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Knox pocketed his keys. “You see him, tell him I’m looking for him.” “Me too,” Naomi added. “I tried calling him to invite him to Sunday dinner, but it went straight to voicemail.” “Might as well tell him I’m lookin’ for him too,” Waylay piped up. “Why are you lookin’ for him?” Knox demanded. Waylay shrugged in her pink sweater. “Dunno. Just felt left out.” Knox pulled her in for a headlock and ruffled her hair.
I’d touched my thumb to the taillight. After years of service, it had begun to feel like an innocuous ritual, until my print was what identified that car after it had been found.
I could still hear the echo of a sound. Something between a sizzle and a crunch.
“Your gun is digging into me.” “That’s not my gun,” I said through clenched teeth. Her mouth curved wickedly. “I know.” “Then stop moving.”
“Just so you know, I’m picking the option that will do the least amount of damage to your lower back.” “Just grab a handful and pull.” “Fine. But you stop me if you get uncomfortable or if the dog starts to freak out.” “Jesus, Nash, I’m giving you consent to haul me out of this drainage pipe by my ass. Get to it!”
And while she wasn’t comfortable enough to let any of the other officers pet her yet, she had started taking hourly trips around the bullpen once she figured out they had treats for her in their pockets.
“Sloane?” I asked. “She single?” I thought about Lucian this morning at breakfast. A slow, vengeful smile spread over my face. “You should ask her out.”
Naomi closed her eyes. “Is that why you were such a bridezilla with the florist yesterday?” “Baby’s breath is stupid. Fight me,” he said.
Naomi and Sloane were staring at me with wide, watery eyes. “Don’t,” I warned. “Oh, Lina,” Naomi whispered. “I know you don’t like to be touched, and I respect that,” Sloane said. “But I think you should know that I’m hugging you in my mind.” “Okay. No more shots for you,” I decided.
“Knoxy?” Naomi sang drunkenly from somewhere inside the house. “He’s outside fightin’ with Uncle Nash in the yard. They broke the porch,” Waylay reported. “Great. Now you’re gettin’ me in trouble,” he complained.
How’s he gonna make paperwork interesting?” “Naomi doesn’t realize how deep male competition runs. She told me the whole plan. He’s gonna let the kids mix virgin drinks and then shave the vice principal’s head.” “Damn. That’s good.” “We can be better,” Nolan said with confidence.
“Hurry up before my fingers get frostbite,” Naomi called, wiggling a boozy milkshake at me. She was dressed as Pride and Prejudice’s Elizabeth Bennet in an empire-waist gown with some impressive cleavage. “Or before we bring all the boys to the yard,” Sloane added. On cue, Harvey the biker raced up to them and started dancing.
“Why are they glaring at us?” I groused between boot stomps. “Oh, that’s Knox’s happy face,” Naomi insisted, stepping the wrong way before correcting her course. Sloane clapped in time with the rest of the crowd. “That’s Lucian’s asshole face.”
She ignored my comment and squinted at the crowd. “All I can see are pissed-off blobs.” “We’ll get your glasses as soon as Nash is done talking these assholes to death,” I promised.
Dilton’s swing connected with Nolan’s jaw. Nolan spit, then grinned as he raised his own fists. “What’s happening? Did the fat blob just punch Nash? Who are the other two blobs?” Sloane demanded. Naomi delivered the play-by-play for Sloane
I trailed my fingertips all the way to the promised land. Lina jumped and tried to close her knees, but it was too late. I’d found what I was looking for. That damp spot on the silk I’d yet to see. But I could feel it. Her thighs trembled around my hand. “What sounds good to you, Angel,” I asked her. The look she shot me was a beautiful combination of shock and naked desire. “Wh-what?” “Dessert,” I said, pressing two fingers to that delectable wet spot. “Tell me what you want.”
I could only go for a stupid walk in the stupid rain so my stupid eye water could mix with the stupid sky water.
“Nash, I wasn’t trying to leave you. I was trying to give us both some space.” “You ran,” he pointed out. “I was trying to give us both a lot of space very quickly,” I amended.
Gah. Who knew the law-abiding man with the shiny badge would be such a dirty talker?
Still grinning, she lowered her sunglasses to look at me. With those red lips, she looked like a temptress, a siren trying to lure me to my death. “Planes are meant to land,” I insisted. “It will land. We just won’t be on it when it does,”
“There’s no way I’m dying with another man strapped to my back.” “Of course not. You’re jumping with me.”
“I’m certified,” she said. Of course she was. “Nash.” There was laughter in her tone. “Angel.” “Tell me what you’re feeling right now,” she insisted. Abject panic. A little delirious. “Just sit through the training video and then decide. Okay?” A training video. If it was long enough, I could pray for a thunderstorm to roll in. Or a cloud of locusts. Or some kind of mechanical failure that would be discovered while we were still safely on the ground. Oh, two flat tires and a hole in the propeller? Too bad. Let’s go get some breakfast.
You stand up for what’s right every damn day and people respect you for it. I respect you for it. Keep being braver than me.
“Why not just get a tattoo of her name on your ass?” Lucian said dryly. Knox and I shared a look. “Well, it is a family tradition,” my brother mused.
I pulled back from the kiss. “It’s after.” “Yeah, and you’re still buying me a ring.” “You didn’t change your mind?” “I told you. You’re stuck with me. I drafted my letter of resignation on my phone while I was waiting for you to kick Dilton’s ass.”
“You gonna marry me?” There was so much love in her eyes that I felt like I almost couldn’t breathe. “Yeah,” she whispered. “Good girl.”
Naomi looked up at Justice, who was brushing away a tear or two of his own, and grinned. “I always knew I’d get you to marry me somehow, Justice.”
