by Addison Fox
“He poured what everyone ordered.”
Emma turned toward the bar, talking over her shoulder as she went. “I’ve been bragging on the pale ale and forgot to order it. Let me go get a few.”
Their hostess butterflied off, stopping to talk to a few guests along the way, and Landon finally found himself alone with his date.
“Emma’s great. She obviously loves your family. And she is so in love with your brother.”
“Their relationship is new, but it’s got a strong foundation and all the signs that it’s going to last.”
“Emma told me they were high-school chemistry partners. She also said Nick hadn’t realized that when they met again.”
“He spent quite a few years away from Park Heights when he played pro football, and so did Emma. He knew he knew her but didn’t know why. Add on she had a different last name from her first marriage, and he couldn’t place her.”
“I can’t say I blame him if high-school science class was the only clue he had to go on. Emma’s great, but I firmly put chemistry out of my mind. You can add physics, algebra, geometry, and European history to that list, too.”
Curious, he leaned forward. He’d seen her dedication and diligence to her job, and it was a surprise to think maybe she wasn’t all that keen on school. “Not a student?”
“Not a fan of memorizing. I prefer to get in and learn by doing. Those subjects were just memorizing facts and figures until they ran together into a soup.” She ran a finger over the condensation at the edge of her glass, distracted. The thick suit she wore for the tour was long gone, but he could see her armor seemingly build out of thin air over the soft pink blouse and dark slacks she wore.
“There is a lot of that. I’m amazed by how little of it I use. Keyboarding I use. Reading, definitely. But I’m more than happy to leave advanced calculus to the engineers.”
“Advanced calculus?” She glanced up at that, the tension in her shoulders fading. “I bet you were good at science and math.”
“I was good at everything in school. It seems that the modern American school curriculum favors those who don’t mind memorizing reams of data and regurgitating it.”
“Do you miss those days? The simplicity of it all?”
“No.” And just like that, the armor leaped from Daphne to cover him like a cheap suit. Her attention caught, he could see her hesitate, as if battling with herself.
“You didn’t like school?”
“I liked school just fine. It was the time when I wasn’t in school I didn’t care for all that much.”
“It was bad?”
“Sometimes.”
His conversation with his mother swatted at him, a vivid reminder of what he’d need to do if he had any interest in seeing things with Daphne go somewhere.
In your own words. In your own time. There’s no shame, Landon.
He might have only known Daphne for a few days, but he figured the amount of time mattered a whole lot less than the fact that something nagged inside of him to tell her.
“Sometimes it was bad. Other times it wasn’t. Life with an addict, you know.”
“My uncle struggled with addiction for years. My mother was never quite sure who she was going to get for the holidays, or Sunday dinner, or a random Tuesday evening going out to get ice cream. I’d imagine it’s immeasurably worse when it’s a parent. A protector.”
“Yeah.” She’d read the file, so he avoided the pile-on of his mother’s sins. And deliberately sidestepped his own. “When I got a good day or two, I used it to my advantage. Let’s go get some clothes. Sign me up for soccer. I need a few new books for school. Stuff like that. She was amenable then. Happy to do it, even.”
As if those times could make up for the rest.
Despite that, he’d used it. Used those good periods to angle for the things he wanted. It hadn’t taken him long to understand how to manipulate her and manage her in order to get things. Along with that he found a way to squirrel away some of the other things they needed, including rent money.
Although their cash supplies were usually low, he’d learned to read patterns and signs. Had come to understand when his mother’s friends were flush with some cash and when they were zoned out of it enough while celebrating those flush times to snag a bit for himself.
By six he’d managed to find three secure hiding places for his stashes in the apartment. By eight he’d taken over paying the rent and ensuring they had something in the pantry, stretching it to last when the flush times grew increasingly farther apart.
“She used those times to try and make things up to you?”
“Sure did. And I let her. That’s how I met Nick and Fender. I rode a good window and got signed up for the local soccer team.”
“And you’ve been together ever since.”
“More or less.”
“Was it love at first sight?”
He laughed at that one, even as he realized he’d never looked at Nick and Fender in quite that way. They’d actually been somewhat hostile to each other at first, with Fender running his small-time asshole routine and side checking everyone to get the ball. “I’m not sure I’d go that far. But I will say soccer was the one place where my big feet and long legs served me well. My feet were so big I wouldn’t have missed the ball if you’d put it halfway across the field.”
“Stealthy bastard. Got the ball every damn time.” Nick interrupted the conversation, his smile broad as he set down a round of the anticipated pale ale. Emma was in his wake with something that looked suspiciously orange in color.
“You remember that?” Landon turned toward his brother.
“Hell yes I remember. Fend and I were busy arguing and shoving each other, and there you were, sneaking up the middle and running away with the ball. You scored before he and I even looked up.”
“Which goes back to my question,” Daphne added. “Sounds like love at first sight to me.”
Landon glanced at Nick before they broke out in a hammy hug. Nick even added some gross slurping noises against his cheek before Landon shoved him and his beer breath back with a firm hand.
Even as Nick pulled away, they remained attached, still the brothers-at-arms they’d been since they were eight.
Maybe Daphne had a point. He’d never thought of Nick and Fender that way, but maybe it had been love at first sight. Three kindred spirits who’d recognized their bond and had known its depth, with or without paperwork from the State of New York making it official.
“Look how sweet.” Emma sidled up next to Daphne, her smile gooey even as she teased them. “Brotherly love at its finest. They were clearly meant for each other.”
“Naturally,” Daphne agreed.
The two women returned to easy conversation, and Landon was once again struck by how quickly they had become friends.
Maybe it was just another one of those bonds. Hard to find but easy to recognize once it arrived.
With a quick slap on Nick’s back, he pulled away to taste test one of the pale ales. “You know. I think I might have seen a cauldron in the window over at Billie’s Costume Emporium. It’s only a short hop for the two of you to be rubbing hands and cackling.”
“How is Billie?” Emma asked.
“I had no idea she was still in business—” Daphne added at the same time.
Landon nodded, his own grapevine skills strong. “She nearly closed a few years ago, then picked up some work for a TV production that shoots here and is back to going strong.”
“Mom does her books, I think,” Nick said.
Clearly diverted by the prospect of visiting the venerable Billie, Emma ran a hand over Nick’s back. “We haven’t even discussed our Halloween costumes this year.”
“It’s June.” Nick’s eyes widened and Landon couldn’t resist a self-righteous smile at just how far round the bend his brother’s life had gone.
“It’s never too early to plan.” Emma’s eyes were already hazing over, a future event stamped plainly in those deeply colored depths. “
Oooh! Maybe we’ll have a party here for the neighborhood to trick or treat. Bring over some of the police horses, if they’re okay with it. We do feed Brooklyn’s finest, after all. Maybe they’d like to see where their dinner comes from.”
“You feed the horses?” Daphne asked, a bemused smile twitching her lips at the rapid switch in topics.
“Yep. I have no idea what we’d do with all the leftover grains if we didn’t. We’ve been feeding the equine contingent of Brooklyn’s patrol for decades.”
“Who knew?” Daphne reached for Landon’s hand and lightly squeezed his fingers, the gesture simple. Easy.
And increasingly necessary.
Who knew?
“So tell me. Did I pass muster with the Park Heights gossip train?” Daphne kept the question light as a marshmallow and just as sweet as they walked the last few blocks toward her apartment.
Or so she hoped.
It was, of course, at complete odds with the pounding of her heart, so it might have come out garbled and in a voice as gravelly as a three-pack-a-day smoker.
“You didn’t just pass muster. I think Emma would start dating you if she weren’t so over the moon about my brother.”
“Emma’s fantastic. I loved her.”
Landon’s smile went wolfish. “On second thought, don’t let my brother stand in the way.”
Daphne smacked at his shoulder. “In your dreams, pal.”
“My dreams just got a whole lot more interesting.”
“I bet they did.”
The night air wrapped around them, still warm for late June but with the lightest hint of a breeze, courtesy of the ocean that surrounded the city. It was such a strange juxtaposition, she’d always thought. The dominance of the ocean that edged the great, sprawling city, full of a special power all its own. She’d always instinctively understood that, but had come to better appreciate it in the years she was on the beat.
New York had power. It was hard to explain but easy to feel. Things happened here, both good and bad. And if you were lucky, the good tipped the scales.
Like tonight. They’d covered some tough stuff, but the good still outweighed it—like the obvious bond between Landon and Nick. And the ability of that bond to open and expand to include Emma was a sign of just how special it was.
“This block sure has changed.” Landon’s words shimmered in the air between them, tinged with a light, wistful edge.
“I didn’t know it well before I got on the force. It was just coming back then and had a great vibe, which was why I moved here. I grew up on the opposite side of Park Heights and was never over here much.”
He pointed toward the far end of the block. “Those warehouses over there were flophouses until the city let a developer renovate them for mixed use about a decade ago. It took them a while to get their footing, but the coffeehouse-bakery-and-event-venue combo that live in the space now seems like a winner.”
Daphne’s eyes followed the direction of his finger. The lights at the corner reflected over a sidewalk full of people at one of her favorite coffee shops, Brew You. “I remember there was a ballet studio there for a while. A locksmith for a brief time. Oh, and a takeout place with truly awful Buffalo wings. I had no idea it used to be a flophouse.”
“Yep. And now it’s a hipster hangout with the perennial scent of coffee wafting into the air and people lining up to rent space to have their weddings and anniversary parties and bar mitzvahs. The neighborhood’s come a long way.”
She’d bet her last cent Landon remembered the old days of this street corner because he’d spent time here. “Did you live here?”
“Nope. Never lived here. But I paid a visit or two.”
The comment almost dared her to respond, but she avoided a reply, instead letting the bleak memory refuel her wildly careening train of thought. Roiling emotions had been a constant companion for the past few days, and she had no reason to think that was going to stop now.
He had a past. One that lived far closer to the surface than she suspected he even knew or understood. The break-in—and her subsequent digging—had churned things up, and she wasn’t sure how to change that. Or if she would if she could.
Which only reinforced the challenge of attempting to pursue something as a couple right now.
But God help her if she could resist him.
She’d accepted the invitation when he’d called her to play beer-tour guinea pigs at the Unity. The chance to see him in his family surroundings was far too tempting to pass up, but this evening had held far more than she’d expected.
Meeting his future sister-in-law and getting to know his brother better meant something—at least, it did to her. Especially considering the fact that she was still trying to come up with ways to avoid bringing Landon over to meet her family and inevitably ruin the start of something wonderful.
Her brothers were rather adept at playing the asshole card where her dates were concerned. Mike had managed to survive the experience, but that had taken quite a bit of time and persistence. He’d also provided the stripper for Antonio’s bachelor party about three months after the two of them had begun dating, and she’d always assumed that had greased the wheels a bit.
So why did she want to meet Landon’s family so badly?
Where she usually found the early days of dating awkward and edgy, never quite sure she was on solid footing, everything with him felt different.
No, it was different.
And it wasn’t simply because she wanted to rip his clothes off.
Although she wanted to do that, too.
She’d sensed the invitation to Nick and Emma’s event this evening had been important to Landon, despite the casual way he’d offered it up as something to do. And she’d kept a quiet eye on the small cues throughout the evening. The way Nick would catch Landon’s eye, and the gentle smiles Emma shot in their direction at different parts of the tour.
It was sweet, and it suggested a degree of familial protectiveness that went past the standard desire to be nosy and poke around.
That was half the problem with her brothers. Individually, they were ready to dislike anyone she brought home on principle. And when they were ganged up as a group they instinctively played wolf pack, giving off that weird “I’m going to pee on you” machismo that made her want to scream.
So she avoided bringing guys home at all—if she even went on more than a few dates with the same man. Which then set Jasmine off.
For the past few years, every time Jasmine brought up getting over Mike, Daphne would argue that her reticence to date wasn’t just tied to a relationship gone bad. In fact, after she’d gotten over the immediate hurt of the breakup, she’d begun to enjoy the freedom of being alone. Mike wasn’t a bad guy, despite Jasmine’s propensity to call him an asshole, but he had proven to her that she wasn’t interested in simply being someone’s other half.
She wanted both of them together to be greater than the whole.
She had no idea why she thought four days had given her enough time to consider if Landon McGee was the answer to that life goal, but something continued to whisper at her that he was. Which made digging into his background that much harder, no matter how many times she reminded herself that she was only doing her job. When you layered on what he’d shared this evening, it wasn’t like his childhood was a secret between them. It might be tender ground, but it didn’t need to be a barrier.
Or so she believed.
The conversation about his mother had been as telling as it was unexpected. Heartbreaking, but telling. And she knew she’d live for the rest of her life with the image of a small boy stuck scrabbling for scraps between his mother’s benders.
God, where did it come from—this mindless addiction that made people turn away from their children?
It wasn’t judgment. She’d been a cop long enough to know that judgment was not only a misplaced emotion, but also a path to apathy. And as far as she was concerned, the day apathy won the battle was the day she turned in he
r badge.
But no amount of acknowledgment could erase the chasm that still yawned between her and Landon. Or stop her from second-guessing herself every time they were together. The choices she’d made at work were pitted against her increasing desire to spend time with him, plain and simple.
Were things moving too fast? Or was this just how it happened when you found someone you were interested in? Desired. Liked.
Loved?
The thought struck, racing toward her on swift feet just as Landon pulled her close. He paused, his lips lowered toward hers, their gazes clashing in the fluorescent dark. Deep and fathomless in the shining light of the street lamps, she could see the desire there.
And vulnerability she hadn’t seen before.
Was it because of the discussion of his childhood? The reality of what had shaped the first decade of his life? Or was it the wild, crazy rush of emotions that lived between them?
Just once, she wished her mind would quiet enough to simply lean in and enjoy. To take what was being offered without spinning out scenarios faster than a spider made a web.
Without any expectation except for the here and now.
And then her thoughts faded as his lips crushed hers, taking over the moment and spinning out a different sort of web. Desire. Need. Want. All of it wove together in a tight tapestry that encased them both.
Daphne sunk into him—into that desire and need—and gave in to the want.
His lips were soft as they feathered over hers, tasting, seeking, questioning as they came together after what felt like an eternity. They stood like that for long moments, the joy of discovery and the silent question of where things would go blending and merging with each touch of their lips, each meeting of their tongues.
Once again she was struck by his solid form, at odds with the lean appearance of that he gave off at first glance. There was nothing skinny about the hard arms that wrapped around her, or the strength that emanated from long, wiry muscles.
But when he touched her. Oh, when he touched her.
The strength in his fingers as they played over her skin set of a trail of sparks that resonated and echoed all over her body. Helpless to resist, she curved into him, not caring that they were on a street corner as those fingers drifted up her rib cage so that his thumbs played the underside of her breasts.
