Page 81 of Falling For You

"Has anyone ever told you you look pretty even when you're mad?"

"You are so annoying."

"I love you too, Officer Walsh."

She stared at me and then laughed.

"I am going to leave you here to rot, Wyatt Brooks."

"But you won't."

She grabbed my face with both hands, pulled me down to her, and kissed me. "Don't ever do that again."

"Do what? Teach smug guys a lesson for disrespecting my girl? I'm not making any promises."

"You're going to end up with assault charges."

"As long as you're the one cuffing me, I'm not going to resist."

"Really?" She slapped my shoulder. "You're in a cell and you're making a sex joke. You're impossible."

"And you love me anyway."

"Yeah. I do." She kissed me again.

When she pulled back I leaned my forehead against hers. "What happens now?"

"It depends on what Handler wants to do. If he's smart, he lets it go. But knowing him, he's likely not going to let this go without a fight."

"Ugh. Sounds like a lot of work."

Her shoulders dropped. "Yeah."

I leaned down and pressed my lips to her forehead.

"Worth it."

Just as Andy predicted, Handler pressed charges.

The fire department put me on administrative leave the same week. I turned in my gear and went home to Birdie. She asked why I wasn't at work. I told her I was taking some time off.

The body cam footage entered evidence three weeks later. It captured Handler walking up to Andy, his smile, his comment about her mouth, and her face going still.

A courthouse reporter requested the exhibit from the clerk, and by the end of the week, it was everywhere. People saw a firefighter defending a female officer from her own sergeant. They chose sides fast, and almost nobody chose Handler's. Andy and I became a story neither of us asked for. Our names were in headlines. Strangers on the internet were calling us a love story. The DA dropped the charges right after that. I don't know what Sergeant Hollywood was expecting. Between the footage and the public pressure, it was never going to trial.

The fire department brought me back with a formal reprimand and a four-week suspension without pay instead of what I had assumed would have been termination.

Captain Thompson called me into his office.

"I'm sorry it has to be this way, Brooks."

"I understand, Captain."

He closed the door. Leaned against his desk and crossed his arms. "Don't tell anyone I said this. That guy has been asking for it for as long as I've known him. Between you and me, I'm glad someone finally stood up to him."

I smiled. "Thank you, Captain."

"Consider this an unpaid vacation." He opened the door. "Now get out of my office."