Short Excerpt

She was making the world a better place one cookie at a time.

And there was nothing that said I’m sorry that your deputy ended up being a traitorous bastard working for the cartel than her cranberry-lemon cookies.

“Jocelyn Carville.” The low register in that voice added an extra twist in her stomach. Chief of Police Baker Halsey had come out of nowhere. Speaking of prickly. The man pulled his keys from his uniform slacks, hugging the material tight to his thigh. And what a thigh it was. Never mind the rest of him with his dark hair, deep brown eyes or the slight dent at the bridge of his nose telling her he’d broken it in the past. Nope. She’d take just his thigh if he were offering. “Here I was thinking my day had started off pretty good. What’s Socorro want this time?"

A tendril of resentment wormed through her, but she shut it down fast. There wasn’t any room to let feelings like that through. Jocelyn readjusted her hold on the plastic-wrapped plate, keeping her head high. “I’m here for you.”