A Proposal For The Officer. Christy Jeffries

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       Chapter One

      Leaning against a stack of cases of bottled water, Captain Molly Markham put a hand to her head as nausea overwhelmed her. Closing her eyes for a second, she debated whether or not she was at risk of passing out right there in the middle of Duncan’s Market. She grabbed a liter of water off the shelf, unscrewed the cap and took a big swig. Her mouth was dry and suddenly her body felt weighted down.

      Oh, no. It was happening again.

      She’d sworn to the Bureau of Personnel reviewing her medical board that she could keep these episodes under control, but apparently they’d been right to doubt her.

      Molly heaved herself off the tower of water and put one foot in front of the other, needing to get as far away from the curious glances of the shoppers who were sure to know her sister, Maxine, and would be only too eager to ask Maxine about her little sister’s “incident” out in public.

      She needed space and she needed to think. Maybe somewhere to lie down, too. Like her rental car. She grabbed another bottle and made it to the exit before she realized she’d left her purse back in the grocery basket. Damn. She also hadn’t paid for the water.

      When she did a one-eighty, her hip banged into a giant bag of ice. Or was it a bag of limes? A man dropped both as he reached out a hand to steady her.

      That was gonna leave a bruise. The ice, not the guy’s hand. His grip was actually gentle and balanced her. His black framed glasses made him look smart, serious. Maybe he was a doctor. Or a reporter.

      He kind of had a Clark Kent vibe going for him. At least from the neck up. She took in his blue hooded sweatshirt and checkered canvas sneakers. Maybe The Daily Planet had sent him to do an undercover exposé of a nearby skate park.

      “Are you okay?” He enunciated like a record player on a low speed. Or was it her hearing that was set to slow motion? It felt like someone had replaced her brain with hot, heavy sand. She licked her lips.

      “Of course I’m okay. At least, I think I am.” Molly lowered her own voice when she noticed the cashier staring in their direction. “By any chance, do you know how many carbs are in a fruit smoothie?”

      His straight white teeth were visible beneath his smirk. “Probably a lot more than the ones in that peach muffin you gobbled down back by the juice bar thirty minutes ago.”

      “Oh, crap.” It was good thing he was holding on to her arm because trying to mentally calculate how much sugar she’d recently ingested made her want to sink to her knees. “The teenager behind the counter said they were organic.”

      “You mean the kid who also told you the baked goods on display were half price since they’d been sitting out since this morning and it was now late afternoon?”

      Wait. How did this guy know what she’d talked about with the store employee? “Have you been following me?”

      “No. I was sitting at that wrought iron table in the back of the store, trying to answer some work emails, but a bunch of clanging drew my attention to the display of soup cans at the end of an aisle. You were stocking up on the minestrone as though a blizzard had just been predicted.” He tapped something on his watch and showed her the sunshine icon on the tiny display screen. “It hasn’t, by the way. But then I saw you again when you were slouching against your shopping cart in the freezer section where you almost took out a display of ice-cream cones. Are you going to be sick or something?”

      She didn’t feel any less confused after that description of her sluggish attempts to make her way through the store. Or dizzy. “I don’t think so.”

      “Come on,” he said, and moved his hand to the small of her back. “There’s a bench right outside and you can sit down.”

      “I need my purse,” she said. You also needed to use the restroom, her bladder said.

      “Where is it?” he asked.

      The guy looked familiar, but his non-military-regulation hairstyle eliminated him as someone she’d served with. Molly had only been in Sugar Falls a few hours, yet her gut told her this man wasn’t a local, either. Of course, she’d also been pretty convinced that anything with fruit in it was healthy so perhaps she shouldn’t be so quick to listen to her instincts.

      Who are you? she wanted to know. But she didn’t exactly have time for formal introductions. Instead, she replied, “Back by the bottled water.”

      “Okay, stay here,” he ordered as he sprinted away. Yeah, right. Molly wasn’t about to stand around and wait. She weaved toward the parking lot, her only plan to get to the safe privacy of her rental car.

      Her feet had barely hit the pavement when the Good Samaritan jogged up beside her, her very feminine tote bag swinging from his very masculine shoulder. “Should I call someone?”

      “No,” Molly said, her eyelids widening in frustration despite the fact that she wanted to close them and take a nap. “I don’t want anyone to know.”

      “To know what?”

      She clamped her teeth together, wishing she would’ve done so sooner to keep those telling words from slipping out.

      “Never mind.” She pulled the key fob out of her pocket. “The little white Toyota over there is mine.”

      “I seriously doubt you should be driving right now.”

      “I’ve got it,” she ground out, despite the fact that she was practically leaning against him as he steered СКАЧАТЬ