Officer on Duty (Lock and Key Book 4)

by Ranae Rose

  But another hour or two with just Jeremy – well, that would be much more. What they’d done had been exhilarating. Gratifying. So sensuous she still found herself breathless when she thought about it.

  But it’d also been something more than just a physical adventure. Getting so close to him had drawn up feelings from a deep well she hadn’t realized anyone could tap into after such a short period of acquaintance.

  She’d enjoyed making him feel good just as much as she’d enjoyed the pleasure she’d taken from him. She sensed the pressure life had heaped on him and had loved seeing it melt away, leaving him free and happy, for just a little while.

  He made her want to see him like that – made her want to do that for him again.

  What she wanted most of all, of course, was to take things farther than they had – get to know every inch of him in every way she could.

  But she had to push that from her mind as she crossed the room to greet Paige and Meredith.

  Both of them smiled.

  “Thank you so much for letting us know about this,” Meredith said. “I feel safe with Jeremy just down the street, but he’s not always around and you can never be too careful. Especially with everything that’s been going on.”

  Meredith laid a protective hand on her granddaughter’s shoulder. “I’ll sleep better knowing Paige can protect herself, too.”

  Paige looked embarrassed, but didn’t shy away.

  “They say this is stuff any woman should know,” Lucia replied. “I’ll feel more confident knowing it, too.”

  She wasn’t about to stop carrying pepper spray in her purse, but a little self-defense training couldn’t hurt.

  She made a quick round of the room, saying hi to the girls from her class before things started.

  The class was pretty impressive. Not that she was an expert judge, but it was more thorough than she’d expected. They learned not only how to strike an attacker, but also how to break free from a stronger person’s hold. Even how to free taped or zip-tied wrists.

  The instructor was giving detailed instructions on how to escape from a trunk when something else snared Lucia’s attention.

  One of her students, Olivia, had backed out of her place in line and was slumped against the back wall. Already fair-skinned, she looked downright pale. Sweat had matted her blonde hair to her forehead.

  Lucia slipped quickly but quietly toward her.

  “What’s up?” she whispered when she reached her side. “Feeling sick?”

  Olivia shook her head. “I’m okay. Just … tired from practicing those punches.”

  Lucia bit down on her lower lip. She knew full well that the athletic sixteen year old was too fit to be so exhausted by a few self-defense drills. She could swim laps around an Olympic-sized pool and climb out with a smile on her face.

  “Are you sure? You look pretty rough.” She pressed the back of her hand against Olivia’s forehead, feeling for fever.

  She felt slightly warm, but that was probably just from exertion.

  “I’m fine.” She stood up straight, no longer leaning against the wall. The smile she directed at Lucia didn’t quite reach her eyes, but she looked toward the place she’d abandoned in line like she wanted to reclaim it.

  “Okay, but let me know if you don’t feel up to sticking around. I can give you a ride home if you need me to.”

  Olivia assured her she’d be fine and that her mom would be picking her up afterward, and that was the end of it.

  Lucia stayed close and kept an eye on her. Although she moved a little sluggishly, she didn’t fall out of line or slump against the wall again.

  Lucia still worried about whatever was bothering her. She couldn’t help it – she felt a sense of responsibility towards the girls in her swim class. If her mother or any of her aunts knew how much she cared about the girls she taught, they’d say it was redirected maternal instinct, and that she needed to get started on a family.

  But she knew it was just the way she’d always been. When people worked their way into her heart, they had every bit of it.

  Her gaze drifted toward Paige, and she felt a pull in her chest, one that brought her over-active heart and what it wanted to the forefront of her mind.

  * * * * *

  Beverly gripped a cup of chamomile tea until her knuckles went white. There were four seats at her kitchen table, and she always sat at the one nearest the stove.

  It’d been almost two years since anyone had sat in any of the others.

  The tea scalded her tongue, and she kept her spine straight as it burnt its way down into the pit of her knotted belly.

  The same old question haunted her: why hadn’t Sarah returned her calls?

  For the thousandth time, she turned and reached for the phone on the counter, a corded landline she’d had since Sarah had been in diapers. Its beige plastic body matched the peeling wallpaper, an ecru damask pattern that yellowed a little more every year.

  Pick up, pick up, pick up. She willed Sarah from God only knew how many miles away as the phone rang.

  Nothing. Like her prayers, the call went unanswered.

  She looked around the kitchen. It had once been her favorite room in the house, but now she saw it for what it was: a dingy alcove, as suffocating as a chamber in a rabbit warren. The countertops were stained and the cupboards scuffed, the linoleum and appliances dated. A box fan whirred in the only window, a substitute for the air conditioner that’d given up the ghost weeks ago.

  Alone in the shabby heart of her home, she felt the solitude as keenly as she felt the sweat dampening her armpits and the back of her neck. Misery. It had become her constant companion, as suffocating as the Carolina summer humidity.

  She didn’t even cook for herself anymore. Not really. Subsisting mostly off of cereal and frozen foods, she ate only when she remembered to, which wasn’t always often. The longer her daughter was gone, the less of an appetite she seemed to have.

  Sarah had always been a difficult child, but she was Beverly’s only legacy, no matter how heartbreaking. She couldn’t give up, no matter how many things had gone wrong lately.

  She would get in touch. Would make things as right as they ever could be. Would bring Sarah back to make their house a home again. Despite her mistakes, Beverly would welcome her with open arms. Children were gifts, and she never let herself forget that.

  She needed to remember. The world needed to remember. Family was everything.

  * * * * *

  Guilt swamped Jeremy as he pulled into the public parking lot at Sea Glass Beach. The day was gorgeous and so was Lucia, who rode in the passenger seat of his car. Paige sat in the back with a bag full of towels and sunblock.

  As he pulled the key from the ignition, he was fully aware that he may have overstepped a line by inviting Lucia to the beach. Looking back, he’d more or less obligated her to come.

  He’d wanted more time with her. For himself and for Paige, who’d taken a liking to her. But what right did he have to ask for it, just because they’d come so close to sleeping together?

  Lucia hadn’t offered anything more than physical intimacy and he knew it. He had Paige and his job – those responsibilities didn’t leave him with the kind of time a woman deserved from a man. He’d told her as much, and they’d agreed to seek pleasure in what little time he had.

  Just like he’d done with the last woman who’d touched him. He knew he was lucky to get that much from Lucia, but that truth hadn’t stopped him from riding the coattails of Liam’s invitation and encouraging her to join them that weekend.

  Sweet as she was, Lucia had agreed. Now, here they were.

  “What a gorgeous day,” she said, unbuckling her seatbelt. “The water looks calm, too.”

  He nodded, his mouth suddenly dry. Her being so sweet about all of it only made his guilt that much more poignant.

  Was she really so glad to be there, acting like there was something more between them than there really was?

  Acting like the
y were a family, really.

  Maybe he hadn’t just overstepped a boundary; maybe he’d steamrolled over it.

  And she was too nice to put him in his place.

  “How strong of a swimmer are you, Paige?” Lucia asked.

  Paige climbed out of the car and shrugged. “I’m okay.”

  “Want to race?”

  “Out there?” She nodded toward the water.

  “Yep.”

  “Umm…” She stood frozen on the asphalt as Jeremy exited the car and pulled the bag of beach towels from the back. “I don’t like to swim out too far.”

  “Not even if you have someone with you?”

  “It’s not that. It’s about, you know, sharks and stuff.”

  Lucia smiled. “I’m sure the sharks around here have better things to do than worry about what we’re up to. Besides, you know they’re attracted to color contrast, right?”

  She reached up and snapped the halter tie of her dark green bathing suit. The color stood out bold against her golden-brown skin. “On the off chance that one gets curious, it’ll go for me first, I promise. That should give you plenty of time to swim to safety.”

  Paige grinned. Her pale lavender swimsuit blended much more closely with her fair skin. “You’re crazy.”

  “I prefer the term fearless.”

  Paige giggled, and Jeremy locked up the car. Scanning the beach, he quickly spotted the striped beach umbrella Alicia and Liam always brought. “I see the group over there.”

  He led the way across the sand, Paige and Lucia teasing each other in his wake.

  He couldn’t help but enjoy the sound of their laughter. How had he roped Lucia into this?

  Alicia waved when they got close, and Henry’s fiancée Sasha called out, loud as always. Grey’s girlfriend, Kerry, looked up and smiled.

  “Everyone, this is Lucia, my new neighbor,” he said when they got close.

  He pretended not to notice Sasha’s raised eyebrow or little head bobble.

  “Nice to meet you,” Alicia said, extending a hand. Her greeting caused a domino effect of politeness – exclamations of ‘hello’ and ‘nice to meet you’ went off around them like fireworks.

  Lucia handled it all graciously, with smiles and handshakes. She looked at ease, unlike Jeremy, who experienced a sense of pride he had no right to.

  He forgot all about feeling guilty over it when the greetings faded and Lucia stripped off her tank top and shorts.

  She did it in the blink of an eye, hooking delicate fingers beneath the hem of her cotton top and whipping it over her head like it was nothing. Then the shorts went, dispatched by an easy shake of her hips. No one else seemed to be paying attention, but he was spellbound.

  Her suit was a bikini, dark Lycra that hid most of her breasts and the triangle of tender skin between her rounded thighs. He remembered every inch and the way it had sizzled against his tongue. As for the rest of her…

  He could easily imagine the weight of her breasts in his hands, and couldn’t believe he hadn’t held them yet. It hit him, then, how much they’d left undone several days before.

  She’d given him a lot.

  But he wanted so much more.

  Just like that, he was hardening beneath his khaki shorts. Trying not to pay the throbbing below his belt any attention, he took the plate of cold fried chicken and pasta salad Sasha handed him and began stuffing his face.

  He had to look away from Lucia. The food was good, but the flavor was nothing compared to the memory of her taste on his tongue. He’d never make it through the day without embarrassing himself if he let himself focus on everything her bikini revealed… and hid.

  He ate slowly, losing track of the others’ conversation as he enjoyed the sound of the crashing waves. By the time he finished his chicken, Lucia was asking him if he wanted to go for a swim.

  He was just about to reply when she shook her head. “Sorry – I forgot.”

  She nodded at his leg, which he’d artlessly wrapped in fresh bandages that morning in order to conceal the ugly black thread knitting his healing skin together.

  “Better not get in the water like this,” he said with a grin. “I’d be shark bait, and with my leg all jacked-up, I’d be the slowest swimmer, too.”

  “Hmm, that’s true. I feel bad for abandoning you, though. Maybe afterward we can go for a walk on the beach? If you feel up to it.”

  “Sure.” He could walk just fine, and he wasn’t about to spend the day sprawled out on a blanket like a beached starfish.

  “All right.” She smiled, then gravitated to the water along with Paige and the rest of their little swimming group.

  Grey and Kerry poked around for a few minutes, repackaging the fried chicken in a cooler, and then went too.

  Which left Jeremy alone with Sasha and Henry.

  Henry was a man of few words.

  Sasha was proof that opposites attracted.

  “So,” she said, her blonde ponytail snapping in the air as she directed her laser-gaze at Jeremy, “you finally found someone. It’s about time.”

  CHAPTER 11

  “She’s my neighbor,” Jeremy said, pointedly gazing beyond Sasha, at the crashing surf. Lucia plunged straight into the water, and Paige followed, bolder than usual. He almost thought he could hear them laughing over the sound of breaking waves.

  They both wore their hair loose, and their curls shone beneath the noon sunlight. For a second, they almost looked alike, from the shoulders up.

  It struck him, then – not for the first time – that Paige should have had someone she looked like, someone’s footsteps to follow in. A mother.

  Something stuck in his chest, between his heart and his windpipe, and he had to clear his throat.

  “Right,” Sasha said. “I invited all my neighbors here today too. Because I’m sociable like that. Oh, wait…”

  She lowered her sunglasses, peering over the lenses and whipping her head back and forth, scanning the beach. “No I didn’t. Because I don’t have the hots for any of them.”

  She stared at Jeremy until he met her eyes.

  He knew she knew he was annoyed. He also knew she was enjoying it.

  “You don’t have to deny anything,” she said. “We’re happy for you. Seriously. Right, Henry?”

  She nudged her fiancé.

  Jeremy expected her to get a grunt, maybe a half-hearted ‘sure’ out of Henry, at most.

  Henry surprised him. “Like she said, it’s about time, man.”

  Traitorous bastard.

  “Lucia’s great,” he admitted after a few silent seconds, and said nothing more.

  They wouldn’t get anything else out of him.

  It was bad enough that the entire group probably suspected he’d used his motherless daughter and gimp leg to guilt trip Lucia into spending the day at the beach with them. The last thing he wanted was to admit that they were physically involved, that he’d been given a free pass to her amazing body but would never have anything more.

  And that that bothered him.

  He should’ve been grateful, but the itch to call Lucia his own had struck, and it wouldn’t be easy to shake.

  “A gentleman doesn’t kiss and tell,” Sasha said, looking smug, “but he doesn’t bring his gorgeous neighbor to the beach for no reason, either.”

  Jeremy shot her a hard look, one he usually reserved for mouthy arrestees.

  She kept on grinning like a Cheshire cat and wagged a finger. “Don’t get your panties up in a bunch; we only tease because we care. Seriously, Jeremy, you’ve been trudging through life alone long enough. Lucia seems great for you. Just look at her with Paige.”

  He said nothing, but couldn’t resist looking.

  Even from a distance, it was obvious that Lucia was an amazing swimmer – graceful even when waves swept through the group.

  He watched her, Paige and the others for a long time. After a while, they retreated from the water. He had to devote every last bit of his energy and willpower to not star
ing at Lucia’s curves, which were glistening with little beads of seawater.

  It wasn’t easy.

  “Hey dad,” Paige said, snapping him out of it.

  “Yeah, honey?”

  “We raced. Guess who won?”

  “You?”

  “No, but I was a close second. Lucia won. Alicia was last.” Paige cast a pitying look at Alicia, who grinned.

  “Guilty as charged, but in my defense, some seaweed got tangled around my ankle and I had to stop to free myself.”

  “She freaked out a little,” Paige added.

  Alicia didn’t deny it, even when Liam teased her.

  “If you came in a close second,” Jeremy said to Paige, “you must’ve gotten faster since last time we raced.”

  “Well, that was months ago. And I’ve gotten taller.” She shrugged, the picture of slightly smug modesty.

  He didn’t need a reminder that his daughter was growing up. He was already at the point where he wanted to strangle any boy who glanced in her direction while they were at the beach.

  She was still young, sweet and innocent, but teenage boys were the scourge of the earth and she was at that age where they were starting to notice her.

  “Hey,” Lucia said, sinking down on the beach blanket and snapping open a can of Dr. Pepper, “still up for that walk?”

  “Absolutely.” He met her eyes and was careful not to let his gaze dip lower, where her curves were plastered with wet Lycra.

  “Great.” She took a deep drink of her soda, set it down and stood.

  He did the same, refusing to favor his injured leg, even as it ached in protest beneath his weight. “Paige, you wanna come for a walk along the beach?”

  “Uh-uh,” Sasha said, pointing at Jeremy with a half-eaten drumstick, “we were just about to get some ice cream, weren’t we, Paige?”

  She looked up from her spot on the blanket beside Sasha. “Can I, dad?”

  Sasha sat smirking like a spider that’d just snared a fly in its trap, and he knew he’d been played.

  Resisting the urge to roll his eyes, he pulled his wallet from his pocket and slipped out a ten. “Sure, but you go to the ice cream stand and come straight back. No detours.”