Dating A Cop (The Dating Series Book 1)

by Love, B. T.

  James cleared his throat. “So, are you having fun?”

  “Yeah, I really am. This has all been really good for me.”

  “I’m sure it has.”

  “Are you having fun?”

  “Yeah. I haven’t had this much fun in years.”

  I jokingly punched his arm. “Are you being sarcastic?”

  “No,” he laughed. “I promise. I really haven’t had this much fun in a long time. I really enjoy spending time with you, Katie.”

  “Katie?” I smiled. “I like it when you call me that.”

  “Well everyone else calls you Kate so I figured I’d call you something a little different from the rest of them.”

  We smiled at each other and then both looked down at the ground as we walked. When we got to the end of the street we stopped and I motioned to the curb. “You want to sit down?”

  “Sure.”

  We sat next to each other and watched some neighbor kids light off fireworks. I took that moment to glance over and admire him, with his arms resting on his knees and the relaxed expression on his face. He really was a handsome man.

  “Thanks for inviting me,” I said, breaking the silence.

  He looked over at me and rested his mouth against his bicep. “You’re welcome.”

  It was quiet between us. The fireworks crackled in front of us, the light from their flashes illuminating our faces. A large firework went off in the sky.

  “It’s starting,” he said, looking up above us.

  I followed his stare. “Yeah, it is.”

  We watched in silence as one by one the colors exploded in the sky. After a few minutes James turned and faced me. “Hey, Katie, I was wondering something.”

  I looked over at him, my face serious. “What were you wondering?”

  “Well, we’ve been talking for a little while now, and I’ve really enjoyed our conversations.”

  “So have I,” I said, giving him a genuine smile.

  “I’m glad to hear that. And I just want to say that right when I saw you I was attracted to you. And then when we started to talk I found myself wanting more of you.”

  I swallowed the lump that was forming in my throat. “Really?”

  “Yeah. I mean, I know it sounds cheesy, but I feel like I have this connection with you, one that I’ve never had with anyone else.”

  “James, I—”

  “I know it’s probably a lot to take in. You’re probably not ready for a relationship yet and this is probably scaring you.”

  “No,” I stopped him. “It’s not that. I am ready for a relationship, and to be honest, I really like you and feel exactly the same way.”

  His face lit up at my words. “You do?”

  “Yeah. But I am scared about something.”

  “You are? Well, what is it?”

  “Something that can’t be changed.”

  “Listen, if I’m doing something that’s making you uncomfortable just tell me and I’ll change it.”

  “No,” I shook my head, “it’s not that. It’s, it’s your job.”

  “My job?” he repeated my words, his eyebrows knitting together. “What do you mean?”

  I sighed and looked back up at the sky. “When Matt died, I almost died. The grief was terrible because I was so in love with him. And now I’m here with you and I can see myself falling in love with you. But you have this job that is so scary. I’m afraid that as soon as I give you my heart I’ll get a call saying you’ve been killed. I don’t think I can handle that again.”

  He reached for my hand and covered my fingers with the warmth of his. “I understand what you’re saying. But I could die from a car accident just like your husband. And that has nothing to do with my job.”

  “I know. Mary said the same thing. But your job ups your risk of something bad happening to you.”

  “Well, I don’t know what to say. I love my job.”

  “And I would never want you to leave a job that you love, not that you would. That’s why I don’t think it will work out between us.”

  “So you would really let what we could have go because of my career choice?”

  I looked over at him and placed my other hand on top of his. “It sounds shallow, I know. But I have a daughter to consider also.”

  “And I have a son. I don’t want to die. I’m very safe for myself and for him. And I would be safe for you and Hailey.”

  My heart ached at his thoughtful words and I loved how he included Hailey. “But James,” I went on, “you can’t prevent someone from hurting you if they want to do it bad enough.”

  “Yeah, I know. But please, just reconsider the situation. I don’t want to lose what we could have together over something like this.”

  I smiled and looked down at the tops of our hands with a nod. “I know, and I agree. But, to be completely honest, I have another reason for considering whether or not I want to pursue a relationship with you, or anyone for that matter.”

  “Well, tell me that reason and I’ll try to persuade you otherwise,” he said, squeezing my hand with a gentle laugh.

  This was it, the moment I would explain to my next prospective boyfriend that I wasn’t someone who just jumped into bed with a man. I knew one day I would probably meet someone I would want to pursue a relationship with and I would have to explain my views on sex to him. But it was something that worried me. Men want sex, and obviously James being a man would want sex. But would he be willing to wait until I was ready or would my confession make him run in the opposite direction?

  I cleared my throat. “Well, I guess I’ll start off by saying that I consider myself to be different from a lot of women.”

  “I agree with that. That’s why I like you.”

  I shot him a sideways smile. “I’m glad you like me. My husband liked that I was different as well. But he was a little different from how I was. He had been with a couple of people sexually before he met me, which didn’t bother me at all because he had a life. But I was a virgin. He was my first with all of the really intimate things.”

  “Well that’s good, right?”

  “Yeah. I mean, I was raised to really cherish sex as something to be between two people in love. There were things we did while we dated, but it took me a very long time before I actually slept with him. We were engaged before I did.”

  “And I’m assuming you haven’t been with anyone after he passed.”

  “No, I haven’t. So I’ve only been with one person sexually my whole life.”

  He nodded slowly. “That’s almost unheard of these days. You might as well be a virgin.”

  “I know, right?” I chuckled.

  A moment of silence passed. “I’m sure you want to know how many women I’ve been with.”

  “Well,” I shrugged, “yeah. But I also know you had a life before I came along.”

  “Yeah I had a very full life.”

  “Uh oh, that doesn’t sound good.”

  He laughed quietly. “Well, if I do a quick count, the number is eight.”

  “Eight?” I said, pulling my head back. “I actually figured it would be more than that.”

  “Oh yeah? Why is that?”

  “Because you’re so attractive.”

  “Well eight is a lot if you think about it. But I am a pretty shy guy when it comes to women so that could have played a role in the number.”

  “Except for when it comes to me.”

  “That’s right,” he agreed happily. “You were the first beautiful woman I’ve ever started a conversation with.”

  “And why is that?”

  “I don’t know,” he shrugged. “I just really wanted to know who you were. And once we said hello I just couldn’t pull myself away from you. And that’s still how it is.”

  “That’s how I feel about you.” I leaned over and rested my head against the broadness of his shoulder. “So my point about sex is that I don’t know when I’ll want to have it. I mean, I want to have it now. But with the way I was raised, I
just like to wait until I feel truly in love.”

  “That doesn’t bother me.”

  “It doesn’t?”

  “No, not at all. There’s way more to being in a relationship than sex. And I would like to start this relationship off different than the other ones I’ve had.”

  “Well I’m glad to hear that.”

  Another firework trailed off into the sky. “So,” he coughed with exaggeration, “will you let me kiss you tonight?”

  Kiss me? Wow. His offer was so tempting, but I was scared. “I don’t know, James,” I told him.

  “Wow, really? I wasn’t expecting that.”

  I took my head away from his shoulder and smiled warmly at him. “I just need some time to think. It’s going to be hard trying to convince myself to accept your profession. I don’t want to lead you on any more until I’ve come to a clear decision.”

  He twisted his lips in thought and then sighed, obviously a little bummed about what I was saying. “Katie, I have respect for whatever you want to do. But I just have one more question.”

  “Ask me anything.”

  “Can I take you out on a date sometime soon?”

  “A date? Where?”

  “Anywhere you want. Dinner and then ice cream after. Does that sound good?”

  I smiled and hugged against his arm again. “That sounds like a really good date.”

  Five

  We waited to go on our date until a weekend when his ex-wife had his son, and my mom said she would watch Hailey for me. We both decided we wouldn’t meet each other’s kids until our relationship was official. We wanted to make things as easy on them as we could.

  James looked fantastic on our date. He was wearing a solid black hat and a tight black shirt with jeans. It was really hard to keep my hands off of him, especially when I would get a whiff of his cologne. I was falling for him hard. Hopefully Matt would understand.

  After dinner we got ice cream and drove in his truck to an empty parking lot. We sat on his tailgate and ate our cones, both getting the same flavor of mint chocolate chip, and talked about life and love and everything in between.

  When we were finished with dessert we looked up at the stars. “This has been a wonderful night,” I said pleasantly. “I had a lot of fun.”

  He looked over, giving me his full attention. “I’m glad to hear that.”

  “We need to do this more often.”

  “Sounds good to me.”

  “Maybe next time we can see a movie or something. There’s a new one out, that one about the guy and girl who fell in love when they were kids and then were forced apart by their parents, but then they find each other again later in life and are still in love.”

  “Oh here we go,” James moaned jokingly. “I guess it’s time for me to get back into viewing those girly romance movies, huh?”

  I laughed and hit his arm. “Hey, I’m not all about the romance movies. I like anything, really.”

  “Oh yeah? What if I wanted to see a Jackie Chan movie or something?”

  “Then I would go see it with you.”

  “Oh, come on.”

  “What?” I smirked. “You don’t believe me?”

  “Nope.”

  “Ok, then I’ll prove it to you. We can switch off and take turns picking the movie we want to see. I’ll even let you pick first.”

  “Well that wouldn’t be very gentlemanly of me, would it?”

  “What, letting you pick the first movie?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Oh, that doesn’t matter. Pick one now and I’ll gladly oblige.”

  “Hmm,” he pondered aloud. “Well, Death Valley is coming out in a couple of weeks.”

  “Death Valley?” I grinned. “You’re seriously going to make me sit through that?”

  “Ha! See, I told you! You wouldn’t want to see my choice in movies.”

  “That’s not true. I just don’t usually watch all those manly violent ones. But I will gladly go with you if that’s what you want to see.”

  “No,” he smiled. “I won’t make you see that.”

  “Why not? You don’t think I have the guts to sit through it, huh?”

  “Uh, yeah, I think you do.”

  “Good, because I do.”

  “I'm sure you do.”

  My lips pursed together. “Are you patronizing me?” I playfully asked.

  “Nope.”

  “Are you lying?”

  “Yep,” he laughed.

  I shook my head and chuckled at our playfulness. “Well I’ll show you how much I can handle.”

  “Katie, a woman like you can handle anything. I don't doubt that at all.”

  “You always know the right words to say, don’t you?”

  “Not always,” he chuckled. “I’ve gotten in plenty of trouble over things I’ve said wrong.”

  “Well you’re not saying anything wrong tonight.”

  “The night is young, give me time,” he laughed.

  I smiled and nudged his shoulder and silence fell between us. Surprisingly our quiet moment wasn’t awkward at all. We were just two people sitting on a tailgate on a serene night, breathing in the night air together as if we’d been companions for years. It was perfect.

  He shifted a little and faced me, the contours of his face illuminated by the light of the moon. “Have you thought more about being with me, Katie?”

  His question took me by surprise, but I knew it would be asked eventually. I tucked my hair behind my ear and nodded. “Yes, I’ve been thinking about it a lot.”

  “And?”

  “And I’m still a little scared, to be honest.”

  He scooted off the tailgate and landed on the hard ground. My breaths quickened as he stood in front of me and placed his strong hands on my knees. “I know you’re scared. You have every right to be, especially with what you’ve been through.”

  It was almost too hard to concentrate on what he was saying. All I could think about was where his hands were. He was just touching my knees and it was driving me wild.

  I reached out and smoothed my hand down the faint stubble on his cheek. “I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t be.” His eyes locked onto mine, his intense stare making my breath hitch. “But please don’t let your fear stop what we could have. I want you. And I don’t just mean sexually.”

  My eyes searched his handsome face. He was so close, and I only wanted him closer. I put my arms around his neck. “I don’t want you to leave me,” I whispered.

  He trailed his hands up to my hips and carefully scooted me to the very edge of the tailgate and closer to the warmth of his body. “I can’t promise that nothing bad will happen to me,” he said softly. “But I can promise you that I will stay as safe as I can. I am very well trained.”

  “I know, but—”

  “Just let me kiss you.”

  I averted my eyes from his and took in the stimulating visual of his mouth in front of me. It had been years since I was kissed. Would I still know how to do it? Would I be good at it? My nerves were taking over, but I knew I wanted it, that I wanted him.

  I nodded carefully. “Okay James. Kiss me.”

  The corner of his mouth twitched with a faint smile. His hand left my hip and came to the side of my face, cupping my cheek in the warmth of his palm. My breath stalled as he leaned in and placed his lips to mine.

  It was amazing. His lips felt as soft as they looked and they moved gently with mine. He was trembling—not as much as I was—but I could feel the slight quiver in his body against my arms that were laced around his neck. And then his tongue cautiously entered my mouth, timidly asking me permission to be more intimate with him. I accepted willingly and within seconds our kiss was deepened into something much more erotic than I had expected. With barely a second thought I took off his hat, threw it in the bed of his truck, and continued to delve my hands into his hair, pulling on the short strands and grazing my nails delicately against his scalp.

  His hands found my waist
and his fingers toyed with the idea of reaching under my shirt. When I felt his fingertips on the skin of my lower back I pulled away.

  “I can’t,” I panted against his mouth.

  He opened his eyes. “What’s wrong?”

  “I, I just don’t want to move this fast.”

  He pulled in his lips and then sighed, nodding with understanding. “I know,” he whispered, leaning in and placing his forehead against mine. “If you only knew.”

  “If I only knew what?” I asked.

  “If you only knew how good I could make you feel right now.”

  I smiled and kissed him softly. “I don’t doubt that at all.”

  He smiled in return and stepped away, sighing heavily as he jumped back onto the tailgate. “So, how was that?” he asked.

  I chuckled and nudged his shoulder with mine. “It was amazing, if I’m being perfectly honest.”

  “Yeah, it was amazing. But the real question is, did it change your mind about being in a relationship with me?”

  I mulled the thought around in my mind. Was I really ready to move on from my husband? I think the guilt of moving on would always be there in some form, but all in all it felt good kissing James. I didn’t even feel like I was cheating. Maybe that was a huge sign in itself.

  I took his hand in mine and shifted to face him. “Yes, James, it did. And as much as your job scares me I just can’t deny any longer that I want to be with you.”

  He smiled broadly, his eyes glistening with delight at my answer. “So this is it then? We’re a couple?”

  “Yes,” I said, leaning in so he could wrap his arm around me. “But there’s one more test we each have to pass.”

  “Oh yeah? What’s that?”

  “Meeting each other’s kids.”

  Six

  Mary and I laughed as we watched Tyler and Hailey work as a team to get the basketball away from James at the basketball court at his apartment complex. It was two against one, and James was losing.

  Mary took a sip of her tea and sat it on the picnic table. “Hailey seems to be taking a liking to James.”

  “Yeah. She’s had a pretty open mind about me seeing him. I think she’s craving a father figure in her life.”