A cold blast of air made my eyes flutter open to see a black shadow move about the bedroom.
“Hey, come back to bed.” I groaned at my lover’s brisk tone.
“You know I can’t,” she hissed as she tugged on a boot while the diamonds in her bracelet caught the light. “I have too much work to do, and my daughter needs me.”
“I need you.” I grabbed her by the waist and pulled her stiff body down next to me. Her jaw set. I knew she hated it when I touched her without warning.
“Say it,” she snapped, and I didn’t miss a beat.
“I love you, and I would do anything for you.”
“Anything?”
“Yes, anything.”
She pushed on my chest so I would let her sit up.
“Why do you push me away when you know I love you?”
She threaded an earring through the tiny hole and looked away. “I don’t.”
“Yeah, you do.”
Her eyes squeezed shut. “Don’t start, Jonah. I’m going to be late.”
“Start what? I wake up, you’re leaving. I go to work, I come home, cook dinner, and you arrive. Only two weekends out of the month will you be around, and only in short time spurts.”
“Hey,” she pressed her cold finger to my lips and her gorgeous green eyes locked onto mine, “you’re going down your dark path again. You know my daughter comes first, and you come second.” I started to protest, but she shook her head. “You had a long day yesterday, and you didn’t eat much, and you know how that affects your mood.” My lips pressed together, but her hand ran up my thigh and circled my erection. “Don’t start a fight you know you can’t win.”
“Tiffany…” I tried to think, but she roughly pushed me back and tugged the sheets free. “You need to tell me where you go. This is one-sided, real…” My words fizzled away when her mouth slipped down to the base and bobbed up and down like a buoy in a storm. She was good and made me release faster than I ever wanted to, but I was in heaven as she moved to stand.
“I’ll call you when I’m on my way home.”
“When will that be?”
“When I’m free.”
With that, she left, and I fell back to relish the aftermath of my blowjob, not caring that she chose to be an on-and-off-again girlfriend. She had a great mouth, so it was worth it.
Chapter Seven
Blake
I waited by the window with an open black zippered sweater over my ballistic vest, which had the word Police visible only to those who stood directly in front of me. To everyone else, I was a man sitting at a booth sipping a cup of coffee.
I rolled my wrist to check the time. My informant was twenty-three minutes late, which meant he just cut his fee in half. I didn’t care if he had to come from the outskirts of town. We had worked together long enough for him to know not to be late.
A familiar voice drew my attention and had me scanning the faces in the shop.
“Large coffee, with a dash of cinnamon, please.” I caught sight of a woman in ripped jeans, a white t-shirt, and a tight green jacket. Her hair blocked her face, but I knew who it was.
“Sorry.” Toby, my informant, dropped his bag on the ground by my feet and ran a hand through his messy hair. I could smell that he hadn’t showered.
“Why do we have to meet so early?”
“It’s almost ten. It’s not early,” I muttered, annoyed. I hated people who didn’t pay attention to time. “What do you have for me?”
Toby pulled out his phone and set it down next to mine and started to tap the screen to airdrop photos into my library.
“I have still shots from my buddy’s place, and a video from a pot shop that you might be interested in.”
“I’m listening—” I slowed the last part of the word when Mrs. Peters took a seat a few tables away and caught me staring.
She mouthed, “I’ll wait,” to me and pulled out her computer.
“What?” Toby followed my line of sight. “Shit, she’s a hottie. You hittin’ that, boss?”
I barely heard him, caught in a strange space of wanting to look away yet wanting to filter in her appearance. She was totally sexy.
“Pretty-sexy,” Toby chimed into my thoughts. “You know, the even mix of the two.”
Her deep brown eyes found mine, her pink lips spread into a shy smile, and her perfect white teeth peeked out at me.
Boss’s wife echoed through me as a painful reminder to behave.
“I charge extra if you need me to play wingman.” He hit my arm and snapped me out of my dick trance.
“Tell me about what you found.” I snatched my phone up and started to go through his findings.
“Only one cure for pussy on the brain.”
I scowled. I hated that word in any form.
“Plug it into a TV so you can see it better.” He checked his phone for the time.
I got out some cash and pulled a twenty free and eyed him. “The next time I call and give you a time, you be here, or I start to deduct as the time rolls on.”
“That’s crap.”
“You’d rather be behind bars bent over a bunk?”
“Whatever.” He grabbed the money off the table and jammed it into the front pocket of his acid washed jeans. “I’ll be in touch.”
Just as he left, she stood with her laptop tucked under her arm. She slid into his seat and offered me her hand.
Okay…
“Remember me? Spencer Peters.”
You’re hard to forget.
“Yeah.” I sipped my coffee. “What can I do for you, Spencer?”
“Your sergeant called you about taking me on the job today.”
I blinked and shook my head. “Not to be rude, but what?”
“You’re not,” she reassured me. “I normally follow Benny, but I need to follow a detective, so here we are.” She tucked her shiny brown hair behind her ear and rubbed her thumb along the top of her cup.
I tilted my head in an attempt to follow her.
“I’m sorry, what?”
“Peters called you, said you could take me along on the next call.”
I nearly spit my coffee out. “That was for you? Ah,” I stumbled with my words, “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“Why?” She sat a little straighter, and I saw her long, slender neck contract.
“It’s not safe.”
“Ha!” She pushed her laptop into her bag and slipped out of the booth. “Are we leaving, or are you going to leave that text unread?”
I dropped my head and stared at my phone.
Station: 234 Wooden Rd, female – homicide
She raised an eyebrow and granted me a sexy grin that instantly annoyed me. I hated that I found her sexy and she was off limits.
“I can meet you there if you’d like.” She turned toward the door.
I sighed and followed, and once outside, she started to walk down the road.
“Where are you going?”
“234 Wooden Road.”
“Shit,” I hissed. “Spencer, come on.” I waved her to follow me, and she hurried to catch up. I unlocked the passenger door and waited for the step to lower.