by BJ Bentley
“But we don’t have to do this today, right? I mean, it’s not like you’re leaving town tomorrow. Right?”
Linc grinned. “Poppy girl, there is no reason to put this off any longer. I’ve been thinking about it for weeks, and I’m sure this is exactly what this old place needs. This is exactly what this old man needs,” he said, pointedly.
I took a deep breath. “Okay, I just…”
“The only person who loves this place as much as me is you. And that’s how I know you’ll do right by her.” He lowered his voice, his tone determined. “Besides, based on the recent size of your classes, we can’t afford to let the women of this community go without the services we offer.”
I nodded. I knew he was right. I’d never forgive myself if something happened to another woman that I could have helped prevent, or at least mitigate, by providing her with the necessary tools to save a life.
But I had another decision to make. Something I’d been considering heavily over the past few weeks, ever since Granger’s goons had kidnapped me.
“I need to talk to Vance,” I whispered.
Linc’s expression was gentle. “I know you do.”
“Babe, what do you want for dinner?”
“Let’s go out.”
Vance turned around from putting his gun in his safe. “Yeah?”
“Yeah. We should celebrate, I think.”
He smiled at me. “I’m really proud of you, you know?”
I laughed. “Me? I’m not the one who figured out who was pulling Clay Granger’s strings and brought down one of the largest drug distribution rings in the northwest.” Okay, so, he’d had a little unexpected help. As it turned out, the same officer Maya had lodged a formal complaint against for failing to follow through on her assault was the same officer suspected of being on the take. If it wasn’t for Maya’s willingness to come forward, Vance might have never had reason to investigate the lout and discover the connection between the officer and the small-time cartel flooding northern California with Janus.
“You’re a rookie who was saddled with me, of all people, and still managed to do your job the right way. You helped me gather and catalog evidence and review endless paper trails all without killing me.” He grinned. “And you found the key that blew the whole case wide open.”
For weeks, we hadn’t been able to connect the dots between Clay Granger and Mark Santulli. Initially, we’d thought that Santulli had killed his wife, Kayla, but as it turned out, it was Granger. Santulli was one of Granger’s men, first getting hooked on Janus and then taking a job with Granger in order to support his habit. When Santulli ripped Granger off, Granger lost it and came looking for payback. He found it in the form of murdering Kayla.
Since Kayla’s death was still weighing on me, I had gone back to the Santulli house every night for a week, determined to figure out what had happened to her. She deserved justice, and it was my duty to deliver it. On what seemed like my hundredth sweep of the house, I stumbled upon a crawl space in their master bath that I’d somehow missed the first ninety-nine times.
It was full of baggies; the iridescent, white powder inside looked like fairy dust. The street value was estimated to be around fifty thousand dollars.
The shed behind the house, with its darkened windows and padlocked door, yielded far less than one would expect for a location so obviously secured. It contained some basic chemistry equipment and Janus residue, which we surmised was Mark Santulli’s set up for Janus replication. He likely wanted to recreate the drug himself and start his own venture, getting out from Granger’s thumb. Based on the mess we found, it looked like he’d failed.
There were rumors of more cops and other city officials being on the take, so we were now in the process of gathering what little intel we had so we could present it to Captain Griffin in the hopes he’d let us open a formal investigation.
And that sucked. No cop wanted to suspect their colleagues of being on the wrong side of the law. And no one wanted to make an unfounded accusation that would ruin a good cop’s career, so we were being extra careful to make sure all our ducks were in a row.
I shook off those thoughts and brought us back around to the matter at hand. “Okay, fine, I take full credit.” I grinned up at him from my spot on his couch. “Let’s hit up that new Italian place across from The Beat. I hear they have to-die-for manicotti.”
“Ahh, baby feels like carb loading,” he muttered to the ceiling. “I’m gonna grab a quick shower first, you want one?” He wagged his eyebrows, giving me a once-over.
“I showered at Linc’s,” I informed him, which reminded me that I needed to talk to him about Linc’s plan. Was I ready for that discussion? Nope. And that’s why we were going to dinner first.
“Suit yourself.”
I watched his fine form walk away and admired the way his muscles moved as he did. His body was perfection from top to toe. It should have been criminal the way he made me feel just by looking the way he did. Not to mention, the man he was. Yeah, okay, he bent the rules from time to time, but Vance Brody was as noble as an officer of the law could be. He was compassionate, whip smart, and protective of anyone who needed to be protected.
He was also a hell of a lover. Attentive and in tune with the needs of my body, mind, and heart. How I got so lucky, I’ll never know. With those thoughts in mind, I decided that maybe I needed another shower after all.
I jogged down the hall, stripped, and stepped into the walk-in shower when Vance held the door open for me.
“Thought you didn’t need a shower,” he said.
“I don’t. Just need you.” I wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling him down while I got up on my tiptoes. “Really need you,” I murmured, pressing my lips to his.
I had control of the kiss for about a half a second before Vance took over. He plundered my mouth, claiming each nook and cranny for himself. I melted into him while he handled me with such care it was impossible to resist. He teased me with his touch until he coaxed sounds from me I didn’t even know I was capable of making.
And nothing could compare to the things he made me feel.
Cherished.
Safe.
Excited.
Alive.
…In love.
I was in love with Vance.
That probably should have scared me, but instead of terror, all I felt was a sense of right. I was exactly where I was supposed to be.
After Vance made me come with his mouth, he bent me over the bathroom sink. He was certainly dedicated to turning my legs to jelly. I caught his eyes in the mirror and knew everything I was feeling was written all over my face. I did nothing to hide it. I couldn’t find my words, so I let my body do the talking.
Vance’s eyes lit up when he deciphered the message my body was sending . One hand slid over my back and up my neck, fisting in my hair. The other went over my belly to my chest. Gently, he applied pressure, pushing and pulling until my back was flush with his chest. “I know you won’t say it first, baby, and that’s okay. I got no problem sayin’ it to you.” His hips pistoned slowly as he made love to me while he spoke. “But I want your eyes when I do.”
He tugged my hair until my neck twisted and we were nose to nose. I gave him what he asked for, meeting his blue eyes with every vulnerability shining in mine. “Vance,” I breathed.
“I know, baby.” He smirked. “I’ve fallen in love with you too.”
I gasped hearing the words that pierced my heart with the sweetest ache. They were everything to me. “You’ve fallen in love with me?” I wanted to hear him say it again.
His smirk grew to a grin. “Man down, sweetheart.”
His confirmation, even with his silly play on words, ignited my orgasm. I came long and hard, barely able to catch my breath, the walls of my pussy clenching tightly on Vance’s dick.
He came in the next heartbeat, groaning his release into the curve of my neck, his fingers digging into my hips. I wouldn’t even complain if he left bruises.
After, when we were cleaned up and dressed in our pajamas, having opted for take-out instead of going out, we lounged on the couch in front of Vance’s monstrosity of a television.
“Seriously, who needs eighty inches?” I asked around a mouthful of shrimp lo mein. “If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were compensating for something.”
Vance barely managed to swallow his bite of egg roll without choking. “But you do know better. And if you don’t, I’d be happy to re-educate you.”
“Mhmm, I’m sure.” I set my plate on the coffee table and turned myself sideways, hiking one leg up onto the couch. “Hey, there’s something I need to talk to you about.”
He clocked the change in tone immediately, setting his own plate down and turning to face me. “What is it?”
“Linc wants me to run the gym,” I blurted. “And I want to do it.”
He blinked, but showed no other outward signs that he had heard me.
“Vance?”
“You want to do it? You’re sure?”
I nodded. “Yeah.” I didn’t bother telling him that Linc also wanted me to own the gym eventually. That was a conversation for another day. I had to get through this one first.
Vance nibbled his bottom lip as he processed my confession. “Okay. If that’s what you want to do, I can get on board with that.”
“You can?” It wasn’t that I wanted an argument, but I was surprised he didn’t put up a fight. “You do realize that means I’ll have to leave the force?” I added slowly.
“Why would you need to leave the force?” he asked, frowning. “You don’t have to be on-site all the time in order to manage the gym.”
This was the part of the conversation I’d been dreading. “That may be true, but I’d feel like I was doing Linc’s a disservice if I wasn’t there often enough to make sure everything was running smoothly. Linc honored me by giving me this, and I wouldn’t feel right outsourcing my responsibilities to someone else.” Besides, the place would be mine someday, no way I was leaving it in someone else’s hands.
He sighed deeply but nodded again. “I can see why you’d feel that way. But you can still stay on the force part time. I’m sure the cap has it in the departmental budget for another part time patrolman. Patrolwoman. Patrolperson.” An adorable wrinkle marred his brow as he momentarily contemplated the correct nomenclature, and I rolled my lips to hide my smile.
My humor fell away as I imparted the one thing that had finalized my position. “Not to mention, I’m not cut out to be a cop.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?”
I held up my hand to ward off his impending protest. “I couldn’t do it. I had a clear shot, and I didn’t take it. I could have taken down Granger, but I hesitated.”
“You shot Granger.”
I had. In the shoulder. But I was a crack shot. Perfect scores in firearm training. I spent more hours than anyone in my graduating class at the range. I could have landed a chest or head shot blindfolded. Vance, having reviewed my record when we first started working together, would have known that. “I couldn’t take the kill shot,” I murmured. “As vile as he is and even with a direct threat to my life, I couldn’t kill him.”
“Baby,” Vance’s voice was soft, his gaze understanding. “It’s common to balk at taking a life. Hell, I’d be worried about you if it had been easy.”
“Difficult or not, it’s part of the job, Vance. A part I can’t do. So, I’m resigning. I’ll manage Linc’s and teach self defense.”
“This is a huge decision, Poppy.”
“Do you know why I became a cop in the first place?”
“You said something happened to your friend Ashley in college, right?”
“Yeah. But that was only part of it.” I licked my lips before continuing. “I missed my dad,” I admitted, my voice small. “And I so badly wanted to make him proud.”
“So, you didn’t do it for you. You did it for him.” His tone was understanding instead of judgmental, but I couldn’t help but feel a smidge of shame at basing a major life decision on the what-ifs and maybes of a man who was no longer among the living. “You know your father loved you and Heath more than anything else in the whole world, right?”
My throat closed as a sob threatened to burst free.
“You could have joined the circus, and Fred Leighton would have bought tickets to every performance, including the matinees just to see his baby girl doing whatever made her happy.”
The sob I’d been wrestling with broke free as I launched myself across the couch into Vance’s waiting arms. “Thank you.”
His arms wrapped me up tight. “He’d be so proud of you, rookie. Never doubt that.”
Minutes later, when my tears had finally subsided, I pulled my face out of Vance’s neck to meet his gaze. “I love you,” I whispered.
“I love you, too.”
“I feel like our relationship so far has been this non-stop rollercoaster of craziness. But there’s no one I’d rather ride this out with than you.”
He grinned. “Buckle up, baby.”
Epilogue
Six months later
Poppy
“Alright! Great job!” I joined the rest of the class in applause and smiled at the beaming sixteen year old girl who’d just managed to break hold and elude her ‘attacker.’ I was so proud of her; she was small but fierce.
“This is awesome!” Ashley all but squealed.
I was proud of her, too. In the past six months, she’d earned her green belt in Krav Maga and completed her self defense instructor certification. She was now helping me teach classes at Linc’s a couple times a month, which gave me extra time with Vance and her that sense of pride she was currently feeling at seeing one of her students succeed in besting a man twice her size.
“You’re an excellent instructor,” I said, nudging her shoulder with mine.
Ashley turned her bright smile on me. “Couldn’t have done it without you, you know.”
“Pfft. You were always an excellent student. Was only a matter of time before you became the teacher.” I waved her off.
“No, really. You know, back in college, after the rape, I probably would have quit after a couple of weeks if you hadn’t dragged me to class every week. You pushed me to be strong, Pop, when I would have hidden behind my fear.”
Her softly spoken, earnest words shocked me. After her attack in college, she and I had started taking self defense classes together as a way for her to reclaim her power, and she was always the overachiever, acing all her demonstrations. I never knew she’d even contemplated giving up.
“Ash. What was done to you was horrendous. Nobody would have blamed you if you had hidden away. Though, that said, I’m glad you didn’t.”
“Yeah,” she said, with meaning. “Me too.”
Silence fell for a beat and then I said, “Well, what do you say we hit up Sunnyville for dinner, drinks, and whatever trouble we can find?”
Ashley smirked. “I’ll text Maya. You text Maxie.”
“Deal.”
One year later
Vance
“This one.”
“I don’t know—“
“Poppy,” I clipped. “This. One.”
“Fine,” she sighed, failing to hide her smile, and I knew she’d been toying with me for the past twenty minutes.
We’d spent the past six months looking for a place we could call our own. And by ‘we,’ I meant me. I would have moved in with Poppy the moment she told me she loved me, but she wouldn’t hear a word of it.
It’s too soon, Vance. That’s just not how things are done.
She’d loosened the reins a little over the past year, but my girl was still a stickler for ‘the rules.’ Even the asinine ones. My apartment was too small and hers had no privacy. I loved Maxie (and her constant baking), but after the first time she’d heard us having sex through the paper-thin walls, I was on my phone browsing rental properties.
Eventually, M
axie moved out, so it was a non-issue until someone else rented the other side of the duplex. Regardless, I’d already gotten the ball rolling, and Poppy and I were now standing inside a two-story Cape Cod-style house with three bedrooms and two baths at the end of Canal Street. And we weren’t looking to rent.
We were buying.
“We’d like to put in an offer,” I called to the real estate agent who’d wandered off to give us time to take in the home and talk things over. But I was done talking. I’d sign the papers right then and there if it was possible.
Poppy wrapped an arm around my waist and leaned into me. “It’s got a great yard.”
I looked out the sliding glass doors, over the expansive deck to the acreage beyond. Being at the end of Canal Street was perfect. We were still technically in town, so we weren’t isolated, but being on the outskirts meant the houses weren’t on top of each other, and we had enough land to spread out. “We could put in a pool,” I mused.
Poppy hummed. “I was thinking of a swing set.”
All my detective skills could not have prepared me for that comment, and I was ashamed to say it took me far too long to catch on. “A swing set?”
“Or maybe a pool isn’t a bad idea either. But we’ll definitely need a family space, and kids should get plenty of time to play outdoors.”
I swallowed. “How many kids are we talking about here?”
She snuggled in closer, resting her head on my shoulder. “At least two. I want this one to have a sibling.”
“This one?” I rasped.
She tilted her head back to look at me. Love, wonder, and tears shined in her eyes. “Buckle up, baby,” she whispered.
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