by Brandy Ayers
She liked to remember her dad as he appeared in the picture. Tall, strong, clear mind. Not the shell of a man the chemo and pain killers had turned him into toward the end. The cancer transformed the once-proud man into a frail child, barely able to hold a thought in his head for more than a minute.
Dozens of glasses around the bar raised to salute the photo. Her favorite drink materialized before her, as if by magic. Even in a bar filled to capacity with law enforcement, she still wasn’t naive enough to drink something given to her by a stranger.
But then a hand rested on her hip, and McCracken’s mischievous grin appeared as his body leaned next to her at the bar.
“Cranberry and vodka, right?” He raised his glass of dark beer, tipping it toward her father’s image.
“Thanks.” Turning her back to him, she mimicked the gesture.
“To Mac!” Her father’s name rang throughout the bar, and she had to concentrate to hold back the tears from spilling down her cheeks.
It had been over two years since he passed, and she still wasn’t over it. Maybe she never would be. But the men and women in this bar made up her family now. A sense of security poured over her as she looked around. They had loved him almost as much as she did.
“How are your classes going, sweet girl?” Her Uncle’s pride-filled eyes brought her back from her somber thoughts.
“Fantastic! With any luck, you’ll officially have a certified child psychologist on staff next year.” Gratitude swept over her once more for the generosity of the man who’d become her surrogate parent after her father’s death. “I still can’t believe you got the grant approved for the station to add the position. It’s been six months, and I’m still so excited to go to class.”
“It wasn’t just my doing. Luke here was the one who brought the idea to my attention. I simply filled out the paperwork.”
Sophie turned to find the sergeant still leaning against the bar behind her. “You never told me you had anything to do with the grant.”
His detached shrug infuriated her. “If I’d known it meant making you a permanent fixture in the station, I never would’ve looked into it.” He glanced away, avoiding her eyes.
“You watching out for our girl tonight, Luke?” Uncle Jon was oblivious to the tension between them, thankfully.
“I don’t need a babysitter. Especially not him.” She shot her Uncle an exasperated look. With the exception of his full head of hair, he looked exactly like her Dad, his older brother. They had the same strong jawline, kind blue eyes, and imposing stature.
“Aw come on, honeybee. Luke’s a decent guy. And I don’t want you going anywhere alone after dark anymore.” He leveled her with his best “don’t mess with me” stare. After a decade as the chief of police, he had perfected the art of getting his point across with a look. “Not until this rash of armed robberies gets solved. There are too many damned addicts out there looking for something to trade for their next hit.”
She knew the case weighed on his mind and didn’t want to add to his worries, so she dropped her protest. For the moment.
“Luke, she doesn’t leave this place without an escort to her car, and I expect a patrol car to follow her back to her house. Got it?” There was that look again. McCracken didn’t have a chance.
“Yes, sir. You have my word.” Despite the lack of uniform, Luke’s posture automatically snapped to attention at the order from his superior.
The Chief nodded his approval and walked off to talk with some of the other men. As soon as he left, Luke visibly relaxed his stance.
“Looks like you drew the short straw tonight. You really don’t need to watch me; I’m fine.”
His attempt at giving her the same no-nonsense look as her uncle struck her as so ridiculous she had to bite back a laugh.
“My Chief gave me an order. I’ll follow it, thanks.” He swallowed the rest of his drink in one go, and depositing the pint on the bar, he nodded to the bartender. “Two shots down here.”
“No shots!” The response burst from her lips a little too fast.
He chuckled at her declaration. “Afraid of what will happen?”
“You’ve already proved once you can’t be trusted when it comes to me and tequila, so yeah, I’ll keep my head on straight tonight.”
“First of all, you only had one shot that night. If anything, I was the drunk one being taken advantage of.” Sliding forward, he pressed his firm thigh against her crotch. The seam of her jeans rubbed against her mound, and she gasped in surprise. “Besides, I can get you into bed with or without shots.”
“You think I’m that easy, huh?” One light shove from her and he willingly backed off, but not as much as she would’ve liked.
“No, I think I’m that good.”
The desire to hit him bubbled up again. She didn’t consider herself a violent person. But for some reason this pig of a man brought it out in her. “You’re disgusting, you know that, right?”
He shot her a panty-melting smile. She pressed her thighs together, both in an effort to relieve some of the pressure building there, and to keep his leg from advancing further between them.
“You know, I would be curious to have you again, sober this time.” He leaned forward, invading her space, causing her logic to falter. “You were so wild and uninhibited that night. Are you always like that in bed? Or was it the tequila talking?”
The only reason this asshole felt like he could play with her like this was because she never gave him anything back. Screw that. Two could play this game.
She brought her body closer. Her hand brushed against his crotch and she was surprised to find him hard beneath his jeans. “I’m better sober. You got the clumsy version. The things I’d do to you when there’s nothing fogging my brain?” She brought her lips to graze against the outer shell of his ear, rubbing her body against his. “You’d never be satisfied by one of these bimbos you chase around this place again.” She nipped his earlobe and stepped back to give them both more space.
The playfulness vanished from his eyes, replaced now with obvious lust. “Who said I ever was?”
A response escaped her. What on earth did that mean? Instead of continuing their heated conversation, Sophie picked up her drink and headed toward the dance floor.
Several of the station wives danced in a huddle on the small, square wood floor. They squealed and welcomed her into their circle as she approached. If the guys in the station acted as her brothers, their wives were like the best friends she’d never had as a teenager. Being raised by her father and uncle had left Sophie with very little experience interacting with women. Men had always been whom she gravitated toward when choosing friends.
But these women took her under their collective wing. Maybe it was their natural instinct to protect the orphaned girl, or they recognized she needed a friend. Not a week had gone by since her father died that she didn’t get a request for a midday coffee or lunch date from one of them.
The music spurred her to move with complete abandon. Dancing was one of the few activities that allowed her mind to let go and just drift. She rolled her body, swayed her hips. Laughed and shimmied her small chest along with the rest of the ladies. The feel of several pairs of eyes evaluating her brought some of her self-consciousness back to the surface, but she tried to ignore it.
Just as she was really getting into the groove, a slow, sexy song came on. Men filtered onto the floor, finding the women they had pledged their hearts to, pulling them close. Sophie drifted to the sidelines. Strong hands circled her small waist.
She didn’t need to see his face to know Luke held her.
“Dance with me.”
Forcing an exasperated sigh from her lips, she willed her heart to cease its wild beating. “Fine.”
He spun her around and pulled her tight to his chest, but he kept his hands at a respectable distance from her ass and rocked back and forth to the rhythm.
She had to be careful. Two years ago, she had let her hopes and emotions g
et crushed by this man. The wall she had so firmly built around her heart could crack at any moment if she didn’t watch it.
Attempting to put a little distance between their bodies was useless. Every time she went to take a step back he followed her, not giving an inch. He cupped the back of her head, cradled it against his chest.
“Stop trying to escape.” He chuckled in her ear. “You looked amazing out here. Every man in the room has been watching you. Even the married ones. I couldn’t let anyone else touch you. No one but me.”
Her heart skipped a beat, then resumed pumping at double time.
A hand caressed her back, traveling lower until it came to rest at the dip just above the curve of her ass. He applied a slight pressure there and she allowed him to hold her tighter. The feel of his arousal against her belly set her body on fire.
Fuck. This was a bad idea. She had to get out.
Two giant steps back and she broke free of his grip. She turned and rushed toward the front door. A coat hanger crashed to the floor as she snatched her leather jacket on the way out, but she didn’t bother to stop and pick it up.
The door swung shut behind her, and she sent a silent prayer out to the sky that he wouldn’t follow her.
No such luck. Not three paces from the door, it swung open with enough force that it slammed against the brick wall.
“Sophie! Where the fuck are you going?” He bellowed across the quiet parking lot.
“Home. Stay away from me; I’m warning you. I have pepper spray.” Tears threatened to spill once more. She would not cry in front of this asshole.
“I promised your uncle I’d watch you tonight. You can’t leave without me.” Footsteps echoed off the walls of the surrounding buildings as he stalked after her.
She stopped on a dime and spun to face him. “Don’t you dare try and use my uncle as an excuse to try and get into my pants, you asshole. We both know you don’t give two shits about my well-being. Just go back inside. There are plenty of badge bunnies in there that would love to do you in the bathroom. Go bother one of them.” It hadn’t been her intention to yell at him, but once she got started, her control quickly snapped and anger spewed from her mouth.
“Listen, I’d be lying to your face if I said I didn’t want to fuck you against that car right this second. But I swear to you, I will just make sure you get home okay. I gave the chief my word, and damn it, I keep my word.”
She could tell he was struggling to keep his cool. But his bullshit moral self-righteous act needed to be called out.
“Really? You keep your word?” She shoved a finger hard into his chest, the pain and anger she’d held for far too long finally breaking free. “What about two years ago when you said I wasn’t just a hook-up?”
Luke hung his head, unable to meet her gaze.
“That’s what I thought, fuck-wad.”
“Jesus, Soph, it was two years ago. Like you said, get over it. I was an asshole, I admit it.”
“Yeah, you were an asshole, all right. You took advantage of a girl who’d lost her dad not four weeks before.” The crack in her voice made her even madder. “Sure, the tequila was my idea, but you went along with it. You were the one saying crap like I was the most beautiful woman you’d ever seen, and you just wanted to be closer to me. You have any fucking idea what words like that do to a woman?” She wiped at the bitter tears that spilled from her eyes. “I thought you liked me. I thought we had a future. The bed hadn’t even stopped shaking from our fucking before you were out the door. Then at work you just pretended like nothing had happened. And now, what? You want a repeat performance?” Silence filled the air as she waited for a response.
“Sophie…”
“No. Fuck you, I don’t give a shit about your answer. I’m done. I’m going home.”
Before she could move an inch, his hands gripped her biceps, pulling her flush against his hard body. His lips crashed into hers. She tried to retreat, but he followed until her back pressed against the cold metal of her car.
Her initial resistance to the kiss evaporated as soon as his teeth nibbled her bottom lip. A needy moan slipped out as she opened her mouth, welcoming his tongue. She clutched at his shirt, wrapped a leg around his hip, and thrust her mound against his arousal.
Breaking the connection, Luke’s voice was thick with desire. “We should get you back home.”
Regret swept through her as reason returned. This was Luke McCracken, infamous womanizer, classic alpha male. Not a potential boyfriend, just a heartbreak waiting to happen. Again.
“No. I’m not doing this again.” The words were for herself as much as for him. She shoved his chest with all her strength; he stumbled back in surprise.
Sophie wrenched open the door of her shitty Corolla. Glancing in her rear view mirror, she saw him running across the parking lot and getting into his own car.
Whatever.
Every minute of the twenty-mile drive back to her house was pure torture. After looking back once to see that he was following her, she had to force herself to not look again.
The kiss played in her mind on repeat. Why did he have such a profound effect on her hormones?
She half expected him to bum-rush her when they arrived at her house. Instead, he sat in his car across the street from her driveway and watched as she walked to the door. Once inside, she locked the door and peeked out the window through the drapes. His car had yet to move. She let the curtain fall back into place and turned to head upstairs.
The sound of his car speeding away filled her with disappointment. Part of her had wanted him to follow her inside. To fight for her. Tell her she was wrong. But apparently, she was right.
Chapter Five
Luke
Fuck.
What had he done?
Luke silently berated himself the entire ride to Sophie’s house. How had his teasing and annoying her for the pure thrill of her reaction turned into pressing his hard cock against her on the dance floor and mauling her in the parking lot?
It had just been so long since he’d been with a woman. That was the only explanation he could think of. Every time he had even tried to take a woman home, in the time since his night with Sophie, he couldn’t follow through with it. Sophie’s sweet face would swim before his eyes, and a vague feeling of nausea followed behind the vision. No woman even half interested him since that night. Even thinking about brushing his lips against anyone but Sophie made his dick shrivel.
Sophie Gallo had well and truly ruined him for all other women. Not that he would let her know that.
Luke pulled up to the curb opposite her house and watched as she slammed her car door closed, stalked up the stairs to her front door, and slammed that door shut even harder. He collapsed against the seat back, his stomach churning with the desire to run after her. Take her in his arms. Kiss her until she forgot why she hated him so much.
As much as he loved pissing her off with his needling and third-grade-boy antics, seeing that disdain for him so bright in her eyes felt like a punch to the gut every single day. Lying in bed with her that night so many years ago, he had felt at home.
Right up until he’d panicked and run. He’d been adrift ever since.
Could he fix things?
Luke gripped the door handle, ready to fling it open and break into her house if he had to.
Fuck! Luke pounded his fist against the steering wheel.
He couldn’t. Nothing had changed. Every reason for why he’d walked away from Sophie two years ago still rang true. He reminded himself of that once again. She may not ever know it, but by staying away, he was saving her a life of pain.
Maybe he should move on. Stop torturing himself. Go back to the bar, find a willing woman — which wouldn’t be hard — and fuck Sophie out of his system.
A sense of dread filled his chest as he turned his car back toward the Blue Line. The police scanner crackled next to him, as the dispatcher called for units to head toward a suspicious vehicle a couple of miles away, an
d for a moment Luke considered answering the request. But he was off duty, had drunk a couple of beers, and even though he was okay to drive, he really shouldn’t go to a scene with beer on his breath. Another unit answered the call, and Luke accepted the fact that he had just been trying to find an excuse not to go back to the bar.
But it had to be done.
The parking lot had filled even more since he and Sophie had left. No surprise there; ten on a Friday night was always a busy time for the place. Cops, ex-cops, their wives and girlfriends, and the women hoping to become their girlfriends, all packed the place to unwind and blow off a little steam. Exactly what Luke needed to do.
Despite the extra bodies and noise in the bar, it felt somehow empty without Sophie there. Luke pushed the thought aside. No more thinking about Sophie, only of finding a not-too-tipsy, attractive lady to get this over with and move on. He felt vaguely guilty that he would be using whatever woman went home with him to break the seal on his unintentional celibacy, but not enough to make him change his mind.
It didn’t take long after he bellied up to the bar before a badge bunny slinked up beside him, batting her lashes. Even before Sophie came into his life, Luke had never been one to chase the bunnies or holster sniffers. They were only interested in his steady job and pension, the thrill of the title. Not the real him. But this girl wasn’t bad as far as bunnies went. She was tall and curvy, bleach blonde hair tumbling over her shoulders. The blue of her eyes was a little startling, as though they might be contacts, but he could ignore that. She was the exact opposite of the girl who’d been haunting his dreams for years. Just what he needed.
“Hello there, officer. Can I buy you a drink?” Her sultry voice did nothing to him, though he wished like hell it would at least cause a twinge in his pants.
“Aren’t I supposed to be the one buying you a drink?” Luke gave her his patented half smile that seemed to make the panties drop, but even that made him feel like he was wronging Sophie in some way.
