WAY TO GO,DETECTIVEDUMBFuck!
“OhmyGodIcantbelieveThomRenzoisdead!” Maegan strung all the words together before she took a stuttering breath and sobbed harder.
Had she been any other witness, I would’ve patted her on the shoulder and tried to calm her down. I knew what would happen if I touched Maegan in any way, and the techniques I would use to comfort her weren’t taught at the police academy. I needed to stick with a hands-off approach with her.
“Maegan,” I softly said, hoping the sound of my voice would get through to her. “I need you to take a few calming breaths and repeat what you just said.”
“Oh my God,”gasp, gasp, gasp, “I can’t believe,”pant, pant, pant,“Thom Renzo,”wheeze, wheeze, wheeze,“is dead.”
I won’t lie to you, all that panting and gasping made me recall the animalistic way Maegan liked to fuck and get fucked. My dick started to rise and salute her under my jeans, but I ignored his demands to focus on the right thing to do. Maegan deserved better treatment than what I had showed her, and I planned to find the right time to apologize, but that wasn’t during a murder investigation.
“Did you know him well?” I asked.
Maegan shook her head then took some calming breaths as she tried to pull herself together. “Not really. He went to the same school as us, but he always came across as a little… weird.” I could tell she felt guilty for thinking it, let alone saying it about the recently departed. “He was kind of a loaner during most of high school.”
Maegan, Milo, and Memphis’s story all matched, and I believed that none of them took a blunt object to Thom Renzo’s head. From the coroner’s initial findings, he hadn’t been dead long before the treasure hunters stumbled upon the blood trail. What they might’ve done was destroy valuable evidence like footprints in the dirt-covered stone floor.
She seemed so tiny and vulnerable in the back of the cruiser with her arms wrapped tightly around herself like she was physically trying to hold herself together. I realized that sending her brother and friend home was probably a mistake because she didn’t look to be in any condition to drive. I hadn’t been thinking clearly at the time. It had taken every ounce of willpower to stay away from the woman after I blew her off in my driveway earlier in the week. I hated the look of hurt I saw flash in her eyes before she covered it with a blinding but fake smile. She didn’t deserve my callous treatment, and I wanted to apologize to her every day, but my self-preservation won out.
Then I get sent to my first crime scene and who is one of my witnesses? None other than the woman who had haunted my sleep since I first met her. I told myself I separated her from the two men to prevent them from influencing one another’s statements, but I knew better. I wanted to be alone with her again, if only for a few minutes, in a controlled environment where I knew I wouldn’t make an ass of myself over her again. Surely, I wouldn’t kiss her lips and fondle her tits in the back of a patrolman’s car, right? I put nothing past me when she was near. There was just something about her that made me want… so many things.
I reacted badly when I learned that Maegan probably arrived so soon after Renzo died because it scared the fuck out of me. The body had still been warm. What if she’d arrived just a little earlier? She could’ve been killed too! Was the killer still in the house when she arrived? I was worried about her safety and angry because she’d slipped beneath my defenses. I allowed my anger over what could’ve happened fuel shitty behavior towards her. Again.
Then, as if a switch had been flipped inside of her, the tears suddenly stopped and the expression on her face could only be described as furious. She went from vulnerable to fierce in a heartbeat and damn if that didn’t turn me on even more.
“You’re such an asshole, Elijah!”
“I am.” It was confirmation, not a question, which caught her off guard. Maegan could only blink at me for a few seconds, but she recovered in magnificent fashion.
“If you think agreeing with me will save your sorry ass then you better come up with a better plan.”
Regardless of her ire and crazy hair, I thought she had never looked more beautiful and hearing the word “come” slip from her mouth distracted me in ways I had hoped to avoid.
She saw, or at least sensed, my reaction to her, because she started yanking on the door handle to open it. She’d obviously never been in the back seat of a cruiser because they have the equivalent of child safety locks, but are used to prevent our detainees from escaping the car instead of toddlers. “Release me right fucking now.”
“Oh, Freckles,” I said before I could stop myself. “I want nothing more than to help us both release, but this isn’t the time or place. I’m available later though.”
“Arrogant bastard,” she snarled, but I saw the heat flair in her eyes. She felt it too, and it wouldn’t take much effort from me to get back to where we both wanted me—in her bed and between her beautiful, shapely legs.
“Don’t forget it, Freckles.” I tapped on the window and Officer Jansen opened the door for me. I walked around the vehicle and opened the door so Maegan could return to her SUV. “Are you okay to drive? I could—”
Maegan raised her hand to cut me off. “Don’t bother, Detective Markham.” She looked over the top of the squad car and seemed surprised to see that Jansen was still there. He looked at Maegan as sappily as one of those cartoon characters with bulging hearts for eyes. “Tell your mama that I said hello, Brett.”
“Will do,” Jansen said. “Are you sure you feel okay to drive home? You’ve had a huge shock; I can take you if you want.”
“That’s so sweet of you, but—”
“She said she was fine, Officer.” Jansen’s eyes rounded in surprise at the gruffness in my voice.
“See you around, Mae.” He walked toward the house to join the remaining officers on the scene.
Maegan rounded on me, hands on her hips and fire in her eyes. It seemed like I ended up deeper and deeper in the doghouse with every word I spoke or step I took. I thought it was for the best, but I still didn’t like that she was getting the wrong impression about me.
“Mae, huh?” I thought it was cute.
“Only my friends and family are allowed to call me that, and you’re neither of those things, Detective Markham. If there’s nothing else you need, I’d like to leave now.”
I needed plenty, but I wisely kept my response professional. “That’s all for now. I know where you live if I think of something else.”Okay, reminding both of us about the hours spent in her bed wasn’t the best idea either, especially when I acted like a jerk and pulled a disappearing act followed by the cold shoulder.She looked at me in disbelief before she rolled her eyes and walked away. “Drive safely,” I yelled to her retreating back. She responded by flipping me off.
