And not just prone…completely susceptible and helpless to it when it finally comes.
“Stranger things have happened,” I say. “So nothing really surprises me anymore.”
I don’t want to go overboard and scare her, telling her how she’s making me feel right now.
There’s still a part of me that remembers her as Quentin’s cute kid sister, but that part if fading fast.
Because a big part of me…a very big part between my legs…is telling me exactly how I feel about her now.
And when Malia leans forward from the back seat and puts her head on Quinn’s shoulder it tells me how she feels about her too.
Malia has never done that. Ever. Partly because she’s never seen me on a date, because I never had the time or desire to do so. But she’s always been protective of me, especially around women no matter what the setting or circumstance.
I can barely pick out a cantaloupe from the fruits and vegetables section of the grocery store without her blocking off the area until I pick the best one.
And if someone smiles at her when I use the ATM? Forget about it.
She’s never violent towards anyone, but she just has this way about her where she uses her size and certain looks to let people know to stay away from me.
At first I wasn’t sure what to make of it, but it’s actually made our bond even closer.
I work so much that when I’m not working I want to just be left alone to get things done that I need to get do. Malia makes sure that happens.
“Oh my gosh, she’s so cute,” Quinn says as she turns so she can slide her hands underneath Malia’s face and rub her neck.
Malia stretches out her neck so Quinn can get more and rub deeper.
And the way Quinn is turned in her seat and the way that seatbelt separates her breasts has me practically swerving off the road.
Focus, Kane. Focus.
Malia plays a game where she moves her head around one side of the seat and then the other causing Quinn to rotate left and right like she’s doing oblique crunches with a medicine ball at the gym.
But the only one who needs medicine right now is me, because I feel like I’m about to hyperventilate.
This situation is too perfect.
Malia already likes Quinn and Quinn’s having the time of her life playing their little game together.
I want to just drive right past the park and keep on going. I don’t want to interrupt their fun, but I know it’ll only get better once we get to the park.
And my life will only get better when I put a ring on Quinn’s finger.
Before long we pull up to the park and I park the Jeep.
We all jump out and even though there are a bunch of dogs there Malia doesn’t just take off to go play.
“I’m surprised she doesn’t just run off,” Quinn says.
I’d be surprised if Quinn didn’t run off if she knew all the things I wanted to do to her right now.
“She’s very protective and possessive.”
“Really? She seems so friendly.”
“She is…as long as you don’t get between her and us.”
“Why would anyone want to come between us?” she asks.
“No one would because Malia’s not the only one who’s protective of what’s hers.”
Quinn looks at me as her eyes open wider and her jaw softens.
She understands my words. But does she really understand what it means to be mine?
CHAPTER 6
Quinn
Did he just say what I think he said?
Malia’s not the only one who’s protective of what’s hers.
So he’s definitely saying he’s protective too, but of me? He was looking right at me when he said it and he’s still staring down at me.
Or is he saying I’m protective of what’s mine? As in he wants to be mine?
The “hers” on the end is so confusing.
His body turns but he keeps his eyes on me as he walks towards the front of his Jeep and to the park.
I smell the fresh ocean breeze as we enter the park. And I also see the sign that says it closes at nine.
We walk down the trail and soon we’re actually on the beach.
Whoa! There are so many cool little places like this in SF that I still don’t know about, but I sure can imagine Kane and Malia showing them to me.
“Are they on horseback?” I say as I look up the beach.
“Yep. They’re riding bareback it looks like. There are also bicyclists and hang gliders during the day. This is my favorite spot in SF and Malia’s too.”
“I can see why.” I pause. “What brought you here?”
“I found the dog park after I found Malia. And I found SF when I was looking for work after completing the academy.”
“You found Malia?”
“In Alaska on a vacation of all things. We haven’t been apart since.”
“You went to Alaska on vacation? My brother never told me that.”
“Your brother doesn’t know everything about me.”
I smile. “I thought you two shared everything.”
“I thought we did too…until today.”
I watch as another dog approaches Malia to play and she does, but as they run back and forth Malia always keeps to the inside, closer to Kane and I. I’ve never seen anything like it. If I was just watching I wouldn’t notice, but because of what Kane said about her possessiveness I totally do. When the dog makes a sharp turn Malia cuts her off keeping her at a distance from us.
As if having a hot, hulking cop by my side wasn’t enough to protect me, we have a dog to protect the two of us.
“You told him about what happened today?”
“No. I just told him I saw you and wanted to reach out. Maybe…reconnect after all these years.”
“Reconnect? Did we ever connect in the first place?” I ask before I smile.
“Yeah, about that,” he says before he looks off into the distance above the Pacific Ocean. “We were what? About seven years apart?”
“Exactly seven. Lucky seven.”
“Lucky or unlucky depending on how you look at it.”
“What do you mean?”
“If we had been the same age who knows what kind of connection we might have….”
He lets the sentence hang and I’m barely hanging on here myself. I want to throw myself in his arms and tell him how I really feel about him, but I’m not about to act desperate. That’s never a good look.
“So you came up here for work?”
“Right. And you know…just to get away from it all. When you’re from a place, no matter how big or small, it just seems like everyone thinks they know everything about you and it’s kind of tiring and annoying.”
“Tell me about it.”
“Is that why you left too?”
“Truth?”
“Always.”
“Because Facebook offered me a huge pile of cash and I wasn’t crazy enough to turn it down. I didn’t know that if you consolidate your student loans right when you graduate you don’t get the six month grace period before you have to start paying them back. I mean, my loans aren’t as bad as some, but it’s going to take a few years to work through them, that’s for sure.”
“And SF isn’t cheap.”
“Oh my god. I’d heard the stories, but I had no idea. I saw on the news back in June that if you live in the counties of San Francisco, San Mateo, or Marin that if you’re making one hundred and seventeen thousand dollars or less, as a household, then you’re below the poverty line. How crazy is that? I mean that’s insane! You qualify for low income housing at one hundred and seventeen thousand dollars.”
“But there is no housing here.”
“Exactly. We arrested a guy the other day because we traced back a payment he made to U-Haul.”
“U-Haul?”
“Yeah, the moving company. He paid over two thousand dollars for a twenty-six foot U-Haul truck for a four day move from SF to Vegas. When
I was putting the case together I saw that the price going the other way was only one hundred and thirty-two dollars.”
“Insane.”
“It is, but you can’t put a price on what you want.”
“I agree. Do you want to live here forever?”
“I like my job and Malia loves it here. It’s not too hot for her so that’s great.”
“I sense a ‘but’ in there somewhere.”
“But,” he says turning his eyes back to mine. God, I swear they’re practically glowing in this light. “It doesn’t matter where I live. What matters is who I surround myself with…and especially who I choose to live with.”
“But you live alone right now right?”
“Yeah, just me and Malia.”
“That must get lonely sometimes.”
“Never. I’ve always enjoyed it…until today.”
I swallow so loud I can hear it myself.
“What made you…what happened…today?”
He steps in closer and I can literally feel the warmth from his body as my breath hitches.
“A blast from the past.”
I swallow hard again. “That drug dealer you’ve been trying to catch for so long?”
“A different kind of drug dealer that has a drug, so to speak, that is the most intoxicating kind known to man. A drug I didn’t even believed worked as they say it does until today. And it provides the most intense euphoria you could imagine. One that’s so addicting the minute you feel it you know you’re hooked forever.”
“Really?” I say feeling goose bumps cover my body.
“Really. And the best part is that it’s free. It doesn’t cost anything but for you to pay it back in kind. And when you feel that feeling it gives you you know exactly that that’s what you’re going to spend the rest of your life doing. But pay is the wrong word, because giving it back to the person who gave it to you will come so naturally that it’s all you’ll ever want to do.”
“All you want to do?”
“The only thing. Because it makes you realize you haven’t even been living until you’ve experienced it.”
“I want to…experience it,” I say softly.
“I think you already are. Right now,” he says as his hand comes up and stops just short of my cheek. The wind moves my hair sideways perfectly exposing the side of my cheek his hand is hovering over. The side he’s obsessing on. The side that feels so ready for his touch. The side that feels hot already and I know my face is red as my heart is beating for him…wanting him…needing him.
I turn my head slightly and the pad of his thumb gently finds my skin and I swear all I want to do is fall down in the sand with him and make love as the ocean washes over us. It’s maybe sixty degrees tonight, but I feel like I’m standing on the equator at high noon.
I’m burning up. Burning for him. My face. My sex. Everything.
He leans in slowly and I come up on my tiptoes to meet him. He stops just short of my mouth and I can feel the heat from his breath.
“From the moment I saw you today I knew I was addicted. You made me feel something I’ve never felt before. And now all I can think about is how much I need to feel more.” He pauses. “And that starts right now.”
He moves in the last little bit just as my eyes close and then I feel his lips meet mine causing my knees to go weak, but he’s ready as he pulls my body into his under the moonlight along the shores of San Francisco.
CHAPTER 7
Kane
I swear her lips are the sweetest thing I’ve ever tasted and now I want to taste all of her. I want to explore every curve, to kiss every inch of skin on her body and then watch her feel pleasure as my tongue moves from the outside of her body to the inside.
Malia makes a howling sound and I look at her and see she’s right beside me…but she’s not acting jealous about Quinn at all, which is a huge relief.
“It’s okay,” I say looking down at her, but she just howls again and then nudges at my pants pocket with her nose.
“Is she okay?” Quinn asks.
“I think she’s trying to tell me something,” I say.
I hear a muffled sound and then it hits me.
My phone is ringing.
I pull my phone from my pocket and my eyebrows raise when I see the name.
I turn the screen so Quinn can see it and she immediately smirks, which quickly turns into a devilish smile.
“Hey Quentin,” I say, taking the phone and putting it to my ear.
“Are you in a wind tunnel or something?”
“No, at the beach.”
“That makes sense. Hey look, I was just calling you to see if you got in touch with my sister.”
I stare into her eyes and can’t help it a devilish grin forms on my face as well.
“Yeah, I was able to track her down,” I say.
“Okay good. Since I spoke with you she hasn’t been answering her phone. It just seemed weird, that’s all. I was going to ask you to go over there and check up on her but since you already got in touch with her then I’m assuming everything’s okay.
“Yeah, she’s in good hands,” I say.
“Good hands?”
“Figure of speech,” I say brining my hand back up to her face and cradling her chin.
“Right. Okay, tell her to give me a call next time you talk to her.”
“Will do.”
“Okay. Gotta run.”
“Catch ya later,” I say.
“Thanks. Oh! And Kane.”
“Yeah.”
“Thanks for keeping an eye on her. I really appreciate it.”
“No worries, man.”
“I know they don’t call San Francisco Man Francisco for no reason. There are a lot of guys up there and not so many girls.”
“Yeah, it kind of works that way in the tech world.”
“Exactly. I’m sure it’s all good, but it’s just nice to know she’s got someone there for her, you know, if something goes wrong or she starts getting unwanted advances.”
My eyes narrow and my nostrils flare. Quinn playfully takes a step back and raises her palms to her shoulder level.
The thought of any man trying to hit on her is an “unwanted advance” in my book. That’s for damn sure.
Because she’s mine and only mine and anyone who wants to get to her has to go through me first. And I’m a brick wall with a big ol’ puppy by my side.
And no one’s getting through us to get to her. We’re both protective of what’s ours and Quinn is part of the pack now. Our kiss sealed that.
Now time to make her officially part of my life. And doing that while keeping my friendship with her brother is going to be the hard part.
“You got it, amigo,” I say. “Got ya covered.”
We end the call and I stuff the phone back in my pocket.
“Now where were we?” I ask.
“We were at the part where you kiss me again and again and again.”
“That’s exactly what I thought,” I say, but this time I scoop her up in my arms and carry her down the beach.
“Whooo,” she says as her feet come off the ground and make our way down the sand.
“Aren’t I heavy?”
“Are you kidding me? If you weren’t so beautiful and intelligent I wouldn’t even know you were here.”
“Awww,” she says as she pulls herself in closer to my torso, or at least as best as she can considering she’s horizontal.
I swear we must look like the perfect couple in one of those stock photos you can buy online. That or some postcard shot.
“Happy Holidays from” followed by a space where you can insert your own name. Individualize it if you wish.
But those cookie cutter things aren’t individualized…they’re mass-produced pretending to be individualized.
The only true individual is her, because she’s the only one who’s ever made me feel this way.
We continue walking along the shore, the three of us, with Malia making sure
no one, or no other dog, tries to get too close.
Possessive K-9 Cop: An Older Man Younger Woman Romance (A Man Who Knows What He Wants Book 74) Page 3
