Sweet Seduction

by Anthology

  J. McTavish

  Wait, I did know this guy. He’d transferred into the department a few months ago. Jamie. I’d never met him, but I’d sent him on some calls, the most recent of which was last week.

  “I did,” I said in a friendly way. “And I left my cell phone at home.”

  He nodded and gave a sidelong glance to the pile of empties sitting beside the car. His forehead scrunched, and he moved his hands to rest on top of his utility belt. “Any reason for those?” He nodded toward the pile.

  My face heated. Great first impression I was making. “They were in my trunk, and I needed to pull them out to get to my spare.” I motioned with my hand to the donut tire lying in the dirt.

  “You’ve haven’t by any chance been drinking, have you, ma’am?” His eyebrows drew in.

  My eyes narrowed. Did he seriously just call me ma’am? Do I look like a ma’am to him? I mean, sure, I had an hour’s worth of sweat on me from my run, and I was probably covered in dust and dirt from trying to change this stupid tire, but I was nowhere close to the point in my life that some prick police officer should be referring to me as a ma’am.

  “My name is—” I started off haughtily before he interrupted me.

  “Just answer the question ma’am,” he said with a stern tone.

  There he went again! I heaved out an exaggerated sigh. “No, I haven’t been drinking. It’s only lunch time for God’s sake.”

  His eyes narrowed. “There’s no reason to be difficult. Just answer the question when I ask it.”

  I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from saying something I’d probably regret, given the fact that I’d have to deal with him on occasion at work.

  “What’s your name?” he asked in that flat, monotone way that cops did from time-to-time.

  “Jackie,” I returned in the same tone.

  “Jackie what, ma’am? Let’s not make this encounter more problematic than it has to be.”

  Ugh. Why had I pushed? I knew from his tone that he was losing patience with me, but I’d always bucked authority. I didn’t know why—it was just me.

  It wasn’t like I’d never had to deal with a police officer before. I mean, I’d been pulled over for speeding and stuff, but they all knew me around here. Not only through work, but because I’d lived in Bar Harbor my whole life. I’d never actually had to play my ‘I’m one of you’ card before.

  I crossed my arms over my chest. “Jackie Davenport.”

  His eyes dipped to the center of my chest where my cleavage was pushed together. Parting my lips, I inhaled a deep breath. I decided to pretend I didn’t like that he’d snuck a peak.

  “Well, Jackie Davenport, do you have any ID on you?” He arched a brow.

  Shit. My shoulders sunk. I’d forgotten to put my wallet in my car before I’d left for my run. “I forgot it at home,” I admitted with a little less attitude.

  “Convenient.” He shook his head to himself. “I think I’m gonna have to conduct a field sobriety test, given the amount of bottles littering the side of the road here,” he said, tucking his thumbs into his belt and widening his stance.

  He could not be serious. “Do I look like I’m out on a bender, Officer McTavish?” I motioned to my attire with both hands.

  He raised a brow. “I’m not sure exactly what someone on a bender looks like to you, ma’am—”

  I felt my blood pressure rising at his use of that damn word again.

  “—but I can assure you that a half-dressed, red-faced, difficult woman doesn’t exactly scream to me that she hasn’t been drinking.”

  “I was jogging,” I ground out.

  He didn’t answer me and instead walked a few paces to my car and lowered the trunk lid down. “Put your hands on the trunk please.”

  I dropped my hands to my side. “Are you arresting me?” I asked, dumbfounded.

  “Relax. I’m going to pat you down to make sure you don’t have anything I need to be concerned about and then I’m going to conduct the sobriety test.”

  Un-fucking-believable. This was unreal. Never in my life. I held my tongue as I stomped over to the trunk, faced it, and placed my palms on the hot metal.

  “Is there anything on you I should know about? Any drugs, needles, paraphernalia?” he asked in a way that indicated he’d administered one of these on more than a few occasions.

  “Of course not,” I clipped.

  He came to stand behind me. I couldn’t see him, but his presence this close to me was like a magnet drawing me to him, and I found myself wanting to back up into his hard body.

  He crouched down and why, oh why couldn’t I get the image of him putting his face between my legs out of my head? Like I’d let this asshole touch me. When his hands circled my ankle, I sucked in a breath and fought the urge to bring my feet together to ease the ache in my center.

  He slid his hands up my leg and I swore I heard a small groan escape his lips. My skin was tingling with awareness as his warm hands passed over me. Stopping short of the V of my thighs, he repeated the action on my other leg, moving just as slowly from the bottom to the top.

  His hands then landed on my bare skin at my waist, and the sensation spread until it concentrated in my core. As his hands slid up to just below my breasts, I heard his breathing grow ragged behind me, and I had to fight the urge to press back into him.

  Damn, what was wrong with me?

  “Find what you’re looking for, officer?” I asked with way more huskiness and way less ire than I’d intended.

  He cleared his throat, and I heard his feet move away from me on the gravel. “You can turn around now.”

  I did what he asked and brought my hand to my waist, cocking a hip and an eyebrow. He appeared less together now than he had before he’d laid his hands on me. His face was flushed, and his hair looked like maybe he’d run his hands through it. Good, serves him right.

  “Now, you’re sure you’ve had nothing to drink.” He cleared his throat, his gaze darting from my own for a second.

  I rolled my eyes. “I already told you I didn’t.” I stepped forward until we were only inches apart. “Do you smell any alcohol on my breath?” I cocked my head back and sent a little thanks up to the Big Man that I’d finished off a Certs in my car before the tire had blown. I blew a breath into his face, and he closed his eyes momentarily. It almost looked like he was savoring it.

  After a second, his eyes snapped open. “Mind stepping back, ma’am?”

  Anger had my entire body heating. I really might strangle him if he called me that one more time. I could already picture myself calling up my godfather, the Chief of Police, and confessing to murder later today.

  Taking a step back, I waited for his instruction. I could introduce myself and tell him who I was. He’d certainly find out eventually—Bar Harbor and the surrounding area was not a big place. But at this point, he’d pissed me off and I’d rather let him make that discovery all on his own. Let him feel like the asshole he was when he did.

  “Place your hands straight out and one at a time, alternating hands, touch your finger to your nose.” He demonstrated exactly what it was he wanted, and I did what he asked without comment, just wanting to get this over and done with so I could be on my way, far removed from this infuriating yet somehow unbelievably attractive man.

  “Great. Now say the alphabet for me start to finish.” He placed both hands at his hips again, looking authoritative and serious, and, unfortunately for me, entirely fuckable. Damn him.

  “A, b, c, d, e, f, g…” I sang until I’d gotten all the way through without any mishaps.

  “You get extra points for actually singing it,” he said and chuckled.

  Wow, did Officer McTavish actually have a sense of humor? Interesting.

  “Okay, seems everything is fine. You can relax.” That was pretty much guaranteed not to happen with him around. “Would you like some help changing your tire?” His thumbs were hooked under his utility belt, and he nodded toward my other source of fru
stration.

  As much as it begrudged me, I’d be an idiot to let him drive off while I still had no way to get the tire off. “I’d appreciate it.” I didn’t look at him when I responded. I had no interest in witnessing the smug smile I was sure was on his face.

  He walked around me and bent down to grab the tire wrench. Sitting on his haunches, he worked silently as he went about getting the ruined tire off and putting the donut on. I was content to watch him unabashedly as his back and arm muscles tensed and relaxed while he worked.

  When he was done, he straightened to his full height—which, if I had to guess, was over six feet—and held the tire wrench out to me. “Here, take this. I’ll put the tire in your trunk.” He did as he said, heaving it in, and then dusted off the front of his uniform.

  I stepped beside him and placed the tire iron back in the trunk. “Thanks for helping me out.” I brushed back a stray piece of hair that had escaped my ponytail.

  “You should get the shop to look at that. Could be you just have a nail or something in it and they can patch it. Would save you having to buy a whole new tire.” He smiled warmly at me and I couldn’t help but return it with a smile of my own.

  “I’ll do that, thanks.”

  Jamie pointed to the evidence of my party girl ways on the shoulder. “You want some help putting those back in the vehicle?”

  I shrugged. “I can handle it.”

  He smirked and I hated how it made his eyes sparkle just a bit. “Of course you can.”

  Keeping my face straight, we both stood awkwardly behind my car for a moment, not saying anything. “Well…I’m gonna go,” I finally said, fighting the internal pull that had me wanting to stay near him.

  He nodded and began making his way back to his cruiser. “Be careful driving on that donut. Stay off any highways.”

  “Yes, officer.” I did a mock salute.

  He shook his head at me and laughed, sauntering back to his cruiser.

  Smirking to myself as I got into my own car, I immediately started it up and cranked the air conditioning on full blast. I needed something to cool me off. Waiting until I could take a cold shower when I got home wasn’t an option. Maybe he wasn’t such a jerk. He’d been much nicer at the end of our encounter and he had changed my tire for me.

  Making sure the doors were unlocked, I stepped out and over to the pile of empties and began returning them to my trunk. By the time I’d finished, I was more than aware that Jamie was probably leering at me from inside his cruiser. Because he was still there, in his car, idling. I had tried really hard not to stick my ass out more than necessary when I was leaning in to place the boxes down, but it was like the thing had a mind of its own, I swear.

  Straightening up, I slammed the trunk closed and walked to the driver’s side with a little extra swing in my hips. I didn’t turn to glance at him. No way was I going to give him the satisfaction. When I slumped down into my seat, I sighed at the cool jets of air streaming across my overheated skin, then leaned my head back and closed my eyes, exhaling a long breath. I needed a minute to cool down—both from the weather and from Jamie.

  I’d just decided to head home when a knock on the glass startled me so much I nearly jumped from my seat. It was Jamie, bent over so that his face was flush with mine. I hit the button to roll down the window.

  “Yes?” I asked, irritation once again ringing through in my tone.

  He shoved a piece of paper at me. “Your taillight is out. Need to get that fixed.”

  I grabbed the piece of paper from him and glanced down to realize that the bastard had given me a ticket. “What the hell!” I turned to give him a piece of my mind, but he was already halfway back to his cruiser. Spying him through my mirror, I let a cry of frustration out.

  “Arrr!” That was it! I was out of here! Smacking the steering wheel, I put the car in gear and drove off, happy to leave the infuriating man that was Jamie McTavish behind me.

  Chapter Two

  Jamie

  I entered the station hours later, still trying to get Jackie out of my head—the one between my shoulders and the one between my legs. That running gear she’d been sporting should’ve been illegal. The vision of her toned body in that tight-clinging fabric was now seared into my brain. I’d been adjusting myself all afternoon as a result.

  When she’d been all up on me trying to prove she hadn’t been drinking and then growled? Fuck me. You could’ve hung a ten pound weight off my dick it was so hard.

  With a sigh, I shoved some stuff in my locker and decided to stop at my buddy, Ben’s, desk to see if he wanted to go out for a beer later. He was a detective on the force and one of the first people I’d become friends with when I’d moved to town.

  He looked up from his desk as I approached, the gel in his slicked back dark hair reflecting the florescent lights above. “I hear you had an interesting day,” he said with a Cheshire-like grin on his face.

  What the hell was he talking about? I shrugged. “How so?”

  “Heard you had a run-in with Jackie.”

  My back went ramrod straight wondering how he knew Jackie and exactly how well. “You know her?” I arched an eyebrow.

  “We all know her around here.” He motioned with his hands around the station.

  Did Jackie get around like that? She’d seemed like she had an unpredictable side, but somehow I couldn’t picture her sleeping around.

  “What do you mean?” I asked with more force than I should have.

  “She’s a nine-one-one operator. Grew up in Bar Harbor, and she’s the chief’s goddaughter…” he pinned me with an intense look. “You’ll see when you’ve been here a while longer. You’ll run into her often.”

  My stomach sank as I blew out a breath and ran a hand through my hair. For fuck’s sake. “Wish I’d known that earlier,” I grumbled.

  “What’d you do?” His expression became serious.

  “She was at the side of the road with a flat and a shit-ton of empties from her car on the shoulder.” I grimaced. “I may have patted her down, gave her a sobriety test, and a ticket for her taillight being out.”

  Ben laughed. “You did not.” He leaned back in his chair, holding his stomach while he laughed so hard that tears leaked from his eyes. “Oh, I bet she didn’t like that at all, did she?”

  “Not so much.” I pressed my lips together.

  “Oh, man. I would’ve loved to have seen that.” He was still laughing and finally stopped to catch his breath. “She didn’t tell you who she was?”

  I shook my head. “I’m thinking now that she was leaving that for me to find out on my own and feel like an ass about it.” I massaged my temples with my hands.

  “Wait until the rest of the guys find out about this.” He wiped at the tears that had escaped his eyes.

  “Piss off, man.” I pressed my lips together.

  "So, what did you think of her?" he asked, raising a brow.

  I narrowed my eyes. "What do you mean?”

  He grinned knowingly at me. "You know exactly what I mean."

  I shrugged, trying to play it off like she wasn't the most stunning female I'd seen in years...my whole life maybe. "She was a little prickly, but I can see what the appeal might be."

  Ben smacked his hand down on the desk and shook his head. "He can see what the appeal might be," he said to himself, amused. When he was done laughing at my expense, he added, "Don't waste your time. She doesn't date cops."

  "Who said anything about dating her?" I had something in mind, that's for sure, but I wasn't sure it was dating.

  "Believe me, I've seen more than one new guy come into this division and set their sights on her. They're always disappointed."

  I took a step closer to his desk and lowered my voice. Now I was intrigued. "Why won’t she date a cop?"

  He shrugged. "Don't know. But many have tried and failed before you, my friend."

  I wonder what that was about. Like was it a hard and fast rule, or had she just not had any use fo
r any of the other guys that had tried? "Whatever, man. Pretty sure I'm on her shit list now anyway."

  "Oh, you can be sure you are."

  I rolled my eyes. "You wanna get a beer later on?"

  "Yeah, sure. The ball game's on tonight. I'm just wrapping up here. I'll meet you at the bar in a few."

  I nodded. "Sounds good." I turned and walked away, then stopped when something dawned on me. "Hey, how did you know I'd run into her?"

  He gave a low chuckle and glanced back down to the mountain of papers on his desk. "You ran her plates. Word travels fast."

  Apparently it did. I'd have to keep in mind that I wasn't in the big city anymore.

  Chapter Three

  Jackie

  I headed up to Don and Shawna's house, carrying the Greek salad I'd made, careful not to spill any. Given the surprise nature of the party tonight, I had parked around the corner. I was here to celebrate the retirement of my pseudo father, Don. He'd been a cop for more than thirty-five years and had been my dad's former partner. He'd acted as the chief for the last several years and was due to retire next week. Shawna had retired a few years earlier and I know she’d been looking forward to Don joining her. She’d been busy making plans for all the travelling she wanted to do.

  The feeling was bittersweet as I knocked on the door. I should’ve been able to do this for my father, too. He and Don should’ve been retiring together, but that had been ripped away from me when I was ten. I swallowed past the lump in my throat as I tried picturing what he might look like if he was still alive today.

  I blinked away tears as Shawna swung the door open with a big smile. "Jackie, I'm so glad to see you. Can you believe this day is finally here?"

  I smiled and leaned in for a hug, moving the bowl off to my side. "I know. I wouldn't miss this for anything. I’m so excited for you both."

  Shawna brushed some hair off my forehead, her smile turning strained. "I know, sweetie. Don will be glad to see you, too." She moved away from the door, allowing me entry.

  As I stepped in, I noticed the gleaming old hardwood floors and patterned wallpaper. The place looked the same as ever. After my father had been killed, Don had stepped in as a sort of makeshift father. I'd spent a lot of time in his house growing up, but not so much lately. I suppose that was just how it was as anyone transitioned into adulthood. I didn't see my mom as much as I should anymore either.