Page 8 of No Take Backs
Lyla crosses her arms over her chest after pulling her hand away from mine and pouting only the way my niece can, muttering under her breath. “Not fair… I wanna sleep in too. Mom snores.”
Ella stands at the front of the restaurant waiting for us, so that ends Lyla’s complaints. Especially when she sees the cake box in her mom’s hands.
“What’s that?” Her eyes go wide.
Ella just laughs and leads the way outside. “I know you, Lyla. You think I’m not prepared to bribe you into wanting to stay with me instead of Auntie Nia?”
Lyla stares at her mom for a second and then turns back to me with an apologetic smile. “Sorry, Auntie.”
They get in Ella’s car and drive across the street, but I decide to walk. After all, it isn’t like I’m going very far.
When I finally make it across the street a few minutes later, after waiting for the longest light in the history of lights, a police cruiser cuts me off and pulls into the parking lot with its lights flashing.
Shock doesn’t even come close to the emotion I’m feeling when the hot cop from earlier pops out, even wearing the hat that goes with his uniform.
He doesn’t see me, thankfully, since I have my mouth hanging open while I stare at the way his pants continue to hug his ass as he walks toward the front office.
Not ashamed of myself in the slightest, I follow him and stay in the background, eavesdropping on the conversation he has with the receptionist.
“Hey, Charlie,” the cop says, talking to my uncle like they are old friends.
“Josh, I’m glad it’s you.” Uncle Charlie smiles at me briefly before turning all of his attention back to the cop I can’t take my eyes off.
“There’s an awful lot of noise coming from room 202, and I’ve had a bunch of complaints about it. I’m hoping you can handle it without having to arrest anyone.”
“I’ll check it out, Charlie.” The cop turns suddenly and catches me staring at him through the open door.
“Excuse me,” I mutter through flushed cheeks as I try to think of some reason I need to be in the front office. “I just need to get by.”
For a second, I think he won’t move. The side of his mouth ticks up, and that damn dimple pops up again, melting what is left of my panties from being in such close proximity to him.
Why is it so bad? Because I can smell him. I can smell the hint of his cologne, mixed with musk and woods, which I shouldn’t be able to smell. So yeah, against all logic, my ovaries decide that is exactly the moment they need to come to life, demanding that I do something about it.
Then he bites his lip, and I’m pretty sure I groan because I see the smile on his face.
We stand there for what feels like an hour, locked in a stalemate, while I need to get into the office for an imaginary reason, and he needs to leave to deal with the noise complaint that Charlie mentioned. But neither of us move. At least not until Charlie coughs indelicately.
“Sorry, Josh. I should help the guest from room 222, and you should deal with the noise complaint before things get out of hand.”
I raise an eyebrow at the cop, doing my best to put on my resting bitch face, but I can still feel the blush in my cheeks.
With a parting glance that only serves to ignite the lust currently brimming in my veins, the cop moves aside and walks away without looking back.
“I can’t believe you, Uncle Charlie.” I walk into the office and tap the front desk while he smiles at me innocently. “Giving a stranger my room number. What will Aunt Margie say about that?”
“She’ll probably laugh.” He pulls a beer out from under the desk. “When we were at dinner with your folks last week, I heard all about how your mother wants you to settle down. Margie took offense to that and said that you were allowed to be as wild as you want to be.”
He pulls out a second beer and holds it out in his hand. “Thank you,” I tell him. “I’ll take it to go. Since apparently, you’re sending hot cops to my room for me.”
“Just don’t be too loud.” He chuckles and waves me out the door, while he picks up his phone, no doubt about to call Aunt Margie to give her the update on my supposed wildness. “I’d hate to have to call the cops on ya, girl.”
“You know I’m not that wild, Uncle Charlie.” I tap the doorway, looking over my shoulder at him.
“That’s a shame, Nia.” Uncle Charlie laughs again, holding the phone away from his ear. “Both your aunt and I wish there was just a little bit more wild in you, child.”
I leave, waving the beer in the air, and try to decide if I want the hot cop to show up at my door or not.
One more look at his ass while he’s walking up the stairs, and I know that I definitely want him to show up.