As they got close, the pacing man shouted, “Hi, officer. What can I do you for?”
Pete’s voice was firm. “We’ve had complaints that the music is too loud. I need you to turn that down.”
“Oh, yeah. Of course.” The guy turned and walked into the house from a door inside the garage. Pete continued to saunter closer so that he was inside the space in short order. Codie was moving too, appearing as a shadow, but close. Before she actually walked into the garage, she noticed the faint scent of weird chemicals, a sicky sweet smell that made the coffee in her stomach feel sour. She saw Pete’s gait slow before he touched his belt. Scratch that. He touched his gun, a weapon she’d almost forgotten was there. Apparently, something had his hackles up, and he was thinking there was more to this call than merely loud people.
She was starting to suspect it too.
The volume of the music blaring from the house dropped, but that didn’t stop the hairs from standing up straight on Codie’s forearms. She knew down deep in her bones that something was wrong—dead wrong.
“Codie,” Pete said, without turning his head to look back, “I need you to get back in the car, and I want you to duck low, out of sight.”
“Shouldn’t—”
“Do it,” he said, his voice low but scary, letting her know there would be no arguing. He tilted his head and spoke into the mike attached to his shoulder. Codie thought he was calling for backup, but she couldn’t be sure.
She started to walk backwards, really not sure if the cop car would keep her safe, but she knew it was more the idea of out of sight, out of mind. If the bad guys couldn’t see her, she might not be a target.
Before she could move any farther, though, the door from the house into the garage banged open and smoke trailed behind the man in a big cloudy puff. “Hands up where I can see them.” It was an order, and it wasn’t quiet. Pete had suddenly turned formidable—and scary.
“But—”
“Now!” Codie was frozen, just watching the action. The guy dropped his cigarette on the concrete floor of the garage and held his arms out—probably not the way Pete had wanted him to, but it was definitely easy to see that he wasn’t holding anything. With lightning speed, Pete had the guy cuffed and was patting him down, asking him questions. Codie couldn’t hear a lot of what was said, but the guy answered one question loudly enough that Pete understood.
“My old lady’s in there tryin’ to save it.”
Pete marched the guy out of the garage and didn’t even look Codie in the eye as they passed her and he opened the back door to the cruiser, practically stuffing the guy inside. “I’ll find her.” Once he closed the door, he said to Codie, “I’d remind you to get in the car, but I’m sure he reeks of toxic shit. Just stay close to the car, got it?” She nodded and watched him walk back through the garage, this time with his gun in his hands.
She knew the timing was bad, but Codie was finding Pete’s masculinity to be a hell of a turn on, and she wondered why she’d rebuffed his more recent advances. She’d have to rethink a Codie-and-Pete combo.
As Pete made his way through the garage again, she could hear the guy making noise in the cruiser—shouting, maybe? And then it sounded like he was banging on the window, but his hands were cuffed, so she didn’t know how he could do that. She turned around to glance and saw him pounding his head against the glass, and when she looked, he started shouting at her. He looked panicked, but there wasn’t anything she could do, no matter what the guy was saying. She shook her head at him and turned back around just in time to see a woman with frazzled blonde hair run out the front door. She had a pitcher in her hands, holding it like a weapon, and she looked around frantically. It was dark and the cop car wasn’t flashing the red-and-blues, but she spied the vehicle anyway and ran over. Codie felt her eyes grow wide but she just stared, feeling like she couldn’t move.
“Brian? You in there?” When she saw Codie, she acted at first like she was going to tackle the woman, and Codie braced herself for it, preparing for a fight, but then the woman suddenly flung her arm so that the pitcher’s contents doused Codie in a cold liquid that didn’t seem to have any smell.
But it was icy, and it made her gasp while throwing her off guard. Before she could fully get her wits about her, she heard the woman yell, “I’ll get you out, Brian!” And then she started running down the street before Codie could even make sense of any of it. She ran to the edge of the driveway, wondering if it would be smart or safe even to chase the woman, and she was grappling with what to do when she heard an explosion from the house behind her.
An explosion…and no sign of Pete.
Chapter Six
CODIE SPUN ON her feet to see the flickering of flames off a background of smoke billowing up from the back of the house, and she could hear several dogs barking and howling in the neighborhood. It was then that she recognized that there was a siren approaching from far off, Pete’s backup whose timing left a lot to be desired.
Codie decided she couldn’t chase the woman—not with all that was going on. She instead focused on the house, wondering what happened to Pete. Was he injured? Dead? Had he caused the explosion or just been unfortunate enough to be there when it happened?
Should she go inside and try to save him?
Another smaller explosion sending more flames and sparks against the night sky told her she shouldn’t. But she wanted to know what the hell was taking his backup so damn long. She had to do something. She couldn’t just stand there while Pete might be injured or dying or even dead.
As Codie started running toward the garage, trying to figure out if she should enter there or through the front door, she heard Pete yell her name. She turned to the left to see him coming around the left of the garage on the dark side of the house. “What happened?” she asked as the sirens in the distance grew louder.
Pete placed his hand on Codie’s elbow, gently leading her away from the garage. “I could ask you the same thing.”
Codie realized he was talking about her dripping hair and shit. “Oh, yeah. Some crazy woman ran out of the house and poured a pitcher of something on me, told the guy in the car she’d find him, and then ran down the road. Sorry I didn’t chase her.” Under her breath, she added, “Lunatic.”
Pete shook his head. “No, don’t be. You’re not armed, and you have no idea why she was running. She’ll turn up eventually.” Once they were on the far side of the cruiser so that it was between them and the burning building, he said, “I walked in the house, and it didn’t take me long to realize they’re cooking meth, so I was gonna see who else was in there I could arrest. But before I got to the kitchen, there was an explosion, so I jumped out the back door and made my way around here.” Codie nodded as he grinned, making her knees feel weak. “You weren’t worried about me, were you?”
“What if I was?”
The whining of sirens grew so loud, there would be no talking at this point, and Codie turned toward the sound. It was then that she noticed several neighbors standing on the sidewalk across the street, most of them in bathrobes or pajamas.
A cop car screeched to a halt in front of the house, followed by a firetruck that parked almost in the middle of the street. When Codie looked back at him, Pete cocked an eyebrow. The sirens shut off, she was able to hear him when she said, “We probably need to clean that shit off you. Do you know what it is?”
She shook her head. “No.”
“One minute.” Pete strode over to the other cop car and chatted with the officer. In less than ten minutes, they had a team of specialists on site in full safety gear, and the other cop shoved the guy named Brian into the back of the car so he could take him to the detention facility. Then Pete told Codie to get in the car. “I wonder if I should take you to the emergency room. Is that stuff burning or itching? Any odor?”
“It doesn’t hurt or feel bad. It’s kind of sticky feeling.” She turned her head and took a big whiff of her damp shirt. “Honestly, it kinda smells like…like gin
ger ale or Sprite, maybe.”
“You sure that’s what it is?”
She touched her arm. Goosebumps stood out on the flesh as a cool breeze wafted past. Two months from now in the relentless heat of summer, and her shirt would probably already be dry. “Yeah. Pretty sure. It smells sweet.”
“We need to get you cleaned up.”
Codie imagined there were showers and locker rooms at the police station, even though she’d never been given a thorough tour. She didn’t completely disagree that she needed to clean up, but she was fairly certain he should be patrolling the streets instead of pampering his ride-along. It kind of defeated the purpose of going on the ride-along in the first place. “I’ll be okay.”
He grinned and winked. “Buckle up.”
Oh. That voice again.
She felt another involuntary shiver work its way through her spine and she flashed a smile—albeit a weak one—back at him. Tonight’s little life experiment had reminded her all too well how attracted she’d always been to Pete. He was masculine, self-assured, and even sweet, even though he didn’t show that side much, and now that she and her sometimes-boyfriend Slade were separated, she was seriously considering putting the moves on her cop friend.
But, um…not while doused in Sprite.
Soon enough, Pete was driving down the road. Codie felt like she should say something, but the words weren’t there. He didn’t talk either, instead focusing his attention on the road. No, actually, he was doing more than that, and Codie had been watching him enough this evening to know that. Part of him was tuned in to the chatter that came through the radio off and on, but more than that, he was keeping his eye on his surroundings, looking for anything on his patrol that was out of the ordinary or suspicious.
In a few minutes, he was back in a residential section of town—his section of town and, shortly after that, he was pulling the patrol car into his driveway. Pete switched off the ignition and glanced over at Codie. “Time for my lunch break or dinner break, whatever you wanna call it.” She felt a little confused but nodded and, when Pete got out of the driver’s side, she did the same. “And you can shower while we’re here.”
She followed him up to the front door of his modest off-white brick ranch-style house. “But I don’t have any clothes to change into.”
Pete shrugged as if he didn’t care but as he pushed the front door open and waved Codie in first, he said, “I think I’ve got something that will fit you.”
She began laughing as he shoved the door closed and started to reply when in seconds he got close to her. His eyes had grown dark and felt like they could see through to her soul as he closed the gap. She could feel a deep vibration in her core as he got close enough that she could feel his body heat. As her muscles felt like they were growing limp, she managed to swallow the saliva pooling in her mouth before saying, “I don’t think we’re the same size.”
“I’m pretty sure I have something.” His voice grew lower when he added, “I just don’t know that I want you wearing it yet.”
Oh. And so, when Pete’s face got near hers, she had no response other than to move her lips the rest of the way into his.
But Pete paused, holding his face inches from hers, and she felt herself holding her breath, still involuntarily moving her lips closer to his. In slow motion, almost like a movie, their lips finally connected and she closed her eyes, allowing herself to enjoy the sensation. She still couldn’t catch her breath as his mouth touched hers softly, but he kissed her as if he had all the time in the world. She felt explosions going off in her head as all thought vanished, replaced by pure emotion and need, and it all ended way too soon. She could feel him pulling away before she forced her eyelids to lift. His voice was soft when he said, “Need to get you all cleaned up before we get back on the road.”
At last, she was able to pull air into her lungs. “Yeah.”
He pointed toward a hallway and said, “The bathroom’s down that way. Towels are in the closet next to the door.” For a second, it all felt surreal. Codie wondered if they’d really just kissed or if she’d imagined it. She took another deep breath and nodded, heading in the direction he’d indicated. “I’m going to make something to eat. I only have an hour for lunch. A sandwich okay with you or would you rather have something else?”
Codie paused in the hallway and turned, still feeling a little disoriented. “I’m not really hungry, Pete.” Doubt began flooding her brain. “Maybe I should just go home since I don’t have anything to wear.”
He chuckled. “I told you I have stuff you can wear. Don’t worry about it. And if it doesn’t fit okay, we can swing by your place for a few minutes after we’re back on patrol.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah. Go get cleaned up.”
Codie grabbed a towel and washcloth from the hall closet before stepping into Pete’s bathroom. She’d never been in his house before because, after they’d dated in high school, they’d maintained a casual friendship but nothing deep or intense. Maybe that was about to change, because Pete wasn’t nearly the macho overbearing jock she thought she’d remembered from their school days.
He seemed to have become a pretty nice guy.
Oh, and hot. Very hot. How the hell had she forgotten that?
Well, she knew. Because they hadn’t spent a lot of time together in the past ten years, she hadn’t watched his transformation. He had changed. She was certain of that. And while she knew a good many cops in her town were egotistical, power-hungry jerks, being a cop had done a lot of good for Pete. He seemed humbler somehow…as if he’d taken the law enforcement mission to heart—that he was personally protecting everyone in their town. And she’d already seen tonight that he could be formidable, downright scary to the people he was trying to protect the rest of the citizens from. All that was wrapped in a package that was…lickable. Yes, lickable. Codie couldn’t get her mind off tasting more of Pete…but it looked like maybe that wasn’t going to be an option. Not tonight anyway.
After all, they were only halfway through his shift, which meant they were also only halfway through the ride-along.
Codie made her way around his bathroom and began peeling off her clothing that had become sticky. Yes, definitely Sprite or some other lemon-lime sugary soda. She could smell it now in the enclosed space. Her mind began racing through the earlier events of the evening. In a short time, Pete had saved her from a bar fight gone awry and handled a domestic violence issue where the woman appeared to be the perpetrator, while she’d seen a dead body and watched a meth lab blow up. She’d witnessed more in a few hours that night than she’d experienced during a regular low-key year. And Pete had just sort of sauntered through it all as if it was nothing but a thing.
Yeah, he was a hell of a guy. He was kind of (no, more than kind of) overshadowing her hotshot lawyer ex-boyfriend. Pete was definitely making her question why she’d spent so much time trying to work things out with Slade when it probably should have been evident to her that the guy didn’t want a relationship. After all, that was part of why they didn’t live together anymore. Slade hadn’t wanted to commit. He’d given her a million reasons why, but she knew he wasn’t ready, and she’d accepted it years ago.
But maybe they weren’t right for each other. She was definitely questioning their relationship now that she was in Pete’s orbit and believing that breaking up had been the right thing to do.
She got in the shower, deciding to rinse out her hair too. Even though the woman hadn’t doused her head, one side of her hair had gotten wet too, and she thought it might be better to wash it all off. Just in case. She rolled the bar of yellow soap in her hands, realizing that this very bar had touched Pete’s skin recently…and then Codie, a girl not at all innocent or shy, felt her cheeks grow warm nonetheless. Pete was the guy she’d lost her virginity to and they’d stayed together through high school. Hell, Codie couldn’t even remember why their relationship had ended all those years ago now. But maybe—
She nearl
y jumped when she heard Pete’s voice nearby, pulling her out of her musings. “I’m setting some clothes on the counter here—a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt. I hope they work.”
Yeah, no underwear. That would be fun. “Thanks, Pete,” she said over the patter of water drops against the tub, wondering if she should invite him in…and then thinking better of it. A couple of kisses didn’t mean he would be ready to get wet and naked with her.
“Sure you don’t want something to eat?”
“I’m good. Thanks.”
When she finally turned off the water a minute later, she peeked out of the shower first, pulling the curtain back. Even though she’d been thinking about Pete in less-than-innocent ways, she didn’t know that she was ready to appear naked in front of him. But he’d left the room, so she dried off fast and hung up the towel before putting on the clothes he’d offered her.
The shirt, while big, fit fine, but the sweatpants wouldn’t stay put. They were too big. As silly as it sounded, maybe she could ask Pete if he had a belt she could wear. She piled her clothes and shoes together next to the wall and out of the way, deciding to ask Pete for a plastic bag to carry them in until she got home. Then she stepped out of the bathroom and into Pete’s quiet, dark house. He hadn’t turned on a lamp in the living room but light spilled out of the kitchen, leading her to him. He was standing across the room, leaning against the counter, sipping at a glass of water. “Feel better?”
“Lots,” she said, but she showed him that she was holding up the sweatpants with one hand. “Except these are too big. Do you have a belt or something?”
That look—what did it mean?
The way he crossed the room, getting close to her, gave her the answer. “I actually have a better idea.” And as he consumed her in a toe-curling kiss, she wondered if her fingernails digging into his neck were too aggressive or if that was exactly what he’d had in mind.
Fool Me Once (Codie Snow #1): A Romantic Suspense Series Page 4