Flirtation

by Samantha Hunter

  “I’m Detective Ethan Beaumont.”

  “Yeah, what? You the cop who’s messing with my sister?”

  If the man hadn’t been so beaten, EJ would have been tempted to do it himself, but he clenched his fists, and managed a dangerous smile.

  “You should know I’ve become rather fond of your sister, and I’m damned sure she doesn’t deserve what’s happened to her all because of you.” EJ stepped a little closer, lowering his voice, and the smile vanished.

  “If you weren’t already broken to bits, I would be happy to do the job myself. But seeing as you are, regretfully, probably going to end up as my brother-in-law, and Charlotte, being the soft-hearted person that she is, still hopes that you can be a real brother to her someday, I guess I’ll have to settle for just arresting you. But let me tell you this…”

  He took one step closer, nose-to-nose with Ronny’s bloodied face, the other man’s eyes wide. EJ felt Ian’s hand on his shoulder, warning, and he shook it off. He was perfectly in control.

  “If you ever cause your sister one moment of pain again, I will make sure to return it tenfold. No doubt your sister will have some kind word to say, or maybe you can testify against Maloso, something that may end up softening your sentence a bit, but if you ever treat her badly again, you’ll deal with me, and that will make your time with Lou look like a walk in the park. Are we clear?”

  Underneath the dirt and grime, Ronny paled and lowered his eyes, and EJ stepped back, letting the officers take him to the ambulance, where the officer on his left continued reading his rights.

  EJ turned to head back so that he could ride to the hospital with Charlotte, and ran smack into Ian and Sarah, who stood side-by-side, arms crossed, grinning at him like they’d just won a million bucks. All Sarah said, as she hit him solidly in the chest, was, “So he’s going to be your brother-in-law, huh? Interesting addition to the family.”

  EJ shot her a look and walked past, though he smiled as he closed the distance between him and Charlotte.

  13

  CHARLOTTE POPPED THE TOP of the canned lemonade and held the coolness against her still-sore cheek. Thankfully her cheekbone had only been badly bruised and not fractured, so she didn’t require surgery. But it still hurt quite a bit every time she tried to open her mouth too far. Unless EJ was kissing her; that didn’t seem to hurt much at all.

  It was still uncertain, whatever was between them. It had only been two days since the confrontation at Lou’s, and she’d spent the better part of the day in between asleep with the pills they’d given her for pain. So there hadn’t been any talk, though his eyes and kisses spoke volumes. She wondered if that would change after she told him her news. She hadn’t been able to get the nerve up to tell him yet.

  But she’d woken up this morning, at EJ’s home, in his bed—alone—ready to start getting her life back together. He’d taken her there from the hospital, and left a note on the counter that he’d be back later that afternoon—he had a meeting about the arrests.

  She needed to find out Ronny’s court dates, and get him a lawyer, though a court-appointed attorney was probably the best they were going to do. She hadn’t forgiven Ronny, not by a long shot. But he was her brother, her only family, and she was willing to stick by him and help him be the man he could be, if he were willing to try. And if that didn’t happen, well, she’d cross that bridge when she came to it, but for now, she at least felt like she was seeing things more realistically.

  She stopped on the sidewalk and faced the doorway of the community center thrift shop. It was time to face the music about the dress, but as difficult as this was, Charlotte was glad to finally be able to deal with it. She just hoped Phoebe was still there, and hadn’t lost her job. If she had, Charlotte fully intended to speak to the manager and make sure she did her best to get the girl’s position reinstated.

  Chin up, she walked through the door and headed directly to the desk, hoping to see Phoebe’s friendly face there.

  Instead, there was an older woman, a cool-looking and much less friendly appearing brunette. It must be Sharon, Phoebe’s boss. The woman looked up, meeting Charlotte’s gaze.

  “May I help you?”

  “I—I was looking for Phoebe.”

  “She’s in the back room, just a moment.”

  Charlotte nearly melted in relief—at least the girl hadn’t been fired.

  She flipped through some items on the racks, and heard a delighted squeal of welcome as she turned to find Phoebe walking toward her with a big smile. Charlotte found herself wrapped in a huge hug and it made her feel even worse. Phoebe was obviously glad to see her, probably because she expected the dress would finally be returned. She took a deep breath and just said what she had to say.

  “Phoebe, I am so sorry about the dress—”

  The young woman drew back, and looked at Charlotte in amazement.

  “Are you kidding? I mean, I was a little frazzled the morning you didn’t show up, but I understand completely and I’m just so happy to see that you’re okay!”

  “You are?” Now Charlotte was confused.

  “Yes, I got the note from Mr. Beaumont, saying you’d had an accident and the dress we’d lent you had been ruined, but he had another identical one that was brand-new sent immediately to replace it.”

  Charlotte was frozen in shock. EJ had replaced the dress. But he had never said a word…of course, if he had, she would have argued. She preferred to pay her own way, but in the case of the dress, she just breathed a heavy sigh of relief.

  “I didn’t know—he must have meant to tell me and forgot. You didn’t get in trouble? I was so worried.”

  Phoebe slung an arm around her shoulders and walked with her out the front door where they could stand in the sunshine and chat in private.

  “Well, Sharon wasn’t thrilled with me loaning the dress out—but she couldn’t be too mad because it was replaced, and then some. The new dress went for big dollars in the auction, She chewed me out a little, but that was it.”

  “Well, I’m sorry that happened. I really was the one who should be chewed out.”

  “Those are terrible bruises on your face—you must have been in some accident. I’m glad to see you’re up and around.”

  “Oh, thanks. Yeah, today is my first day out. I’m still a little woozy.”

  Phoebe hugged her again. “Well, you met one amazing guy. He’s the one you got the dress for in the first place, to go to the Isle, that’s him, right? He’s the one who replaced the dress?”

  Charlotte smiled. “Yeah, that’s him.”

  “Wow. Sounds like a fairy tale.”

  Charlotte nodded, thinking about how the original Grimm fairy tales had been scary stories with hard lessons, as well as a happily-ever-after, and while she and EJ had surely experienced the scary and difficult parts, she wondered about the happily-ever-after. And hoped.

  “Well, I should be going. I’m sorry again about the dress, but I’m glad it worked out okay.”

  “You still owe me a tarot reading, remember,” Phoebe teased, winking.

  “Absolutely. You just say when. You can have as many as you want, whenever you want.”

  “Cool!”

  Waving goodbye to Phoebe, she strolled down the sidewalk, and all she could think about was seeing EJ, and thanking him for replacing that dress.

  EJ AND SARAH sat at the long board table with Ian and about a dozen other law enforcement officials going over the arrests and events of the past few days, and all EJ wanted to do was get the hell out of there and go home to Charlotte.

  He liked the sound of that, and he wanted to make it a permanent arrangement. He knew when he’d awakened that morning next to her, as she slept peacefully beside him, that she was the woman he wanted to wake up next to for the rest of his life.

  Now he couldn’t wait to get home and tell her that. He glanced at his watch impatiently as the meeting dragged on, thankfully interrupted by the ring of someone’s cell phone, and everyone searche
d their pockets, but Ian said. “It’s me.”

  EJ knew what the call was as he watched the color run out of his friend’s face. Ian clicked the phone shut, stood and declared the meeting over with.

  Sage was on her way to the hospital, in labor.

  Congratulations and back-slapping went all around the room, but Ian was already out the door, with EJ and Sarah not far behind.

  “Ian, wait, we’ll drive.”

  Racing to the parking garage, the elevator opened and the three of them nearly plowed Charlotte over as they pushed forward. EJ steadied her and pulled her back into the compartment as they headed to the cars.

  Ian looked completely shell-shocked, and Sarah was staring at him helplessly, unsure what to do. EJ just laughed out loud, so full of joy at the moment he couldn’t keep it inside. Charlotte looked at them all like they were nuts, and he leaned down and kissed her for it.

  “Sage is having their twins now. We’re going to the hospital,” he offered by way of explanation, watching her face light up as she crossed the small space to Ian and hugged him tightly. EJ watched as she placed a palm on either side of his face, as if they were age-old friends, and told him that everything was going to be just fine.

  EJ loved her so much he felt like he was going to explode if he didn’t tell her, but the doors opened, and they all burst from the elevator, running to the car and directing Ian into the passenger’s seat, whether he liked it or not.

  When they hit the street, two squad cars were waiting with lights flashing, and they escorted them to the hospital. EJ grinned in the rearview mirror at Charlotte, who sat in back with Sarah, and she grinned back. Within minutes they were at the hospital entrance, and Ian’s door was open and he was out almost before EJ had stopped the car. EJ, Sarah and Charlotte went to find parking, and Sarah shook her head.

  “I hope those babies waited for him.”

  “He’ll feel much better once he gets up there, one way or the other.”

  “These are his first, I take it?” Charlotte asked, trying to catch up.

  EJ nodded. “Ian was married before and his ex-wife had a bad miscarriage. He’s been scared to death on some level that he could lose them again, or lose Sage. I know how he feels, to some extent.” He caught her eyes in a meaningful glance in the rearview as he pulled into a space, but she looked away, making him frown.

  “Well, let’s go see how the new dad is doing.”

  Finding maternity was a challenge, but eventually they got there, but there was no sign of Ian. A nurse told them everything was fine, but they had just moved on to delivery. It wouldn’t be too long now, before they would have news.

  Sarah was on her cell to Logan, knowing he would want to be there. For the moment, there wasn’t anything they could do but wait. And pace, as was traditional.

  But EJ had things to say, and now seemed as good a time as any. He excused them for a moment, leading Charlotte down the hall to an empty room, and asked a nurse if he could use it for a private conversation. The pretty RN was charmed, and agreed.

  “EJ! What are you thinking? We have to get back down there, Ian could be back out at any second—”

  He stopped her with a kiss that took them both over for several seconds, their emotions running high and their passion for each other spiking to match. EJ drew back, looking down into her face intently, running his finger lightly along the bruises on her cheek.

  “I died a thousand deaths when they were looking for you in those woods.”

  Her face softened, her gaze locked on his. “Me, too. When they took me, I thought I might never see you again.”

  “I love you, Charlotte. I want to marry you, if you’ll have me, as soon as is humanly possible.”

  “What?” It was all she could think to say, and stood staring dumbly at EJ, who suddenly sank to one knee, and was staring up at her, his heart in his eyes.

  “Will you marry me, Charlotte? I should have a ring, and we’ll go out to dinner, back to the Isle, and I’ll do this again, right, but I can’t wait. I need to know now if you’ll be my wife.”

  Charlotte was overcome, and simply sank to her knees, too, grasping his other hand.

  “EJ, before I answer that we have to talk about something.”

  His brow creased in a frown, but he nuzzled her face gently with his lips. “Whatever you want.”

  Charlotte tried to speak, but the intense emotions of the last few days, hell, the last week, finally caught up with her and she dissolved, leaning into EJ and just sobbing for all she was worth. EJ rubbed her back, his tone apologetic.

  “I’m sorry, honey, I’ve been so impatient. You don’t have to answer now. You can take your time, I just want to be part of your life, and have you in mine, we don’t have to get married right now if—”

  “Nothing happened.”

  He looked at her blankly, shaking his head.

  “What do you mean?”

  “When we forgot to be careful? Nothing happened—I’m not pregnant.”

  EJ drew back, a shocked kind of realization on his face. “You think that’s why I’m asking you to marry me?”

  Charlotte shook her head in the negative, more tears spilling.

  “You replaced the dress!”

  It took him a moment to catch up, but then realized what she meant.

  “Yes, I know. I knew you were worried about it, and didn’t want the clerk to lose her job. I also knew you would argue with me if I told you. I didn’t mean to interfere, I love you just the way you are. I was just wanting to…help.”

  “No, it was a wonderful thing to do. No one has ever done anything so thoughtful for me before. Everything is upside down, and I didn’t plan to have a baby, but then I fell so much in love with you, and I started to love the idea of carrying that little baby around, and last night before they could give me pain medication they had to do a test when I told them there was a chance, and then they told me it was negative, and I was s-so…s-sad…and then I found out you replaced that dress, and I was so touched. I needed to see you right away.”

  The tirade ended in even heavier tears, and EJ pulled her into a tight embrace, rocking her back and forth until she calmed down, kissing her hair and smiling. When the tears had reduced to hiccups, he drew back, studying her face, his voice patient.

  “Charlotte, do you love me?”

  He kissed her softly.

  “Yes.”

  “Do you want to have babies with me and fill all those empty rooms in my family home? To have a future with me?”

  He kissed her again, more deeply, licking the salty tears from her lips.

  “Oh, yes.”

  “Then, please, once more, will you marry me?”

  She met him full-on, their passion exploding as they lowered to the floor, laughing against each others’ lips as she responded from the deepest well of her heart.

  “Absolutely.”

  Epilogue

  Four years later…

  “GOD, I LOVE A woman in uniform,” Logan whispered to Sage and Charlotte. His eyes were glued to Sarah as she stood at the podium next to Ian and EJ, all impressive and proud in their formal dress uniforms.

  Jennie—who’d joined the team shortly after Ian and Sage’s daughters were born—stood with them, and Nathan Reilley, next to her, the most recent member of the team. The unit was receiving commendations as a team and individually for the excellent work they’d done for the previous five years.

  The Virginia HotWires office was now the model for similar units being formed all over the country. Small, specialized units were being annexed onto police departments and existing computer crime units, blending federal technical expertise with local law enforcement. It was proving to be a winning combination.

  “I think Sarah looks a little misty,” Sage commented with a broad grin. Her two dark-haired, blue-eyed daughters, Anna and Rose, were quietly fascinated—for the moment—with the sight of their daddy, aunt and uncles up on the stage.

  “It’s the hormones
, but don’t say anything.” Logan grinned, looking forward to adding his own child to the growing HotWires family. “She vehemently denies any mood changes.”

  Charlotte chuckled, keeping one finger hooked into the collar of Jared, who was two, and who badly wanted to go up on stage and see what all the fuss was about.

  “You did a magnificent job with the flowers, Charlotte—those hydrangeas are unbelievable, and in November!”

  “Thanks, Sage—they’re from my new collection in the greenhouse. We’re so busy I’m going to have to take on more help soon, especially with the new addition on the way.”

  Logan leaned down to Sage. “You and Ian expanding the team, by any chance?”

  “We’ve been talking about adoption. One more would be nice—a boy, maybe. And we both like the idea of giving a child in need a home.”

  Logan squeezed her shoulder in support, and returned his eyes to the stage. The ceremony was over, and congratulations were offered all around, flashes from cameras coming from every direction.

  “I’m so glad that part’s over, I could eat a moose. How long before the dinner?” Sarah joined the group first, blushing as Logan pulled her into a deep hug, and missing the humorous looks exchanged by her friends and partners. A beeping sound had everyone checking their pockets, but Sage popped up.

  “It’s mine. Sorry guys, keeping an eye on a contract we’re trying to get in D.C.”

  Kissing Ian apologetically, but with a sensual promise in her eyes, she turned away to take the call, and Ian’s two girls flew into his arms, nearly toppling him over.

  Grace laughed, her eyes on Nathan—the sexy new team member and the youngest of the group—as he joined the group. Grace’s date, Jordan, stepped up possessively sliding his arm around her as he offered congratulations to Ian and the rest of the group.

  Ian’s daughter, Rose, spoke at the top of her lungs, wanting to make sure she got her two cents in among all the adult conversation. “Daddy! You look handsome and sexy!”

  Ian quirked an eyebrow, wondering where his daughter had come up with that particular description, and peered over at Sage, who winked at him and shrugged. Looking down at the giggling girls he shook his head.