by Sahara Kelly
“Barbara.” The chief snapped his fingers. “Hey.”
“Sorry, Chief.” Barbara blushed this time, no question about it.
“He seems like a straight-up guy.” The chief’s eyebrow flickered. “Knows his job.”
“Yes sir.” Barbara kept it short and sweet.
The chief sighed. “Look. I’ve watched you turn into a damn fine officer. I’ve watched you grow and fight your way to get where you are. And I’ve watched you ruthlessly suppressing half of who you are.”
She squared her shoulders. “I don’t understand.”
“You are, in your own mind, first and foremost a detective. The personal stuff is second - if that. You’re losing balance, Barbara. You’re putting your job so far in front of everything else that you’re in danger of forgetting that you’re also a really good-looking woman.” He leaned back in his chair. “Don’t do it. I’ve seen officers burn out real quick once that happens.”
She shook her head. “I don’t do it consciously…”
“I know. Believe me I know. But now you’ve run across a guy who’s gotten to you, right?”
“Sir, Investigator Franconi and I…”
“…Light sparks off each other. Shit, Barbara, even I could feel the heat between you two.” He chuckled. “Look, I have nothing to say officially about this. You two are gonna be undercover together, you’re gonna have to work it out. But if he’s the one who gets to you, then don’t hold back doing something about it, okay? All I want to tell you is that he seems like a good guy and it’s time you remembered you’re a woman first, an officer second.” He paused. “Off the clock, that is.”
Barbara shrugged. “Yes, Chief. Message received.” She stood. “But he’s a pain in the ass. Too arrogant for my tastes and frickin’ smart-mouthed to boot.”
“There ya go. A match made in heaven.” The chief laughed.
Barbara rolled her eyes and left. What the hell did he know? He’d been married since the Stone Age. He’d probably forgotten what it was like to be a single, hard-working detective.
And he’d never known what it was like to have to bury one’s sexuality every single day. To fight to overcome the stigma of having breasts and blonde hair. To make sure that every upward move, every promotion or advancement was earned by the sheer volume and quality of one’s work.
Not one’s tits.
Barbara sighed as she walked into the detective’s corral and found her nemesis seated comfortably in her chair reading a file. As if they’d heard her thinking about them, her breasts began to tingle, nipples hardening beneath the serviceable cotton bra.
He looked up and smiled.
Shit. There go the panties too.
Barbara bit down on the unusual pang of physical lust and walked unconcernedly across the room. Or tried to.
Chapter Three
Lou Franconi found himself in the unusual position of having to struggle to concentrate on the case. He loved his job, loved putting pieces of a puzzle together and solving it, adored the intricacies of crime investigation and generally was a happy camper when working on something that demanded his full attention.
Today, everything had changed.
He found himself distracted, aware of a woman on a purely physical level. And yet also aware that she was more than the body - a lot more. And he wanted to be able to explore all that she was. Preferably while in a reclining and naked position.
He had to focus on the papers in front of him, not the woman beside him. And it was fucking hard. To his astonishment he found that hard was an adjective that could almost be applied to him, as well.
Barbara Fremont was getting to him in one big way. As far as he could tell, he wasn’t getting to her at all. That was going to change. He knew there was something there between them, and damned if it was going to be all one-sided.
He leaned over her, letting his shoulder brush hers. “So I reckon they’ll bite when it comes to this movie. See the titles?” His arm slid along the back of her chair. “All ones with well-known stars.”
Barbara shifted a little, moving herself away from his touch. Gotcha!
“I’ll take your word for it.” She scanned the sheets. “Got anything on the kind of surveillance equipment we should be looking for?”
He reached across in front of her, appreciating the fine breasts she’d tried so hard to hide. “Yep. Right here.”
His words were all business even though his actions and his thoughts were anything but.
“How’d you know so much about this stuff?” She was still thumbing through pages of neatly typed notes.
“Worked a similar case a while ago.”
Barbara glanced up at him, meeting his gaze with coolly professional hazel eyes. “Really? Where?”
He paused. “New York City.”
She leaned back, a question on her lips. “You’re kidding. You were a Big Apple cop?”
“Yep.”
She sensed his reticence. “Okay, look I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to pry.”
He twisted around and sat on the edge of the desk beside her. “You didn’t. I’m happy doing what I’m doing now. I wasn’t happy in New York. End of story.”
“‘Kay.” She turned back to the files.
Lou sighed. “I’m sorry. That was abrupt.” For some reason he wanted to explain. “New York was fast and rough and the stuff we did was endless. Nothing ever let up, you know? It cost me a marriage, endangered my health and when I lost…a fellow officer in a bungled bust, I knew it was time to get out.”
Barbara’s eyes turned sympathetic as she watched him speak. “I’m sorry for you. That’s gotta be the pits.”
“Yeah. It was.” He pushed it away, as he always did. It was nearly five years ago. The pain would live with him forever, but his life had moved on into different and better paths. “So I called it quits, took a look around at what was out there and lucked into the State criminal investigations office just as they had two guys retiring within weeks of each other. They were desperate and I was available.”
“Good thing all around, huh?”
“I’ve never regretted it.” And it was the truth. Lou was very content where he was. He felt as if he was actually doing some good - a feeling he’d fought for but never found in the busiest city in the world.
Time to get back to the matter at hand. He reached out and pushed a stray blonde hair back into place, noting that this time Barbara didn’t flinch. “And it’s especially cool when I get to work hand in - er - hand with local authorities on a case like this…”
He couldn’t miss the tiny shiver that crossed her shoulders. Wisely, however, he didn’t lick his lips or smirk, much as he wanted to do both.
“Yes. Well, I’m sure the department appreciates the assistance.” She turned away again and flipped papers rapidly. “So this premiere event is set for - what - two weeks from now or so?”
“Give or take, yeah. Chuck has to do whatever they do to get the reel ready for distribution. There’s also a shitload of promo stuff that’s gotta get out there, since they’re off their release schedule with this one.”
“Isn’t that going to be a tip-off to our bootleggers?”
“Doubt it. It’s BJ Studios’ anniversary coming up. They’re gonna gear this movie towards some sort of a special deal to celebrate. I guess Chuck’s got all that worked out with his PR folks.”
Barbara nodded. “Makes sense.”
“In the meantime…” Lou let his gaze roam over Barbara, knowing she was waiting for his next words even though she didn’t move an inch. “I’ll head back to my office and get the preliminaries going.”
“The preliminaries?” She was good. Still all business.
Lou watched the pulse at the base of her neck as it throbbed and squelched down his smile. “Yes. I need to do some double-checking with our lab boys. They’re having a shot at analyzing the DVDs we busted. They may be able to tell us about the software that created them. There’s a clue we can use in that information. I h
ope.”
Barbara nodded and he caught her sigh of relief. “Good. Yeah, that’ll help us.”
“You got an email address?”
She glanced up at him. “Why?”
“Well, it makes sense for us to keep in touch. I can email you anything that turns up at our end, we can exchange ideas on it and you can print out a copy for your files.” He wrinkled his nose. “I have the greatest admiration for the administrative end of our job, but - ”
Barbara chuckled. “Yeah. It still involves too much paper which never ends up where it’s supposed to be.” She reached for a slip of paper. “Here. My email addy.” She scrawled a few words and pushed it in his direction. “I usually check it in the morning. If I have time.”
Lou stared at it, noting the departmental suffix. “No, not here. A personal one.”
Barbara frowned. “What’s wrong with this one?”
“Nothing at all. I just need to know that we can exchange emails with a certain degree of privacy.” He glanced around the room. “You want every officer in the place knowing every detail about this case? It’s not hush-hush, but I’d prefer to keep it low-key if such a thing’s possible. And let’s face it - when it comes to porn…guys will be guys.”
Barbara thought about that and Lou watched intently as once again a variety of expressions crossed her eyes. He was struck anew by the fact that he could read her emotions quite clearly. It was strange - something he’d never been able to do with other women, especially his ex-wife. But then again, he’d never needed to, and - to be brutally honest with himself - never cared to.
She reached her conclusion and wrote another line of words on the paper. “You have a valid point. Here. But if it ever gets out, your ass is grass. Understood?”
He folded it and put it into his jeans pocket, hiding a smile of purely male satisfaction. “Okay.” He stood. “You probably should pick up a few DVDs too.” He let a little heat seep into his expression. “Some porn ones. Just so you won’t be too shocked when we go undercover.”
An eyebrow flew up over one eye, creasing her forehead. “Shocked? I’m a detective, for Chrissakes. I don’t shock easily.”
“Really?” He leaned close to her ear. “We’ll have to put that to the test.” Without moving the rest of his body, Lou ran his tongue lightly around her ear, chuckling as she shivered. “I’ll send you some.”
His words galvanized her and she jerked away from his touch. “Not necessary, Investigator Franconi.”
He laughed. “We’ll see. Nice meeting you, Detective Fremont. I’m looking forward to this assignment.”
He spun on his heel and headed out the door before he grabbed her and did something totally stupid and against his usual rule of being subtle with women.
The fact that he had to fight the urge to strip her and take her right there on her desk said a lot for the attraction that was curdling his guts and threatening to overheat his balls.
The taste of her ear was hot on his tongue during the long drive home.
*~~*~~*
Barbara fought her own internal battle over the next few days. It consisted of doing her day-to-day job, focusing on what needed to be accomplished and most definitely not rushing home to immediately check her email every night.
Along with definitely not spending every available free moment thinking about a certain investigator.
And she knew she’d lost the battle when she found herself doing just that - dropping her stuff by the door and heading straight for her laptop to see if he’d emailed her, no matter what time she got in.
It was almost a week before her vigilance was rewarded.
Hi Bambi.
It was from Lou, emailed from flyingfalcon @ birdbrains.org . Barbara snorted. How like him - arrogant and funny at the same time. She shook off the notion that she found both qualities rather appealing and returned to her email.
Got a report from the lab boys and I’m forwarding it to the station. Your copy is attached. Don’t delete it, babe. File it, okay?
Babe? Where did he get off calling her babe? She shrugged. Emails were places where formality was unimportant to a lot of people. Clearly Lou was one of them.
So did you rent any porn yet? It’s all in the name of research. I’ve got a couple I’m looking at right now. One has a blonde with a lot of hair and amazing assets. She reminds me of somebody, but damned if I can think who! LOL
Barbara ground her teeth and reached for the “delete” key. But something held her back, a curiosity perhaps, or just the simple desire to read the rest of his message.
You wouldn’t believe what she’s doing with her mouth right now, Barbara. Something I reckon you’d be real good at. But I digress - I shouldn’t get personal so soon, should I? I shouldn’t tell you that the mere thought of your mouth anywhere near me gets me so frickin’ hard… Just let me say this. I intend that we’re gonna get personal. Don’t make the mistake of thinking otherwise. We’ve got some unfinished business between us - you know it and I know it.
Barbara’s body heated and her panties moistened at Lou’s words. He wasn’t telling her anything she didn’t already know. Yeah, there was something between them. Some kind of weird sexual heat. Something that made her want to grab him and fuck him senseless. If he’d been there right this minute - .
She read on. So for right now, it’s about the case. But soon…
She frantically scrolled down the page, but there was nothing else, just his initials. LF.
Wiping sweaty palms down her thighs, Barbara permitted herself a grin. He’d reached her, a place inside her that nobody else had reached. She had no idea if it was his eyes or his laugh or the humor that lurked hand in hand with a razor-sharp intellect. It was all wrapped up in a very appealing package and she stared at her laptop blindly as she made a personal confession.
“I could really go for this guy.”
The chief’s words came back to her. She knew he’d been right - that she’d forcibly suppressed her femininity in order to become “one of the guys”. To become the best police officer she could be, while not being judged on anything other than her skills.
And she knew Lou was right too. There was unfinished business there.
Over her solitary sandwich and glass of wine, Barbara discussed the issue with herself, trying to be balanced and sensible and not listen to her hormones. They were the ones screaming with excitement, keeping her body at a temperature a few degrees higher than she was used to and sending vividly erotic dreams to plague her rest.
Why not have an affair with Lou? He wasn’t from her station, or even her town. He was familiar with what she did for a living, which was a huge plus, since she wouldn’t have to explain her need to work late or the very odd hours a case sometimes required. She found him physically appealing, sexually arousing and all the things she’d hoped to find in a guy but so far hadn’t.
He was divorced, which made him free to play. She wasn’t currently dating anyone. Perhaps a good roll around on the sheets with Lou and his hot body would be just the prescription for this nagging depression that had plagued her lately.
So what the fuck are you waiting for? The hormonally charged scream in her head made her blink.
I don’t know. Nothing, I guess.
Fired by a new and tingling enthusiasm, Barbara sat down at her laptop. What did she have to lose?
Hi Birdbrain…
*~~*~~*
Lou laughed out loud as he read Barbara’s response to his somewhat sexy email. It had taken him a couple of hours to get the tone he wanted - something between “here’s some case information, Detective Fremont” and “I wanna fuck you so bad my teeth ache”. He was rather proud of the result.
The Falcon? It’s a guy thing, isn’t it? LOL
Yeah. She was probably right. He couldn’t imagine himself with an email address that involved the word “pigeon” or something. He read on.
Thanks for the report - it’s a shame they couldn’t ID the computer, but let’s face i
t…it was a long shot to begin with.
She was right about that, unfortunately. There had been nothing on the bootlegged DVDs to show either a source computer or software. Yet another dead end.
Lou sighed. It happened. They moved on to the next avenue of inquiry.
The guys here are cross-referencing the fake addresses. I just heard before I left the station tonight that there’s several possible locations for an operation like this. They need power, privacy and truck access. Wi-Fi is probably provided by their burner phones, but there’s a request in for a surveillance of usage at various cell towers. That’s gonna take a while to come through. So those are the assumptions we’re working on. We’ve ruled out many of the businesses in the area with a door-to-door, and several have the power turned off. It’s not the most prestigious part of town, that’s for sure.
Okay, that was good to know. Perhaps they were making progress. Slowly, but progress nevertheless.
And no, I’m not watching porn. You have to understand that women don’t need porn to figure out what to do with their mouths.
Aha. Detective Fremont wanted to play, did she? Lou leaned towards his computer and grinned. This could be fun.
We do silly things, like read. You should try it sometime. That way you get to use your imagination. Why copy somebody else’s moves when you can invent your own?
Lou’s imagination was working just fine, reading or not. And the images it was currently generating could have powered half the state from their heat alone. He fidgeted a little and adjusted the cock that had suddenly gotten rather uncomfortable between his legs.
I’ve always believed in originality, whether in professional matters or personal ones. So porn leaves me cold.
Hah. Like anything could make her cold. He lifted an eyebrow in disbelief.
But the written word - now there you’ve got a whole new kettle of fish. You should try downloading an ebook. I’ve sent a link at the bottom of the page. It’s one of my favorites.
