by Erin Rylie
Carlos had been tagging along on patrols with Reese and Rafe a couple of days a week. He was relegated to the car, however, as nobody wanted him to strain his injury. He felt good today, though. He had slowed down on taking pills at night, the pain in his hip and leg hardly bothering him anymore. His physical therapy was going well and he was even able to jog now without too much pain.
“I’m fine, Cap. We can always call for backup if we need it.”
“All right, I’m trusting you to be honest with me about your injury right now, Ramirez. Don’t lie to me.”
“I promise I’ve got this. I wouldn’t go out if I didn’t think I was ready.”
“All right. Get your asses out there then.”
Carlos had been out on patrol with his new L’Oreal model partner for over an hour and the guy had uttered maybe five words total. Seriously, what was wrong with this dude? Carlos knew he was a delight to converse with, so there must be something wrong with Petrov. Yes, Carlos was pissed enough to start calling the asshole by his last name again.
He was on the verge of suggesting a game of Twenty Questions when a call came through. The previous calls they’d gotten hadn’t been close enough for them to respond to, but this one was only a few blocks away from their current location.
Petrov looked across the car to Carlos. “Gas station robbery—you ready for this, man?”
“I’m fucking fine,” Carlos gritted out. No way they were passing this one up. It was a fucking robbery, and a patrol car needed to get there as soon as possible. Not responding to this call went against everything Carlos believed in. He was not letting his stupid injured leg get in the way of doing his job. He radioed in their response, letting dispatch know that they were on the call. Another patrol team radioed in seconds later, informing dispatch that they were five minutes out with backup.
When they pulled into the gas station parking lot, it was eerily empty. Though it was unsettling, Carlos took it as a good sign. No cars meant less chance of there being hostages inside. He unclipped his holster and pulled his gun, nodding to Petrov that he was ready to sweep the building. When they opened the door to the gas station, Carlos and Petrov both proceeded slowly, taking in the scene before them.
The robber was young, late teens early twenties, with a mop of unwashed brown hair hanging loose to his shoulders. He was standing across from the cashier, a knife pointed at her throat as she unloaded the money in it onto the counter. The hand brandishing the knife was shaking, and it was clear even from across the room that he was on something. The kid’s pupils were blown wide and there was a frantic energy about him.
A quick scan of the gas station showed that it was empty of people, with the exception of the cashier and this kid. Apparently the robber had waited until she had no customers before making his move.
When he spotted Carlos and Petrov, he slapped the cashier hard across the face. “You fucking bitch. I told you what would happen if you pushed that fucking panic button.” This kid was clearly unhinged, and the last thing Carlos wanted was for this to end with anyone’s death.
He spoke in a clear, calm voice. “Put the gun down, son. We have backup on the way. You aren’t getting out of this gas station unless you’re in handcuffs, so just toss the knife on the floor and kick it toward me slowly, then put your hands in the air.”
“Fuck you,” he spat, his hand shaking harder. Instead of putting down the knife he stepped closer to the cashier. “You’re not going to shoot me, not when I could stab this bitch in the throat before I went down.”
“Nobody needs to get hurt, kid. Just put the knife down and we can talk about all of this at the station. It’s just attempted robbery at this point, don’t add to your charges,” Petrov said. Carlos knew his partner had made a mistake the moment he’d called the young man a kid. Upon hearing the word, he’d bowed out his chest and his face flushed red with anger.
“I’m not a kid and I’m not gonna listen to some stupid pigs.”
Carlos saw the muscles in the robber’s knife-bearing arm flex and knew that he was about to make a move. Acting quickly, he took aim and shot him, but not before the robber had thrown the knife at the cashier and grabbed a stack of cash. Carlos’s shot hit him in the shoulder and he howled in pain for a brief moment, clutching the wound. When Carlos moved forward to handcuff him, the robber pushed past him and ran for it. Without thinking, he holstered his gun, told Petrov to check on the victim, and bolted out the door after the robber.
The kid was moving quickly, and it took everything Carlos had to push himself hard enough to keep up. Carlos ran after the robber, pushing his body harder than he should have. His hip and leg were screaming with the pain of his exertion, but he couldn’t let this guy get away. After a short half-mile chase, he managed to tackle the perpetrator to the ground, handcuffing him in one smooth motion. Thankfully, the backup patrol officers found him there, because when he moved to stand, his leg crumpled under him. The pain was excruciating and hard to ignore at this point, but Carlos did his best to push past it. He leaned on his fellow officer—an older man named Collins who worked in the same precinct he did.
When they got back to the gas station, Carlos released Collins, who moved to help get the robber into one of the two ambulances already at the scene. He was walking toward the front door to check on Petrov and the victim when two paramedics came out with a gurney. Carlos’s heart sank when he saw that the body on the gurney was covered in a white sheet.
“Fucking kid had good aim apparently. He got that poor girl right in the throat. I tried to staunch the bleeding, but it was too late. She was gone by the time the paramedics got here.” Petrov’s voice was hollow and monosyllabic. “We’d better get back to the station. We’ll have a lot of paperwork to file for this one.”
Fuck the paperwork, Carlos wanted to scream. He hated days like this, days when he did everything right but still couldn’t save a life. When he took a step toward the patrol car and his leg buckled underneath him, he knew that his day could only continue to go downhill from here.
As predicted, Carlos’s day had not improved. He’d scheduled an emergency meeting with his physical therapist and found out that his stunt today had set back his healing by a couple of weeks. It absolutely could’ve been worse, but in Carlos’s current state of mind, it felt like a kick in the nuts. When he’d told his captain the news, he’d gotten his ass reamed out for not letting Petrov chase after the perp. Thankfully, his new partner had kept quiet on the matter, seeming just as affected by the girl’s death as Carlos was. Considering he was the one who’d been with her when she’d taken her last breath, he suspected Petrov was actually having a worse day than he was. It was never easy to lose someone on the job.
Rafe had still been in training when Carlos’s shift had ended, so Petrov had offered to drive him home from work. The giant man had only spoken to ask for directions. Unlike earlier in the day, Carlos didn’t even try to make conversation with him, sensing that his new partner just needed some quiet time to process everything.
When he got home from work, he was in no mood to talk about his day. All he wanted to do was have dinner with James and Kelsey, curl up with his girlfriend and watch a movie, and go to bed. He honestly wasn’t sure he even had the energy for sex, and wasn’t that just a damn travesty. Tossing his keys in the bowl by the front door and toeing off his shoes, he called out, “Honey, I’m home,” in his best mockery of every sitcom ever. When he didn’t get a response, he headed toward the kitchen where he could hear James chattering away.
“Carlos! I fell down today at school. I was playing and Jack ran into me and I fell down and hit my head on a bench. It hurt really bad, but I didn’t cry and they gave me ice for my head.”
Immediately concerned, he leaned down and placed a hand on the little guy’s head to check for a bump. He didn’t feel anything, but James flinched when Carlos’s fingers lightly touched the back of his head. “You feeling better, buddy?”
James shrugged. “Yep, I
’m tough like a giraffe.”
“Well, I think a tough giraffe would be in bed after such an exciting day.”
“I was in bed, but it was boring in my room all alone. I wanted to be with Mommy.”
Kelsey spoke from the stove, still not turning around to greet Carlos. “When I picked him up from school, his teacher said he smacked his head pretty hard from what she could see, but he didn’t show any signs of being in pain. He got right back up and continued playing. She did warn me to keep an eye on him though, just in case of a concussion.”
He walked over to her and wrapped his arms around her waist, placing his chin on her shoulder. When he leaned in to kiss her on the cheek, however, she pulled away.
“No PDA in front of James, remember?” she whispered.
Kelsey still didn’t want them to show much affection in front of James, worried that it would be too much to handle after being introduced to Kyle’s new girlfriend. She didn’t want to overwhelm her son, and Carlos could absolutely respect that. Their situation was difficult, and the last thing he wanted was for anything he did to impact James’s well-being. Still, he couldn’t help the twinge of hurt that he felt at the rejection. He’d had a terrible fucking day, and as cheesy as it sounded, he needed a little affection from her to cheer him up.
Carlos sat back down at the table, nodding and smiling when James spoke throughout dinner. No matter how hard he tried to focus on the meal in front of him, he couldn’t pull his mind away from his shit day. His leg and hip were still hurting, and he’d actually had to use his cane for a few hours at work today. After resting it for a while, and then working with his physical therapist after work, he was able to walk without it again, but he was still in pain.
Kelsey was also quiet throughout much of dinner, and when he finally decided to ask if she was okay, she gave him a small smile and said she’d just had a long day. Now, more than ever, he wished that she would open up to him. He knew that the time was fast approaching for him to go back to his own apartment. He was worried that the distance, though slight, would allow for her to pull away from him further.
Kelsey gave James a bath and put him to bed while Carlos cleaned up the kitchen. He was just finishing up when she walked up and hugged him from behind. “Sorry for being so quiet tonight, I’m just worried about James. I know he seems fine, but concussions are scary, and I want to make sure he’s okay. I checked for a bump or a bruise when he was in the bath, but I couldn’t find anything. The back of his head seemed a little sensitive to the touch, so I’m going to grab him some ice to put under his head. I’ll be right back.”
Carlos was tying off the trash bag so that he could take it out when he heard her come back into the kitchen. He turned around, cupping her face in his hands and kissing her like he’d wanted to from the moment he’d walked into the house. “He’s going to be okay, babe. I’m sorry you’ve had a tough day though. Anything I can do to cheer you up?” He wriggled his eyebrows and wrapped his arms around her, skimming them down her back to cup her ass. He wanted to confide in her about his day at work, but the last thing she needed was for him to add to her worries tonight.
“Sure, what were you thinking? Maybe some face masks and The Greatest Showman?”
“I’m going to kill Rafe. He promised he wouldn’t tell anyone,” Carlos growled.
“You should know by now that the man is incapable of keeping anything from his wife.”
“Yeah, well, some things are sacred. Like guy’s night.”
“Awww, is your ego bruised? Feeling a little less manly?”
“Oh, I’ll show you exactly how fucking manly I am.” Releasing her ass, he grabbed one of the chairs from the kitchen table and turned it around before sitting in it. He pulled Kelsey down so that she was straddling him, her core grinding into the erection he always seemed to have when she was around, and kissed her with everything he had. Palming her ass with each hand, he urged her to move on him, pushing his hips up so that his hard dick rubbed against her clit with every pass.
She rode him for a few minutes, moaning quietly as his lips traveled down her throat. He pulled the thin straps of her tank top down, and moved the cup of her bra until one of her perfect breasts was in his hand. He laved her nipple with his tongue, biting it gently, while his hands dug into her firm butt again.
Suddenly, Kelsey pulled out of his grasp, standing up to remove her clothes. Over the last few weeks they’d snuck in quickies any chance they got—their sex life had definitely been limited by the presence of a small child in the house—but he was still surprised that Kelsey would initiate something in the kitchen. He had learned recently that just because a kid was put to bed didn’t mean they’d stay in bed.
All concerns fled his mind, however, when she stood before him completely naked. Though her movements were hurried, he was entranced. She was so fucking beautiful, her body absolute perfection to him. She’d confessed one night in bed that she had always been insecure about her post-baby body. He’d kissed every square inch of her, assuring her with and without words that he found her irresistible. The stretch marks she bore were there because she’d brought a beautiful little boy into the world, and he found that incredible.
“Are you just going to sit there and stare, or are you going to strip, stud?”
Despite the need pulsing through his body, he crossed his arms over his chest. “I’ll have you know that I am more than a sexy piece of man meat.”
“Man meat? Dear lord, please don’t ever say that again. Clothes off, Ramirez. I needed you inside of me five minutes ago.”
He usually liked to be in control in bed, but he couldn’t deny that it was sexy as hell when Kelsey bossed him around. He pulled his T-shirt over his head with one hand, flexing his muscles as he did so. As she stood before him watching with hunger in her eyes, he moved his hands down to the button of his jeans slowly.
“If you’re going to be a tease, I’ll go to bed right now and use my vibrator instead.”
“So impatient,” he murmured, unzipping his jeans and pushing them and his boxers to his feet. Before he could remove them completely, she was back in his lap, hands braced on his shoulders. Not wanting to wait even a moment longer to be inside of her, he positioned his erection at her entrance and eased her down onto it with his free hand.
His head fell back at the exquisite sensation of her tight, warm pussy grasping his cock. When he lifted his hips to thrust up into her, she nipped his ear.
“No sir, I’m in control this time.”
She rode him slowly, sensually, driving him crazy with languid swivels of her hips. This woman would be the death of him. He slid his hands up her body, playing with her tits before moving them back down to grip her hips as she drove them both closer and closer to orgasm. Needing his lips on hers, he wrapped a hand around her neck, and pulled her head down to his, sweeping his tongue inside her mouth.
Carlos knew he was a talkative guy in bed, something that Kelsey seemed to enjoy, but words fled his mind in this moment. All he wanted to do was kiss her and enjoy this—them together. Before long he was close to coming, and could tell that Kelsey was too. Her hands moved from his shoulders to thread into his hair and she gasped as she moved along his shaft. He placed a thumb on her clit, rubbing in slow, firm circles.
He pulled away from her, breaking their kiss and taking in her beautiful face. Her cheeks were flushed, her mouth slightly parted, and her eyes were closed, little breathy moans escaping her throat.
“Look at me, baby. I want to watch you come.”
Her beautiful blue eyes opened and he increased the speed of his thumb on her clit. He felt her inner muscles clench around his dick and took over, thrusting up into her as her orgasm took her over. He lost his breath at the sight of her coming apart. How was it possible that she was his? She was everything he had ever or could ever want in a woman. He knew without a doubt that he would never stop loving her.
That thought still in his mind, his own orgasm pulsed through him, g
athering at the base of his spine, the waves of ecstasy cascading over him. Looking into her eyes, he let loose the words he’d been holding inside for weeks.
“I love you, Kelsey. So fucking much.”
Instead of responding, Kelsey kissed him tenderly on the lips, getting up and grabbing her clothes. “What is it with us and this kitchen? I had no clue kitchen sex could be so hot.”
So she was going to completely ignore what he just said? Suddenly, Carlos felt cold. He knew it was soon, but he could’ve sworn she felt the same way about him. How much longer was he going to push things with this woman before he realized that all she was ever going to do was hurt him? Forcing a chuckle, he did his best to slam his shields into place, shedding his vulnerability and donning the fun-loving attitude he wore like a second skin.
“Clearly you haven’t been having kitchen sex with the right guys. Sex with Carlos Ramirez is always hot, babe.” Standing up, he pulled his pants up, gathered his clothes and planted a quick kiss on her lips. “I’m gonna sleep in my room tonight I think. My hip is really hurting from work today, and it’ll be nice to sprawl out. Night, Kels.”
Not giving her a moment to respond, he left the kitchen. When he walked into the guest room he’d been using before he and Kelsey got together, he closed the door with a gentle click before sitting on the bed with his head in his hands.
He knew that Kelsey was still messed up from her divorce. Hell, he knew that she had her own shit going on. Try as she might to hide it, he could tell she was worried about the new woman in James’s life. No woman ever wanted to share her child with another motherly figure, and he was sure that was really weighing on her. What bothered Carlos, however, was that he had deduced this on his own. She hadn’t talked to him about it, voiced her concerns. Hell, after he’d told her he loved her, she made a joke. He would have understood if she told him she just wasn’t ready to say the words. He was a grown ass man and he could have dealt with that, waited for her to say it in her own time.