“What do you mean?” I ask.
“They tried to exert their power, in the form of their size, over you. Well, now it’s your turn. What would you like seen done to them to show them they can’t have their way, and to get a little justice of your own.”
“Um,” I say and no other words come out. “Is this a new way of policing?” I ask.
“It’s my way…for this particular incident,” he says.
“Maybe we should just let them go. I think they’ve learned their lesson.”
“You sure?”
I nod.
“You boys are lucky,” he says, his voice echoing through my store and out into the mall as he makes eye contact with each one. “But you’re not getting out of here without apologizing.”
The boys mumble something at the same time.
Officer Jaxon purses his lips and shakes his head slowly.
“This incredibly generous young woman is giving you a get out of jail free card, and that’s how you’re going to repay her?” He pauses and they offer some half-felt apologies.
“One more chance and if you mess it up,” he says his voice raging with anger, “I’m gonna drag you out back behind the loading dock where they don’t have cameras and teach you manners myself.”
The boys suddenly start apologizing profusely to the point that they won’t stop.
“Look her in the eye when you say it,” he says.
I feel honored that the authority figure alpha male I want more than anything has gone to these lengths to give me my own personal justice, but I’m also a bit embarrassed at all the attention.
I feel my cheeks heat and turn my face slightly, catching my manager staring at me out of the corner of my eye.
He’s got his hands on his hips and he doesn’t look happy, nor does he look crazy enough to step in-between Officer Jaxon and his pursuit for three real apologies.
I just hope he doesn’t fire or reprimand me after they’re gone.
The boys give proper apologies and Officer Jaxon prepares to set them free, letting them know that if they try and run while he’s freeing them there’s a good chance the long, serrated knife he pulls from a sheath on his belt will cut their hands clean off.
He gets them freed and warns them not to bother me, or any other woman ever again.
“I was just Christmas shopping for my sister,” one of the boys says.
“Your sister, huh? You know lying to a police officer is an arrestable offense…Slade.”
The boy recoils, shocked that he knows his name.
“Yeah, that’s right. I know who you are and I know if you bother her one more time you’re not going to walk out of here, or anywhere, ever again. Do I make myself absolutely clear?”
He nods.
“Now get outta here and don’t let me ever find you boys causing trouble again,” he says and the boys walk away quickly, rubbing their wrists.
“Because I’ve got trouble of my own to cause,” he says, turning to look at me.
I swallow hard.
He reaches into his pocket and pulls out his business card, handing it to me.
“Why don’t you give me a missed call,” he says, and it’s not a question. I pull out my phone. “I want you to know you’re always safe and I’m just a phone call away…anytime, day or night.”
He watches as I type in the number and I hear a vibration in his pants, giving me an excuse to stare directly at his dick this time and as my eyes lock in on it I see it twitch a good two inches, fighting to break free of the fabric.
I look back up at him. “Thanks,” I say.
“You’re tough as nails, not backing down from those jerks,” he says. “I better get back to patrolling, but I’ll call you later to make sure…everything’s okay.”
Everything is definitely not okay, because the minute he turns to leave I think of the least expensive pair of panties we sell, because I definitely have to replace mine to get through the rest of this shift. As a matter of fact I might opt for one of those two packs. I may have no other choice if I want to make it through the day without feeling like I waded through as swamp.
I watch as Jaxon walks out of the store and into the hallway.
“Back to work. I’m not paying you to stand around,” my boss’s squeaky voice rattles out behind me.
Even from a distance I can see Jaxon’s body stiffen just before he freezes, pivoting on his heel and executing an about face with military precision as he marches right back towards, and into, the store.
He gets right up in my boss’s face, which only comes to his chest. “What you’re not paying for is security, and with a store of your size that’s a finable offense.”
“I…I…I just saw you patrolling the store a lot and I knew no one would try anything with you out there,” he says to Officer Jaxon.
His eyes move from my boss to me. He keeps his eyes locked on me as he says, “I’m not watching out for the store. I don’t give a damn about your store. I’m watching out for her and only her.” He pauses. “And now I’m watching you. You so much as schedule her on a day she doesn’t want to work and I will take that schedule and shove it down your throat. You understand?”
“Yes, officer,” he says.
“Jade,” he says, still looking at my manager.
“Yes?”
“You’re on break now.”
My manager can’t say or do anything, and he knows it.
Officer Jaxon turns to me and looks at me as he slowly walks away. His expression is so serious, just as it has been since I saw him walking the hallways that first day I spotted him at the mall.
When I see him in his uniform, watching the store, watching me…when I see the way people respect and fear him at the same time, it causes a whole host of emotions inside me.
And he’s putting a very intense feeling inside me, from my mind to my thighs.
Desire.
CHAPTER 3
Jaxon
My shift ended a full hour ago but I’m sitting in the damn mall parking lot in my squad car using every ounce of restraint in my body not to pull my cock out right here and please myself to the thought of her.
The only thing that’s stopping me?
What kind of “pleasure” would it be to take some kind of fake phallic victory, one that would only remind me that I was only imaging her straddling my cock as she rode me right here in the driver’s seat.
And there’s no way that the idea of claiming her can be anywhere near as mind blowing as the real thing, and considering just the idea of taking her right here and right now is more intense than anything that’s ever found its way into my head that means the real thing is literally going to blow my freaking mind.
I whip my phone out and stare at her number.
Jade.
Damn, even her name is exotic. Isn’t a jade stone green, just like a Christmas tree?
But damn if she’s getting a green rock from me this Christmas. And she’s not getting coal either, unless you’re talking about one of the freakishly lucky ones that found its way into becoming a diamond, because that’s exactly what she is.
And when it comes to cut and clarity there’s nothing in this world more sparkling or blue than those big, bright eyes of hers. My cock jerks at the thought.
Those eyes are so young, so innocent. A mental image of her taking me in her mouth as she looks up at me, watching as she tastes me and how much it turns her on, flashes through my mind.
My dick jumps and I can already feel the precome against the head of my cock as my crown moves through my boxer briefs, smearing it on my rod.
Fuck, I’m obsessed with this woman.
I will claim her because when I see something I want it’s mine. She’ll be my wife, the mother of my children, and my everything.
It’s taken me this long to figure out how to approach this with her father, who is not only my best friend but a trusted ally in the fight for justice.
Her dad, Jeff, is a forty-two year old tough a
s nail prosecutor. He doesn’t do plea bargains. He does convictions.
He goes after bad guys with the tenacity of a superhero in a big screen Hollywood blockbuster, and I can only imagine what he might do when he finds out I can’t stop thinking about his daughter.
But I’m not afraid of him for my own sake. I fear no man, especially when it comes to going out there and getting my girl.
What rips me apart is knowing what it could mean to her if he flipped and it ruined their relationship.
After that fucking carjacker shot her mother in broad daylight, her father is all she has left. The last thing I want to do is take that away from her, whether voluntarily or not.
But I have to be honest with myself. As likely as it is that being honest with her father could turn out to be devastating for the two of us, the reality is my life would be desolate if I didn’t go after her.
How can I live with myself knowing I didn’t go after the one thing in life I truly wanted. I don’t do angst. I do me. And what I want is her.
I hit the call button on the phone, my leg tapping the floorboard non-stop, but I’m not nervous. I’m on edge. I want her here, with me now.
Riding shotgun as my partner for life.
This is way more than sex, or how much my body is demanding I breed with her and put a baby in that sexy stomach of hers.
This is about a life together. About me keeping her safe and guiding her through life as an older man who’s seen it all.
Most importantly, this is about me going to sleep every night completely exhausted from giving her everything I’ve got, in and out of the bedroom…and then waking up the next morning and being greeted by the most beautiful kind of sunrise in the world…her smile as she opens her eyes.
I’m going to be the first one to see that every morning for the rest of my life. There’s no ifs, ands, or buts about it.
I’m going to be the one who runs my fingers along the silky smooth milky skin of her arm, giving her the world’s lightest massage relaxing her when she’s had a rough day.
But rough days will be far and few between because I’m going to make her life flowers and kittens, served up on a silver platter every day I take a breath on this earth.
“Hey,” she says. And just like that she’s taken my breath away.
I sit up in my seat, my body sliding along the pleather upholstery, hearing the noise it makes knowing that should be the sound of her body as I take her in the back of the car.
“How’s my rock,” I say.
“Your rock?”
“You’re a rock, woman. The way you stayed strong and kept your cool with those jerks earlier today. You showed just how tough you are…how solid your character is.”
“Oh,” she says. She giggles slightly and the innocence in her tone has me biting down on the fist I make with my free hand.
“Your laugh,” I say, letting the sentence trail off.
“Sorry. It’s just that when you called me a rock I thought you meant maybe I was dumb or emotionless.”
“Never. That’s as far from the meaning as it could be.”
“Okay. Thanks. Just a different definition for different generations,” she says.
Fuck. Is that how she sees me? She thinks I’m some old guy just because I’m thirty?
“Sorry! I…didn’t mean it like that,” she says. “Actually I don’t really get along so well with people my own age. We just don’t really…relate.”
“Who do you get along with?”
“I don’t really meet too many people these days so I mostly just stick to myself. I prefer a good book and a cup of coffee or tea. I like to get lost in my own thoughts quite a bit.”
“What do you think about?”
I can hear the sound of her swallowing through the phone.
“Different things,” she says. “I don’t know. I mean, what do you think about when you’re lost in your thoughts?”
“Lately I only think of one thing, and I don’t really get lost in my thoughts, but what I do get is extremely focused,” I say.
My dick aches as my pants contain it. I need a release. This isn’t healthy. I’ve been fantasizing about her for way too long now. I can’t keep doing this to myself.
“That’s how I was today,” she says. “After the incident.”
“They didn’t come back did they?” I growl. “Did your manager give you a hard time,” I snarl.
“No, no, no. It was actually the opposite. I just replayed the incident over and over in my mind until…well…it had a different ending.”
“How different?”
“The handcuffs weren’t those zip tie kind, but they were the real kind. And you sure knew to use those too.” She pauses. “You had your provocateur completely under your control.”
“Next time I’ll be sure to use the steel cuffs,” I say.
“Good,” she says.
“But you won’t have to worry about that.”
“That’s a shame.”
“You liked watching me cuff those boys?”
“More than I realized, but that’s not who I was referring to.”
I tip back my police hat and hit the button, bringing the windows of the cruiser all the way down. I’m burning up in here.
“Who were you referring to then?”
“Me.”
CHAPTER 4
Jade
I step outside and see that sometime during my shift it started snowing…hard.
I didn’t notice the sound of squeaky boots on tiles or people coming in wet, but then again I didn’t notice much of anything today.
Not after Officer Jaxon came on the scene.
I hear a car revving its engine and I turn to my right, seeing the squad car idling along the curb.
The driver’s side window rolls down and I see his face, crystal clear even though the snow.
I could have stood there the rest of the week and not noticed the snow falling around me. I could have been slowly buried in a snowdrift for all anyone cared.
I wouldn’t have noticed. I only noticed him.
His eyes are focused hard on me and I can see his hand gripping the steering wheel hard.
His car slowly rolls along the edge of the curb, his eyes never coming off mine.
The car stops right when his window is level with my body, which is tensing like crazy right now.
“It’s cold out. Jump in and I’ll give you a ride home.”
Oh, it may have been cold outside but I didn’t notice it one bit.
I walk around the front of the car, watching him as he watches me.
As I round the edge of the car I can see a small smirk take hold of his face and damn does it ever look good on him.
He reaches across the seat and the door swings open for me.
I stare at the long pleather bench seat, thinking the police cars did away with these years ago.
I guess not his.
I slide in, shutting the door and lock myself inside with this man who’s staring at me like a beast.
If he wasn’t my dad’s best friend, and he didn’t have that uniform on, the looks he was giving me would have set off stalker alarms immediately in my head.
When it came to him though that’s what I wanted. He was the only one I wanted to pursue me, chase me, hunt me down…and then enjoy his capture.
“Thank you, Officer Jaxon,” I say, my throat catching at the end. The sound of his name rolling off my tongue sounding different than the times I’ve imagined myself screaming it.
“Jaxon. Just Jaxon from now on,” he says. “Except when we’re in public together and I’m in uniform.”
He says it like it’s not a matter of if, but when. Why would I be with him, in public, in his uniform?
The thought of him being proud to be with me in front of everyone has me wiggling in my seat, adjusting my jeans.
The police officers in our town do things a little differently. They go by the title “Officer” and then their first name. The idea is it
makes them more approachable, more a part of the community.
“How long have you been out here, Jaxon?” I ask.
“I wasn’t watching the time. I was just waiting.”
“Waiting?” I say swallowing hard. “For what?”
Possessive Christmas Cop: An Older Man Younger Woman Romance (A Man Who Knows What He Wants Book 87) Page 2
