by Tori Fox
“Gee Mom, I’m glad you’re happy to see us too,” Noah mutters.
“Oh hush, child. I am always happy to see you. But you know that so I don’t have to say it. Make sure you hang your coats up. Asher, do not throw it on the chair!”
I laugh as I look over the arm Marlene has on my shoulder as she steers me into the kitchen. Sure enough Asher is picking his coat up off the chair and grabbing a hanger from Noah.
Dottie is in the kitchen talking up a storm with Carson, Tiffany, and Mason who are already here. As soon as she sees me, she slams her glass on the counter and runs over to me. “My favorite daughter-in-law. I am so happy to see you.”
I freeze in her arms as she says it. That thought just a bit terrifying. It was hard enough to get me to agree to move in with Noah. The thought of marrying him a little too much, even if I think he is my forever.
“Dottie. She’s just my girlfriend.”
Dottie gives Noah a smirk and raises her brows at him suggestively. “Well, last time I saw her she wasn’t anything, so I am happy to see she is now your girlfriend.”
I pull away from Dottie and accept the glass of wine Marlene has poured for me.
“But since in a few short months she has become a girlfriend then I can only assume it won’t be long until you tie her down.”
My eyes bulge at that and not at the thought of Noah putting a ring on my finger. It’s at the knowing look Noah shoots me as she says it and I know he is thinking about when he tied me down with handcuffs.
“Dottie, no one gets engaged that quickly anymore,” Carson cuts in. I can’t help but notice the look Tiffany shoots him as he says it. Maybe that’s part of the troubles Mason was talking about.
“Well if Noah is as studly in the bedroom as he is in real life, then a couple romps in the sack and Anna might get knocked up and then a wedding,” Dottie fires back as she pretends to hold an imaginary shotgun, firing it off.
My cheeks are bright red and I chug half my wine. Asher is cracking up next to me and Noah punches him in the arm.
“Alright, no one is getting engaged soon.” Marlene ends the conversation. “How about we all go sit out on the balcony and celebrate my oldest son’s promotion while the sun is still shining.”
Everyone agrees and heads to the stunning deck that overlooks the western view of the mountains. If we sit out here long enough, we will be able to see the sky turn orange to pink to red as the sun sets.
Noah grabs my ass as we all file out the door and I swat him away. “Do you think I should tell Dottie how I really like to tie you down?” he whispers in my ear.
I turn around and bring him to a halt before we make it outside with the others. “You better not say one word about that to anyone. Especially your brothers.”
Noah leans down, pressing a kiss to my neck, trailing kisses up to my ear. “You are too easy to rile up, Mayberry.”
I push him away. “You know when the right time to rile me up is and it’s not here.”
He grins at me and I flip him off as I turn around and take a seat outside with the rest of the family.
16
Noah
I search the internet, page after page of police reports, social media sites, and newspaper articles looking for anyone that matches the description the two victims gave us on the case I’m working on. My new partner and I have spent the last week collecting as much information as we can on the case. I’m trying not to struggle with it since it hits so close to home but I am making do.
Luckily my new partner is not a dick. He’s been on the force for about eight years longer than me and has been a detective the last seven years. He is full of knowledge and can read people better than I have ever seen. He also consistently teaches me. He never gets pissed when I don’t know something or the textbook procedure I know isn’t quite on par with how they do things. I feel lucky I got assigned with such a great guy and he doesn’t seem too pissed with me either. Unlike when Niko first became my partner and I was pissed with him half the time for his immature attitude.
“Yo rookie, it’s after seven. Shut it down. We will get back on the case tomorrow.” Detective Marcus Rodriguez tells me as he turns off his desk lamp.
I look over at my partner and nod. Both of us put in a ton of effort, both willing to work late but he always makes sure we don’t spend all night here. I also have to get used to the fact I’m considered a rookie again.
“Yeah okay,” I answer and file the papers on my desk.
“A couple of the guys want to meet at Jimmy’s for a drink, you want to come?”
I grab my gun out of my drawer and put it in my chest holster. “Sure. Could use a drink after looking at that screen all day.”
We both head out of the office and walk across the street to Jimmy’s. Normally I would want to go home but since it’s a Wednesday night I know Anna is working and after the day I had I want nothing more than to see her.
A few of the other detectives are sitting at a round table in the back corner. They have two pitchers of beer and are cracking jokes. Marcus and I take a seat in the empty chairs. There are extra glasses on the table so I pour both of us one.
“Hey rookie, so glad you could join us. Surprised they don’t have you on toilet duty tonight,” Jon says, one of the younger detectives.
Stew hits him upside the head. “You were the only rookie we gave toilet duty to because you made a mess in the bathroom.”
“He is just glad he isn’t the rookie anymore. Although he is still a dick,” Marcus jokes. “Glad he isn’t my partner.”
“Fuck off, Marcus. You got to deal with a rookie now.”
Andrew, one of the older detectives, cuts in. “Noah is far from a rookie. He is one of the best cops APD had. He also passed his exam with higher numbers than all of you, so cut him some slack. I am sure within a year or two he will be better at his job than half of you combined.”
Marcus slaps me on the shoulder. I’m stunned Sergeant Willows told him that.
“Damn, here comes that hot waitress. I would like to take her for a spin. You think she wants to come to this gun show?” Jon asks as he flexes his not impressive biceps through his dress shirt.
“Unlikely. I’m sure someone that sexy doesn’t go for assholes like you, Jon,” his partner, Elliot, fires back.
“Oh come on. That ass is dying to be squeezed by these hands.”
I look behind me to see who he is looking at and see Anna a few tables over dropping off drinks. I smirk as I turn back around. I cannot wait to see Anna tell him off.
Jon is still going on about her and I would normally be pissed about someone talking about her like that but I know he is an asshat and she would never agree to anything with him. And I am not concerned she would leave me.
Marcus is the only one that knows Anna is my girlfriend since we came here one day last week. He looks over at me and grins when he sees the look on my face.
“Have you all figured out what you want to eat?” Anna asks as she walks up right next to me.
Stew orders for all of us, getting a handful of appetizers to share.
“Anything else?”
“How about your number?” Jon asks as Andrew shakes his head.
I grin as I look up at her, her cheeks flushing. “Umm no sorry.”
“Aww come on baby. You don’t know what you’re missing.”
“Probably not a whole lot,” she mutters quietly so only Marcus and I can hear her. “I don’t date cops.”
“Baby, I ain’t a cop. I’m a detective.”
I can’t help but laugh at that. Anna finally looks at me, her eyes going wide, before she turns back to Jon. “Yeah still a cop. Not my type.”
I drag my finger up the back of her leg and she shakes me off.
“I’ll go put your order in and I’ll bring you all another pitcher.”
She walks away but not before shooting me a dirty look that only I can see.
“I think I got a chance with her,” Jon jokes.
“I saw the way she blushed especially right before she walked away. I got this in the bag. She is just playing hard to get.”
I am the only one that knows that blush before she walked away was because my hand was dangerously close to her glorious pussy but I am not letting Jon know that.
Andrew turns to Jon. “What makes you think she is playing hard to get?”
He shrugs. “The ladies love me. They all want me.”
Anna shows up at that moment with a new pitcher of beer. “I highly doubt all the ladies want you.”
Jon looks at her, running his eyes up and down her body. He looks like a predator, not a cop. “Most do.”
“Well I’m not most,” Anna states matter-of-factly.
“That’s for sure,” I say.
She glares at me while Jon keeps speaking. “So why not cops?”
“I prefer a real man, not one who thinks he is better than the rest because he as some sort of power.”
“Well baby, I’m all man.”
She shakes her head and laughs. “Doubtful.” She pauses and then a grin takes over her face. “You know I am surrounded by cops all day. You all are always in here. And I always turn you down. Maybe I should give in, see what it’s like. Have one of you prove me wrong.”
Well damn, she is feisty tonight.
“See I knew you would give in.”
She laughs and tucks the tray she was holding under her arm. “You have two things against you right now so I’m not going to choose you.” She looks at me. “Hmm, I prefer dark and mysterious. You look too boy next door.”
I bristle at that. I have no idea where she is going with this.
“Hmm.” She taps her finger on her chin. “I don’t really ever do this but I’ve had a shitty day and five minutes alone with one of you might make it better.”
Stew starts cracking up. “Ma’am you can count me out. No offense.”
“None taken,” Anna says as she sets her tray down on an empty table behind her. “Now let’s see who should it be?”
Andrew speaks up too. “I’m out,” he says, raising his left hand. “I’m married.”
Anna throws a hand on her hip and pouts. “Well now this is less fun. I’m stuck with two unattractive cops. I guess it will have to be one of you two.”
That leaves Jon, Elliot, Marcus, and me. I don’t know what she is playing at but I don’t appreciate her nods against me. She is going to pay for that later.
Marcus clears his throat. “How about this? What’s your name?”
“Anna.”
“Well we always like to give the rookies a hard time. I think you should take the rookie out for whatever you have planned.”
Her smile lights up her face and I have to tell my dick to calm down. “Oh kind of like hazing. I like it.”
“Except we don’t condone hazing,” Andrew pipes in.
“Of course not.” She looks around the table. “So who gets to spend five minutes with me?”
Jon starts mumbling something about this all being a load of horseshit. And Marcus points at me.
“Hmm. Well I guess you’ll do.” She grips me by the tie and I will my dick down as I stand up. I don’t want to have a semi in front of my coworkers. “I hope you are good at giving foot rubs. I need one more than anything.”
The guys at the table laugh as she says it and I think she is about to let me go but she pulls me to the back of the restaurant and through a back door.
“A foot rub, really?”
“I can’t believe you let that guy talk to me like that,” she shouts.
“Babe, he’s a dick. We all have trouble getting him to shut up.”
She crosses her arms and glares at me.
I go to reach for her but she holds her hands up in front of her. That’s when I notice she is giving me a thorough look over, biting her lip as she takes me in.
“Fuck me,” she says before jumping on me, her lips smashing into mine.
Her force knocks me back a few steps into the wall and when I regain my balance, I turn us around so I have her pressed to the wall, my dick rubbing against her center.
“Noah, you look so fucking hot in a suit.”
I chuckle into her chest. “You tell me that every day I come home.”
“Yeah but I can’t get enough,” she says as she grinds into me.
“Do you really hate the boy next door look?” I ask her.
She pulls away from me, grinning. “Oh Detective, you know me better than that.” She leans into my ear. “I only like one and I think he might need to strip search me later.”
My lips find their way back to hers before setting her back on the ground. “I think I could arrange that.”
She adjusts her shirt and her pants before heading to the back door. “I need to get back to work.”
I pull her back to me, running my hands through her curls. “I messed up your hair.”
Her thumb goes to my mouth. “You have some lipstick on you. Of course maybe I should leave it.”
I nibble on her thumb and then wipe my mouth. “Better?”
“Yeah.” She blushes.
I press a kiss to her forehead. “I love you.”
“I love you too.”
We walk back into the restaurant. She heads for the kitchen to pick up an order and I go back to my table.
“Did you really give her a foot massage?” Jon asks.
I laugh as I shake my head.
“I’m sure he will be giving her more than a foot massage tonight,” Marcus chimes in.
I rub my lips and smile.
“Did you kiss her?” Jon questions angrily.
“Just like I do every night,” I say nonchalantly.
Marcus slaps his hand on the table cracking up. The rest of the guys must have figured it out too because they are all laughing as Jon stares at me in disbelief.
“Next time you want to talk about a girl like she is a piece of meat, Jon. I suggest you know who she is first,” I order.
“Who she—?”
“That’s my girlfriend. And I don’t take too kindly to assholes talking about her like that.”
Jon’s face turns red and he quickly leaves the restaurant without saying a word.
“Classic, Marcus. Classic move.” Elliot chuckles just as Anna comes back with our food.
She smiles at the guys then leans over and kisses me in front of them.
17
Anna
I wipe down bottles at the bar. It’s a Friday night at The Beer Garden and it’s been crazy. Spring is in the air. It’s early March but temperatures have been hitting the seventies during the day making all the college kids crazy. At least spring break is next week and most head to the beach.
I slump against the bar, sipping on some water, feeling like I’ve been at this for days when it’s only been four hours.
“Don’t die on me now,” Liam says as he makes a pitcher of margaritas for a table of sorority girls.
“I’m getting too old for this.”
“Girl, you ain’t even thirty, you can do it.”
I set my water cup down and stand up, ready to take the next order. “Yeah, well I only have a week left until then.”
“And then just two days until you leave for Nashville!”
My heart skips a beat at that. I still can’t believe I let Mason and Noah talk me into it. I was so close to throwing that letter in the trash can and I didn’t. And now that I am leaving in a week I don’t know if I have butterflies or raging fear in my stomach.
“Excuse me.”
I turn around and find an older man waiting for a drink. My mind getting the best of me again. “Oh gosh, I am so sorry. What can I get you?”
He looks me up and down and it gives me chills. This guy is a total creeper. Probably only here to hit on the young, drunk girls.
&nbs
p; “I’ll take an old-fashioned.”
“Bourbon preference?” I ask.
“Top shelf.”
“Coming right up,” I say as I walk away.
I grab our top shelf bourbon and a shaker. I mix muddled cherry juice with simple syrup and a dash of bitters. I pour it into a glass of ice followed by the bourbon and garnish it with a cherry and orange slice. I bring it back over to him and take his money. When I bring back the change, he continues to stare at me.
“Can I get you anything else?”
“Maybe a sweet taste of that pussy.”
I stumble back a step. I look for Liam but he is at the other end of the bar. I’ll have to take care of this on my own.
I reach for his drink. “I think you’ve had enough. You should leave.”
He grabs my wrist hard. “The only way I’m leaving is with you coming with me.”
I try to make eye contact with one of the bouncers but they don’t notice.
Suddenly the man’s face is pushed to the bar, his drink knocked over and spilling onto his face.
“The only person she is going home with is me.”
I breathe a sigh of relief at Noah’s voice. He picks the guy up off the bar, pulling his arms behind his back. He nods at a bouncer, who starts to walk over to us.
Noah whispers in the creep’s ear, loud enough for me to hear. “And that pussy of hers is sweet as hell but you will never get to taste it.”
My cheeks flame at those words because I know he wanted me to hear them. Noah talks to the bouncer asking him about getting an ID before the bouncer grabs the guy and tosses him out.
I walk around the bar as Noah makes his way to meet me. “You didn’t have to do that.”
He wraps me in a tight hug. “Yes I did.”
“I had it under control.”
He grips my chin and I get lost in his eyes. The blue of his eyes glow with a need to protect. “I know you did, baby.”
I shake my head at him as I try to get out of his grip.
“Hey,” he says, pulling me back into him. “I just worry about you here sometimes.”