by C. D. Gorri
Instead, she’d thrust a cup of coffee at him and told him to get the lead out. But he wasn’t about to lie. He found her bossy side sexy as fuck.
“Can I help you?” The pug-nosed male sitting behind the glass window barely looked up at Sergio.
He glanced at his nametag—Roscoe Jones, cadet in training—and exhaled. Apparently, Roscoe was a student, as well as a temporary employee at the Academy.
“Good morning, Mr. Jones. I’m Detective Gravino. I am investigating a missing person case and need all the paperwork you have on Samantha Andrews.”
“And?”
“And maybe you want to get them for me. Now,” he growled.
“Sir, I just can’t give you files.”
“I have been given assurances by Ms. Cooper that the Academy will comply with requests to further enhance my investigation. Are you disobeying orders, cadet?”
“What? Ms. Cooper? Uh, no, sir, of course not.” The young man swallowed audibly.
“Well?” Sergio added with one haughty eyebrow raised.
Roscoe practically fell out of his seat and ran to the back room, knocking down several pieces of paper from his desk. Sergio couldn’t blame him for hauling ass. Not really, anyway. Grandpa Sal had taught him how to make that face.
The famous Gravino stare had been perfected by the patriarch. It was well known in certain circles to get speedy results. Probably why the old man had such a bad rap among law enforcement.
Sigh.
“You know, you could have just asked him to phone the director. There was no need to bully him with that death-promising stare of yours.” Red interrupted his thoughts with a bit of sarcasm he’d not been expecting.
I gotta admit, the more sides of her I see, the more I like.
“And say what? That I’m not capable of leading this investigation? Come on, Red, you know me better than that.”
“I don’t know you at all.” She sniffed delicately. “But I bet you practiced that look in the mirror for ages before you got it right.”
Indeed. He had practiced endlessly to get the Gravino stare down. Took years to perfect. But he wasn’t admitting that to her.
“Here they are, sir. I copied them for you, so you can just keep them and go.” The cadet handed him the paperwork through the slot and promptly slammed it, flipping the sign to Closed.
“Uh…”
“Great. You scared him. Good job, Mr. D-I-C.” She snorted.
“Let’s sit outside on one of those benches I saw, okay? We can go over these files while everything else opens up. After you.” He gestured for her to precede him.
“I’d rather go home and shower, change my clothes, maybe even have breakfast.”
“Sorry, Red, just cause the cuffs are off doesn’t mean I can let you go. You are still in my custody.”
“What?”
“That’s right. You are staying here”—he inhaled— “with me.”
His bull snorted happily at his words. The animal wanted her there with him for always, not just the duration of this case. But little Red wasn’t aware of that just yet. Soon though.
Mine.
22
Sammi popped a stick of gum into her mouth and turned her back on the way-too-sexy PRIC behind her. His nose was currently buried in the files he’d received from the registrar’s office to note her anxiety.
Stay with him? Can it be forever?
Her hedgie was rolled into a ball of anxiety, and she felt the animal’s apprehension keenly. After all, Sammi didn’t take the whole living-with-a-man thing casually.
She was no femme fatale. And this was her mate she was talking about. Not some cutie from a FUC party. And there had not been many of those. After all, who wanted to get it on with the wedgie hedgie?
Her reputation preceded her wherever she went. Unfortunately for her. But was it her fault things just sort of went kablooey around her?
Sniff. Back to grabbing the bull by the horns.
Spending the night in a separate bedroom had been hell on her nerves. She hardly slept a wink, which was why she’d been ready to go at the butt crack of that haughty bitch, dawn. Sleeping was overrated, anyway.
Okay. So, going to bed under the same roof as a man who was not a relative was strange, to say the least. Even with a few layers of sheetrock separating them, Sammi could still get a teasing whiff of his incredible scent.
She was halfway to hog heaven when he’d walked her to her door, but she’d totally misread the situation. The great DIC did not have tucking her in with a kiss on his brain. Nope. He’d actually come to her chosen bedroom to lock up the place.
There were only two bedrooms in the townhouse. She didn’t know how she would have snuck past him, anyway. The fact he’d come equipped with his own alarm system was a little troubling. Even more so when he set the sensors up around her window.
And on the outside too, so she could not even try to disarm them without setting the things off. The last one he placed on her door. That had been tricky, but around four a.m., she’d managed to break the damn thing without sounding it.
It’s cute he worries about me.
She might still be misreading things, but wasn’t it nice to think he cared? Much better to do that than to dwell on the fact he thought she was a crook.
Sniff.
Still, it had been a long time since she’d had a relationship with a man. Not that this was conventional by any means. On the contrary.
But still, she didn’t have her overnight bag or anything. She felt icky wearing the same pants. But how could she waltz into her parents’ home and explain what was going on?
Yep. Sammi still lived in her family home with her parents and aunt. She was not embarrassed. Plenty of adults her age did. It was convenient. Not to mention affordable. And they loved her.
Speaking of them, she’d probably better send a text explaining why she wasn’t home last night. Sammi was so engrossed in wording the right message to send to her parents after she practically wrestled her phone away from the hardheaded bull that she lost track of her surroundings.
Her text was somewhere between merely evasive and a lie of omission but good enough to get her past her mother’s radar. Her hedgie squeaked happily, rereading her cleverly crafted message so intensely so that she did not notice the young cadet sprinting down the path until the petite creature barreled right over her.
“Hey!”
“Oof.” Sergio’s chest caught the brunt of her fall.
“Get out of my way. I don’t have time for this,” the young female shifter growled without looking at Sammi, whose mouth was hanging open at her rudeness.
She wore the cadet training uniform and seemed extremely agitated as she picked herself off the ground and hurried in the opposite direction.
Sammi almost forgot the detective who’d caught her before she could hit the cold, hard ground. The warmth coming from Sergio’s body was oddly soothing, despite her confusion.
She’d almost forgotten he was right behind her. But the way his large arms held on to her waist securely was more than a reminder. It was a tease.
“Are you okay?” His deep baritone sent shivers down her spine.
“Yeah. I mean wow.” She shook her head, stepping out of his embrace and regretting it the second the cool night air chased away his warmth. “A cadet should know better than to run over people. And so rudely. You know, I think I know her too.” Sammi sniffed.
“Well, that’s not surprising. You only graduated recently, right?”
“Yes. How did you… oh.” She shook her head and answered her own question. “The file. You know, you could have just asked me.”
“I will ask you when I am ready. Now, before we head back to the townhouse, I thought perhaps you’d like to stop at a convenience store and grab a few things?”
“Sure. But don’t you have to see anyone else here?”
“Not right now.” He shook his head.
Sammi held the bag with the travel-sized toiletries
and one pack of gum as she walked back into the townhouse where she would be spending her foreseeable future. Under guard, apparently. Truth be told, she would much rather spend the time under her guard. Literally.
Sniff.
Unfortunately, she knew off the bat this would not end in any amorous overtones. It couldn’t. Not yet. The bull shifter was all business once again as he perused the files he’d gotten from the registrar’s office.
“Want a cup of tea?” she asked, looking for something to do.
“That would be nice.” He nodded but did not look up from his paperwork.
Sammi huffed a breath and left him to it, heading for the kitchen. She smiled when she walked in to find a covered plate full of homemade cookies and a pair of lounge pjs with a note from Sofia.
Thought you would be more comfortable in these. Enjoy the snacks and call me later.
-Sofia
Lemon drop cookies were her favorite, and Sofia made the best. Sammi set the kettle to boil and took two mugs out of the cupboard while searching for some tea to complement the treat.
“Perfect.” She smiled as she withdrew two bags of herbal tea guaranteed to settle her hedgie’s anxiety.
Speaking of which. She ran a hand through her soft locks, grateful they’d stopped at the store. It took bottles of conditioner to keep her hair tame, and even then, it was hit or miss when her animal was agitated.
Between yesterday and today, she was exhausted. Really, the entire week was kind of a lot. She’d started a new job, met the man of her dreams, gotten arrested, and was now being investigated for a crime she sure as shit didn’t commit.
But she had to stick it out. It was the only way to see if the bull was truly her fated mate, as she suspected.
Why else is my hedgie doing somersaults whenever I am near him?
Grabbing the outfit, she went into the bathroom and changed clothes. She could so pull this off as a casual lounge look. Anything was better than those cargo pants.
Sammi put on the soft cotton pants and shirt before going back to grab the tea and cookies. She found a cute little tray in the cupboard and loaded it up with the goodies, heading back into the room where Sergio was busy trying to convict her of a crime.
Sigh.
23
The irony was not lost on her.
“This doesn’t make sense,” he grumbled as she placed his tea and a few cookies on the desk where he had various papers spread out.
“What doesn’t make sense?”
“Look at this.” He pointed to the documents in his hand. “Red, I need you to try and explain all this. How can there be only one cadet file with your name if you are not the identity thief?”
“I don’t know. If she applied to FUCN’A, there should be two,” she whispered, lips trembling. “Clerical error? I mean something is very wrong here.”
“According to these documents there is only one cadet—”
“Former cadet. I graduated,” she interrupted.
“Named Samantha Andrews at FUCN’A,” Sergio continued, undaunted.
“And yet there are two applications,” she said, eyes narrowing as she thrust a sheet toward him.
“What?” he asked and grabbed the papers. “You applied for enrollment two years ago?”
“What? I did not.”
“This first application is from two years ago. The address here, is this you?”
“Let me see.” She leaned over him, trying not to quiver at the way his spicy, masculine musk filled her nostrils. “Yes. That is my parents’ house and my signature there.”
“Why did you apply two years before attending? Then again, almost a year later, if you were already accepted?”
“I didn’t.”
“You did.”
“Didn’t!” she growled, and damn if he didn’t think it was just adorable. “I applied then waited a year to attend after my application was accepted because I was helping my Aunt Suzi adjust to being home.”
She couldn’t help her sudden change in posture. Crap. Whenever she thought of her Aunt Suzi, she tensed. Sammi could not help it. What her aunt had experienced must have been rough. Otherwise, she would not have broken down the way she had.
“Some of the stories I’ve heard from undercover agents were pretty rough, Red. I am sorry for your aunt,” Sergio murmured sympathetically.
“You are so hard to read, Detective,” she mused. “One minute you are slapping cuffs on me, and the next you sit there with your big, brooding eyes trained on me and I can practically see the sympathy pouring off of you.”
“Yeah, well, you got my sympathy, Red, and more.” He licked his lower lip, and her pulse raced in reaction.
“Anyway”—she cleared her throat—“it’s not the two entry applications that are off. I mean yes, that is strange, but look at the housing exception form.”
“What?”
“Well, you have a housing exception form in that file.”
“So?”
“So, I definitely did not fill that out. Even though my family lives close by—so Aunt Suzi will be close to a FUC facility in case she needs their help—all cadets are expected to live on-campus during training. But you can fill out an exception form if you have a reason why you can’t live there. I knew an avian cadet who was filing one before they got tapped by ASS.”
“What?”
“She was selected for a secret program with the Avian Soaring Security.”
“Okay. So, you’re saying you never filled out this housing exception form right here?” He held up one of the documents.
“That’s right. Plus, that’s an e-signature. The form was done online, printed, then added to my file.”
Sammi sipped her tea. From her perspective, it seemed fishy as hell. She didn’t blame him for suspecting her. After all, it was her name and address listed, but the dates and the housing forms were all wrong.
“I know you don’t believe me, but whoever filled out that form… it was not me,” she said, shaking her head.
Samantha huffed out the breath she was holding and walked over to him. Leaning over one massive shoulder, she ignored the hum thrumming through her veins at his nearness and began flipping through the dozen sheets that were stapled together.
It was bloody difficult to concentrate. He was just so much to take in at this proximity. He smelled absolutely divine.
Sniff sniff. Mine.
Her hedgie growled, pressing against her skin with her spines, demanding to be let out. But Sammi put a lid on the critter. This was not the time.
I have way too much self-respect to jump on a man who thinks I am a thief!
Liar. Sniff.
Oh, do shut up.
Her hair popped, the thick locks pointing toward the ceiling, but she ignored them. She sucked in a breath, trying her best to take no notice of his warm, steady gaze.
“This young woman requested off-campus housing so she could care for her elderly family member. For her grandmother. I don’t have a grandmother close by. It’s just me, Mom, Dad, and Aunt Suzi. I can bring you there to meet them if you don’t believe me.”
Sniff.
From this close, she could see flecks of gold in his deep-set eyes. Suddenly, Sammi became very aware of the fact she was alone with him in the rented townhouse. Birds twittered in the now late morning rays, but even they could not drown out the increased pounding of her heart inside her chest.
“This is all very odd, Red. But you— Hey, you changed your clothes,” he said, changing the subject and gesturing to her borrowed things.
He brushed his fingertips along the collar of the top, and she shivered in response. The touch was light, platonic, but also familiar. Sergio exhaled, and she shook her head, choosing to ignore the brief contact.
“Uh, yeah,” she said inanely, backing up a step to put some distance between them.
That was a mistake. The distance she sought gave him a better vantage point to peruse her from her spiky head to her bare toes. What the heck was she t
hinking?
Then again, she had to admit It was difficult to think when he was so singularly focused on her. Sammi shivered under that long, hard look he gave her. It made her wonder if the pretty, heather grey loungewear wasn’t as cute as she’d initially thought when putting them on.
They were a bit snug around her hips and breasts. But after being stuck in yesterday’s unfortunate choice of work clothes, she was ready for anything else.
Her cargo pants and blouse were as uncomfortable as they were unsightly. She’d panicked when Sofia told her to wear something office casual. What the heck did that even mean? To a hedgie who preferred comfort in all things, office casual was a no-go.
Sniff.
The borrowed pants and top were too deliciously soft to resist. She’d practically moaned when the cozy cotton brushed against her skin. It never dawned on her that the outfit was immodest.
But the way he was staring at her right then made Sammi a little self-conscious. She ran a hand over her hair to smooth some spikes that were pointing every which way.
Her hair was her one great regret in life regarding her appearance. The fact was she often looked like she’d just escaped from a windstorm or stuck her finger in an electrical socket.
Sniff. Our spikes are beautiful.
Her hedgehog snarled at her description of her pointed locks, but Sammi ignored the creature. This was too important.
True, she had other things to worry about if she were being critical of herself. Sammi was too short, and her butt was bigger than she’d have liked. She didn’t tan as nicely as either of her parents in the summer. And her top lip was bigger than her bottom lip, giving her the appearance of an unfortunate overbite.
But those things she could live with. It was the recently electrocuted look she could do without.
Sniff.
She patted her head nonchalantly. At least, it was behaving somewhat. For now. Still the bovine stared. Sammi looked down to make sure nothing was peeking out where it shouldn’t have been.
Sofia’s pajamas were a soft, clingy cotton blend with buttons down the front. They were also a size smaller than Sammi would’ve bought for herself.