It was a sad attempt at a joke, but it made Sam finally meet her eyes. "I'm okay, J-Juju. It's j-j-just..." He gestured toward the ugly building. "N-n-new school."

"Oh." It shouldn't have been such a surprise that Sam was worried about such a normal thing as his first day at a new school, but it was. They'd been freaking out over getting away and staying away from Courtney so much that Jules had forgotten any other worries existed. "You'll do great, Sam. All the work will be old hat to you. If anything, you'll be bored."

Sam came as close as she'd ever seen to rolling his eyes. "Sure, J-Ju."

The twins and Dez waited at the main doors for Jules and Sam to catch up. Feeling like a parenting failure, she asked, "Are you nervous about starting school, Ty?"

"Nah." His shrug was a hair too nonchalant as they pa.s.sed through the door into the dimness of a hallway. "I'm not scared. Not that excited about getting homework and stuff, but school is school. Kids are kids. Some are nice and some are a.s.sholes."

"Language!"

Tio looked at her seriously. "It is the most appropriate term for some people in our demographic."

Since she couldn't really argue with the truth about that, Jules changed the subject. "What about you, T? Any first-day jitters?"

The look her brother gave her was completely uncomprehending. "Why would school make me nervous?" For him, school had always been his safe place.

"Good," she said, eyeing the sign that pointed toward the office. "That's..." Her attempt at a pep talk died as they turned the corner.

"Th-there's one r-r-reason to b-b-be n-nervous about school," Sam muttered under his breath as they all came to a startled halt-all except for Dez.

"Viggy!" she called, lurching forward. Grabbing a handful of her shirt, Jules caught her little sister just in time.

"Dez! Viggy's working!" she whispered, her hope of escaping before Theo noticed them dying a quick death. The cop-looking like hot, broody forbidden fruit-was already turning away from Hugh and moving toward them. Viggy was trying to plunge forward to get to Dez, and Theo's arm strained, his biceps bulging under his uniform shirt, as he held back the dog. Despite her panic, Jules's attention was caught by the way his sleeve looked on the verge of ripping, as if it was struggling to contain the impressive muscles underneath.

Despite her reluctant fascination, Jules could barely contain the urge to bolt. There were a thousand reasons why Theo might be at the school, reasons that had nothing to do with the fact that Jules was a felon and had kidnapped her siblings and he had discovered these things because he was a cop and solving crimes was what cops did and she was going to spend the rest of her life in prison knowing that she had failed her brothers and sister and- "J-Juju," Sam muttered under his breath. "B-b-b-breathe."

At the reminder, she sucked in oxygen, cringing at the gasping sound she made and hoping Theo hadn't heard. She already felt like her crimes were tattooed on her forehead; she didn't need to act any more suspiciously in front of the cop.

Theo stopped a few feet from them, greeting them with a short jerk of his head as he half-wrestled, half-ordered Viggy into a sit. When Dez lurched forward again, jerking against Jules's hold, Jules realized she still had a grip on the back of her sister's shirt.

"Dez," she said, focusing on the girl in front of her so that Theo's...Theo-ness didn't take away her ability to speak. "Stop."

"But I want to pet him." Viggy's tail thumped against the floor, as if in approval of that plan.

"He's on duty." That deep, clipped voice made the hairs on Jules's arms stand up straight, and she was pretty sure it wasn't from fear. "He can't play with you when he's on duty. He needs to focus."

"Oh." Dez drooped a little, but she didn't make any additional efforts to get to Viggy.

"What's he focusing on today?" Jules asked, trying to keep the question light and casual. The tremor in her voice might have ruined the effect she was going for, though.

Theo eyed them, a frown firmly in place, long enough for Jules's panic to start bubbling over again. She bit the inside of her lip hard to keep from filling the silence. "Looks like a false alarm," Theo finally answered. "We get those a lot. Kids trying to get a day off of school."

False alarm, Jules repeated in her head, confused until she remembered what Viggy's job was. "A bomb threat?" Her voice went a little shrill on the last word. Once again, her paranoia had made her forget that there were other dangers in the world, and she needed to protect her siblings. After all, they were her kids now.

"Happens a lot." Theo seemed awfully casual for a conversation involving a threat of a bomb. "It's usually some kid who's p.i.s.sed at a teacher or wants a free day."

Jules's brain seized on what she saw as the most important word in that sentence. "Usually? Shouldn't you have evacuated the school, just in case?"

"We try to keep it low-key unless we believe it's a legitimate threat. Otherwise, we're just giving the kid who called it in what he-or she-wants," Theo explained. "If I thought there was a chance there really was a bomb, Viggy and I wouldn't be in here. We'd call the bomb squad in Denver and get everybody out of the building."

Although his words were rea.s.suring, Jules still felt jumpy. She glanced around, trying not to think of all the possible hiding spots-that locker, that recycling bin with the lid, that janitor's closet. She nibbled on the inside of her lip as she forced herself to quit looking and focus on Theo's face. If she was honest, that last part wasn't a hardship.

"Jules." Tio tipped his head toward the office. The flow of students had increased, although most of them were making a wide berth around the cop and his dog, and Jules wasn't sure how long it would take to complete the admissions paperwork. She'd hate if the kids had to walk in late to their first cla.s.s. Being the new kids was bad enough without drawing extra attention. There was already a lot of staring going on, although Jules wasn't sure if that was due to them being strangers or the K-9 cop in their midst.

Taking a step toward the office, she said, "I need to get the kids registered."

His nod was just a short dip of his chin. "I'll wait."

Jules stopped and blinked at him. Why was he going to wait? The usual tendril of panic curled its way around her lungs, but there was another emotion there, as well, that she didn't want to examine too closely. It might have been excitement, if that hadn't been so self-destructive and stupid.

"C'mon, Jules!" Tio began nudging her in the direction of the office.

"I'm coming!" As she walked, keeping a firm hold on Dez just in case her sister decided to bolt for the dog, she refused to glance behind her, refused to check if he was keeping his word and waiting. She definitely didn't want him to wait. There was no way her nerves could survive having a cop-a hot, hot cop-in her life. Theo was trouble. Jules needed to shut him down immediately...or at least after she found out what he wanted to talk to her about.

As she completed the necessary paperwork, she mentally thanked Dennis. Everything was perfect. There were immunization records and transcripts and custody papers. The administrative a.s.sistant-who had severe gla.s.ses and not a hair out of place-even gave her an approving look, murmuring, "Very organized."

They managed to get all three boys registered and sent off with a student "buddy" to find their lockers. Jules watched them go, feeling a little scared and helpless. She hadn't realized that having them out of sight would be so hard. It was rea.s.suring to have them within reach, so she could whisk them away to safety at the first sign of trouble.

A squeeze on her hand brought Jules out of her distracted worry. "They'll be okay," Dez said quietly.

"I know." Giving her sister a small grin-the best she could manage-Jules added, "I just like to keep them close."

Looking much older than eleven, Dez tightened her grip again. "They're used to taking care of themselves."

That made Jules frown as they left the office. "They shouldn't be."

"Right. That's why you stole us."

Even though Dez had used her quietest voice, Jules still bugged her eyes out at her. "Ix-nay on the ole-stay alk-tay."

"Orry-say!" Dez whispered, making a zipping motion over her lips.

"Done?" The deep voice made her jump, and Jules barely held back a startled shriek. When she turned to Theo, Jules couldn't help but marvel at how he got better-looking every time she saw him. Despite his scowl-or maybe, a contrary part of her brain whispered, because of it-he really was the poster child of masculine beauty.

When his eyebrows unsnarled enough to lift in question, Jules realized he was waiting for an answer. "Um...yes. Well, except for D. The elementary school starts later than the high school, so we decided to come here first." She was painfully aware that she was rambling, and that Theo and Dez and even the dog were staring at her like she'd lost her mind, but Jules couldn't manage to stop the flow of words. "Yeah. So, anyway...did you need to talk to me?"

He stayed silent just long enough for her hands to start to sweat. "I'll walk you out."

"Don't you need to do..." Jules waved a hand in the general direction of the lockers, recycling bin, and janitor's closet she'd eyed so suspiciously before. "...bomb stuff?"

There was the tiniest movement at the corner of his mouth, just the barest twitch of his lips, but it was enough to startle her. Was he actually almost smiling? It was the closest thing to humor she'd seen from him.

"Bomb...stuff is done. Hugh and I are the last ones here, finishing up the paperwork." Any sign of amus.e.m.e.nt was gone now, and Jules decided that she'd imagined that hint of a smile. "No sign of any explosives. It was just a prank call."

"Did Viggy figure that out?" Dez asked, looking at the dog with equal parts fascination and awe.

The frown was back, heavier than before. "No."

Jules flinched slightly at the snap in his voice, startled by the abrupt change in his manner.

"No," he repeated in a gentler tone, as if he'd noticed her reaction. Jules suspected that there wasn't much he didn't notice, which could be a problem. After all, she had a lot she wanted to hide. "Cliff County leant us one of their explosive-detection dogs. Viggy's..." He looked down at the dog. Viggy was sitting slightly crouched, as if he was trying to appear smaller than he was. His jaw tight, Theo brought his gaze back to Jules. "Never mind. Don't you need to get over to Cottonwood?"

"Right!" Jules glanced at Dez, who was still focused on the dog. The hot cop had a knack for getting her to forget where she was and what she was supposed to be doing. That also could be a problem. "C'mon, D. Let's get you educated."

When Theo fell into step next to her, Jules gave him a surprised glance. From his fierce scowl, she'd a.s.sumed he'd no longer be accompanying them outside.

Although he kept his body low to the ground, Viggy walked on the other side of Theo willingly enough. Jules wondered what the story was. Had the dog had a bad experience? Had Theo, as well? Was that the reason for his perma-scowl? Jules felt her stomach twist as she thought of what possible tragedies could've left such a mark on the two.

"Someone look at your stove?"

Once again, the question startled her. Jules didn't know if it was his gruff manner of barking out conversation, or if she was still jumpy about the whole cop thing-and the bomb-threat thing, and the being-away-from-her-brothers thing. "Yes."

"A professional?"

"He knew what he was doing." It wasn't an outright lie. After finding a manual for the stove online at the library, Tio had managed to get it working without any additional explosions. By the time he'd finished fiddling with it, he was confident in his stove-fixing abilities. It was Jules who was a nervous wreck the whole time he was working.

Theo gave her a hard look, as if waiting to see if she was going to confess to her half-truth, but Jules put on her most innocent expression. After a long moment, Theo gave an accepting-or possibly skeptical-grunt. Taking a few long strides, he reached the door first and held it open for her and Dez.

Jules blinked against the bright morning sun until her eyes adjusted. Florida had been sunny, but Colorado was even brighter than the sunshine state had been. She figured it was something to do with the alt.i.tude or the clean mountain air or something.

The first thing she saw when she was no longer blinded was that Theo had slid on his sungla.s.ses, which made him improbably hotter. Jules bit the inside of her lip hard. She needed to nip this crush in the bud immediately. Even if she hadn't accepted that any relationship was not in the cards for years, just being friends with this man was a bad, bad idea.

Her eyes lingered on the way his upper arms stretched his uniform shirt. It took all her willpower to rip her gaze away and refocus on Dez, who was humming to herself, happily oblivious to the fact that her older sister was being an idiot.

"What do-"

There was a strange sound, something between a crack and a thump, and then she was on the ground, a very large, very heavy cop on top of her.

"Stay down!" he ordered before running the few steps to Dez, who turned to look at him, her eyes and mouth round with surprise as he s.n.a.t.c.hed her off her feet. The sound came again, but this time the side of her calf stung. Her eyes fastened on the hole in the asphalt walkway as she sucked in a startled breath.

Someone was shooting at them.

For more Katie Ruggle check out.

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About the Author.

When she's not writing, Katie Ruggle rides horses, shoots guns, and travels to warm places where she can scuba dive. A graduate of the police academy, Katie received her ice-rescue certification and can attest that the reservoirs in the Colorado mountains really are that cold. While she still misses her off-grid, solar- and wind-powered house in the Rocky Mountains, she now lives in Dennison, Minnesota, near her family.

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