Read Officer out of Uniform (Lock and Key Book 2) for Free Online Page A

much of a choice about it – the attraction would demand the sacrifice.
    “Do you need help?” Henry was still startlingly close; his presence made her nerves buzz, made her spill a little more pasta.
    “Absolutely not. I could make spaghetti in my sleep. Just have a seat.”
    She tipped her head toward the table, a white-painted number she’d found at a flea market. It was set with blue placemats and sea glass candleholders; she liked to think of it as shabby chic. It provided a nice contrast to the chrome-and-silver practicality of the cooking implements that shone from every available surface in her apartment’s modest kitchen.
    “I know you can cook,” he said. “Everyone in Riley County knows it. I guess what I meant was, would you like any help? I can stir – maybe even chop, if you’ll trust me with your knife.”
    “I like cooking for people.” She especially liked to cook for sexy men in – or out – of uniform. It wasn’t exactly a hardship to make spaghetti for Henry. “If you really want to help though, you can rinse some lettuce and slice some vegetables for a salad.”
    He agreed and accepted the head of romaine along with the fresh tomatoes and sweet peppers she presented him with. As he lapsed into his characteristic silence, she realized that they’d just had their longest conversation – by far – ever.
    It figured that it had been a gristly murder, of all things, that’d finally gotten him talking. She couldn’t help but wonder what that meant. How badly had the discovery shaken him to draw him out of his strong and silent shell like that?
    As she crushed a few garlic cloves, she glanced sidelong at him. He was busy dicing a tomato into tiny cubes. Not exactly how she would’ve cut one for a salad, but what did it matter? She looked away from his careful cutting, noting that he was still pale.
    “I’ve been thinking,” he eventually said. “Your place of work is the best-known place in Riley County, besides the beaches. People come in and out of the Wisteria Plantation House’s grounds all day, and it’s far enough out of the way that it’d take the police a little while to get there, unlike anywhere in Cypress. It could be dangerous, especially if Levinson is looking for a public place to target. After his stunt with the warden, I wouldn’t put anything past him.”
    So that was what he’d been brooding about for the past five minutes.
    “I’m not going to work tomorrow,” she said.
    “You’re not?”
    “No. I’m going to visit my mom. She lives in a little town west of Raleigh, a couple hours from here.”
    He stood at the counter with the knife still in his hand, tomato juice dripping from his fingers. “That’s probably for the best. When are you leaving?”
    “In the morning.”
    “Will you be staying long?”
    She shook her head. “It’s just a day trip. I only took one day off work.”
    He frowned. “Guess you’ll be getting back after dark?”
    “Probably.” A pang of bittersweetness soared through her. Yes, she was looking forward to seeing her mother. But the occasion was one that never failed to remind her of what she’d lost – what they’d both lost.
    They said that time healed all wounds, but it didn’t. It just made them a little easier to live with, enough so that you felt guilty, sometimes, because you were living.
    “Maybe I could meet you here tomorrow night,” he said. “You could text me and let me know when you’re on your way – I could have dinner ready for you when you arrive.”
    “Is that a date invitation, or are you offering to play bodyguard?”
    “I—” He jerked, dropping the knife and holding his opposite hand aloft. “Shit!”
    A drop of blood beaded on the end of his thumb, courtesy of the Shun that’d been sliding so easily through the ripe tomato.
    Sasha grabbed a clean kitchen towel and pressed it against his hand.
    “I keep fucking this up worse and worse,” he said, still grimacing. “When I got off