“She’s not almost my sister.” He snagged his phone from Jake’s greedy hand and even greedier eyes. “Not even remotely close to that, Campbell, so suck the drool back into that gaping hole in your face.”
A laugh roared from Jake’s mouth. “Your interest in smokin’ hot Sara’s possible employment at Rip It is obviously more than casual, my friend.”
Shit. Recovery required. “Yeah, because I know news like that would upset her sister, who is part of my family now.”
“That’s all it is, some wholesome, familial concern?”
“Yeah.” That’s all it could be, though not by his choice.
“So you wouldn’t mind if I called her.”
Curtis shrugged. “Go for it, man.” There, test passed.
“Cool.” Jake took out his phone, tapped at the screen a few times, then put the thing to his ear. “Hey, Conn. Jake Campbell here. Give me a call back when you get a chance. I’m looking for a phone number for Sara Robinson, and your brother said I could get it from you. Thanks. Oh, and congratulations, by the way. Talk to you soon.”
“What the fuck was that?”
“Just following through.” The blond hair and blue eyes might fool the ladies, but Jake was far from innocent. “As I will do in much greater depth once I’ve secured that number.”
Baiting him, had to be. Well, Curtis wasn’t biting. He knew a few things his buddy didn’t, including the fact that Conn wouldn’t check his cell while on his honeymoon. “Good luck,” he said, stuffing his phone back into his pocket.
His partner laughed again, the chuckle of a man aware that he’d lost this round. The trouble was, with Jake’s competitive nature, he was probably already planning how to one-up Curtis. Unless Jake wanted to try picking up women with a toothless grin, that plan better not include getting close to Sara.
Curtis
Dispatch had kept Curtis hopping from the moment his shift started. An endless string of calls, every one of them packing an emotional punch. The entire city seemed to be off its meds.
He’d like nothing more than to put his head down and plow through the rest of the day. Taking a break on days like this tended to make the remaining hours drag, and he wanted this hellish Monday behind him. Only a few hours to go before he could file it under “thank fuck that’s over.”
It wouldn’t be fair to make Zeus wait those extra hours though. His brother’s dog had free access to the backyard, but Curtis still checked on him partway through his shift. Conn and Nia tended to work opposite shifts, which meant Zeus was accustomed to having somebody around. Curtis had been staying at their house while they were honeymooning—aka, enjoying fourteen days of nonstop fucking—but his work schedule left Zeus alone a lot. The dog’s enthusiastic greetings proved the pooch appreciated Curtis’ pop-in visits.
He unlocked Conn and Nia’s front door and stepped into the hall. More accurately, the empty hall, because there wasn’t a hundred-and-forty-pound bloodhound-mastiff cross doing a four-legged tap dance in the center—the greeting Curtis had received every time he walked through the door for the past week. Strange. Zeus was always waiting. Even when muddy evidence showed the dog had abandoned “his” corner of the garden to run inside at the sound of a vehicle.
Curtis jingled his keys. Still nothing. He drew breath to whistle, then froze.
Somebody was upstairs. A human somebody, because dogs didn’t have the ability to open and close drawers.
Hand poised over his holstered gun, he ascended the stairs. No sign of forced entry at the front, but anybody who’d done simple surveillance would know about the doggy door at the back. A quick hop over the board fence, subdue the resident canine, and they could help themselves to the contents of the house.
Conn had several thousand dollars’ worth of high-end carpentry tools in his basement workshop. The dining room table hosted a heap of wedding presents. Curtis had no idea what valuables Conn and Nia kept in their bedroom, but since today’s intruder had decided to hit that room, that’s where shit would get real. In three, two, one…
Chapter 9
Sara
“Police—freeze and get your hands where I can see them!”
Sara shot from her seat at Nia’s dressing table, jabbing the bridge of her nose with the mascara wand and losing the towel that’d been cinched above her boobs in the process.
“Sara. Shit, it’s only you.” Curtis, dressed to kill in more ways than one, stared at her from the bedroom doorway.
“Sorry to disappoint you.”
His eyes did a slow, thorough tour of her wholly naked body. “No disappointment here.”
She waggled her hands where she’d raised them, as commanded. “I’m putting these down now, since it’s pretty obvious I’m unarmed.”
“Not so fast,” he said as she reached for the towel. “I have to be sure you’re not concealing something.” His jaw ticked. Mr. Tall, dark and ultra-alpha male crossed the room to tower over her. “Turn around and put your hands on the desk.”
“What’re you going to do, frisk me? I’m naked.”
“Yes, you certainly are.”
Despite her protest, she complied. As if she could resist him right now—he was the hottest male specimen she’d ever laid eyes on. Utterly commanding. She’d never had a thing for men in uniform, but this man in uniform—oh hell yes. Suddenly all the hype made sense.
She looked over her shoulder at him. “What you see is what you get, lawman.”
“While I’m on duty and you’re trespassing on private property, I advise you to address me more respectfully.” His uniform gear pressed against her back as he leaned over her, his warm breath tickling her ear. “I haven’t forgotten how it sounded when you called me ‘sir.’” His booted foot knocked her legs wider apart. “I want to hear you say it again.”
Her eyelids fluttered closed at the first slide of his fingers between her legs. “Never going to happen.”
“You know what I think about the word ‘never.’”
Yes, she did. Which is exactly why she’d said it. “Well, get used to it, because never is when I’ll say that word again, not to an asshole who treated me like shit.”
“You’re right, I was and I did.” His second hand got in on the action, stroking in and out while his first hand played her clit with wicked precision. “And I regret it. I regretted it the minute I saw the hurt on your beautiful face. I should’ve apologized, but instead I was an asshole idiot and let you walk away.” His smallest finger nudged her anus. “You’re not getting away this time.”
God, his fingers felt so good. She wanted to push back to take them deeper, to push forward, for more pressure on her clit. She wanted all of it. Everything this man could—and would—give her, if she paid his price with one little word. “Curtis…”
“Yeah, you know I like it when you say that too, but I want more.” He breached her, just the tiniest bit, but enough to light up every wicked nerve ending. “You know all about more, don’t you?”