Page 18 of Destroyed With You

“Oh.” Dammit. I draw a breath and offer him a small smile. “I’ve called the landlord twice. I should have just fixed it myself, but I haven’t had the time.” I shrug. “New job. New town.” Busy secret life…

“I can take care of that for you.”

“Oh.” The flutter in my chest starts up again, underscored by a nice, warm glow. “You don’t have to do that.”

“I want to.” He slides his hands into the pockets of his light brown slacks that pair with the uniform shirt, decorated with his badge and other symbols of his office.

“Well, I won’t turn down the help. Thanks.” When he returns my smile, I feel lit from within. Light and fresh and new. I realize I’m smiling like an idiot. I always seem to be smiling around this man. An unexpected reality that makes my job both easier and harder.

I’ve only been in town for two weeks. I lived here for a year in high school when my dad was dragging me all over the country as he scrambled to find work. He’d died here, too, when there’d been a blowout at the rig. I’d stayed at a friend’s house for the rest of the year, then moved to Wisconsin when my aunt came to claim me.

I ran away six months after that, got my GED, made my own way.

But now here I am back again. The fact that my daddy had died in that blowout helped me land the job in the mayor’s office. That, and the fact that my real bosses pulled a few strings behind the scenes.

My cover job is easy enough. Mostly I file, answer the phones, and fetch coffee for the folks higher up the ladder, which includes pretty much everyone.

I’d been carrying a tray with four coffees from the cafeteria back to the mayor’s chambers when I saw Winston for the first time just four short days ago. Hades is small enough that the city and county offices share a building, and he was walking into the cafeteria as I was walking out.

He’d taken the tray from me without a word, then fallen in step beside me. Any other man, and I would have icily berated him for being a condescending, presumptuous prick. With Winston, I floated along as we made small talk that didn’t seem small at all.

When we paused outside the mayor’s office, he said, “I’m glad I was right.”

I frowned. “About what?”

“You know,” he said, then gave me back my tray before tapping the brim of his hat and walking away.

I watched him go, my pulse beating in my throat. Yeah. I knew.

For the next few days, our eyes would meet whenever we crossed paths. Once, he walked me to my car, and when our hands brushed casually, I felt the shock of it so intensely that I’d actually gasped out loud, my skin burning from a full-body blush. And I’m not a woman who blushes.

But we haven’t really talked yet. Haven’t shared a meal. Hell, we haven’t even shared coffee. And yet here he is in my living room, and as much as I want to fight my own reaction, it feels as if he belongs here.

There’s a pull between us. Something physicists might never understand but which nonetheless exists. The kind of chemical reaction that had me coming home after work and stripping off my clothes, then sliding into bed and foregoing dinner for the pleasure of my fantasies. The kind of obsession that had my mind wandering during my pre-dawn meetings when, honestly, I should have been paying more attention.

Now, standing in front of me in my living room, he clears his throat. “I know I shouldn’t have come in. But with the door open like that…”

“You thought I had an intruder?”

The corner of his mouth lifts in a slow grin. “Crossed my mind. Hades might be a safe little town, but you still need to be careful.”

I almost laugh. In a lot of ways, he’s an innocent. Especially about this town. He sees only the cute little houses and the charming Main Street. As far as he’s concerned, the only problems are a few drunk and disorderlies or teenagers stealing candy and DVDs. He might be the sheriff, but Hades’ rot is so deep he doesn’t even see it.

One day, though, it will bubble to the top. There’ll be an assault case or a body discovered far out in the county. He’ll get sucked in. Start looking. And once he opens his eyes, he’ll see me standing right in front of him.

That reality wrenches at my heart, especially since I know what I need to do now. I should thank him for checking the door, then ask him to leave. But I don’t. Instead, I say, “There’s no intruder here. Nobody but you.”

He chuckles, obviously hearing the flirtatious tone in my voice. Then he takes another step closer. “I should have left,” he says, “but I heard the shower. So I stayed.”

“Oh.” I lick my lips, feeling young and innocent. I’m twenty-five, and haven’t felt young since my mother walked out. I was five then. And I’m damn sure not innocent. “Why?”

His head tilts to the side, his eyes never leaving mine, and I feel the heat of his gaze all the way down to my bare toes. “You know,” he says, and my nipples harden and my sex throbs with longing.

My breath catches in my throat as he takes one more step forward.

“This isn’t normal.” My voice sounds far away.

“No,” he says, “it’s not. Nothing’s been normal since the first moment I saw you.” He meets my eyes, and I see a future there, the kind of future I never thought I could have. That I never will. It’s like looking into pain, because I know how this will end.