His to Love (Carmel Springs Book 6)

Chapter 7

Clayton~

Stevie and I didn't have the same days off, so while she had tonight off again, I had to work this morning. It had taken everything in me not to call in sick, something that I hadn't ever done during my entire career with the CSPD. Sure, everyone knew that Mom's birthday and the anniversary of her death were a no-go for me, Jax, and Brett, but that was the only time that I wasn't available to work. However, now that I was staring at the naked woman in my bed, I had no idea how I was going to be able to go days without seeing her. Maybe I really was going to have to quit and go work for Colter Security.

Not wanting to wake her, I wrote her a note and made sure to leave it on the nightstand for her to find. Since I was going to have to skip breakfast because I'd waited until the last possible minute to get up and take a shower, I figured that I could run to Dreamy Sweets, grab a couple of pastries, then bring them back home before heading to work. While Stevie might feel weird about staying at my place while I wasn't home, I didn't care.

Placing a soft kiss on her bare shoulder, I left as quietly as I could, hoping that my truck didn't disrupt her sleeping. While I'd left the note, I wanted to be the one to wake her up. They hadn't been kidding when they'd said that love changed a man. All women had to do was pay attention to what a man did, not what he said, and they'd know everything that they needed to know about their relationship.

Walking into Dreamy Sweets, Addie smiled and waved at me as I headed straight for the Colter/Campion Corner. Back when Poppy had been remodeling to get this place up and running, she had traded free labor and at-cost supplies for a lifetime of free pastries for us and all the Campions, so we had a little corner in the bakery all to ourselves.

Nevertheless, even though the baked goods were free for us, we always left a tip for the girls. Poppy and Addie worked hard, and no matter the agreement, I knew that it wasn't cheap to supply ten grown men with sweets every day.

After sliding the money underneath the tray, I turned, waved to Addie, but before I could make it out the door, I saw Taylor Montana grinning at me. While I didn't have anything against the guy, I wasn't friendly with anyone, even if he was a fellow officer. Our Wednesdays at Lions were the only exceptions.

"I'm surprised to see you in your uniform this morning," he said, a knowing smirk on his face.

"Why's that, Montana?" I asked. "Especially, since I've never missed a day of work in my life."

"You didn't notice, but I was behind you all the way over here."

"So?"

"So, small towns, Colter," he remarked. "You think people don't know what Stevie Whitley drives? Especially, considering that you've never had another car parked in front of your house all night before."

My back straightened, and though Taylor wasn't short, he wasn't six-foot-two, either. I'd also never had problems with him before and even considered him a good cop. Nonetheless, that didn't mean that I was going to allow him to have Stevie's name in his mouth.

"First, I give two fucks if people know what Stevie drives or not," I told him. "Second, I really don't give a fuck what people think about anyone's car parked outside my house all night." I stepped to him because I really had no problem getting arrested for any of the people in my life. "And after all that shit with Addie, the people of this town better be really careful about what they say regarding Stevie Whitley."

Taylor immediately backed up. "Whoa, hold up," he quickly rushed out. "I didn't mean it like that, man." He sounded sincere, but I still didn't care. "I just meant...if you're not going to marry the girl, maybe you should be a little more discreet." Taylor shrugged. "The guys...we like her, Clayton. We'd hate to see things not work out for her here."