“I’ve dealt with worse, don’t worry.” He’s already better behaved than some of the new recruits that come through each year.
“See you at home later?”
“With bells on.” Maybe there’s a store around here that actually sells bells. Grady’s face will be worth the effort. Avery probably has some. Art stores have bells, right? Maybe. I’ll check it out. “Do you want me to bring home dinner?” I ask hopefully. It’ll be worth a trip back to Holsworthy to get some more of those burgers. I’d take a longer trip for them.
The curve of Grady’s lips says he knows exactly what I’m doing. Busted. “No,” he says, confirming my suspicion and ruining all my carefully laid plans. “You had your grease and salt already. I don’t know how you and your brother survived this long, but it’s my mission in life to unclog your arteries. As long as this doesn’t take long, I’ll make something when I get home.”
Can’t argue with that. It’s way better than any restaurant or fast-food joint could produce. Even that one meal with the weird green stuff in it. Does Grady think that’s punishment? It’s not.
I splay my hands over his sides and then down. Big hips. I love wrapping my legs around them. Every inch of him makes me think of sex, all the time. I can’t get enough.
“Something with cheese?” I ask, a playful tilt to my lips. “Nachos? Like the night we met, only, you know, we can end it a bit differently this time.” Well, actually— “Although we did end up in bed toge—”
“Do I have to tell you to behave as well?”
I won’t say no to that. “If you want to,” I answer slyly.
He kisses behind my ear instead of responding to my blatant suggestion and then murmurs, “Call me if there are any problems.”
“What if I call you just because I want to hear your voice?”
“Give me at least an hour or two so I can wrap up the crime scene first,” he says in amusement. “I’ll let you know when Quinn and I are free.”
“Deal. We’ll be fine, promise,” I assure him.
I bite my bottom lip, lust curling in every corner of me, as I watch Grady walk away with Quinn. His suit shapes his ass so well. Tailor-made for my perving needs, just how I like it. I can’t say I’ve given much thought to suits in my life; I rarely wear one, and they’ve never done much for me aesthetically. Women look nice in them, sure, but what a person wears hasn’t been much of a consideration for me, or shaped how I think and feel about them. Grady’s changed my opinion exponentially. He looks fantastic in everything but especially in his suit. He doesn’t wear it all crisp the way that Quinn does. Sometimes it looks like he dragged it on in his sleep, and he gets so caught up in whatever he’s thinking about that he forgets to tuck his shirt in. But damn, does it look good. I like it even better when the reason he doesn’t dress himself properly is because of me.
“You’ve got a bit of drool,” Riley says, touching the side of his mouth. “Right here.”
I wipe my mouth with the back of my hand, just in case. Grady’s definitely drool-worthy, and it wouldn’t be the first time. If anyone can make me leak, it’s him.
“So,” I say, dragging the word out, eyeing the teenager still hunched over in front of me.
“What?” he asks defensively.
He’s prickly. Doesn’t surprise me that someone like that is doing work experience with Grady and the detective squad he works with. They’re an eclectic bunch. He reminds me of an echidna. Doubt he’d appreciate the resemblance.
One of them got on base once, making itself comfortable in one of the hangars. Grown-ass men were too afraid to go near it. I’d been willing to take one for the team, but I got vetoed. Apparently, “taking it home” wasn’t the great solution I thought it was. In the end, two women braver than any of us lured it out and got it back to waddling in the grass in the nearby bushland.
“I bet doing work experience with a bunch of detectives is pretty cool,” I try. That’s a good conversation starter, right? I’d have loved to do that kind of work experience in high school. I worked in a noodle shop instead. Fun, and delicious, but not half as interesting. Wonder if it would have changed my career path if I had?
Nah, I’d be a terrible cop.
Riley’s shoulders ease a little, still cautious. “I guess. They won’t let me see a dead body, though.”
“I’ll have to side with them on that one, sorry.” I’ve never seen one myself, but that kind of thing has to be traumatic at the best of times, let alone for someone as young as he is. He can’t be more than sixteen if that.
“Figures,” he says under his breath.
I grin. “Sorry to disappoint, but it has nothing to do with my relationship with Grady. That kind of thing is… It’s not like the movies. If you really want to see one, you can have a closer lookat your career choices.” I lift my fingers and start ticking them off as I go down a list. “Serial killer, morgue person—what are they called? Never mind, I’ll google it later. Cop, flight attendant, waste disposal—”
“Waste disposal?” he chokes out.
“Mmm.” There are probably more, but those are the ones I can think of off the top of my head. I didn’t know there’d be a test about corpses and where to find them.
“Wait, why was your first thoughtserial killer?”
For someone who wants to see a dead body, he’s being awfully prudish. “I think they’d have lots of experience with death,” I say with a shrug. Sometimes the truth isn’t pretty.
