AUGUST
Chapter Eleven
Sean
Dylan’s place was small.A bungalow on a quiet street, its porch light on despite the afternoon sun.I let myself in like he’d told me to.
The house smelled like him.Linen and cedar and something musky underneath.I dropped my bag by the door and ambled my way to the kitchen, where I found exactly what I needed in the fridge.
I knocked the cap off the beer with the edge of the counter and stood there for a minute, drinking it, listening to the silence of someone else’s house.
What the hell was I doing here?
I’d had Dylan’s number since New Year’s Eve.Almost eight goddamn months.Glenn had slipped it to me at the party, after watching me watch Dylan all night.
And I’d done nothing with it.
I’d typed messages I never sent.Talked myself out of it more times than I could count, telling myself he wasn’t interested.That I wasn’t going to make some closeted small-town cop’s life harder by chasing him.Telling myself a hundred different things that all amounted to the same damn thing.
I was a coward.
Sean Brennan, the loud one, the wild one, the guy who walked into rooms full of strangers and walked out with whoever caught his eye—too fucking afraid to dial a phone.
The wedding invitation had been a handy excuse to come back to Copper Ridge.Even though I knew damn well Dylan wouldn’t be there.I thought I’d party for a bit, build up the courage to finally call him.
Instead, I found the closest bar.Like fucking usual.
Then he’d walked in, in uniform, looking exhausted, angry, and so fucking gorgeous it had hurt to breathe.
It still did, even standing alone in his kitchen.
I drained the beer and wandered toward the back of the house, sliding the patio door open to warm afternoon air, a small yard, and an even smaller tent in the corner, flap open like it was waiting for someone.
I drifted toward it because I had nowhere else to be and the silence inside the house was getting too loud.
I crawled inside, folded myself in as best I could, and closed my eyes.
Just for a minute…
I startled awake, sun in my eyes, the room like a fucking sauna.Wait…not a room…the tent.And Dylan, crouched down, looking at me like I was the biggest idiot he’d seen all week.
“Hello, sir.”I smiled.
“Aren’t you too hot in there?”
“Yeah, a bit.”I leaned up on one elbow and dragged a hand through my beard, trying to get my bearings.“Didn’t notice when I crawled in.I was three sheets to the wind.”
“Sober now?”
“Not entirely.”I squinted up at him, his face a portrait of irritation.“Sober enough to notice how good you look, even without the uniform.”
He stood, shooting me a scowl.“I was going to feed you barbecue—if you can manage to get yourself out of there.”
“Sounds good.”I was hungry, but not for barbecue.“Mind if I grab a shower while you’re cooking?”
His throat worked as he swallowed, but that was all the reaction I got.“Fine,” he said, and stepped out of my way.
Getting out of that tent was a goddamn comedy.I was all elbows and knees and cursing, the whole thing rocking around me like it had taken offense to my presence.And somewhere above me, Dylan was laughing.Actually laughing.
I’d have gotten myself into a hundred stupid, drunken situations just to hear that sound again.