For all Intents and Purposes (MidKnight Blue Book 6)

by Sherryl Hancock

“But you were so close.” Jeanie shook her head. “And you graduated from college too, didn’t you?”

  “Yep.” He nodded as he picked up his wine glass and took a drink.

  “What’s your degree in?” she said, realizing in all the time they’d spent together she’d never asked him that.

  “Criminal science.”

  “That’s a hard one, isn’t it?”

  “Hard?” Donovan tilted his head slightly as he thought about it. “I guess it’s harder than your average administration of justice degree, yeah, more of the sciences and all that, but I thought it’d be more applicable, ya know?”

  “Yeah, I guess,” Jeanie said, her tone still indicating her surprise at his accomplishments. She ate in silence for a while, enjoying the food and the wine. When she looked up, she realized Donovan was watching her and felt self-conscious all of a sudden. “What?”

  “So why don’t you like to drink around men?” he said, staring directly into her eyes. So directly, in fact, it took her a moment to realize he’d actually asked her a question.

  “I…” She hesitated, feeling a little bit shy all of sudden.

  “You don’t have to tell me. I’ve just been curious since last night.”

  “I don’t mind telling you, I just… I wasn’t sure how to explain. Just suffice it to say that I’m kind of gun-shy where men are concerned,” she said, looking everywhere but at him, afraid he’d see exactly what she meant.

  “Did you get burned?” he asked, not willing to “suffice it to say” anything.

  “No… I just, well…” she started, looking for the right words. She looked up at him and saw that direct, teal-eyed stare again, and took a deep breath, willing herself to tell him the truth. “I’m just, well, I’m only willing to go so far with men, and that tends to cause me some problems. Being around men who are drinking, and then having them see me drink, makes them loosen up and assume I will too. It causes problems like last night.” Her voice was soft on the last; she didn’t want to make him think she was blaming him in any way.

  Donovan looked at her for a long moment before nodding slowly. “Okay…” he said, his gaze falling on the glass of wine in front of her. “But you’re okay with this? I’m not making you uncomfortable, am I?”

  “No, Donovan, not even close to being uncomfortable. You’re so great about everything. I mean, you’ve never even made an inappropriate comment to me. I trust you more than I’ve trusted just about any man I’ve ever met.”

  He grinned then, nodding. “Figures.”

  “What’s that mean?” she said, her grin wide too.

  Donovan looked up at the ceiling. “The beautiful ones always trust me…” He sighed, then looked at her again. “Like a brother.”

  She laughed. “Now I didn’t say that.”

  The conversation proceeded in a different direction then. She asked him about the raid that morning, and he asked her about things in Midnight’s office, how she’d gotten the job with the department, how she had liked working for Joe.

  “Joe was the best to work for,” she said, smiling. “He was always so cool about things—he’s never gotten that ‘I’m a big-shot captain’ attitude. He’s cool.”

  “Yeah, Joe’s not really into rank, that’s for sure. He raised holy hell with Midnight when she wanted to make him a captain. She’d already made him a lieutenant when she went to be captain of vice, but at least that was just running FORS, which he had half done already. But when she told him she needed him to make captain so he could keep watch on vice for her, he flipped. They argued for weeks over that one.” Donovan shook his head, remembering the arguments.

  “He actually argued with her?”

  “Yeah.” Donovan grinned. “Haven’t you heard them argue before? Sometimes you’d think they were married.”

  “You know, that’s something I never understood,” Jeanie said, then stopped herself, realizing she was talking to Joe’s wife’s brother.

  “What, why they aren’t married?” Donovan knew it was what she had meant.

  Jeanie made a face. “Bad question?”

  “Not really. I wondered the same thing myself after seeing the two of them together. Joe says they love each other, but they can’t live with each other. It’s weird to think that they can be as close as they are and not be together, you know?”

  “Yeah, makes you know that all that bullshit about men and women not being able to be friends because of the sex thing is just that—bullshit,” Jeanie said vehemently.

  “Now tell me how you really feel,” Donovan said, his grin lopsided.

  Jeanie looked back at him for a long moment, then blew her breath out in a sigh. “I guess I’ve just had one too many guys try to pull that one on me.” Then she gave him a very explicit look. “What about you? Do you think men and women can be friends without sex being a part of it?”

  Donovan compressed his lips in a sardonic smile and looked down, shaking his head. “I’m damned either way here, aren’t I?” he said finally, and Jeanie couldn’t help but laugh as she nodded.

  “So you don’t think they can be? Friends, I mean.”

  “I think people can do anything they want, they just have to work at it. But Midnight and Joe aren’t exactly the best example of that. They have had sex, you know.”

  “Well, I’ve heard they were together a long time ago, before they met Randy and Rick…”

  “And they had a short affair about five years ago…”

  “Oh, during all that stuff with your sister, right?” Jeanie asked, regretting it instantly.

  Donovan nodded, looking serious.

  “I’m sorry, Donovan, I didn’t mean to trivialize it. That must have been a really rough time for all of you.”

  “It wasn’t fun, no. It was shortly before I applied for the department, and my family name was still mud then.” He shook his head. “It didn’t make things easy.”

  “But your sister was acquitted.”

  Donovan gave a short, sarcastic laugh. “All cops know that being acquitted doesn’t make you innocent,” he said derisively.

  “But Randy was,” Jeanie said, her voice sure.

  “I know that, Joe knew it, Midnight, Rick, and all of FORS knew it too, but that doesn’t mean everyone did. They figured because Midnight and Joe had connections at the top, it was all a whitewash.”

  “People actually think the chief would let an attempted cop killer go free? What the hell’s wrong with them?”

  Donovan sat back in his chair, looking every bit the veteran cop and every day his twenty-seven years and then some. “People don’t always think logically. People saw that one cop, a veteran cop, went down for trying to kill Joe and Midnight. The way they saw it, Randy should have gone down with him. If nothing else, for having an affair with the guy.”

  “For that she should go to jail?” Jeanie said, shaking her head. “These people are idiots. If people went to jail for having affairs, then half the department would be incarcerated as we speak!”

  Donovan laughed at that one. “Tell me about it.”

  After dinner, Donovan refilled their wine, pouring the last of the bottle into her glass. They sat on his couch and talked for a while longer. She asked him about some of his more interesting cases and watched him as he talked about them. Jeanie was finding that she liked him more the better she got to know him. He was direct with her where it counted, without being rude or pushy. He talked to her like she was already a police officer, happily explaining anything she didn’t understand without derision. Another thing that she liked was that he didn’t talk to her like a “woman” when it came to police work; he talked to her like a fellow officer. On the other hand, when they touched on more personal things his voice softened and his eyes would fix on her. Donovan Curtis was the first man she’d ever met that could make the differentiation between the woman and the career goal. Jeanie definitely liked that.

  She had long since finished her glass of wine, and as they talked she’d occasionally tak
e his glass out of his hand and take a sip. At one point Donovan gave her a wry grin. “Like that wine, I take it?”

  “You could say that.” She grinned, feeling just a little tingle of a buzz in her head. She liked the feeling of having him around; it made her feel more secure somehow, knowing he was the kind of person he was. There was no fear that he’d try to take advantage of her. Though she realized that she did want him to do more than talk to her—but she wasn’t sure how to make that happen. He was sitting at the end of the couch with his back against the arm, turned toward her. She was next to him in close proximity, basically within the semicircle his arm on the back of the couch had created. It was very comfortable having him this close to her. He smelled of Tommy cologne, and he looked incredible; she found it difficult to concentrate on the conversation once her thoughts had taken this direction.

  As she watched, he drained his glass, and without thinking she made an indignant sound. He looked over at her and saw that she was staring bereft at the empty glass in his hand.

  “Oops,” he said, grinning.

  “Oh sure, oops.” She gave him a mock glare. “All I wanted was one more taste… you rat.”

  Donovan looked at her for a long moment. “There is a way to solve that…” Without another word he leaned down, kissing her gently. Her hands went around his neck immediately, as if she’d been waiting for him to do this—she had. What had started out as a gentle kiss turned more ardent immediately. Donovan slid his hand around her waist, pulling her closer to him. Jeanie moved willingly.

  When the kiss finally ended his hand kept her close as he looked down into her eyes. “I have to admit,” he said softly, “I’ve wanted to do that all night.”

  Jeanie looked back at him, still trying to catch her breath from the unexpected kiss. “And I’ve been wanting you to do that all night. And last night too,” she added impulsively.

  Donovan looked surprised for a moment, but then started to nod. “Yeah, I wanted to kiss you then too.”

  “Well, why didn’t you?”

  Donovan smiled. “Guess I was afraid you’d slug me.”

  “Well, you were wrong, Sergeant Curtis.”

  “Guess I was.” He leaned down to take possession of her lips again, pulling her even closer than before. Her hands slid along his back, moving to the front of his shirt, sliding up his chest to his shoulders. He gripped her waist tighter, then moved his hand to her waist, his other slipping into her hair, caressing her neck. Within minutes they were both breathless.

  Donovan finally pulled back to look at her again. She stared back at him, her eyes filled with the same desire reflected in his.

  “I have a confession to make,” Jeanie said softly.

  “What’s that?” Donovan replied huskily, still staring into her eyes.

  “Yesterday when I was here, I wanted to check out more than just your kitchen…”

  “Mmhmm…”

  “I wanted to see your bedroom too,” she said, then looked chagrined as she held up her hands. “Don’t get me wrong, I just think a guy’s bedroom says a lot about him. Where he sleeps and all… ya know?” She looked at him, hoping he hadn’t taken her meaning the wrong way.

  “In other words, you want to see the bedroom, not necessarily the bed. Right?” he said, a smile playing at his lips.

  “Yeah…” she said, grinning shyly.

  “I understand.” He nodded. Then he stood up, pulling her to her feet. “Come on, I promise your virtue is safe with me.” He sounded like he was half joking, but she could see he meant it.

  She followed him down the hallway and into his room. At the door he flipped on the light and held his arm out to her, indicating she should precede him. She walked inside and wasn’t too surprised to see that the room was as neat as the rest of the house. It was done in a lot of wood and hunter green, which seemed to fit him pretty well. She walked around, looking at the pictures on the dresser and the various things lying about. She noted that his badge, gun, and spare magazines were laid out on the dresser. The gun was, of course, holstered. She picked up his badge. The gold shone brightly on the shield, and she ran her finger over the ribbon emblazoned with the title “Sergeant.” Looking back at Donovan, she saw that he had taken a seat on his bed, leaning back against the headboard to watch her.

  She held up the badge. “Someday I’m going to have one of these.”

  Donovan nodded. “Probably higher up than that.”

  Jeanie set the badge down and moved her hand to the holstered weapon, then looked back at Donovan. “May I?”

  “You know how to handle a gun?” he asked, his tone all sergeant.

  “All four of my brothers are law enforcement—I’ve been around them my whole life.”

  Donovan nodded and she picked up the weapon, sliding it out of the holster. She surprised him by depressing the magazine release and checking the chamber by pulling back the slide and removing the bullet there. She glanced over at him, and he raised an eyebrow at her. Then she lifted the gun to point it toward the wall, looking down the sights.

  “What is this?” she said, looking over at him as she set the gun down.

  “HK in forty-five,” he supplied, and was further surprised when she nodded in obvious understanding.

  “More knock-down power, right?” She picked up the bullet she’d taken from the chamber and slid it back into the magazine, then slid the magazine into the well in the gun, clicking it into place.

  “Right,” Donovan said, watching her with fascination. She certainly did know guns.

  “Guess that comes from having a rangemaster for a brother-in-law, huh?” she asked as she reholstered the weapon.

  “Yes, it does. Do me a favor?”

  “What?”

  “Re-chamber my round, please,” he said caustically.

  “Oh, sorry,” she said, pulling back the slide deftly to re-chamber the bullet she had put back in the magazine.

  Donovan shook his head, never having seen a woman who wasn’t already a police officer so good with a weapon. “I’d say you know weapons,” he said, grinning.

  “Told you,” she said with a smile, realizing suddenly that she’d impressed him.

  He nodded. “I guess you did.”

  Jeanie walked over to him, glancing at the clock.

  “Ready to leave already?” Donovan asked.

  “No. I just have the world’s most overprotective parents. They don’t allow me to stay out all night if I want to continue to live under their roof.”

  “Ah,” Donovan said, nodding.

  “Ah,” Jeanie echoed, surprising him by climbing up to straddle his outstretched legs, sitting down on his lap and looking down at him. Without a word she leaned down to kiss him. His lips met hers eagerly as he pulled her body flush with his.

  After a long, deep kiss, he looked up at her. “Thought we were going to avoid the bed in here,” he said lightly.

  “Couldn’t help it,” Jeanie replied, sitting back and sliding her hands down his chest. Donovan closed his eyes momentarily in response to her touch, and that made a bolt of excited electricity go through her. He was very surprised when her hands moved to the buttons of his shirt, undoing them. He continued to watch her as she pulled his shirt tails out of his pants and laid the shirt open. “That’s what I thought,” she said, looking into his eyes.

  “What’s that?” he asked, his voice husky again.

  “That you had an incredible chest. I saw a little bit of it when I came in this evening—I wanted to see more,” she said, surprising herself with her candor.

  Her honesty was obviously affecting him too, because he reached up and pulled her down to him again, his lips covering hers hungrily. Jeanie was astounded at how affected she was by him, her body craving everything she’d run away from in the past. Eventually it became obvious to her that she wanted a lot more from him than he would presume to take. She sat up, unbuttoning her blouse. Donovan’s teal eyes watched her, but she could see he was cautious suddenly. His ha
nds rested on her hips; she reached down and moved them to the bare skin now exposed. Again his reaction to her action was to close his eyes for a moment, as if the sensation were too much to take. It served to spur her on. She placed her hands on his bare shoulders then slid them downward suggestively, her nails leaving a light trail over his skin.

  “Jay…” was all he said, but the sound of desire in his voice was too much. She wanted him like she’d wanted no other man, and she wasn’t sure she wanted to deny that need right now. Not allowing herself to stop and think, she removed her blouse and bra. In spite of her weight on him, Donovan sat up, sliding his hands around her back and pulling her to him. The feel of his skin against hers only made the warmth inside her grow stronger. His lips were on hers again, and she refused to think about what was happening. She wanted him, and if things got out of hand, if she didn’t stop this time, she didn’t care.

  She was actually surprised when Donovan moved to lay her down on the bed beneath him. His lips trailed down her neck to her breasts, and for a moment she couldn’t even breathe, the sensation was so incredible. When he continued farther she tensed automatically. He sensed it and surprised her by looking up at her, his teal eyes burning.

  “Do you trust me?” he asked softly.

  Jeanie looked at him for a long moment, thinking the last time he’d asked her that was the night before at the bar. She’d answered him easily then. “Yes,” she said finally. At this point she didn’t care what he did. He continued to kiss her as he removed her skirt—she’d long since kicked off her shoes, back in the living room. Before long she lay naked in front of him, but she was surprisingly devoid of any shame. He had moved to lie on his side next to her, his hand caressing her skin.

  “You have the most beautiful body,” he whispered against her lips before kissing her again. His hands slid over her body, and Jeanie couldn’t think of anything but Donovan, his lips, his body so close to hers, and his hands. Before she realized what was happening he brought her to orgasm and she writhed next to him, feeling like every nerve in her body was screaming. Afterward, as he kissed her gently on the temple, nuzzling her hair, she thought about what had happened. They hadn’t made love; he had taken her to the heights of passion without taking anything else. She looked up at him and couldn’t resist the urge to kiss him again. Her body still ached at the ecstasy he’d just brought her to, and in a way she wanted to thank him, to show him how good it had felt. Their kiss was lingering, and Jeanie realized he had been cheated in all of this.