Sworn to Protect (16 page)

“Let’s go dancing!”

“What? I’m a married woman! I don’t dance very well, anyway.”

“You don’t have to dance. Just come. It’ll be fun!”

“I don’t know.” The gleam in her eyes said different.

“I can tell you want to. If it’ll make you feel better, call Tommy and ask if he cares.”

“Well . . . okay,” she said excitedly, and dug out her cell phone. “Where are we going? The Waterin’ Hole?”

“No, that’s basically just a bar with some pool tables. How about Boot Scootin’, down by the river? They have live music and a big dance floor.”

“Sounds good.” Shea made the call, and after a brief conversation, she hung up. “He says that’s fine with him, as long as we let him drop us off at the club if we’re going to drink. He said call when we’re ready to leave and he’ll pick us up, then take you home. I need to go home and change before we go, so you can ride back there with me.”

“Aww, how sweet!” It was, and Daisy couldn’t help but be jealous. A little. She had known Tommy from high school, and at one time last year, Shea even thought Daisy and Tommy were dating. She was mistaken, though—Tommy was just a friend of hers, and had just been trying to make Shea jealous. It worked.

Daisy was glad she and Shea were friends now. A night out was just what the gals needed.

And for one night, she planned to forget all about a certain sexy cop.

Daisy and Shea visited for a while until it was time to get dressed, going easy on the rum and Cokes since they’d decided to go out. No sense in getting faced before they stepped out the door. Then Daisy took a shower to wash off from working outside, and dressed in her best jeans and green T-shirt with spangles on it to make her eyes pop. Her brown boots completed the outfit.

Instead of her purse, she simply took her house keys and a small black leather wallet that held her badge, license, and money. She opted to leave her gun at home, something cops rarely did, even off duty. But it hardly seemed like a good idea when going clubbing.

Daisy rode with Shea to her house so her friend could change into something appropriate. Tommy got a kick out of the ladies rebelling, going out on the town, and teased them the entire time about getting in trouble. As he dropped them near the door, he reminded them to call, and Shea gave him a kiss before driving off.

“You have one great guy there,” Daisy said with a sigh.

“Isn’t he a sweetie? Then again, he gets his guy time, too.”

“What’s he doing tonight?”

“Just hanging at the house. I think he was going to give a couple of his friends a call, see if they wanted to come over and have a few beers. He finally wore me down about getting a pool table, and he’s been itching to try it out.”

“See? It’s just as well that I rescued you from having to listen to their BS all night.” She winked at her friend.

“And keep them supplied in munchies. Without me there, they’ll actually have to find the kitchen themselves.”

In good spirits, they paid their cover charge and went inside. The place was large, with the promised big dance floor surrounded on three sides by bars and tables, and the stage on the fourth side, facing the crowd. A band was already warming up, and the crowd was gradually starting to arrive.

They headed to the bar and ordered a couple of drinks, then found a table near the dance floor. It had been a while since Daisy had been out to a nice bar like this one, mostly a country and western dance hall, and she sipped her drink while checking out the scenery. Mostly the tall, lean male variety.

And she wasn’t as impressed as she used to be.

Glancing at Shea, she gestured to the male populace in general. “The eye candy is nice, but why doesn’t it get my motor revving the way it used to?”

“Because you’re already in lust with a hot guy who does it for you in every way?” Shea teased. “And you just might love him, too?”

“Damn! There’s no
might
where that man is concerned,” she grumbled. “I just don’t have a clue what to do about it.”

“Well, you can’t shoot him and hide the body. And I guess simply forgetting about him is out, since we’re here with a hundred eligible men and you can only think of him. So the question is what do you
want
to do about him?”

“I want to make him mine for keeps,” she admitted.

“And the problem is?”

Her jaw dropped. “Seriously? Hellooo, the man dumped me after taking me for a couple of test drives! He has a string of female admirers a mile long, and every one of them wants back into his Levi’s! I’m nothing but a notch on his bedpost.”

“Is that really what you think?”

“I don’t know. There’s this cougar at work who’s doing her best to get him back in the sack, and he claims he had no idea what she was after. I mean, come on. Nobody is that clueless!”

“Honey, he’s a man,” Shea replied, as though that in itself provided the explanation. But she explained, anyway. “They have filters in their brains that immediately delete any information deemed irrelevant to their essential needs at the moment. And this frequently gets them into trouble.”

“While women overanalyze everything to the point of a nervous breakdown.” She sighed. “It’s a miracle people ever get together.”

“Or remain together.” She smiled at Daisy. “But something tells me you’re going to give in to him and give him another chance.”

“I shouldn’t.”

“Why? You don’t believe he’s learned his lesson about pushing you away? That he’s basically honest?”

“I
want
to, but I don’t want to get hurt.”

“Nobody does. But if you don’t trust somebody, it’s going to be a long, lonely existence. Believe me. I nearly made that mistake, and I’m glad Tommy pushed me not to give up.” Her eyes grew warm at the memory. “My life would be so different now, and not in a happy way.”

“Oh, my God. Sugar-coma alert!”

Shea laughed. “Okay, no more philosophy. Let’s just have a good time.”

“I agree with the pretty lady,” a masculine voice said. A large hand touched Daisy’s shoulder. “Would you like to dance?”

Daisy turned to see a nice-looking cowboy hovering with a smile on his face. He seemed polite, and there was no reason to refuse. She
had
come out to dance, and it wasn’t like she was being unfaithful to Shane. It irked her that she would even think that way.

“Sure, I’d like that.”

Shea saluted her with her glass, and Daisy left her to take a turn or three around the floor with the nice cowboy. So what if he didn’t turn her crank?

Dammit, it seemed only Shane could do that.

•   •   •

Shane was pretty well wiped out, and was sprawled in his easy chair, watching his favorite police drama—so what if the writers had the facts all wrong?—when his cell phone buzzed on the coffee table. Looking at the display, he saw it was Tommy. He almost let it go to voice mail, but then thought,
Why not
?
It could be important.

“Hey, what’s up?”

Tommy’s cheerful voice sounded in his ear. “Just playing some pool and drinking some beer with a few of my old crew. Why don’t you come on over and relax for a while?”

“Man, that’s what I was already doing. Drew and I packed up his things at his house and brought them here, and it’s been a bitch of an afternoon.”

“Well, that’s exactly why you should come! Bring the kid, too. The guys would love to see you both.” Tommy paused, sensing his friend was on the fence. “Come on, big guy. Don’t sit home all alone on a Saturday night like an old man, ’cause that’s just freaking sad.”

Jesus, the guy was right. And it might help take his mind off how very different tonight was than this same night one week ago.

“All right. I’ll ask Drew, and if he wants to come, we’ll be over in a few. He might not, though—” He broke off when he saw Drew standing in front of him mouthing,
Yes!
“Never mind, we’re on the way.”

“That’s my man! See ya soon.”

Hanging up, Shane gave the boy a half smile. “I thought you were tired.”

“I was, but now I’m bored. It’s, like,
way
lame to sit around on a Saturday night.” This said like it was the end of the world.

“You sound like Tommy.”

“That’s who was on the phone?”

“Yep. Ready to go, then?”

He didn’t have to ask twice. Shane smiled at the teen’s exuberance when ten minutes ago he’d been moping in his room. Maybe a guys night out was what they needed.

The night was cool and it would’ve been a bit of a walk in the dark, so they drove down the road to Tommy and Shea’s place. Before they were even out of the truck, Tommy was on the porch, waving them inside.

“Thank God for you, or Shane would be one big party pooper, huh?” Tommy slung an arm around Drew’s shoulders, making the boy smile.

Seeing the kid happy was worth just about anything. Shane trailed them inside to the kitchen, where he found a couple of the firefighters from Tommy’s former team at Station Five. Howard “Six-Pack” Paxton had taken over as captain when Sean Tanner had been promoted to battalion chief in January. Shane had first met Six-Pack when the firefighter was being terrorized by a stalker, and Shane had been assigned to work the case. The huge man was raiding the chips and dip and sipping a soda. Six-Pack didn’t drink alcohol, but nobody cared. Shane thought that was admirable.

“Shane!” he called, moving forward to give him a one-armed hug. “Where have you been hiding?”

“Working, taking care of the place. The usual.”

They all knew that was an understatement—his responsibilities now extended far beyond his norm. Of course, they were all wondering how the serial bachelor of Cheatham County was faring in his new role. Thankfully, no one mentioned Brad’s death in front of Drew.

“How are Kat and the new baby?” Shane asked.

The captain beamed. “My wife is as beautiful as ever, and Ben is the smartest, most perfect little boy in the world. Not that I’m biased or anything.”

“I’m glad to hear it.”

Six-Pack merely smiled and turned to Drew. “I’m Howard, or you can call me Six-Pack, like most everyone else.”

“I’m Drew,” he said, suddenly looking a little shy. He was used to his dad’s larger-than-life athlete friends, but these men were much different. They were real-life heroes, and he simply didn’t know them.

“Good to meet you, Drew.” Six-Pack gestured to a dark-haired man wearing glasses. “This is Zack Knight, my lieutenant at the fire station.”

“Hi, Drew,” Zack said warmly. “Welcome to the nuthouse. The rest of the guys are in the game room, shooting pool, and shooting even bigger bull.”

Drew smiled at that and visibly relaxed. Shane figured the boy would be fine after all, but, then, how could he not be among this group? These were the finest men Shane knew, and he’d take a bullet for any of them. He had done exactly that, in fact, last year when Tommy got himself into a scrape with one of Jesse Rose’s minions.

Shane turned to Zack. “And how’s Cori and your new little one?” Last year had been busy for the men of Station Five.

“They’re both doing great! I can’t wait to get home to my women,” he enthused. “And Evie is the smartest little girl in the world, so she’s going to give Ben a run for his money someday.”

“As if,” Six-Pack snorted. “But she is cute.”

“Speaking of, is Eve here?” Shane knew Cori and Zack had named their baby Evie after Eve Marshall, Zack’s best friend and his teammate at the station.

“No, she and Sean had other plans tonight. But Clay and Julian are back there with a couple of guys from the Fire Marshal’s office.”

“Great, it’ll be good to see them.” He clapped a hand on Drew’s shoulder. “Come on, kid. Let’s go see if we can whup some butts at pool.”

Shane gratefully took a beer Tommy handed him, and then they all went back to the game room. A fairly competitive match was in session, with Julian Salvatore yelling as Clay Montana sank two balls at once.

“Dammit, you fucker! I’m gonna kick your skinny, lyin’ ass!
I can’t play pool
,” he mocked in an exaggerated falsetto voice.

The other three howled with laughter, but the merriment was tempered when they spotted the teenager in their midst. “Oops, language check,” Clay said with a smirk aimed at Julian.

The man glanced between Shane and Drew and gave them an apologetic smile. “Sorry, amigo. Didn’t know we had kids in the house.”

“Dude, I’m almost seventeen,” Drew said in an affronted tone. “Besides, you think firefighters are bad? I grew up around football players.”

And there it was, the elephant in the room. The others shifted uncomfortably, apparently not knowing how to respond. Shane was about to change the subject when Drew tackled it himself.

“Yeah, I’m Brad Cooper’s son, and I’m proud of it. Now I’m Shane’s son, too, so save your condolences.” He gestured to the pool table. “So, who thinks they can beat me?”

Just like that, the ice was broken and they had a good time. To Shane’s surprise, Drew was a pretty good player and held his own. He’d almost won one game and was well on the way to trouncing one of the guys from the Fire Marshal’s office.

On his second beer, Shane asked Tommy, “Where’s Shea? Tucked in the bedroom with a book, trying to ignore the noise?”

“Hardly.” Tommy looked a bit uneasy for some reason. “She went out tonight.”

“Out? Like, to dinner?”

“No, she went to Boot Scootin’ with a friend.” Tommy called out to Drew, “Nice shot!”

The man was trying to avoid the subject. Shane frowned. “Isn’t that the country and western dance club on the river? Why the heck did she go there without you?”

“She and her friend wanted to kick up their heels, I guess. I’m not too worried, since I’m picking them up later.”

“Who’s the friend?”

“Jesus, Ford, don’t you ever turn off the detective mode?”

Suddenly he knew. “She and Daisy went out, didn’t they?” The man’s sympathetic expression said it all. “Son of a bitch.”

The idea of Daisy drinking and dancing the night away with anyone but him . . . God, it made him crazy! Mad enough to break someone’s face. Preferably whoever she was laughing and partying with right now.

It disappointed him, too. She’d run so far from him that she was going out, searching for someone else? Was that it? The pain in his heart was so damned bad, he wanted to die.

He was honestly falling for Daisy, and he had no idea how to convince her.