Page 8 of Cipher

She studied me for another beat before murmuring, “Night, hacker.”

“Not a hacker,” I grunted.

“You keep saying that.”

She walked away with a little smile. I watched her go, and every protective instinct I possessed tracked her through the secured door. The reasons I had stayed away remained, but the three weeks of distance had not reduced the attraction or jealousy. And it hadn’t made seeing her leave feel remotely acceptable. It had only taught me how much space her absence could occupy.

My ability to let Bex walk away from me was approaching its limit, and for the first time, I questioned whether the reasons I’d built around staying away were worth having no place in her life. Maybe I couldn’t stop treating her like she was mine because the decision had already been made somewhere deeper than logic. Rebecca Raines had belonged to me from the moment she held out her hand and dared me to take it.

3

BEX

Ipushed through the side door of the comm center half an hour before my shift started the next day and immediately spotted the man striding out of Mr. Hendrick’s office. Cipher was already here.

When his eyes met mine, I felt the jolt of sensual awareness I’d only ever experienced with him. But he’d been clear he wasn’t going to act on it, and even if that hadn’t dissuaded me from approaching him, I couldn’t afford to act unprofessional during my probationary period. Sometimes it seemed like Mr. Hendrick was harder on me because I was the sheriff’s daughter.

Dragging my gaze away from him, I dropped my bag at the desk I normally used, pulled my lunch out, and headed for the break room. After putting my cooler bag in the fridge, I sat at one of the tables and took a few deep breaths. My attention needed to be focused on my job, not Cipher.

While I tried to get my head on straight, a familiar figure stopped beside my chair. Tilting my head back, I smiled. “Hey, Deputy Pritchard.”

“Afternoon, Bex.” He shook his head with a sigh. “How many times do I need to tell you to call me Seth?”

This has been an ongoing thing between us since I started working here. He’d been with the department since I was in middle school, and he’d always been the easygoing one at every cookout and Christmas party. His wife made the best potato salad in the county, and he’d never once treated me like I was just the sheriff’s kid.

Wrinkling my nose, I mumbled, “Sorry, it just feels weird when we’re at work.”

“Haven’t heard you call your dad by his title yet,” he teased.

“Yeah, well.” I shrugged. “That’s different.”

“I suppose so.” He tilted his chin toward the door. “You been around long enough today to know how things are going with the guy from Black Castle?”

I shook my head. “Nope, just got in.”

Seth raked his fingers through his hair. “Not sure how I feel about your dad calling in outsiders, but at least Cipher seems like he knows what he’s doing.”

“Uh, yeah. You could put it that way.” But only if you wanted to massively understate his abilities.

“He asked a lot of questions about radio procedures and how we coordinate with you all during overlapping calls.”

He sounded irritated, but it made sense for Cipher to speak with him. Seth had been the department’s informal bridge between patrol and dispatch for years.

“He’s thorough.”

Seth chuckled. “That’s one word for it. I’ll catch you later.”

With the time ticking down until my shift started, I couldn’t hide in here any longer. I headed over to my desk and logged into my console. Then I organized my things exactly where I liked them, all while trying to ignore the low murmur of Cipher’s voice as he spoke with a dispatcher just coming off shift.

It wasn’t long before his shadow fell across my console.

“I need you to walk me through the call again.”

Irritated that he hadn’t even bothered to greet me, I swiveled my chair to face him fully. “I already gave my statement. Multiple times.”

“I know, but I need to hear it directly from you again.” His dark stayed on mine as he leaned his hip against my desk. “Start from the moment you picked up the line.”

The clinical tone he was suddenly using with me only increased my annoyance.