I take a bite of my burger, resisting the urge to scream out,Not all of them!
I can tell Ely and Jake are thinking the same thing, too, because Jake scoffs and rolls his eyes.
“We try to protect the people in this city,” Ely says. “Sometimes, I wish we could do more.”
“Wecando more,” says Jake, and I cringe inwardly, knowing what’s about to come. “We can rid the precinct of men like Kasper Hill who do more harm than good.”
The tension in the air is apparent suddenly, and Renee, sensing the awkwardness, claps her hands together and reaches for the cherry pie I’d baked for the barbeque. Ely has his mouth open as if he’s going to respond, but he doesn’t get a word in as Renee pipes up.
“Who wants some pie?” she asks. “I think we need to sweeten this party up.”
8
ELY
“I had a really nice time with you tonight,” Jami says, resting the palm of her hand on my chest. Her touch is electrifying and sharp, and I almost pull her to me for a kiss, a kiss that will leave her breathless and hot and needing more, just as I need her. Instead, I smile back, then rest my hand on top of hers.
“The pleasure was mine,” I say. “And I hope this isn’t the last time I get to see you.”
Jami grins, but for a terrible moment, I think she’s not going to give me her number. Maybe I’m too old for her. Maybe Jake told her things that scared her away. Maybe she doesn’t like me as much as I like her ...
As I’m silently arguing with myself about it, Jami reaches for the cell phone in my front pocket and glances down at the screen, her fingers working quickly and efficiently. The sensation of her touch sends a shiver up my spine, and I begin to grow hard for her, wanting more than anything else to yank her against my body and kiss her until she’s gasping, begging me for more. I don’t know if Jami senses the sudden turn-on, but she’s smirking when she hands the phone back to me, hungry eyes scanning my body. She nibbles on her bottom lip, turning me on even more, and then after a moment, she stands up on her tip-toes to rest her lips against my cheek, fingers brushing the bare skin on my arms. I almost moan aloud, feeling my skin tingle where her lips touch mine.
… then again, maybe she does.
“Call me,” she says, and a mere moment later, she’s gone, sliding into the back of the Uber she’s called to take her home. I want to stop her. I want to pull her out of the car and ask her to stay, to come home with me, anything at all to keep her from leaving.
But I don’t.
“There’s the man of the hour,” Jake says behind me, coming up to slap me on the shoulder. “Did she give you her number?”
“Um, yeah, I think so.” I watch the taillights of the car vanish into the distance, wishing I was sitting next to her in the backseat instead of standing here like a dumbass, wondering if anything went wrong.
“Matt is right, you know,” Jake says as we walk back to the house together. “I know you’re a good man and a good cop, but if you break that girl’s heart, there will be hell to pay.”
“I can’t break anything that isn’t given to me first,” I tell him. “Jami seems perfectly content on her own. She’s strong and independent. She can survive without a man. That much is clear.”
“Sure she can,” Jake says with a shrug. “But should she have to?”
“So, what do I do?” I take a seat in the camp chair the boys have set up around the fire pit and sigh, crossing my hands over my stomach. “Should I call her? Should I wait?”
“Definitely wait,” Jake says. “You don’t want to come off as too desperate, right?”
Renee, who is back from dumping the trash, plops down in an empty seat next to Jake and shakes her head at me. “Don’t listen to this dummy,” she says. “Waiting to call someone you like is a high school game. Jami is independent, sure, but she likes a man who will take control. She’s too mature for childish games, which is probably why she’s drawn to you. She’s much more mature than her twenty-seven years. She always has been.”
“That’s kind of what I figured.” I roll my eyes at Jake, who shrugs. I lean forward in my seat, pressing my palms together. “She mentioned a prior relationship. Something with a lawyer? Should I know anything about that?”
“He started out as a really good guy,” says Renee. “Honestly, we were all kind of under the impression that she’d found the one … he was good for her. He even asked her to marry him.”
“Yeah, he was a real stand-up guy until she caught him in bed with his secretary,” mumbles Aaron. “The douchebag had been going behind her back for months.”
“She didn’t hesitate even a split second before dropping his ass,” adds Matt. “The best thing that girl did, honestly, but it broke her up pretty good. It was unexpected, to say the least.”
“Christ.” I rub a hand over my face, wishing I knew the name of this guy so I could find him and knock him out, just for Jami. How can someone be so fucking cruel?
“That’s kind of when she backed away from the dating scene and focused more on work,” Renee says. “I think she’s been afraid to open herself up again, be vulnerable in a relationship.”
I nod and sit back in the chair, thoughtful, and Jake speaks up.
