by Caroline Lee
“Stay down!” she barked.
He thrashed, but couldn’t go anywhere, not with her pressing his right hand and his face into the ground. His left hand clawed uselessly at her ankle, and from under her sole came a mumbled, “Police brutality!”
She leaned her weight onto that foot, kept her gun pointed squarely at his chest, and said simply, “I’m not a cop, I’m a security guard!”
And maybe she would’ve taken the time to examine the pride she felt when she uttered those words, had she not heard the sirens. It’s about time, was the only thing she had a chance to think, before the squeal of brakes and crunching of gravel told her that backup had arrived.
In the cacophony of voices announcing jurisdictions as the officers threw themselves out of the car and took cover behind open doors, their weapons trained on the woods and the cars, Charley heard Shane’s “Riston Sheriff’s Department!”
She breathed a little sigh of relief, and without taking her eyes—or her weapon—off Jim, called out to him.
“Sheriff, I’ve got a wounded man over here. The perp is down, unarmed. Deputy Bigelow went into the woods after the other suspect.”
In other words, everything’s fine. It’s all taken care of.
Everything’s fine, she reminded herself. The bad guy can’t hurt anyone anymore.
Oh Lord! Was Tristan even now bleeding to death behind her? She hadn’t been able—hadn’t had the courage—to take her eyes off Jim to check on Tristan. He hadn’t made a noise since he’d rolled off his uncle. Was he still alive?
Shane was moving towards her, his weapon out, but pointed at the ground. When he came around the car, she watched him from the corner of her eye and saw him flick his gaze over everything, relaxing slightly. He gestured behind himself and holstered his gun.
“Stand down, Charley. We’ll take it from here.” He removed his handcuffs, reached down to flip Jim over on his stomach to cuff him, and Charley stumbled backwards.
Only then did she allow herself to look at Tristan. He was lying on his back, one hand clasped on the opposite shoulder, blood seeping between his fingers. But his eyes were open, staring at her.
It was the pain—the love—she saw in those hazel eyes that wrenched a sob out of her. She dropped to her knees beside him, and took in her first real breath within the last five minutes.
But once she was there, hovering over him, she didn’t know what to do. Her hands fluttered uselessly over his torso, wondering how she could help. The First Responder training she’d done all those years ago was useless—her mind was fully occupied with panic over his condition.
“Tristan?” His name came out in a strangled whisper. She wanted to ask him how he felt, but it was kinda obvious.
He could be bleeding out right now, and I can’t find anything useful to do?
Charley gave up trying, and just grabbed his hand. It was his left one, the arm that had been shot. It was lying in a pool of blood, but she was heartened to feel him squeeze her hand in return.
The relief that shot through her when she met his eyes once more was more than just the adrenaline easing out of her. It was a realization that came on so suddenly, she would’ve had to sit down if she hadn’t been already kneeling beside him. As it was, she felt empty and full all at once, and couldn’t breathe again.
She loved him.
This man, this good man, was more than just a friend to her. He’d started off a friend—no, he’d started off a suspicious outsider, really—but somewhere along the way, he’d become more than a friend. Staring down into his eyes, seeing the love she felt reflected back at her, Charley knew that.
She loved him.
And as the adrenaline drained away, it was replaced with something else. Something new and exciting that made her heart pound and her lips pull upward into a smile.
And miracle of miracles, he smiled in return.
“I thought I was going to lose you,” she confessed in a whisper.
His grin grew—how she loved his crooked smile!—and he shrugged. At least, he attempted to shrug, but the pain made him wince instead. “I thought you might too. But it’s not that bad.”
“Not that bad?” Unwilling to let go of his hand, she used her other to pull his right hand away from his wound. Not that she could do much, she realized. “Are you sure?”
“Charley, you’re sittin’ next to me, holding my hand, and looking like your world would end if I wandered off. Of course it’s not that bad. Nothing’s bad right now. Nothing.”
It was the sweetest, goofiest thing he could’ve said, and Charley loved it. She loved him.
Wow.
Still smiling, she leaned until her lips were inches from his. “That’s because I just realized that I love you.”
She wasn’t sure what he would’ve said, because she kissed him then. It was short and sweet and as wonderful as could be expected, considering she was kneeling in a bunch of blood and there were cops hollering all around.
When she pulled back, his eyes were closed. But in a good “I’m enjoying this” way, not a “I’m slowly dying” way. In fact, when their noses were still only inches apart, his hazel eyes blinked up at her.
“Wow. As far as first kisses go, that wasn’t bad.”
“That was your first kiss?” Surely a man as handsome, as good as he was, had been kissed before?
“I was in prison, you know, when other kids were kissing. Not exactly—”
She couldn’t stand the thought of him missing out on so much of life, thanks to his uncle, for one, who was currently cursing his way through the Miranda warning. So she interrupted Tristan with another kiss.
And then when that was over, a third and a fourth and a fifth, each little more than pecks.
“There,” she said, satisfied as she sat back on her heels. “Now you can’t claim that you’ve only been kissed once.”
His face was pale now—was he losing blood?—but he still managed a smile. “I appreciate your efforts.”
It wasn’t until she felt his thumb against her cheek that she realized his free hand had cupped the side of her neck, and his fingers were drawing little circles on her skin. The realization he was likely smearing blood everywhere didn’t stop the little shiver of pleasure Charley felt at his touch.
“Still,” he continued. “I’ve only ever been kissed five times. I guess that is better than zero times, but still not great.”
She was laughing when she kissed him again and felt him smile against her lips.
Far too few heartbeats later, a throat-clearing from behind had Charley straightening. Tristan looked…well, it was hard to say that he looked worse, since she had just been kissing him, but still. He was paler, despite the faint grin on his face, and his eyes were half-lidded.
Charley turned to see Shane grinning down at them, and the paramedics beside him. One of them elbowed the sheriff and asked, “Well, he doesn’t look that bad, does he?”
“Nope,” Shane said. “He looks pretty good to me.”
Charley squeezed Tristan’s hand, then speaking to the paramedics, said, “He looks amazing, I’ll have you know.” She heard Tristan’s weak chuckle behind her. “But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t sew him up. I’m going with him.”
They nodded and set to work stabilizing Tristan and lifting him onto a backboard. Charley gave them space, but kept hold of his hand. And when one of them prodded his shoulder and he winced and squeezed her hand, she was glad she could offer him some comfort. From the paramedic’s conversation, she knew the bullet had gone through his upper arm, right below his shoulder. It wasn’t fatal, wasn’t near anything major, and he’d regain use of his arm eventually.
In fact, as one EMT quipped, “If you have to get shot someplace, you picked a good spot!”
When Tristan exchanged a wry, if weak, look with her, she wanted to respond she’d rather he not get shot at all—after all, it wasn’t like he was a police officer—but Shane distracted them both when he started to update them.
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Jim Quarles had been arrested on charges of armed assault, but those would expand to drug trafficking later, because Bart had run down the delivery man and they had the medicine he’d dropped. That would be enough to get a warrant to search Jim’s home, and Shane was confident the charges would soon expand even more. For now though, shooting Tristan was enough to get the man arrested.
Thank God.
“We got your call in time to turn around. Well, half of us. Agent Saunders kept on up 95, but he should be on his way by now. Your brother came with me.”
Charley noted the Sheriff’s slight eye roll, and she hid her smirk. “Sorry.” Bradley was a good detective, and didn’t have any qualms about letting everyone know it.
“Well, we wouldn’t have made this bust without you.” Shane nodded to her. “Without both of you.”
And then to her surprise, he stuck his hand out towards Tristan. Tristan blinked in what she could tell was surprise, then lifted his right hand to shake Shane’s. It was a bloody and weak handshake, but when it was over, she could see the pride etched next to the pain in Tristan’s expression. The Sheriff’s trust and appreciation had done that.
“Thank you,” she whispered to Shane, but she wasn’t sure exactly what she was thanking him for.
“No, thank you. You’ve done good work here.” And to her surprise, Shane nodded down at Tristan, rather than at the crime scene.
“Yeah, little sis, not bad.”
Charley did roll her eyes this time, when Bradley sauntered up, but she turned away so he couldn’t see.
When he reached their little group, he hooked his thumbs in his belt and rocked on his heels, like he’d done something special. “Yes sirree, this was a good bust. Glad to see that your instincts haven’t gone down the drain, working on that little ranch of yours.”
Little ranch? Charley bristled, but Tristan’s faint squeeze of her hand pulled her attention back to him, and he winked weakly. “Thanks, Bradley,” she said, while still looking down at the man she loved, “but it wasn’t just me. Tristan was the one who made the connection and knew where to find his uncle.”
Bradley grunted, but didn’t acknowledge her attempt to garner praise for Tristan. Instead, he shrugged. “Let me know when you get bored looking after tourists and poachers. With a bust like this under your belt, I’m sure I could talk Dad into letting you back on the force. Giving you another shot at the big league, I mean.”
Shane snorted at that, and abruptly turned away. Because he didn’t want to hear how she responded, or because he was as disgusted with her brother as she was?
She slowly straightened, her grip still strong on Tristan’s hand. “Actually, I’m happy where I am.” Glancing down at the man she loved, she smiled faintly. “Right where I am. I have a job I’m good at, in a place I love. I’d be stupid to give that up.”
And as the paramedics shouldered a spluttering Bradley out of the way, Tristan smiled up at her with all the love she hoped he could see in her expression.
A job I’m good at, in a place I love. What could be closer to Heaven than that?
Oh yeah, sharing it with a good man.
As she climbed into the ambulance beside him, she lifted his hand to her lips. “I love you, Tristan.”
“Was that number nine or number ten?” he rasped out.
She felt the vehicle pull off the gravel shoulder onto the road. “Kisses? Ten, I think.”
He nodded. “I’m keeping track, you know.”
“Good.” Another kiss on the back of his hand.
“Eleven.”
“Don’t you want to say something else?”
His eyes were closed, but his lips twitched upwards. “I’m proud of you?”
“Was that a question?”
“Well, you told Bradley to shove it. That was pretty awesome. You realized that River’s End Ranch is where you belong, no matter what your dad says. You stood up to them, figured out where your loyalty was.” He took a breath, his eyes still closed. “Yeah, I’m proud of you.”
His praise made her throat thick, but she still managed to say, “Not nearly as proud as I am of you.” Talk about figuring out where his loyalty lay, and standing up to his family! “It took guts to come to that station this morning, and then to attack your uncle like that?”
“I couldn’t let him hurt you.”
“Oh yeah?” She tightened her grip on his hand. “Any particular reason why?”
“Because I’ve been in love with you for a while.”
The casual comment made her heart soar. “Oh good. I didn’t want all this kissing to be one-sided.”
“Just you wait ‘til they stitch me up, officer. I’ll have two hands then.”
She chuckled and brushed her fingers down his cheek. “I love you.”
His contented sigh was enough for now. He’d be alright. She’d be alright. They’d be alright…together. The future was delicate, but she loved him and he loved her, and for now, that’s what mattered.
She just had to trust everything would work out, now that they had each other.
EPILOGUE
A month later
How’d work go today?” The question made Charley’s heart light, knowing she could ask Tristan something so mundane. The fact that his new job was here on her ranch made her feel like they were connected even deeper. He’d even started staying in the campground, and while she didn’t like to think of herself as “keeping tabs” on him, she had to admit it was nice to know he was safe.
They left the shaded path and stepped into the clearing beside the lake. It was still her favorite hidden spot on River’s End Ranch, but now it was even more special. In the last month, since the day he’d opened up to her at this very spot, since the day he’d made the right decision to help nail his uncle, and been wounded in the process, they’d come back to this spot many times. And each time, Charley’s heart smiled to be standing here with him, holding his good hand.
“Not bad. Not bad at all,” he said in response to her question. “I heard Elf tell Wade that I might know even more about cars than he does.”
She heard the pride in Tristan’s voice and responded with a smug smile. “Oh yeah?” she pressed. “Showing up your boss on the first day, huh?” I guess the work-release programs in the Idaho State Penal system really do work.
“Yeah, well…” He squeezed her hand and smiled down at her as they crossed to the shore of the lake and the log that rested there. “I am pretty awesome.”
She laughed and bumped his right shoulder with hers. “And modest too.”
“I’ll admit that the sling gave me some trouble.” He lifted his left elbow to show off the dark blue sling the doctor asked him to wear. “But that should be off by next week.”
“And without it? Are you really feeling good enough to take it off?”
“Stop worrying.” She could hear the eye-roll in his voice. “It wasn’t that big of a deal, and I’m more than ready to get rid of this thing.”
“I have to fret over you, Tristan. It’s what girlfriends do.” At least, what she assumed they did. “And you should just be grateful that I didn’t tell Dr. David that you take it off every day to ride your bike.”
“Thanks. Maury has been a good sport, letting me finish up the contract here at the ranch and the one out at Athol, even with a busted arm.”
“I’m just glad you’re cutting back on your hours with him and working here at the ranch where I can keep an eye on you.”
“Part-time,” he was quick to remind her.
She shrugged as she looked out over the pristine lake, a green kayak in the distance the only other sign of people. “We can’t expect Elf to give up all of his hours, after all. But I can remember him complaining back at Christmastime that the ranch fleet had grown so much he was relying on Andrew—our engineer—for help, and was going to ask Wade about hiring another part-time mechanic. Now that Travis is opening that go-cart track and we’re going to have a new fleet of tiny cars zipping around,
it makes sense to have some extra help.”
“Honestly, if Elf would just work full-time in the vehicle barn, he wouldn’t need me.”
“Shush!” She bumped his shoulder again and grinned. “He’s happy in his smithy in the afternoons, and him working part-time means there’s space for another mechanic.” She snaked one arm around his middle, and liked it when he draped his good arm over her shoulder to pull her close. “And maybe if you play your cards right, you can get a full-time position here at the ranch and quit working for Maury altogether.”
Silence for a moment, then Tristan sighed. “That would be great. But Maury…he helped me out, ya know? He didn’t have to hire me. Didn’t have to keep me off the radar like he did. But he knew I liked the freedom of not being tied down, liked that no one could track me down.”
“No one?” she repeated, even though she knew good and well what he meant.
“Cops.”
She turned her back on the lake and twisted to stare up at him, without loosening her hold on him. “Are you sure there’s no cops you want knowing your whereabouts?”
He grinned and dropped a kiss on her nose. “You’re not a cop anymore, Charley, remember? And besides, I’m a changed man.” He certainly was. “My days of being off-grid are behind me.”
“So you’re a model citizen now, huh?” she teased.
“Weeeellll…” he drawled out. “Sometimes I ride my bike without a helmet, because I’m letting my girlfriend use it.”
“Ooooh, you’re a rule-breaker? Some gals like that in a guy, you know!” She was teasing him, and judging by his smile, he knew it.
“But not you, huh, officer? You like law and order and people to follow the rules.”
She stretched up on her tip-toes and kissed him lightly, quickly. He knows me so well.
“I’ve been thinking about my first paycheck from the ranch.”
She knew it would be his first official paycheck, since Maury had always paid him in cash. But she’d gone with him and helped him set up a bank account a few weeks ago, and he’d bought her lunch at the Golden Palace to celebrate. But instead of eating the fortune cookie that Lin brought them, he pulled out his wallet and the old fortune he’d apparently kept there since their first not-a-date.