“So,” he said, leaning his forearms on the table. Maybe talking about something else would distract her. “Last night you got to hear about how I went through my first change. How about you? What happened?”
Khaki gave him a curious look. “I thought Sergeant Dixon already told you guys.”
Xander shook his head as he tipped back his bottle of beer. “Not all of it. He told Mike and me that you’d run into some problems back in Washington with another cop you’d been seeing and were looking for a new start. He said you’d gotten in a shoot-out, but he didn’t give us the details about why you were so eager to leave Lakefront. I’d like to hear about it, if it’s something you’re comfortable discussing.”
She nodded but didn’t say anything. Instead, she took a slow sip of her beer, then smiled at him. He loved that smile.
“What do you want to know?” she asked. “You already know about Jeremy, at least enough to know he was a jerk. I don’t mind telling you more, if you really want to hear about my ex-boyfriend.”
He grimaced. “Maybe we can just skim over those details. I’m more interested in why you became a cop and how you turned into a werewolf. So, let’s start with the basics. Did you grow up in a family of cops?”
She laughed. “Far from it. I’m the only cop in my family. Mom is an interior designer, Dad’s a financial advisor at a big investment firm in Chicago, and my sisters are in accounting, marketing, and sales.”
“Huh. How on earth did you end up being a cop?” The waitress came over with a big basket of homemade tortilla chips with salsa on the side, and he and Khaki dug in as she told him that it was all because of career day in grade school.
“Dad came into my class when I was in the fifth grade and started talking about the power of compounding interest and how important bonds were to the economic growth of the greater Chicago community.” She made a face. “I almost crawled under my desk in embarrassment. Then Scott McDaniel’s mom came in wearing her Chicago PD dress blues, telling stories about busting burglars and car thieves, and I knew from that day I wanted to be a cop. I was so sure of it that I announced my career choice in front of everyone that night at dinner.”
Xander chuckled, imagining a ten-year-old Khaki telling her parents she wasn’t following in their footsteps. “That must have disappointed your mom and dad.”
“Not really. My dad told me that after listening to Mrs. McDaniel, he wanted to be a cop when he grew up too.” She laughed at the memory. “And my mom just wanted me to be happy. Although I think she secretly hoped that my dream of being a cop was merely a phase I was going through.”
That was understandable. His own mom hadn’t been crazy about the idea of him becoming a cop either. “How did you end up in Washington State? Why didn’t you join the Chicago PD instead?”
She nibbled on another chip before answering. “I did try to join the CPD, but they weren’t offering the entrance exam when I was looking for work. I was checking out some of the smaller towns nearby, hoping they might be hiring, when my sister, Kirsten, talked me into going out to Tacoma with her on a business trip. She knew I was bummed out about not getting into the police academy and thought it would cheer me up. She also spent a good portion of the trip trying to convince me to go back to school for accounting. I can barely balance my checkbook and she wanted me to be responsible for someone else’s money. No, thank you.” Khaki snorted. “So, while she was working, I went sightseeing. Long story short, I ran into some patrol officers from Lakefront who told me that their department was hiring. I filled out an application right then and there. Everything else is history.”
Over dinner, Xander got the rest of the story, including why she’d started dating Jeremy, when she’d realized he was an asshole, and how bad everything had gone after she’d broken up with him. Although the jerk was out of Khaki’s life now, Xander still wanted to rip him a new one for what he’d done to her.
“No one would answer your request for backup because they didn’t want to get on this asshole’s bad side?” he asked.
“I guess.” She gave him a small smile as she started on her second enchilada. “It turned out okay, since that was the night I changed. If I hadn’t, Sergeant Dixon never would have offered me a job and I never would have met you.”
When she put it that way, Xander couldn’t argue. And while she might be okay with what happened, or at least pretended to be, he was pissed for her. Xander had a very satisfying vision of chasing the guy through the woods and ripping him to shreds. But even if he could, he knew Khaki wouldn’t appreciate him fighting her battles. She’d stood up to the man even before she’d become a werewolf, and handled him just fine. Of course, that didn’t make the image of him tearing out the guy’s throat any less appealing.
Xander didn’t want to spoil the rest of the night for her by talking about her jackass ex-boyfriend, so he steered the conversation back to more pleasant subjects—like what kind of training he still had in store for her over the next couple of weeks, and what the workload was going to be like now that she was off probationary status.
They also spent a lot of time talking about what they could do together outside of work. He told her about a few rodeos and sporting events he knew of that were outside of Dallas.
“They’re small enough and far enough away that it should be safe for us to go there.” He grinned. “Plus I think you’ll really enjoy them.”
Khaki casually slipped a hand under the table to rest on his thigh. The simple touch did all sorts of crazy things to his body, and he stifled a groan.
“I’m sure I will,” she said. “But in case you haven’t figured it out yet, it’s not what we’re doing that I enjoy; it’s who I’m doing it with.”
Nothing in her expression or tone indicated that she’d slid her hand up to caress his cock under the table. She had one hell of a poker face. But if she kept doing what she was doing, he wasn’t so sure if he’d be able to stay so calm. His hard-on was already straining the buttons of his jeans.
“If that’s the kind of entertainment you have in mind, maybe we should take care of the check and head back to my place,” he suggested.
The nod she gave him might have been nonchalant, but the sexy smile curving her lips was anything but. He’d say it was downright devious.
“You don’t feel like hanging around for dessert?” she asked, her fingers toying with the buttons that were keeping her from getting at his bare cock. “Because I was really looking forward to something special to end the dinner with a splash.”
He slipped his hand under the table and grabbed hers, keeping her fingers from accomplishing their obvious mission. “If it’s a splashy ending you’re looking for, then we should definitely go back to my place.”
Khaki laughed as he took out his wallet and tossed enough twenty-dollar bills on the table to cover the bill and tip.
“I don’t know if I can wait that long,” she said. “Maybe I can have dessert while you drive?”
Was she trying to kill him? The image of her giving him a blow job—or hell, even a hand job—made him so hard, it hurt. He bit back a growl and grabbed her hand, leading her out of the restaurant. Khaki was still laughing as they walked around back and hurried to his truck. Halfway there, he stopped and pulled her in for a quick kiss, then led her to his pickup.
