Officer on Duty (Lock and Key Book 4) (26 page)

It was no surprise that their unusual strength seemed to be overshadowing all their differences. From small, quiet Kerry to Sasha’s larger-than-life personality, they were kindred spirits.

“How the hell did we get so lucky?” Liam asked, as if he’d read Jeremy’s mind.

“I can only speak for myself,” Grey said, “but it was probably my dashing good looks and innate charm.”

Henry snorted.

“You scoff,” Grey said, “but you don’t know what it’s like to actually have to attract a woman with your best qualities. Sasha chose you as her boy toy because you’re her opposite. While you’re grumping around in the background waiting for an unseen threat to surface, she’s free to steal the spotlight – just how she likes it.”

“I’m not her boy toy.” Henry put down his beer. “We’re getting married.”

“So? That just means she likes playing with you enough to keep you.”

Henry just shrugged, even when Grey ribbed him with an off-color joke about the ways Henry might’ve impressed his fiancée into keeping him around.

Sasha had softened the edges of Henry’s surliness, no doubt about it. Although Grey wasn’t exactly off base about Henry’s habitual vigilance, the man seemed more at peace than he had months ago.

“I guess that leaves me and Jeremy,” Liam said. “The whole neighbor situation is pretty helpful, isn’t it?”

Jeremy nodded. He never would’ve met Lucia if she hadn’t moved in across the street.

The thought was depressing.

Grey turned to Jeremy. “Tell the truth – when she first moved in, did you walk out of your house in uniform before your shifts and strike poses on your front porch to catch her attention?”

“Something like that.” He wasn’t about to admit that his mother had been the one trying to get them together in the beginning, not him. “Gotta take the benefits of jobs like ours where you can get them, right?”

Liam, Henry and Grey were all corrections officers at the Riley Correctional Center, the largest prison in the state.

Grey’s expression grew serious. “Wish Kerry had been my neighbor. I could’ve gotten her to warm up to me a lot faster if I’d had an excuse to dazzle her in uniform.”

When the women drifted toward the counter to get refills from the sangria pitcher, Lucia flashed Jeremy a knowing smile.

The heat it sparked stayed with him even after she went back to her conversation with the girls, and he shot the breeze with the guys – the only people in his life who could understand the strange hell that was seeing the woman you cared about touched by incomprehensible evil.

After what they’d been through, they knew.

It felt strange, but good, not to be alone.

About a week after Olivia was discharged from the hospital with a clean bill of health, Lucia finally allowed herself to get excited over the prospect of Jeremy’s birthday party.

Grabbing her tablet, she flopped onto her couch. First things first: she needed to get him a gift. No ideas sprang immediately to mind, so she searched online for lists of gift ideas for police officers.

The suggestions that filled her browser were decidedly unromantic. Bite-proof sleeves? Retractable batons? A tourniquet that could be applied in as little as twenty-five seconds?

Not really her style. Although…

An ad for handcuffs sparked a wicked impulse. Smiling to herself, she clicked through and started browsing the selection at a tactical supply store.

He’d been a sheriff’s deputy for more than a decade and carried handcuffs every day. But one more pair might be nice, especially if they broke them in with a little fun before he hung them from his duty belt.

She could even buy something special to wear that night. Shiny new cuffs, delicate lace and an hour or two with Jeremy … just the thought made her heart race.

Since he never treated himself, she’d go all out to make sure the night was memorable. He’d been so good to her, and he’d been all work and no play for far too long – he deserved some fun, and she couldn’t wait to give it to him.

* * * * *

When Jeremy’s birthday rolled around, Meredith made a big deal out of him taking the first part of the day to do something fun with Lucia before a family dinner with her and Paige.

Paige played along, of course, and so did Lucia.

“You sure you’re up for going out tomorrow?” Jeremy asked her the evening before his birthday.

“Absolutely.” She was finally ready for some fun.

The next day, they went out to lunch on the boardwalk, then spent a few hours on the beach. Afterward, they drove to Wisteria, where Jeremy was expecting a quiet dinner with Lucia, Meredith and Paige.

“Crowded,” he remarked when he pulled into the parking lot by the gates.

“Well, they’re doing those ghost tours now,” she said, stepping out into the gravel lot shaded by trees swathed in Spanish moss. The air was warm and full of earthy summer scents, a combination of moss, creek water and fresh-trimmed glass. “And it
is
Friday night.”

As they walked the cobblestone path toward the restaurant, she bit the inside of her lip to keep from smiling. Still, she couldn’t keep the spring out of her step as she walked by Jeremy’s side, carrying a beribboned gift bag.

One of her gifts for him was at home – she wasn’t about to give it to him in front of everyone – but the gift she carried in the bag was one she planned to present him with after dinner.

“I hear Sasha’s on duty tonight, and she’s always bragging to me about what she can do with shrimp. I’m going to have to try some.”

Jeremy nodded. “Lucia…”

“What?” When he caught her eye, the look there was so serious it stopped her in her tracks. “Aren’t her shrimp any good?”

It’d be hard to believe – Sasha was gifted in the kitchen in ways Lucia could only envy.

“Her cooking’s great.” Silence reigned for a heartbeat, and a light breeze blew the scent of honeysuckle and roses from the plants winding up trellises that screened most of a utility shed from view. “I want to ask you something.”

Her pulse fluttered, and a warm flush heated her cheeks. The air was suddenly filled not just with garden breezes, but something a little like electricity. It raced up and down her spine, tickling. “What is it?”

He sank down, pressing one knee into the lush grass, apparently unconcerned about his khaki pants.

“I know this is fast, but I can’t take anything for granted, especially you. You’re the best thing that’s happened to me in a dozen years, and I know nothing better could possibly come along, even if I lived to be a hundred. I love you, Lucia. Will you marry me?”

All sounds ceased, even the chirping of frogs that populated the creek running behind the plantation house. The air rushed from her lungs, and she drew in another sweet, humid breath.

“I love you too, Jeremy.” Butterflies burst into delayed flight in her belly as shock turned to pure excitement. Seeing him down on one knee, hearing him ask her to marry him…

It was like a dream come to life, or a chapter from a book. Their surroundings made the moment seem enchanted, but it was the look in his eyes that was most impressive.

Deep within their clear blue, she saw the same sense of undisguised longing that welled up inside her every time they touched, or even locked gazes. He was the one for her, she had no doubt about it, and if he felt the same way…

“Yes.” Her heart raced, each beat drawing a smile closer to her lips. When it finally unfurled she laughed, breathless and unable to control it. It felt like someone was squeezing her heart and tickling her ribs.

His gaze was still locked with hers, and in that moment, they looked even more transparent than they had moments before. They might as well have been sea glass. In their depths, she could see a sincerity so raw it made her eyes sting.

I love you.
She opened her mouth to say it again, but before she could speak, an uproar erupted from a dozen yards away.

For the first time in what felt like forever, she looked up.

More than a dozen people were gathered outside the restaurant. Liam, Alicia, Henry, Grey and Kerry. Meredith and Paige and people Lucia didn’t recognize but assumed were from the sheriff’s department.

They cheered, then applauded. Someone let out an ear-piercing whistle.

That brought Sasha running out the kitchen’s back door. “What did I miss?”

She stood in her chef’s coat, feet planted wide apart. When her gaze settled on Lucia and Jeremy, her eyes went wide too.

She was louder than the rest combined.

“Where’s the ring?” a man with a bandaged shoulder shouted. Lucia had never met him before, but he must’ve been Richardson.

“I was getting to that,” Jeremy said, just loud enough for Lucia to hear.

Reaching into his pocket, he produced a little black box.

“I hope you like it.”

Before he even opened it, she knew she’d love it. She’d love it because it was from him, and because of what it symbolized. Its appearance was an afterthought.

As it turned out, it was beautiful: a solitary diamond on a golden band, elegant in its simplicity.

She stood frozen while he slipped it onto her left ring finger.

“Looks like a perfect fit,” he said. “Lucky.”

Keeping his hold on her hand, he stood.

She wrapped her arms around him and couldn’t hold back the tears that crept from her eyes and dampened his dark blue shirt.

“Thank you.”

He just grinned.

Eventually, his gaze shifted toward the crowd by the restaurant, questioning.

“Oh yeah,” she said, her heart still pounding. “Surprise.”

She had a feeling she was far more surprised than he was.

“Let me guess – this was my mother’s idea.”

“Paige and I were both co-conspirators.”

Speaking of Paige, Lucia suddenly found her gaze drawn to her. Over time, they would become family. The thought made her heart feel even lighter.

They made eye contact, and Paige’s shy smile bloomed into a grin.

Lucia grinned back. “I think we should go say hello to everyone.”

They disentangled from each other and walked toward the restaurant hand-in-hand. The weight of the engagement ring circling her finger made it feel even more intimate.

Meredith hugged them both as soon as they came within her range, and Paige did the same.

Jeremy wrapped one arm around Lucia and the other around his daughter as people clapped hands on his back and congratulated him.

The women gravitated to Lucia, radiating warmth she’d rarely felt the likes of. Before they stepped inside, she cast a searching look over her shoulder, at the mansion’s lawn. She half expected to see a woman in white standing lonely in the distance, but there was no one.

The only people within sight were friends, and their congratulations rang in her ears. She’d never felt luckier, happier, or more alive.

* * * * *

The food was excellent, but it could’ve been cardboard and ash and still tasted good. A sense of joy and rightness stayed with Jeremy throughout his birthday dinner, and he split his energy between studying his bride-to-be and talking to the people who’d shown up for the party.

He was glad to see them all, but one thought kept echoing through his mind like the report from a .45: she’d said yes.

He hadn’t been one-hundred percent sure she would, but she had and his gut feeling was that she was truly happy to be wearing his ring.

That was by far the best gift anyone ever had or ever would give him. The pile of wrapped presents she drew his attention to after the meal seemed like frivolous excess.

“This one’s from me,” she said, handing him the bag she’d carried in from the car.

He took it and sank a hand into its depths, past the curled blue and green ribbon. His fingers brushed something metallic and angular, then a cool expanse of glass.

It was a framed photo he’d never seen before. In it, he and Paige stood side-by-side near the surf, centered in a panoramic view of sand and sea.

“I took it that day we were at the beach together,” she said. “What do you think?”

His chest constricted, and he was torn between looking at her and admiring the photo. “I love it, but next time, we should get one with you in it, too.”

Her smile was brighter than the sun reflecting off the waves in the photo. “I’d like that.”

* * * * *

The day had been long and full of more celebration than Jeremy had realized could be packed into a week, let alone a day. When he walked Lucia into her house at eleven o’clock that night, he felt absolutely spoiled.

Sharing the occasion with friends and family had been nice, but nothing compared to getting his fiancée behind closed doors for the first time. As soon as the deadbolt slid home, he had his hands on her waist and his mouth against her temple.

Scents from the day lingered in her hair: sea salt, earthy moss and even sugary notes that reminded him of the frosting on the birthday cake. The combination hit him like a ton of bricks, stirring up fresh awe that she was his – that she’d be his for life.

“I have another present for you,” she said.

“You do?”

“Uh-huh.”

“As if I wasn’t spoiled enough today.”

She looked up at him and smiled. “I couldn’t give this one to you in front of everyone. I think you’re going to like it, though.”