Tumble Into Love

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Darren strode into his office, kicking the door shut behind him. Seconds later, there was a quick knock and the door opened again. Sylvia Cunningham stood there with her arms crossed. Sylvia’s official title was administrative assistant, but she was affectionately known as the center of the universe at the station. Her husband Michael had retired as police chief over five years ago. She’d pretty much run the show with him for decades in Diamond Creek. Diamond Creek was much bigger now and growing every year, but back when Michael started as police chief, Sylvia had done her role on a volunteer basis for years, handling everything from dispatch to filing to occasionally dealing with unruly prisoners. During her thirty years here, she’d gone from being a volunteer to paid staff while the police force had grown from a one-man show to ten officers.

Michael had hired Darren to take his place when a back injury made continuing to work as a cop near to impossible. He’d reluctantly retired, but still checked in at the station several times a week. Sylvia’s appearance belied her steely nature. She barely topped five feet and had a cozy, motherly vibe. She was round and soft with bright blue eyes and white hair that bounced in a curly bob. Pretty much nothing intimidated her, and she was one of the kindest, most no-nonsense people Darren had ever known.

At the moment, she looked perturbed.

“Good morning, Sylvia. You’ve got a look. What did I do?” he asked.

Sylvia’s eyes twinkled, but she pursed her lips. “You forgot to put your reports in my office last night. Now I’m behind on data entry.” She sighed and tapped her foot.

Sylvia was trying her damnedest to get Darren to rely on her more for things like entering his reports in the system, but old habits died hard. Darren had come here from Seattle where administrative support was stretched so thin, he did as much as he could himself. After every other approach failed, Sylvia’s new tactic was to guilt him into it.

Darren reached for the stack of reports tucked beside his computer. He handed them to her with flourish. “I take a while to train. I’m working on it,” he replied with a grin.

“Did you get a cup of coffee yet?” Sylvia asked once she had the reports in hand.

“No, I…”

Darren was speaking to thin air. Sylvia had whirled out of his office. He chuckled and followed her to the break room. “Sylvia, you don’t need to wait on me,” he said as he caught up to her.

She turned away from the coffee pot and handed him a cup of coffee. “How about you add cream?”

Darren shook his head. After he’d added a dash of cream, he took a welcome sip of coffee. Travis Wilkes strode into the break room at that moment. The building that housed the police station was connected to the fire station though their entrances were on parallel streets. They shared a break room and storage in the connector between the buildings. Travis was a firefighter, emergency responder and fisherman. Like most Alaskans, he was jack of multiple trades. While Darren was mostly a cop, he was also a fisherman and did back up duty as a backcountry firefighter.

“Hey man, how’s it going today?” Travis asked, running a hand through his hair.

Darren shrugged and glanced at his watch. “It’s seven in the morning. So far, so good. Here’s hoping today’s quieter than yesterday.”

Sylvia beat Travis to the coffee pot as well and quickly served him a cup. Travis grinned and pecked her on the cheek. He looked back to Darren. “Yeah, yesterday had us running all over. Between the car accident and the fires up on the hill, I didn’t get home last night ‘til after ten.” He paused and took a sip of coffee, his blue eyes taking on a glint of mischief. “So it was nice of you to offer to take Risa home yesterday.”

Darren should have seen that coming. Travis was sharp and noticed everything. He also loved to tease. Sylvia had started to walk out of the break room and immediately turned, looking expectantly at Darren.

Darren shrugged. “She needed a ride. Why wouldn’t I offer her one?”

“Of course. Makes perfect sense. It wasn’t so much the ride as the fact that you couldn’t keep your eyes off of her,” Travis said with a chuckle before spinning on his heel and leaving through the door into the fire station.

Heat crept up his neck, but Darren ignored it. He glanced toward Sylvia who lifted an eyebrow.

“Sylvia, I offered a woman a ride after she had a car accident. Not exactly gossip.”

“That you paid enough attention to a woman that anyone notices is gossip,” she replied archly. Her eyes softened as she studied him. “It wouldn’t hurt you to find someone. You’ve got a heart of gold,” she said softly. She took a step and squeezed his arm before turning and walking away quietly.

The mere mention of Risa conjured her in Darren’s mind. When he’d walked down the short hill to find her car pinned in the trees yesterday, he’d been worried about whoever was in the car. The moment he saw her, he’d had to force himself to stay focused. She’d turned those dark brown eyes on him, and he could hardly look away. Her deep, rich brown hair was a messy bob, glinted with pieces of glass that she’d been combing out when he approached. Her lips were full and deep red, a contrast to her dark hair and eyes. Her wry smile held a hint of vulnerability underneath.

If he were being honest with himself, he would have to admit he’d leapt at the chance to offer her a ride to her brother’s house. Then he’d completely lost his mind. He’d never laid eyes on a woman and felt the kind of pull he did to Risa. His body had hijacked his brain when he turned off the main road and pulled into his own driveway. He simply couldn’t let her out of his sight without kissing her first. And damn if that kiss didn’t make matters worse. He’d managed to get himself under control and stop, but he couldn’t even walk into Trey’s house when he dropped her off for fear it would be obvious to everyone that he had a raging hard on. He felt a twinge of guilt thinking about the fact that Trey’s sister got him so hot, he could hardly think straight. Trey probably wouldn’t like to know Darren had to take a cold shower when he got home after kissing Risa.

Darren realized he was standing by himself in middle of the break room. He swore and walked briskly to his office, kicking the door shut behind him again. With a sigh, he sat at his desk, running a hand through his hair and clicking his computer on. He absently fingered the scar that ran along the side of his face into his hairline.