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  their expressions that they hadn’t.

  Jeremy shook his head. She stood back and let them into the bedroom. Jeremy walked over to where Birdie sat.

  “Are you okay, Mrs. Michaels?”

  She smiled. “Yes, thank you for asking. I’m more concerned about Regina. She went after him with a baseball bat.”

  Jeremy and Carl both pinned her with a questioning stare.

  “I didn’t have my weapon,” she muttered.

  “Are you okay? Do we need to take you back to the hospital?” Jeremy asked.

  “Did you engage the intruder?” Carl asked.

  She shook her head. “No, I didn’t actually see him. I went downstairs after we heard a noise. I saw the back door was open. I worried about Birdie so I came back upstairs to call it in. While we waited, I heard him on the stairs and then right outside the bedroom door. He must have heard the sheriff’s deputy drive up, because he ran down the stairs. I gave chase. I heard him go out the back. The deputy came in, and I directed him around back. When I exited the house, I didn’t see any sign of him.”

  “We found footprints outside. No way to know if they were his.” Carl paused. “But they were big. We’ll take a mold, but it looks a hell of a lot like the footprints at our last crime scene.”

  Regina froze. “Are you saying it’s the same guy?”

  Carl shook his head. “No, but the coincidences are a little staggering. I’ll get more guys out here to comb the area for any evidence. He had to have driven in at some point. Maybe we’ll get lucky and find tire tracks. I’ll have the house dusted for prints.”

  Regina looked over at Birdie. “Can you drive me home?”

  Birdie frowned. “I don’t think that’s a good idea, Regina. The boys won’t like it. You’re supposed to be staying here so you aren’t alone.”

  “I don’t plan to stay at my house,” she said calmly. “But I want my backup weapon. Chief still has my service gun. I don’t want to be without protection while I’m waiting to get it back.”

  “Probably a good idea,” Jeremy said. “Where are the guys anyway?”

  “Houston,” Regina said shortly. “They had to tie up some things with their job. They’ll be back later today.”

  “We’ll try to be out of the way by then,” Carl said. “Jeremy and I will stay out here and process the scene. I want the sheriff’s deputy to follow you and Mrs. Michaels to your place and then escort you back here. There’s no reason to take unnecessary risks.”

  Regina nodded. “Do you mind, Birdie?”

  “Of course not, dear. We can leave whenever you’re ready.”

  CHAPTER 10

  Hutch turned into the driveway and accelerated up the dirt road leading to the house. The trip to Houston had annoyed him. He hadn’t wanted to spend the day away from Reggie. Not when she was just out of the hospital.

  When he topped the hill and saw four police cars parked outside the house and Birdie’s car gone, his stomach knotted. Maybe it was nothing. Probably just Reggie’s coworkers out to check on her.

  Still, he gunned the engine and raced toward the house, a cloud of dust billowing in his wake. He skidded to a stop beside one of the patrol cars and hopped out.

  Jeremy met him at the door with an upraised hand.

  “I need you stay outside,” Jeremy said.

  Definitely not a social call.

  “What the fuck is going on?” Hutch demanded. “Where are Birdie and Reggie?”

  “They’re fine,” Jeremy said quickly. “Birdie drove Reggie home to pick up a few things. They’ll be back later.”

  “What happened?” Hutch gritted out.

  “Someone broke in.”

  Hutch tensed, his jaw ticking. He curled and uncurled his fingers.

  “Regina played it right,” Jeremy said, as if sensing Hutch’s turmoil. “She made sure Birdie was safe. She called it in and waited for backup.”

  “Did you get him?”

  Jeremy shook his head. “We’re dusting for prints now. We suspect . . . we suspect it’s the same guy from the other night.”

  “What?” Hutch stared at Jeremy in disbelief.

  Jeremy shoved his hands into his pockets and walked farther out onto the porch. He glanced at Hutch as if weighing whether or not he wanted to say what it was he wanted to say. Finally he turned back to Hutch, giving him a long, measuring look.

  “How much did Regina tell you about what happened the other night?”

  Hutch snorted. “Nothing. We hadn’t gotten around to that yet.”

  Jeremy grimaced. “The guy knew who she was. We suspect the attack was premeditated, and Regina was his target.”

  “What the fuck?”

  Jeremy nodded. “He called her Reggie. Regina said only you, Sawyer and Cam call her that. It may or may not have any bearing on the matter, but he also made a veiled threat. He told her it was ‘time to make him pay.’ ”

  “What the hell does that mean?”

  “I wish we knew,” Jeremy said grimly. “Could have to do with her father. I just thought you should know because I don’t think Regina should be alone after what happened today. It could be that the two incidences are unrelated, but I doubt it.”

  “I’m going to get over to Reggie’s then. You said she and Birdie headed that way?”

  “A deputy followed them so they wouldn’t be alone,” Jeremy said.

  “Good. Thanks, Jeremy. I really appreciate it.”

  Jeremy nodded. “She’s a cop. A damn good one. We look after our own.”

  Hutch shook Jeremy’s hand then hurried back to his truck. He peeled away, anxious to get to Reggie’s house as soon as possible.

  They’d made a huge mistake in not pressing Reggie for answers after she’d given her report at the station. What he and the others had considered an unfortunate result of her job, of her being in the wrong place at the wrong time, had in fact been a calculated attack on her. They’d taken the incident too lightly. They’d left her and Birdie unprotected.

  He swallowed the gnawing fear in his throat. They were obviously going to have to have a come-to-Jesus moment with Reggie. It wouldn’t be pretty. But if there was some asshole out to get her, he was damn well going to have to come through him, Sawyer and Cam to get to her.

  It took a good twenty minutes to get back into town. Reggie lived in a small two-bedroom house just half a mile from the police station. When Hutch pulled up, he had to park on the street because of the three vehicles parked in the drive. Reggie’s RAV4, Birdie’s Camry and the sheriff’s deputy’s car.

  He strode up to the door and was met by the deputy. He identified himself, and the deputy let him pass.

  The house looked and even smelled like Reggie. Her imprint was everywhere, from the eclectic décor to the clutter piles that looked unorganized but were in fact arranged in a precise manner.

  He stopped at her computer desk and picked up a framed photo of him, Reggie, Cam and Sawyer. He smiled, remembering the day it was taken. They’d gone out to the lake after graduation and spent the day in the sun, laughing and enjoying life.

  He set the frame in its place and walked back to where he heard Reggie and Birdie’s voices. He stuck his head into Reggie’s bedroom to see her insert a clip into her pistol, flick the safety on and then shove it into the holster at her waist.

  Birdie looked up and saw him.

  “Hutch! What are you doing here?”

  Reggie looked up, her expression unreadable.

  “I was worried,” he said as he walked into the bedroom.

  He stopped and brushed a kiss across Birdie’s cheek. “Are you okay?” he asked.

  Birdie smiled. “I’m fine. Regina took good care of me.”

  Hutch turned to Reggie, and they stood staring at each other for a long moment. He reached out and cupped her shoulder with one hand before finally pulling her into his arms.

  She didn’t resist.

  “Are you all right?” he asked against her hair.

  “I’m f
ine,” she said, her voice muffled against his chest.

  He pulled her away and cupped her chin. “Are you sure?”

  She nodded.

  “Good, because when we get back to the house we have a lot to talk about,” he said evenly.

  She blew her breath upward, sending the curl lying over her brow flying sideways.

  “Are you about done here?” he asked. “What exactly did you need that couldn’t wait until we got home?”

  She lifted one dark eyebrow. “My gun. The only thing I had to defend Birdie and me was one of Sawyer’s baseball bats, and I probably would have ruined it after one hit.”

  “It was stupid of us to have left you and Birdie alone,” Hutch said in a low voice. “It won’t happen again.”

  He expected her to argue, but she simply turned away and threw a change of clothes into a gym bag.

  He and Birdie exchanged glances, and then he motioned with his head for her to follow him into the next room. She nodded, and he walked back into the living room, where the deputy stood waiting on the women.

  “Level with me, Birdie. What the hell happened, and are you and Reggie both really okay?”

  Birdie smiled. “We’re fine. I expect Reggie is going to feel the results of her little adventure when she’s settled down and comes off the adrenaline rush.”

  “What happened exactly? Jeremy said there was an intruder, but I didn’t wait around for details. I wanted to get over here and make sure you two were all right.”

  Birdie raised a shaky hand to her forehead. “I honestly don’t know, Hutch. It all happened so fast. Thank goodness for Regina’s instincts. I was helping her down the stairs when she heard a noise. She made me go back into the bedroom and lock the door. She went to investigate.”

  “She damn well should have gone into the bedroom with you,” he growled.

  “She came back up quickly with the phone and called Jeremy. She made me get into the closet. Next thing I knew, she told me it was okay to come out and we waited for Jeremy.” A smile twitched at the corners of her mouth. “Regina had a baseball bat. I think she fully intended to use it.”

  “She wouldn’t have had to if I’d been there,” he muttered.

  Birdie laid her hand on his arm and squeezed. “If you and Regina no longer need me, I think I’d like to be getting home. This is all the excitement I can take in a day.”

  Hutch frowned. “I don’t want you going back to your house alone. Maybe it would be better if you came back to the house with us.”

  She smiled. “This nice young man has already offered to see me home and come in with me to make sure everything’s as it should be. I have the alarm system Sawyer insisted on installing for me.” She shook her head in exasperation. “My house resembles a fortress thanks to you boys.”

  “Someone will be patrolling the area.” The deputy spoke up. “I’ll make sure a car drives by her house every hour, and we’ll call periodically to check in on her.”

  Hutch nodded. “I appreciate it.”

  The deputy smiled. “I know Birdie’s special to you, but she’s also special to this community. She’s done a lot for many of us. As soon as the rest of the department heard what happened, they were lining up to volunteer to run patrols by her house. She’ll have county and local police protection.”

  “Let me just go say good-bye to Regina, and then I’ll be on my way,” Birdie said. “You need to get her home so she can get some rest. It’s been a difficult day. She looks like she’s about to fall over.”

  Birdie walked back to Reggie’s bedroom and returned a few moments later. Hutch kissed her forehead.

  “Call me if you need anything.”

  “Oh, I will, and you be sure and let me know if you boys or Regina need anything. I’ll be happy to come out.”

  He watched Birdie leave under the watchful eye of the sheriff’s deputy then turned to go back in search of Reggie. He found her standing by her bed, her shoulders drooping with fatigue.

  “You finished getting what you need?” he asked.

  She immediately straightened. “Yeah, I’m ready to go if you are.”

  He reached over to zip up her bag then picked up the strap. He stopped in front of her and wrapped his free hand around the back of her neck, pulling her close. For a long moment, he simply stood there, face buried in her dark curls.

  She trembled against him, and her arms crept around his waist.

  “Let’s go home,” he murmured against her head. “I think you’ve had enough excitement for one day.”

  “I won’t argue that,” she said ruefully as she pulled away.

  He put a finger underneath her chin and nudged upward until she stared him in the eye. Slowly, he lowered his mouth to hers in a tender kiss. It wasn’t intended to overwhelm her with passion. Rather it was a soft gesture, one for comfort.

  To his surprise, she took an active part in the kiss. The arm with the brace slid up his back while she pulled her uninjured arm from his waist and moved it up his chest and over his shoulder and around to his neck. Her fingers slid into his hair, glancing over his scalp as she returned his kiss.

  Her tongue met his in a delicate duel. She caught his lower lip between her teeth and nibbled. Then she sucked it further into her mouth.

  He was hers. He relinquished every part of himself to her in that moment. Time seemed to stop, and he wanted it to. He wanted to remain in this moment, shutting everything else out around them. For just this minute, only the two of them existed.

  He loved her taste, the feel of her all soft and warm against him. He ached. His chest ached. His groin was heavy with warm, fluid arousal. Desire whispered through his veins. He wanted her. Needed her as he’d never needed another woman. There had never been anyone else like her in his life.

  She pulled away, her eyes glazed with the same passion that burned inside him. Her mouth was swollen, a temptation that beckoned to him.

  He cupped her cheek and ran his thumb over her lips. She opened her mouth and sucked the tip inside the warm, moist haven. He groaned, whisper-soft, at the image of her sucking at his finger. It was too easy to imagine her lips surrounding his cock, coaxing him deeper.

  “We should go,” he said hoarsely.

  She slowly let go of his thumb, and he let his hand drop to his side. She turned and he put his hand at her back to guide her from the bedroom.

  CHAPTER 11

  Dusk was falling when Cam pulled up to the house and parked. Sawyer drove in beside him, and they both got out.

  Cam looked over to see Hutch’s truck parked and Birdie’s car gone. He reached into the back of his SUV for a suitcase then slammed the door shut.

  “Let’s get all the office shit tomorrow,” Cam said as he walked around the front to where Sawyer stood.

  “Yeah, good idea. I’m looking forward to a cold beer.”

  They mounted the steps, and Cam reached for the doorknob, only to find the door locked. He frowned and reached for the keys he’d shoved into his pocket.

  “Hutch getting paranoid on us?” Sawyer said dryly.

  Cam inserted the key and turned it. He opened the door, shoved his suitcase inside and set it down in the foyer. As he and Sawyer walked in, he glanced into the living room to see Hutch sitting on the couch. The television was on, but the sound was way down.

  He walked farther in, and it was then that he saw Reggie lying on the couch, her head on Hutch’s lap. Hutch’s hand was resting in Reggie’s curls, and she was fast asleep.

  “Drugged her again?” Sawyer asked in an amused voice.

  Hutch didn’t smile. There was a darkness to his expression that Cam didn’t like. Sawyer caught it too. Hutch held up a finger to his lips then nodded to the chairs beside the couch.