Page 41 of Rekindle My Heart

“I have met him, but no, I’m a firefighter and paramedic. I’m here as a representative for the Ashwood Fire Department.”

“Oh, how lovely.” Joy’s tone was anything but lovely.

Ryan breathed a sigh of relief when Liz steered her aunt away to deal with a catering issue. He caught Erica’s sigh as well.

Casually, he scanned the room and slipped around behind Erica. As if on autopilot, his fingers brushed the small of her back.

She tensed, then relaxed. “I can see why her sons would be scared of her. The woman could intimidate a bear.”

Ryan bit back a chuckle. “From what I hear, she wasn’t thrilled with CJ for becoming a cop.”

“That explains her reaction to my occupation.” Erica leaned back slightly.

“After the gala, we’ll all meet at the station and debrief,” Ryan whispered as he looked the other way.

She nodded.

Ryan’s hand itched to slide around and snug her back against him. That would go over like a fart. He let his arm drop to his side. “The skinny guy in the corner with the glasses. He’s Travis Stevens. A tech guy. He has the ability, funds, and connections to start a website to solicit dirty cops. You may want to sashay your sexy ass over there and see what you can pick up.”

She glanced over her shoulder. Her eyes sparkled as her brow rose. “You think my ass is sexy?”

Her butt was one of his favorite features. Not that he’d ever shared that with her. Hell, everything about her was sexy, and in that dress, she amped up to a twelve.

“You know you look good. Now, go mingle.” Doubt flashed in her eyes as she strolled away from him on dangerously tall heels. The long line of her calf peeked out the slit of the dress as she moved.

Ryan groaned. How could she not know she was beautiful? Sarah had confidence in spades and still dug for compliments all the time. But never Erica. In all the years they hung out, she never once asked how she looked. He always assumed she knew she looked good. But now, he wondered if she did.

Ryan didn’t miss the fact that every male in the room watched her walk across the floor. Travis Stevens surely did.

An image of sending an innocent lamb to the wolves came to mind as Stevens turned his back on the man he was talking to and slid his gaze up the length of Erica.

A hot poker of jealousy stabbed him in the gut.

Fuck. What had he done?

The Ashwood police station was anything but quiet at quarter past one in the morning. Most nights, Ryan could hear his shoes squeak on the vinyl floor tiles. Not tonight. The noise grew the closer he got to the conference room. CJ’s voice echoed down the hall, followed by a high-pitched squeal of laughter. Not Larson’s. Erica? It had been a long time since he heard her laugh, but he didn’t think so.

He stuck his head in the open doorway. “Is this where the after-party is?”

All the officers who were at the Gala sat around the table, their significant others in tow. Erica was next to Lorna, and Chief Martin, the one man in the room with his tie still perfectly knotted, chatted with Jim.

“Good, you’re here. We can get started.” Trey flagged him in.

Ryan shut the door and took a seat between Amy and Jim. He gave them a greeting nod, but his gaze sought out Erica sitting directly across from him. She focused on Trey by the board, but Ryan had an itchy feeling her attention was on him. Not that she’d look at him.

Then again, it could be because his was fixated on her.

“I know this wasn’t an official operation tonight, but when an opportunity to do some recon on the possible players in this corruption ring presented itself, it was too good to miss.”

Ryan listened while Trey outlined the people of interest in the case—not yet suspects.

Learning it was run through some sort of website had the team focusing on those who would have either the ability, access to the funds, or the technical knowledge needed to set up the corruption ring.

“The recordings we got from Ryan and Erica didn’t lead to any conclusive clues, but it did help us connect who socializes in the same circles. Jim, you were looking at Dr. Hoffman. Tell us what you learned.”

Jim talked about the brilliant surgeon and why his development of a piece of lifesaving tech had him believing he had the knowledge and capital to be their guy. “The only thing I can’t pin down is the motive. On my first search of the good doctor, I didn’t find any skeletons or flags that point to corruption. But I’d keep him on the list. We could have a two-person team.”

“Doesn’t the doctor have ties to Lindstrom?” Ryan had thought of that. He still believed Gunter Lindstrom was deeper in this than hiring a dirty cop to do his bidding.