking his head.

I shrugged. “I don’t want to drive.”

“Whatever. I’ll get it out of you eventually.”

We headed out to one of our favorite spots. It was a school zone and notorious for speeders. It always pissed me off, and whenever we busted someone speeding or driving recklessly, we slapped them with the biggest ticket we could scratch together.

“There!” I said, pointing to a car clocked at forty with the woman behind the wheel holding up her phone and obviously texting.

I hit the lights while Noah got behind her.

I stalked toward the driver’s side of the car. The woman was attractive and had a fair amount of cleavage showing, which she was working hard at showing me.

“License and registration!” I barked, not in the mood for stupid flirting.

“I’m sorry, Officer. Was I doing something wrong?”

I quickly listed her offenses and asked for the documents again.

She pulled off her sunglasses and batted her eyes at me. “I’m so sorry. I was in a rush to get to work.”

I stared at her. She smiled back. Her eyes darted to my nametag before purposely looking at my left hand.

“Officer Campbell, you wouldn’t want to ruin my day, would you?” She pouted.

I snatched her license out of her hand and stomped back to the car. There was no amount of flirting in the world that was going to get her out of a ticket.

“She’s laying it on thick,” Noah commented, getting in the driver’s seat.

“It isn’t going to work.”

He laughed. “It never does. You would think the fine citizens of Nashville would realize you’re a hard-ass.”

I glared at him. “She could have hit a little kid and not even known it.”

“I know. You’re right. Hit her hard.”

I wrote up the ticket and delivered it to her. She was pissed. Her smile disappeared and was replaced with a sneer.

“You need to loosen up a bit, Officer. When a pretty woman flirts with you, you acknowledge it.”

I looked at her. “I always do—when I see a pretty woman.”

Her mouth fell open before I smiled and walked away.

The day rolled on with more speeding tickets issued.

“I’m hungry and it’s slow. Let’s get lunch,” Noah said.

“Fine.”

He drove to a sandwich shop. We each ordered and sat down. I looked up and found him watching me.

“What?” I asked.

“What’d you do last night?”

“Nothing.”

“Liar.”

“I invited my neighbor over for pizza.”

He smiled. “A female neighbor?”

I nodded. “Yes. She just moved in.”

He was grinning like an idiot. “She’s pretty?”

I nodded. “She is.”

“Single?”

Another nod. “Yep.”

“You sleep with her?”

I nodded again.

“Ha! I knew it! I knew you were way too happy this morning.”

I smiled. “You didn’t know shit.”

“Who is this woman? Was Ella home?” he asked.

“Yes. Ella met her a couple days ago. Her name is Scarlett. She moved in last week and that’s that.”

He gave me a knowing smile. “Are you going to see her again?”

“I’m sure I’ll see her. She lives next door,” I said dryly.

He laughed. “Yep, you’re definitely going to see her again. I can see that look in your eyes. You’ve never actually been happy after one of your one-nighters. This is different.”

“I don’t know about that.”

“I’m happy for you, really. I hope you can actually date and enjoy a woman’s company without feeling like it’s a dirty little secret. You’re a healthy man with needs. Stop trying to pretend you’re not,” he lectured.

“I have a daughter.”

“And there are plenty of men and women who do. That doesn’t mean they stop living and enjoying relationships.”

“I know. We’ll see. I’m not sure if I’m there yet.”

He laughed. “I want to meet this new neighbor. When are you inviting me over?”

“Never.”

That made him chuckle. We finished our lunch and headed back out on patrol. It was another good day, and I was going home safe to my daughter. When I pulled in the driveway, the first thing I saw was Scarlett. She was chatting with my mom and Ella. Flashes of last night sprung before my eyes. It had been amazing. I would have been a fool to say I never wanted it again. I did.

I got out of my truck, and my eyes briefly met Scarlett’s before I picked up Ella and hugged her.

“What are you ladies doing out here?” I asked.

My mom smiled. “Ella introduced me to your new neighbor. She was very persistent that we come over to chat. We were chatting about nothing you’d care to hear about,” she said with a wink.

My eyes darted to Scarlett’s. She smiled. “Flowers and the best places to go shopping,” she explained.

I nodded. “Say no more.”

“Scarlett told me she’s hoping to be a music producer. You could be living right next door to a woman who rubs elbows with some of the big names in the music world,” my mom said with glee.

Scarlett burst into laughter. “If by rubbing elbows you mean fetching coffee, I have a slight chance.”

“You’ll do fine. I just know it. I can tell you’re destined for big things,” my mom said with all the confidence in the world.

That made Scarlett smile. “I appreciate the confidence. I hope I can prove you right.”

“Can you come over for dinner again tonight?” Ella asked.

I froze. Scarlett was going to get the wrong idea. She was probably thinking I was using my daughter to get her in my bed.

“Oh, sweetie, I would love to, but I have to get some things done. I have a friend coming tomorrow, and I still haven’t unpacked my boxes,” she said, her eyes growing big. “I’m going to get in trouble when she sees how messy my house is.”

Ella shook her head. “That’s not good. My dad gets really cranky when my room is messy.”

“Maybe another time,” I said, hoping my voice didn’t sound too strained.

I didn’t want my mom to know there had been something between Scarlett and me. That would start a conversation I didn’t want to have, especially with my mother.

“Bye, Ella, and it was nice to meet you, Mrs. Campbell,” Scarlett said in that easy way she had about her.

It was that laid-back way of hers that drew me in. I felt like I could talk to her for hours and never get bored.

“We’ll see you later,” I said.

She turned her smile to me. “You guys have fun, and enjoy your dinner.”

She waved and made her way back to her house. I wanted to watch her go but didn’t want to risk my mom seeing me do so. I turned to invite my mom in and realized it was too late. She was smiling. It was a smile only a mother could give. It said something along the lines of I know more than you think I do. Damn mother’s intuition.

“What?” I asked, suddenly feeling guilty.

“She seems like a nice girl,” my mom said.

I groaned. I knew what was coming next. “She’s a woman, Mom.”

“To me, they’re all girls. She’s very pretty.”

“Yes, she is,” I agreed.

“Ella likes her.”

“Yes, she does.”

We walked into the house, and I waited for what I knew was coming.

“I can watch Ella if you’d like to take her out for dinner or something,” my mother said.

“No, Mom. It isn’t like that. I was kind of a jerk to her when she moved in. I asked her to come over for dinner. It wasn’t a big deal,” I explained.

She smiled. “Maybe you should take her out to dinner to make up for being a jerk.”

I shook my head. “Let it go, Mom.”

“I like her, Daddy,” Ella chimed in.

I felt like they were ganging up on me. I knew when I was defeated. I changed the subject.

“What do you want for dinner?” I asked, hoping to distract her.

“I want pizza, and we should ask Scarlett to come over again.”

My mom started laughing. “Maybe another night, Ella. Daddy’s tired tonight.”

“Thanks, Mom.”

“I’m going to leave you two to it. Ella, be good for Daddy. I will see you tomorrow after school. Good night, you guys,” she said before hugging each of us.

“I’m going to change, and then I’ll make dinner,” I told Ella.

I headed into my room and quickly changed. I looked at my bed and felt heat rush through my body as I remembered what I had done on that bed last night.

I shut the door and headed to the kitchen to see what I could throw together for dinner. Ella was busy at the table reading a book out loud. I loved that she was already reading.

“That sounds like a good book,” I said when she closed it and set it on the table.

She shrugged. “It’s boring. It’s a little-kid book. I want to read real stories.”

I laughed. “We’ll take a trip to the library and see what we can find. Maybe Grandma can take you after school tomorrow.”

That seemed to satisfy her. We sat down to a simple dinner of Hamburger Helper. I liked our life together. It was a little lonely, and I knew Ella could probably use a woman in her life to act as a mother, but I couldn’t put her through the ups and downs of a relationship. She had already been through so much. It wasn’t fair to put her through anything more.