“You really helped make this?”
“Yes. But it’s Millie’s recipe.”
“Still,” Rose mused. “I’ve tried to make cookies from a recipe and…well, it wasn’t pretty.”
Colson’s lips twitched at the thought of Detective Harper Rose making cookies.
“I’ll give you my recipe, Detective. Foolproof chocolate-butterscotch cookies.” Millie went to the cabinet and pulled out a box of recipe cards.
“Thank you. I’d love it.”
Colson watched as Rose finished his pie. He wasn’t joking. He cleaned every crumb off the plate and licked his lips. “Aren’t you eating yours?”
Colson blinked and roused himself from obsessing over Rose’s tongue. “Uh, yeah.” He shoveled in the last few pieces.
“Don’t eat so fast, Boy Scout. You might choke…again.” Rose’s teasing grin brought furious heat to Colson’s cheeks. Evidently, Rose was recalling the time in the coffee shop when he’d coughed up a lung.
“I don’t know what you mean.”
Rose chuckled. “Didn’t anyone ever tell you not to lie to the police?”
Millie returned with the card, and Rose took a snapshot of it on his phone. “Thank you. This was delicious, whoever made it. I’m glad you have help, Ms. Johnson, but I will warn you that there are still push-in robberies happening. And the fact that you opened the door without asking for identification or looking through the peephole is troubling.”
“Millie, no.” Exasperated, Colson swung around to face her. “I’ve told you a hundred times not to open the door without checking first. You need a video camera like the one I have.”
She sighed. “Please don’t be mad. I knew you were coming. But I promise to get one soon.”
Colson met Rose’s eyes over the table and read his expression: if you can bring over groceries, bring her a damn alarm system.
God, he hated that the man was right.
“I’m going to order it right now and it’ll be delivered tomorrow.” He took out his phone and made the purchase.
“Good.” Watching him, Rose nodded with approval. “I’ll stop by and check to make sure. We’re in the neighborhood because of all the break-ins.” He picked up his plate. “Would you like me to put this in the dishwasher?”
“Thank you. That’s very nice of you.”
To Colson’s shock, Rose stopped by his side and reached out to take his plate, close enough to brush their arms together and for him to fixate on the swirl of dark hair from under the cuff of his white button-down.
“The NYPD aims to please,” Rose murmured in a husky voice that went straight to Colson’s dick, and he shivered at the thought of pleasing a man like Rose.
Whoa. Who said he was gay?
Through lowered lashes, he watched Rose put the plates in the dishwasher and admired the perfect curve of his ass. Time to roll his tongue up in his mouth and leave.
“Millie, I have to get going and finish rereading what I wrote, but I’ll be back tomorrow with the video camera.”
She made a face. “Such a terrible world we have to live in.”
“I’d better go home as well.”
“Does your wife work, Detective?” Millie asked as she walked them to the door.
“I’m not married, Ms. Johnson. My partner and I will be around to check on you and the rest of the neighborhood. Again, please do not answer the door without asking who it is first or looking through the peephole.”
As much as Rose’s arrogance and teasing annoyed him, Colson believed he was concerned about Millie and the other people in the neighborhood.
“Detective Rose and I are in agreement on this. And I’ll be here tomorrow before noon with your new door cam.”
