Haynes, K. R. - The Light in Her Eyes [In Her Eyes] (Siren Publishing Classic)

by K. R. Haynes

  “Ever heard of calling for help, Chloe?” he grounded out to her.

  The way he said her name baffled her. The officer acted like he knew her from somewhere and she was the one who couldn’t remember the when and where of it. Shaking her head, Chloe held back her smart-mouth comment wanting out and opted for a more polite approach instead. “I would’ve, officer,” she told him “but I’m new to the area.” Hell, she was new to the whole damn bloody state, too, but he didn’t need to know that little fact. “I don’t know anyone here,” she quickly added on.

  Chloe lowered her eyes to the ground in humiliation. Having to admit to him that she lived in a town and knew no one, had no one she could call in an emergency, was something she never wanted to verbalise out loud to him. She had been living in the heavily populated beachside town of Kingston for three months now. Three long, lonely months, and she had no one she could call in an emergency when the need arose. The reality of which embarrassed her greatly.

  She could feel the heat of the officer’s glare bearing into her as he stood there silently waiting for her to explain herself further. Wasn’t it enough that she had just embarrassed herself by basically declaring her loneliness to him? Clearing her throat, lifting her chin up, and squaring her shoulders back, Chloe readied herself to defend her actions further.

  “I thought if I could just make it home I could figure out how to get my car fixed in the morning.” The officer still glared at her and remained silent, waiting for more. “I’m sorry. It was thoughtless of me. It won’t happen again.”

  Chloe couldn’t explain the reasons behind the sudden need to apologise to him for her actions. Somehow it felt like the right thing to do. The officer may not mean anything to her, and would no doubt give her a hefty ticket for her foolishness in driving with a blown taillight and no seat belt. Nevertheless, it didn’t explain the sudden need to apologise directly to him.

  However, it did seem to please him. And in some small way it delighted Chloe that she could please him with her apology. She could tell that the officer didn’t like listening to her admission that she knew she had taken a thoughtless risk. His gaze seemed to narrow down even further at her upon hearing it.

  She wondered what the officer would have done if she hadn’t volunteered her own apology to him. Would he spank her arse until it blushed all shades of red and his handprint was clearly visible on her bare, heated flesh? She shivered at that dark, delicious thought.

  The officer lifted up his cap then and ran a hand through his dark-golden, sun-tinted strands. He pierced her with his gaze as he watched and waited to see what she would do next. Chloe could see his struggle to maintain some sort of decorum on his end. It was like the officer had to keep on reminding himself that she wasn’t his. Chloe found herself fascinated by his reaction toward her. Don’t get her wrong, the officer’s reaction toward her confused the hell out of her, but it fascinated her all the same.

  Hearing his radio buzzing in the background, the officer reached for the handheld device clipped to his shirt pocket. He stepped a few metres away from where she stood, after telling her not to go anywhere, and pressed the button on the radio and promptly checked in his status to dispatch.

  Listening to the officer radio in his whereabouts, Chloe rolled her eyes hearing him report back as “alpha one.” Was he serious? He called himself “alpha one.” She would have laughed out loud at hearing it if she didn’t think it would cost her more money. Being that the officer hadn’t written up her ticket yet, Chloe thought it best not to tempt him into giving her a higher one by laughing at his own expense. Tonight was already going to be a costly night for her, without enticing him to inflate the cost of her ticket.

  She had to admit to herself the officer in question sure had the whole alpha male thing down pat—the one trait Chloe always found irresistible in a man. So naturally this officer tempted her in more ways than one.

  The cop turned toward her then.

  His piercing sky-blue eyes latched onto her hazel ones. Chloe shivered from the intensity of his stare. She couldn’t help it. Every part of her body heated up for this officer. His very presence alone was too alluring to just ignore. Don’t even get her started on his intoxicating scent and the effect it had on her lady parts. It shamed her to admit she could feel moisture pooling in the silk of her panties, all from the way he eyed her now.

  Her instant reaction to him wasn’t something Chloe was familiar with. It puzzled her that he affected her so greatly, to the point that she had no control over how her body reacted to him.

  Get a grip, she told herself. It’s just a cop. Nothing more, nothing less.

  Shifting uncomfortably from one foot to the other, Chloe tried to remain calm. She hoped to god the officer hadn’t noticed how turned on she was right now from his knowing glare.

  Chapter Two

  Randall was pissed when he finished reporting back to base. A small part of him was pissed still at Chloe for not recognising him and for risking her life as well. He would never have guessed that she could be so reckless.

  Back when they had been teenagers, the only reckless thing Chloe had ever done was take a chance on a boy from the wrong side of town, a boy who had been labelled a troublemaker all because he didn’t live in the snobby end of town. A label the boy had grown up with his whole damn life, one given to him that in no way, shape, or form held any real truth to its meaning. Chloe had believed in the boy though. She had been the only person in that town who did. She believed in him and loved the man trapped inside the boy.

  Only in her arms did that same boy become a man. That boy was him. Officer Jon Randall.

  It had been over ten years since they last saw or spoke to each other. A lot had happened in that time. A shitload of stuff had happened to him in that ten-year span, some good and some not so good. Had he really changed so much that Chloe didn’t recognise the man standing before her now? Randall knew he had changed, but not about the way he once felt about Chloe. Hell, still felt, if he was truly honest with himself.

  Randall knew her though, or at least had known Chloe. He had known the strength of her love held in her heart. He had known the beauty of her fiery spirit. He had known the woman she was inside and out. He had known Chloe like no other man ever would. Randall knew he sure hadn’t come across another woman like Chloe since he bedded her all those years ago. The only thing he could be sure about her now was that he could still tell when she was aroused.

  And going by her current stance, Randall knew her arousal would only intensify the further he detained her from getting home. Going by his past experiences with her, the more agitated Chloe became the further her arousal increased. This in turn pissed her off more, but delighted him, as Randall could then indulge his Dominant side and drive her completely crazy until she submitted to his dominance. There was no doubt in his mind Chloe would be mortified to know he knew how absolutely wet and aching her pussy would be right now. Or how much her body would crave to be filled by his hardening cock.

  Chloe certainly wasn’t the shy sixteen-year-old girl she had been back when Randall first hooked up with her. Hell, he wasn’t the same foolish nineteen-year-old going on twenty, either. More than a decade later could he say he was wiser? No, probably not.

  Shit, he was thirty-one years old, yet some days he felt like he was approaching fifty-five instead. Perhaps it was the job talking, or his lack of satisfaction in the bedroom department that made him feel that way. Who knows? The women he had been bedding over the past few years weren’t a challenge to him anymore. They were too free and easy with their bodies and their sexual needs. The women who approached him were attracted only to the uniform, not to the man beneath the dark-blue threads.

  The free and easy ones would latch onto him with their eyes when he went to the local bar for a beer after work. When they discovered he was a cop, well, their interest in him skyrocketed, making the challenge of picking up too easy for him. Randall needed the challenge of the chase. Hell, he didn
’t just need the chase, he wanted the chase. Like cat and mouse. He wanted to hunt the one he wanted. Seduce her until she couldn’t remember her own damn name, then make her come like no other man before him. Yeah, that’s what he wanted. It just wasn’t what he was getting.

  Maybe Chloe could be his mouse. He could definitely see himself chasing after her. She had always been a challenge he couldn’t resist. Even now Randall had to control the need rising inside of him for her. It had always been there, just waiting for a chance to rise again. Now here she was stood in front of him, waiting and totally aroused.

  Chloe had been the only woman from his past Randall had ever pined for—still pined for. He had made a mistake that night, a decade or more ago, when he walked away from her. There was no way in the world he wanted to repeat that same mistake twice.

  Would she walk away from him this time though?

  Chapter Three

  Shuffling around on the same spot for the past few minutes while the officer reported in had become rather annoying, made worse by the way the officer stared at her now, like he was trying to see into her soul or something. Kicking at a rock near her foot to get his attention away from her, his eyes tracked her movements.

  Her patience had run out.

  Cocking her head to the side, bracing her hands on her hips, Chloe decided if the cop was going to drag this out, at least she could perhaps speed up the process by getting him to write her up a ticket. Then she could head on home. Hell, was the cop even going to let her drive the couple of blocks needed to get home?

  Chloe didn’t get a chance to ask. The officer spoke up before she had the chance to.

  “Your licence is an interstate one, miss. Are you just visiting our fine state? Or have you recently moved here?”

  The sarcasm lacing the officer’s voice as he spoke wasn’t missed by her.

  “I’ve just recently moved here.”

  He grumbled, “Fine,” and handed back her license and registration papers.

  “Now, regarding your seat belt and blown taillight situation—”

  “Yes?” God, Chloe hoped the officer would let her off with a warning and let her drive home. Please.

  “I have a good mate, a fellow colleague actually who just happens to be good at fixing cars. I’ve called him for you. He’s willing to fix your car tonight so you can get back on the road without risking your life again.”

  He, ahh, what? Was he insane? He, an officer of the law, wanted her to what, rock up at some random buddy’s house in the dead of night to have her car fixed? Jesus, and the officer thought she was reckless and stupid. She shook her head at him. How on earth had tonight turned into such a mess so damn quickly? Ugh!

  With both hands still resting on her hips, she narrowed her eyes as the officer glared back at her. Chloe could no longer control the anger whipping up inside of her. “So you expect me to do what, drive up to some random buddy’s house in the middle of the night? Someone I’ve never met before, all in the aim of getting my car fixed—tonight—because you arranged it. Does that sound like the smartest thing a single woman should be doing in the dead of night, officer? As it sure as hell doesn’t sound that smart to me.”

  Yeah, she was pissed and it would probably cost her hip pocket for lashing out at him. But hell, who wouldn’t be totally annoyed in her position, after leaving work late then being pulled over when she was so close to being home? And to top it all off Chloe found herself so damned aroused all because of him. Yeah, she blamed the damn officer for her current state of arousal.

  What she wanted right now was a long, hot shower before crawling into bed to sleep for eight hours straight before having to get up and do it all over again.

  * * * *

  Randall had to suppress the chuckle wanting out. Chloe lashed out at him and he loved every minute of it. He never felt more alive than when she let loose her frustration and anger at him. God, how he missed that about her, missed her sassy attitude, her fiery mouth, and how hot and bothered she got afterward. Randall missed easing her aching wet core with his cock after she let loose her pent-up, frustrated anger at him.

  Hell, he just missed her full stop.

  More than ten years ago, Chloe meant everything to him and yet Randall had walked away from her. Regret washed over him as he remembered the reason behind his departure from her life. He had walked away from her all those years ago because her parents had found out about their relationship. Her parents saw him as lowlife scum and nowhere near good enough for their little girl.

  At the time, Randall had been too gutless to stand by Chloe’s side when she had summoned him to confront her parents together. “United,” she had told him over the phone, “we have to stand united, Jon, to win them over.” Chloe had been adamant that she was going to make her parents see him for who he was and not how others saw him. She had wanted them to accept him as her lover.

  That was never going to happen. Her parents’ opinion of him had been set in stone long before he started dating their precious daughter. Their opinion would never change, no matter how much Chloe begged her parents. However, Randall had never given Chloe the chance to plead their case to her parents, because he had walked away from her.

  To this day, he forced himself to never look back on what he had left behind.

  Even if he never looked back on the night he walked away from her, it didn’t stop him from thinking about her. Yeah, Randall had found himself thinking about Chloe a lot over the years. There didn’t seem to be a day go by where he didn’t think about her, didn’t ache to see her or to feel her naked flesh writhing beneath his once more.

  At the time, he had known turning his back on love would be a huge mistake. One look into her parents’ eyes, seeing their disappointment in their only daughter’s choice of boyfriend, had given him all the reason he needed to walk away from her and from her love.

  Now here she stood, unleashing all her pent-up frustration at him. Randall wanted to grin like a moron. He wanted to wrap his arms around her once again, to hold her close to him. Just hold her and let her soft feminine scent ease into his soul. He was pleased, though, that Chloe had the common sense not to say anything else, realising she may have said too much already. Her eyes were lowered as she waited for him to respond to her sudden outburst, while she tried hard not to focus on the ache between her legs. The ache he knew she would have after lashing out at him.

  “Chloe.” The gruffness in his voice as he addressed her had her eyes lifting up, seeking his. “You will not address me so poorly when you speak to me. I am an officer of the law and your safety is my utmost concern. I will be escorting you to get your car fixed. Then I’ll escort you back home. Are we clear?”

  “Yes, Sir,” she whispered before lowering her eyes back down.

  Randall couldn’t hold back the grin this time. Chloe, his little submissive, had found her way back to him after all these years that had passed between them.

  Chapter Four

  Twenty minutes later, Chloe found herself standing by her car at the officer’s buddy’s house. The two men were talking a few metres away from where she stood. Every so often the other man would shoot a glance her way. They were obviously discussing her, judging by the way he eyed her. The cop had his back to her so she couldn’t see his face. The other man slapped the officer on the back, and then ambled over to her.

  Whoa, the officer’s buddy was every bit as hot as the officer himself with his short, dark, cropped hair, hard muscles and long legs encased in greased-up denim jeans. The ripped-sleeved shirt he wore showcased his muscular arms and the intricate tattoo he had on the upper right bicep. When he was standing in front of her he stuck out his hand for her to shake. Slowly Chloe reached out and took his hand in hers.

  “Hello, gorgeous. I’m Mick Huon. Randall here seems to think you need some help with your car, so I’m all yours.”

  Oh, hell. Why oh why did that have to sound so sexual to her ears? Shaking her head, she released her hand from his grip and
took a tentative step back. “Ahh yes, the officer would be correct. My seat belt is stuck and a taillight is blown.”

  “Don’t worry, gorgeous. I’ll have it good as new in no time at all.” Turning toward his buddy, Mick called out, “Hey, Randall, do you want a beer while I’m fixing sweet thing’s car here?”

  “Nuh, I’m good. Still on duty,” Randall answered, pointing to his uniform.

  Turning back to Chloe, he asked her if she wanted a drink. She shook her head no, leaving Mick to go about fixing her car.

  Staring back at the officer, Chloe couldn’t help the hesitation in her step as she approached him. “So will we be here a while do you think?” she asked him.

  “For as long as it takes for Mick to fix your car.”

  Great, just bloody great, Chloe thought quietly to herself.

  Turning her back to him, crossing her arms over her chest and sighing, Chloe stood there watching Mick go about working on her car while silent tension filled the air around her and the officer. Officer Randall. She knew his name now only because Mick had shouted it out to him. The officer hadn’t bothered to introduce himself to her at all.

  * * * *

  Studying her from where he stood, Randall watched in silence as Chloe moved from one foot to the other, trying to elevate the tension ever present in her muscles. He watched as she tried to hide yet another yawn from him. Even though she was tired and exhausted Chloe still refused to accept his help or to sit down and rest while they waited for Mick to finish up on her car.

  Enough was enough. He wasn’t going to stand by and watch her fall asleep while standing up. Silently he stepped up behind her. Resting both hands on her shoulders he leant in slightly. He could feel the tension rolling through her stance.