by Emma Nichole
Oh...my fucking nightmare.
“Will do.” I kill the call after that.
I don’t like talking about this shit with anyone except my therapist. Rarely do I even talk to Grayson, and he was fucking there that day.
I’ve seen Nora in the pool. She’s like a mermaid. Water is clearly her solace and her armor. I’d give anything to be able to walk my ass down there and jump into that water with her and lose myself in her body, but my mind won’t let me.
The thought of sinking below the surface makes my chest tighten and burn, and fear prickles my skin.
What kind of man would rather sit in a hotel room, alone, than face his fear and join Nora in the pool?
A man who’s a pussy.
That kind of man.
I’m showered and sitting on the bed against the headboard, wearing only a pair of gray sweatpants, when Nora finally comes back to the room.
She’s wrapped in a towel and I can see the ties of her bathing suit around her neck. It's bright orange. I want to see the rest of it.
“Hey.” I mute the TV and place the remote aside. “Good swim?”
She slips off her flip-flops and pulls her wild, damp hair over one shoulder. “It was a great swim, actually. You didn’t want to come join me?”
She is rifling through her suitcase, looking for something to change into.
“Nah, I’m not much of a swimmer. Not my style.” I smirk, playing off the truth as much as possible.
“I love the water. It makes me feel safe.” She pulls a few items from her suitcase then turns back to me. “How was the game?”
“Good. We won. Beer was drunk, overpriced hot dogs were had. Typical football experience.”
“I ran into Grayson and Amelia in the hallway. Grayson told me what happened with that man.”
“He was an asshole who got what he deserved.”
“You’re a good man. Most people would have just walked away.”
“It’s my job to protect people,” I say, rising from the bed to grab a bottle of water from the mini fridge.
“You weren’t on duty. You had no obligation to anyone there, yet you stepped in.”
“Cops are never really off duty, Phoenix. You can’t shut that part of your brain off.”
I see something pass over her face. It’s fast, nearly unnoticeable, but I see everything about her.
“Exactly,” she whispers so quietly, it’s like she’s saying it to herself.
“Nora, we should talk about last night.” I step forward, reaching out to touch her face, but she steps back.
“We should, but I need to shower first and get this chlorine out of my hair. Just give me a few minutes, okay?” she says, scooting around me and moving to the bathroom door, locking herself behind it.
Chapter 15
Nora
I took my time in the shower, letting the water wash over the top of my head and onto my face. I used my time in the pool to gather some clarity.
I like Case Carmichael. A lot. Too much, really.
Everyone has known this from the beginning, it seems. I’ve just been in denial. He’s too easy to care for. He’s too easy to trust. And people are too easily gone from your life.
His job could guarantee that.
His need to be the hero could take him from this world.
The way it took my parents from my world.
But my body craves his in a way that is too difficult to explain. It comes alive under his touch and I can’t ignore it.
I should walk away. We had last night. We gave in to get it out of our systems, but I already want more.
I had hoped a swim would take that away, but it seemed to only intensify it.
I take a breath, finish the rest of my shower, get dressed in my shorts and T-shirt, then I step out back into the room.
He’s sprawled across the bed, remote resting on his chest, fast asleep.
I take a moment to really look at him with his perfect lips and strong jawline. His beautiful skin and blondish brown hair.
He’s the epitome of my type. I knew the minute I saw him in Amelia’s hospital room last year, and then when we were finally able to talk? Dead. I was a goner.
Which is exactly why when he tried to kiss me, the night we played poker, I refused him. I could fall too easily for a man like that...and his hero complex terrifies me.
I carefully lift the remote from his chest and shut off the TV, leaving me in pitch-black when I slide into the bed with him.
I lay on my side, facing away from him and pull the covers up over us both.
It doesn’t take long for me to feel him move. To feel him roll toward me and encase me in his arms.
I can feel his desire pressing into my backside, and I push back against it, delighting in the hiss that leaves his mouth. His hand glides up my stomach, over my breasts and to my throat where he holds me.
It’s a powerful gesture. One that causes me to melt into putty, ready to be molded by him.
He kisses my cheek, then I turn my face to him and allow him to capture my lips in a kiss.
We don’t talk.
We don’t think.
We just let our bodies take over and give in to the carnal desire we both crave from one another.
Morning comes too soon. I don’t want to leave the warm cocoon that is this bed with this man.
It didn’t take long after that first kiss last night for him to undress me from the waist down and pull me astride him.
I rode him slowly until release shattered through my soul and I saw stars.
Then we slept, unmoving until this very moment.
I feel him shift a bit and kiss the back of my neck as he curls in around me.
“Good morning,” he whispers.
“Good morning,” I say back.
“Tell me about this.” I feel him caress my left shoulder blade, where a tattoo resides.
“It’s a quote. Mark Twain. When I turned eighteen, my brother took me to get it. He got it too. Mark Twain was our father’s favorite author. So, Marco and I share it as a reminder to be strong, and as a connection to our dad.”
He reads my tattoo aloud, “Courage is the resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear.”
“I love that quote.”
He kisses the words on my skin. “Back to reality today.” That fact hits me in the gut with an intensity I didn’t expect.
Back to reality. Back to mindless flirting and nothing else.
I should be happy. I didn’t want to like him anyway.
But...
There’s always a but.
“I’m sure you’re happy to be rid of my snoring,” I kid, trying to keep from sounding too disappointed.
“You’re right. You are quite loud.” He laughs then gasps when I elbow him playfully in the stomach. “Ouch! You wound me.”
He rolls to his back and I turn to face him, resting my hand on his chest.
“This was fun,” I say to him.
“Yeah, it was.” He places his hand on top of mine. “So...now what?”
“Now we go back to Savannah. Simple as that,” I say, only half meaning it.
“Really? We’re just going to ignore what happened?”
“It’s sex, Case. Just sex,” I lie.
“You really believe that? It’s never just been that with us, even before we had sex.”
Goddamn it, Case. Stop being perfect.
“You’re my friend, Case. You’re Grayson’s friend. You’re Amelia’s friend. I don’t want things to get messy,” I say, tracing circles on his chest with my index finger.
“Let me ask you a basic question. Did you enjoy our time together?” he asks.
“Too much. It was amazing.”
“And we’ve been able to keep things from being awkward, right?”
“Mostly, yes.” I just keep forcing myself to like you less.
“Then why stop? Isn’t life about doing what feels good? Isn’t that why you came to Savannah? To have some
fun and unwind?”
I look up at him, instantly knowing what he is insinuating.
“Are you asking me to be your friend with benefits?”
“I mean, that’s one way to put it, but I’d rather put it like this…” He rolls me to my back and settles on top of me. He pushes my hair from my face and plants a kiss to my lips before he continues, “I like you, Nora. I like spending time with you, and I think you’re a fucking awesome person. The past two days, I’ve discovered I very much like having sex with you. We are adults. Why shouldn’t we enjoy ourselves in every way?”
I stare up into his eyes and weigh my options.
On one hand, he’s right. We do get along perfectly and enjoy spending time together. We also click amazingly well on a physical level.
On the other hand, he’s so...him. Intense and all consuming. A cop. Just like my dad was.
But I’ve had casual relationships before with men who were light-years worse than Case. If anything, this is a safer fling than any other I’ve had in my life.
Sounds logical to me.
Right?
Yes.
Let’s do it.
“Okay.” I smile. “On one condition.”
“Fine. I won’t ask for anal.”
I laugh out loud, even snorting a little.
“Did you just snort?” he asks, smiling wide.
“Maybe a little.” I take a breath to stop laughing. “My condition isn’t lack of anal. My condition is: this stays between us.”
“So does that mean there’s a chance for anal?” He dodges before I can playfully swat him. “I won’t say a thing.”
“Good. Amelia already asks me constantly to move here, and this would only give her false hope. I have to go home in two weeks. I have to get back to my job.”
A job I don’t even love, but I have to tell myself over and over it’s what Mom wanted.
“Two weeks. Fair enough.”
He dips down for another kiss when we are interrupted by the clear and very obvious sound of a headboard hitting the wall behind us, followed by very loud moans.
“Oh. My. God.” I cover my mouth and smile behind my hand. “Holy shit.”
Amelia and Grayson are having intense sex four feet from us. Again.
“Surely she’s faking it, right?” he asks. “I mean, he can’t be that talented.”
“From what she tells me, he has the size and the gusto,” I tease.
“Not bigger than me though, right? I’m a man. I have to know these things.”
“I think the words ‘size of my arm’ were used,” I joke. “So I think you’re in second place. Sorry, officer.”
He quickly pins both arms above my head in one hand and hovers his other hand over my ribcage, threatening to tickle me.
“Take it back,” he says.
“Make me,” I counter, and he does. He tickles me until I’m laughing hysterically.
“Okay, okay, okay! I take it back! Stop, stop, stop.”
He stops his assault and kisses the tip of my nose.
“Make it better,” he warns.
“Fine. You have the biggest cock I’ve ever seen. It’s monster. Happy?” I roll my eyes and try to hide my smile.
“Thank you. My ego needed the boost.”
“Case, if there is something about you that needs absolutely no help at all, it’s your already inflated ego.”
“It’s not inflated ego when it’s true.”
“My point exactly.”
He just shakes his head and laughs.
“Before we have to get dressed to check out, I want to make sure we are both clear on the agreement.”
“Okay...”
“Two weeks. Casual friends who hang out and have tons of secret sex. Is it really that simple?”
“I mean, it sounds simple to me.”
The look that passes between us screams how we both know nothing is ever that simple.
Case
It’s been two days since I parted ways with Nora when we arrived back in Savannah, and I’m starting to get antsy. I had a shift the night we got back, so I opted to sleep in the truck for the four-hour drive back home. Then, I didn’t even get to say a private goodbye to Nora before I had to leave to pick up Arya from Justin and head to work.
We’ve exchanged flirty texts here and there, and I’ve tried to ask for nudes, but she’s too smart to give in. I’ll just have to acquire some I’ve personally shot next time I see her. With her permission, of course.
I haven’t seen her face or heard her voice in two days, and I’m pissed like a horny teenage boy about it. I knew it would be this way once I finally had her. I have always wanted her. I just needed her to catch up with me, and now that she has, I’ll accept her in any way she will give herself to me—even if it is purely physical—for now.
I shoot off a quick text to her, telling her I’m seeing her tonight, no excuses, from the driver’s seat of my cruiser on my lunch break, then toss my phone to the center console and open my bag of food.
I pull out my burger and immediately hear whining.
“Are you really going to steal some of my lunch again?”
I look over to see Arya perched in the passenger seat, licking her chops and staring at my food. She always moves to the front during my breaks.
“I take that as a yes. Can I at least have a few bites first?”
She whines a bit more then gives me one bark as if to say, “Uh, absolutely not, Dad. Give me that burger.”
“Would you settle for a handful of French fries and let me keep my burger?”
She puts her front paws up on the center console and pokes her head over to my side of the car and pushes her nose against the bag.
“Atta girl.” I reach into the bag and pull out a handful of fries and lay them in the back seat. She immediately scurries back and scarfs them down while happily wagging her tail.
“Spoiled. So spoiled.”
I begin to dig into my burger when my phone vibrates with a phone call. I press the button on my steering wheel to answer via Bluetooth.
“Yo,” I say, without even knowing who is on the other end.
“Yo, yourself,” Nora’s voice croons through my speakers and over my body like silk.
“Sorry. I didn’t know it was you. I would have been less of a tool when I answered,” I laugh.
“It’s okay. I don’t mind your...tool.”
“Well, I’m very happy to hear that. How are you?” I ask.
“I’m good. I’ve just been keeping busy with Amelia, helping her sort through some recipes and then taking some time to really focus on me. Reading, writing, you know? Things I love and never really have time for anymore.”
“I remember you telling me you liked to write. I’m glad you’re finding time again.”
The night Nora and I really talked, the first weekend we met, she told me she was really into poetry and had always wanted to write more of it. I tried to get her to share a poem with me, but she wouldn’t budge. She said they all sucked.
“So am I.” She sighs breathily before she continues, “So about this seeing me tonight demand. Still up for it?”
“Only if you think you can handle it?” I joke.
“I guess we’ll see, won’t we?”
“I’ll text you my address. I don’t know when I’ll be home exactly. It’s been an eventful shift to say the least. There’s a key under the mat. You can let yourself in anytime you want to go.”
“You trust me in your house alone? I could be a criminal, or just really nosy. What if I go through your drawers and find all your dirty little secrets?” she asks with a giggle.
“I’m an open book, baby. Whatever you find, ask me about.”
“Now I’m intrigued...”
“And I’m excited to see you,” I add.
“Me too.”
A call from the radio breaks through the car; loud enough I know she can hear.
“A 10-16 in the eighteen hundred block of Bay Avenue. Fi
rearms may be present on the scene. Use caution.”
Domestic Violence. Fuck.
I’m just around the block from Bay Avenue.
“Firearms?” I hear Nora ask through the phone.
I don’t respond to her, I respond directly into the radio. “10-4 This is Ghost, heading to the scene now with K-9 officer assisting.”
“Copy that, Ghost. Backup is heading to the scene as well.”
“10-4,” I say, before focusing my attention back on the call with Nora.
“Ghost?” she asks.
“We all have a call sign. I, naturally, had to use a Game of Thrones reference.” I laugh when she giggles. “Nora, I have to run, but I will see you tonight, right? You’ll be there when I get home?”
She hesitates for a moment before speaking. “I’ll be there, and Case...be careful.”
“Always.”
Chapter 16
Nora
Case texted me his address a few hours ago, after reassuring me he was safe after he had to respond to whatever a 10-16 is.
All I know is I heard the word firearms, and it sent chills up my spine.
I showered, slipped into a lacy red bra, left my panties in the drawer, and pulled on a pair of short denim cutoffs and a black T-shirt. I piled my hair into a bun and hopped into the backseat of an Uber.
I told Amelia I was going out to explore the city. I knew she had a call with Bubbly Magazine and she wouldn’t try to come with. I hated lying to her, but I didn’t want to play twenty questions. I just wanted to see Case...I mean have sex. I just wanted to have casual sex, with my casual friend, Case, casually. Right. Yes.
Case’s house isn’t exactly what I was expecting.
Actually, I truly don’t know what I was expecting at all, but it certainly wasn’t a single level yellow cottage, with a stunning porch, and hanging baskets of flowers.
Definitely not that.
I climb the stairs, pausing to admire the flowers hanging on each side of the porch opening. To my right, a beautiful basket of hot pink flowers in full bloom. They are beautifully bloomed and basking in the sunlight. I run my fingers gently across the petals and smile. To my left, red flowers and stunning green foliage cascading down from their basket like a waterfall.
