I gave in.
But really, what choice did I have? With the way Brady had stared down at me, all tight jaw and fierce eyes, shoulders big enough to make me feel like I was cocooned in safety even amid the storm, I wasn’t about to be held responsible for what would happen if we’d stayed. Not to mention that I’d been lulled into complacency by the heat emanating from his body and how nice he’d felt all firm and solid against me…
He’d hypnotized me with all his dumb man juju.
So now, I sat in the passenger’s seat of his patrol car—at least he’d let me sit up front this time—feeling all kinds of mixed-up, not to mention soaking wet, as Brady drove us toward his house. I’d intended to bask in the rain and enjoy the storm for a bit before stripping down in my van and curling up under a blanket with a good romance novel until the sound of the rain lulled me to sleep.
All my good intentions were thwarted by a pissed-off grump of a man who was, for some unknown reason, dead set on ensuring my safety. If it weren’t so frustrating, it’d be kind of…sweet. And so utterly different from what I was used to. Who knew he had it in him? And who knew his mantrum—a man tantrum, natch—focusing on my safety would be my particular brand of kryptonite?
If I’d come across Brady McKenzie years ago, I might have been swept up in all his posturing, but after a lifetime of relying on myself, I’d learned to trust my instincts. And they hadn’t failed me yet.
Trouble was, my instincts seemed to be on the fritz when it came to the sheriff. One minute, I wanted to strangle him, and the next, I wanted to climb him like a tree and see what all that pent-up aggression would feel like in the bedroom. Obviously, neither of which was a smart choice. The first would mean decades in prison, and I wasn’t made for life in heavy-duty lockup, despite how often I’d been arrested. There was no way they’d accommodate my locally harvested organic vegetarian meals, and I doubted they’d allow me to bring in my crystal collection.
And the second? Well. Brady wasn’t the kind of guy who had impromptu sex with a woman who didn’t have a 401(k) or even a set day of the week she went grocery shopping. He’d pair better with someone meek and docile. Someone who sat by quietly just waiting to please him, a softer, prettier version of ayes-man. Someone he could fit in a nice, neat little box, and that sure as hell wasn’t me.
That didn’t mean it was easy to ignore the potent sexual chemistry between us. Even now, as we sat next to each other in the car we’d been in plenty of times before, I couldn’t deny it. The tension pulsed between us like a living, breathing entity. And if we didn’t get out of this too-small space, I was afraid it’d swallow us both whole.
Thank God he was just dropping me off before heading back to the station. Some separation would do us good. Give us time to cool down and get our heads on straight.
“You have a change at the station?” I asked, my gaze tracking over him.
He white-knuckled the steering wheel, his jaw set while he glared at the roads as if they’d personally affronted him. Rainwater still slicked his forearms, his uniform plastered to him like a second skin. His hair was wet, a shaggy, rumpled mess that was so out of place on him, I nearly pulled out my phone to take a picture so there’d forever be proof of his dishevelment.
“What?” he asked, darting his gaze toward me before snapping it back to the road. Didn’t matter, though. That second of eye contact was all it took for this tension between us to build even higher.
God, how could I be so attracted to this man who was completely unbending, so consumed by control he couldn’t let go for even a second?
“You’re soaking wet,” I said, leaving off the fact that he wasn’t the only one… “So I just wondered if you have another uniform at the station to change into or if you’ll change at your house.”
I hoped to God he had something at the station and this would be a quick drop-off scenario. There was no telling what’d happen if we had to spend even more time together. We’d either rip off each other’s heads or clothes. No telling, really.
He grunted, his eyes sweeping the roads. “I’ve got a backup at the station. And I’m not sure what I’ll come across between my house and there, so I’ll wait to get changed, in case I need to be out in this again.”
The thought of him outside in this mess made my belly jump with nerves, but I wasn’t about to examine that too closely. It was admirable, really, how he’d do whatever needed to be done to make sure others were safe. But who looked after him? Who made surehewas safe?
Starlight Cove was a ghost town as Brady drove us down Main Street. No one was out walking along the sidewalks; no cars were in the various parking lots we passed. Garbage cans were overturned thanks to the wind, and branches littered the streets.
A mile or two from the resort, Brady pulled onto a gravel road that I would’ve missed entirely if I’d been driving. No streetlights shone on the path, the only light illuminating our way the car’s headlights as we bumped along the road. A thick cropping of trees loomed on either side of the gravel trail, closing us in, and there wasn’t a house in sight.
“Did it finally happen?” I asked.
“Did what finally happen?”
I turned toward him, tucking my left leg under me as I twisted in the seat. “You snapped, and you’re dragging me out to the middle of nowhere to murder me, aren’t you?”
He huffed out something that sounded awfully close to a laugh, but that was impossible. I’d never seen the man so much as smile. “Not today.”
Was he being…flirty? It was so far off our usual repertoire, I nearly didn’t know what to do with myself. Nearly.
“Oh good,” I said with a smile. “Maybe tomorrow, then. I’ll warn you, though…I’m a screamer.”
He pulled up in front of a cute Cape Cod home—the only one on this whole stretch of road—the car’s headlights revealing light-colored shaker-style siding with dark shutters. The porch light was on, but the rain was so heavy, I couldn’t see much past the steps leading down from the front door.
He slid his gaze to me, something dark and…heated?…hiding in those depths that had me shifting in my seat. “I’ll have to test that statement some other time.”
I shrugged as if I hadn’t picked up on the tempestuous undercurrent between us. As if it wasn’t making my pussy even wetter and my nipples even harder. “Just let me know. I’ll make sure I’m wearing panties. Don’t want to give anyone a heart attack when they find me.”
He froze for half a second, then turned to me, a single eyebrow raised, and yeah. I definitely wasn’t imagining the heat in his eyes. “You have to plan to wear panties, lawbreaker?”
