Page 13 of Caught With the Sheriff

Her soft gray-green eyes go wide. “What have you been up to, Sheriff?”

“Just the bare bones of what you needed.”

The door has a larger, stronger lock on it. And from the corner of my eyes, I see cameras fixed on the path to the door and the doorway.

“I think you’re underplaying what you’ve done. You put up cameras to watch this door.”

“Not just this door. On the back door too. And I put a bigger door up. In the back and new locks.”

She glances at me, her pretty mouth falling open. “The trellis. It’s gone.”

“I told you that thing was a safety hazard. It needed to go.”

“I didn’t expect you to do any of this.”

“I’ve always tried to beat expectations,” I smirk.

She groans and her shoulders shake with laughter. “I don’t even know what to say about that.”

Shrugging, I grin wickedly at her. “You don’t have to say anything. I did this to make sure that you stay safe.”

“I’m sure that most if not all towns don’t have a Sheriff that’s so involved in everybody’s affairs.”

“I’m not saying I’m involved in everybody’s affairs.”

Her eyes widen and dart away from mine as she grabs the keys carefully out of my hands without touching me. It’s cute that she thinks that will stop me from touching her at some point. I don’t care if I have to wait.

But right now I need to get her settled and head home. I’m exhausted after a sleepless night and a busy damn morning and if I’m going to keep my girl safe then I need to be alert enough to recognize problems.

I ask her to get out her phone and we set up the app so that she can control everything.

She doesn’t know that I’ve already got the app set up on my phone so that I can keep an eye on her even when I’m not around. I’m not sure she’d be happy about that.

But I need to make sure she’s safe. It’s a fucking drive right now. A mission.

A bone-deep need that I can’t ignore.

Ignoring all my racing thoughts and the pounding of my heart, I focus on teaching her what she needs to know to keep her safe.

“Are you sure that’s all there is to this app? I mean, this seems super-easy to run and I’m terrible with electronics. Livvy is always telling me that my phone and my computer are not the enemy but I’m not exactly sure she’s right. I mean…my phone is always beeping at me, interrupting me when I’m trying to work with one alarm or another and my computer...? Well, he’s just an ass. He’s been known to delete whole lines of typing just because he’s an ass.”

I choke on a laugh and Claudia pokes her head around the corner of the railing where she’s been inspecting some of the plants. “Daddy? Did you just laugh?”

Catching Willow’s sparkling eyes I know that I’m busted and I don’t even mind it. Much.

“No. I swallowed wrong and choked on my own spit. You know I don’t laugh about home security, baby.”

Willow’s eyes widen and she snorts. Claudia’s sharp little eyes turn towards her and they narrow on us both like she knows something’s up but she’s not quite sure what the hell we’re doing.

I think I need to get this show on the road and get my daughter out of here before she says or does something that’s gonna embarrass me.

Her blond head tilts to the side and she grins mischievously. “You know…you two look like those couples that are on Memaw’s show. The ones that are about to kiss or something.”

Too late. I should have known that she wouldn’t be able to rein it in this entire time.

Clearing my throat, I fight what I’m sure is a damn fire-engine red blush and glare at her. Which doesn’t phase her in the least.

“Are you almost done teaching Willow all the stuff? I’m really getting hungry and I was hoping we could go get a burger, Daddy?” That little wheedle in her voice as her blue eyes stare at me…like a damn disney princess. I can’t say no to her.