Free Officer on Duty (Lock and Key Book 4) by Ranae Rose Page B

what’s been in the news lately?”
    “No. Thought it might when I went out there, though.”
    “What happened?”
    He looked past her and frowned. “Come on in. You shouldn’t be standing around in doorways. It’s getting dark.”
    She took one look at his expression, thought of the two dead women, and stepped inside.
    Not that being in his home was a hardship, by any stretch.
    “Do you have any Band-Aids?” She nodded at his leg.
    “Don’t think that’s gonna cut it. I have some gauze and tape around here somewhere, though.”
    Her curiosity kicked up a few notches, along with a sense of suspicion. “How bad is it?”
    “Not too bad.”
    “Why don’t you let me take a look? I’m certified in first-aid.”
    “I already got it taken care of.”
    She arched a brow. “I can see that.”
    He sank down into a kitchen chair, one corner of his mouth twitching. “Well, if you’re going to get all sarcastic on me…”
    He rolled up his pant leg so slowly that it was evident he was really hurt. When he finished, she had to swallow a knot that’d formed in her throat.
    “ Scraped up ? You look like you rolled around in broken glass!”
    “Dog latched onto my leg. Idiot owner thought a baby gate could hold back an angry eighty pound animal.”
    She sucked in a breath, her gaze riveted to the red gashes that striped his shin and calf. The worst ones were held shut with rows of black stitches. One of the unsutured wounds was leaking blood.
    She grabbed a handful of paper towels from the counter and handed them to him. “What kind of dog was it?”
    “Mixed breed, so far as I could tell.” He pressed the paper towels against his bleeding wound.
    Red spread quickly through the stark white.
    “How the hell did you get away from it? It looks like it had a good hold on you.”
    “Richardson – that’s the new officer I’m training – got it with a Taser. It let go pretty quick after that, then ran back into its owner’s house. Animal control came by for it later.”
    “You’re lucky it didn’t go for your throat.” Her gaze gravitated to his neck, a column of muscle beneath the shadow of his stubble.
    A shiver raced down her spine.
    “I know it.”
    “Are you on antibiotics?”
    He nodded. “And the dog’s in quarantine. Everything that can be done has been.”
    The red kept spreading. The house was so quiet. Where was Paige?
    She asked, and he told her she’d gone to the movies with Meredith.
    Her pulse picked up after that, an irreverent sense of pleasure sweeping through her. They were alone.
    Of course, it was ridiculous to get excited, with him sitting there stitched together and bleeding.
    She frowned, thinking of him alone in his current state. “Where’s that gauze and tape you mentioned? I’ll get it for you.”
    “You don’t have to do that.”
    She waved a hand. “You’ll make a mess if you go walking around like that. Just let me know where to look.”
    “Drawer below the sink, in the bathroom.” He tipped his head toward the hall. “The door on your left.”
    The bathroom was modestly sized, but had a nice dark oak vanity. Two toothbrushes rested in a jar beneath the mirror – one green and one pink.
    The medical supplies were in the top drawer, just like he’d said. She selected a box of gauze pads, some tape and a small pair of scissors.
    “You sure you don’t want to head to the hospital and see if they’ll stitch it shut?” she asked when she returned to the kitchen.
    They’d left the shallowest of the marks unstitched, but they all looked painful.
    “Nah. A little gauze and tape and it’ll be fine.”
    “It’ll scar.”
    “I wasn’t planning on entering any beauty pageants, anyway.”
    She laughed. Beauty pageants might be out of the question, but if there were a Hot Cop Award, he’d be a top contender, scars or no.
    “It’s all right then. The scars will just make you look tougher. Scare some sense into any criminals who might be thinking of messing with