“Right. So,” he looked around again, “why were you crying?”
She huffed a bit. “You don’t let anything go, do you?”
It was on the tip of his tongue to tell her that he’d let her go. But that was an argument for another day. “Not when it comes to the safety of this town. I saw something move and,” he stared down at the enormous cat, “it wasn’t that cat.”
Olivia shrugged, keeping her eyes away from Hermi who was perched on the top shelf behind Chris. Yeah, she should say something. It was actually very sweet of Chris to be concerned about her safety. But still… a tension had sparked to life when he’d come through the door. An awareness. Plus, Chris looked really hot in his police uniform! There was something so raw and…sexy…about a man in uniform. Add the pistol and…she was in trouble!
What was it about a man in uniform? She didn’t know and, with Chris around, she wasn’t really able to mull it through. He was just too…big and tall and…manly! Yeah, that was the word. Manly. Chris was one of those man’s men. He was tough, with huge shoulders and tall enough that a woman could put her head on one of those big shoulders. She sighed wistfully at the thought. Brandon hadn’t had broad shoulders. In fact, Brandon was the complete opposite of Chris. Everything manly about Chris had been absent in Brandon. Had she done that on purpose? Had she tried to exorcise Chris from her mind by dating Brandon?
“What are you thinking about?” Chris demanded, tucking his thumbs into his heavy utility belt.
Olivia jerked out of fantasy mode and stepped back. “Um…I was just…” she thought frantically, trying to come up with a reasonable explanation. “I was just wondering what you might have seen through the windows,” she said, carefully not looking up at Hermi who swiped at Chris’s hat, missed by an inch, and kept trying. Obviously, Chris had no idea about the second cat and Olivia struggled to keep her face straight.
“Well, thanks for stopping by,” she said, then cringed when Hermi reached further. The cat came within a hair of knocking Chris’s hat off.
Chris moved out of Hermi-range just in the knick of time. “What’s this?” he asked, bending down to pick up a book. “Were you reading this?” he asked, flipping the book around to stare at the cover.
Shoot! As soon as the book flashed into her line of sight, she knew that she was in trouble. Rushing over to him, she tried to grab the book out of his hand. “It’s nothing!” she told him, jumping when he lifted the book higher.
He grinned slightly as his eyes skimmed the cover. “You were reading a romance novel,” he crowed, his dark eyes sparkling with amusement. “What’s in this that had you crying?”
Her lips pressed into a thin line and she glared at him. “Give it to me, Chris. That’s none of your business.”
He shook his head. “As an officer of the law, I think it’s my duty to ensure that you are safe, both mentally as well as physically.”
She huffed a bit, pushing her hair out of her eyes. “Chris! That’s my book. Don’t you have bad guys to arrest or something? Something other than bothering me?”
He laughed and wrapped an arm around her when she jumped, and missed the book by a good four inches. “Not a thing,” he told her. “I’m off duty.”
Olivia heard the deeper timbre of his voice and shivered. “Aren’t you the chief of police?”
“Yes,” he replied, shifting so that she was leaning against him.
She held her breath, her eyes moving to his lips. Chris could really kiss, she remembered. He took his time. Caressing and teasing while his hands explored her body. There were no quick pecks or teeth clicking against teeth when Chris kissed her. It was all passion and lust and…hotness.
“Doesn’t that mean that you’re always on duty?”
“No,” he growled. His eyes moved from her lips to the book still held aloft. “What’s in this book that made you cry?” he asked, but his voice was softer. No longer teasing.
She shrugged, not wanting to tell him about the scene where the woman was hurt by the guy in the book. He’d just laugh at her and she didn’t think she could take that. Not from Chris.
“Why are you reading something that makes you cry?” he asked. His arm shifted so that his hold was more comforting than sensual.
Again, Olivia knew she should pull away, but memories flashed behind her eyes while his scent and the enticing strength of his embrace overwhelmed her. It was too much.
“Because…” she stopped, having forgotten the question.
“Because?” he asked, his voice deep and husky.
Olivia blinked, still trying to remember what he’d asked. But she was more focused on his lips. On the way he was holding her and the delicious feeling of being in his arms. It was better than she remembered. Maybe because he was bigger. Stronger. More mature? She wasn’t sure. But right at this moment, she was incapable of pulling away.
So when his lips brushed against hers, Olivia couldn’t help but lean into him. His arm tightened around her waist and she shivered, sliding her hands along his arms, up to his shoulders. He bent forward slightly, the book forgotten as the passion in the kiss intensified. Olivia heard a soft moan, but she had no idea that it came from her.
A loud thud startled them out of their haze of need. For a long moment, they just stared at each other. Olivia felt her heart pounding against her ribs, but she couldn’t move. In fact, she wanted him to kiss her again.
The thud sounded again and there was the whoop of a police siren. It wasn’t long, just loud enough to be considered a warning sound.
Chris’ eyes swiveled to the windows, sharpening as he peered out at the street beyond.
“I have to go,” he said, but took a moment to make sure that she was steady before pulling his hands away. “We’ll continue this later.”
And then he was gone. Olivia watched him hurry down the street, more than ready to dive into whatever dangerous situation was out there. It was probably just a fight breaking out, but Chris didn’t know that. He had no idea what was going on and he was ready to put his life in danger to save others.
Darn it, that only made him sexier!
With a sigh, she turned and Hermi caught her eye. Hermi blinked at her from her perch on top of the bookshelf. “Oh, you’re so naughty!” Olivia laughed, remembering that Hermi had been trying to knock Chris’ hat off of his head. “Good girl!” she whispered.
After a moment, she looked around. “I guess I’d better get back to work, shouldn’t I?” she asked the felines. Neither of them bothered to respond, which was probably a good thing. Her cats weren’t all that strong in the work-ethic department. Their idea of exerting themselves was to race to their food bowls at feeding time.
Chapter 3
Chris shook his head with irritation as he walked through the back door of the police station. Stopping the fight had been simple. Stopping himself from going back to finish what he’d started with Olivia wasn’t as easy. Pulling himself into the police SUV that he used both on and off duty, he sighed with frustration. Glancing at the clock, he noted that it was past midnight. Why did idiots need to pick a fight? It was so pointless, never solved anything, and took up hours of his time with paperwork.
Slamming the door closed, he turned on the engine and sat there for a long moment. Olivia. She’d been gorgeous before, but the ten past years had honed her beauty, enhanced it. She was softer in some ways, but there was an edge to her now. Discounting the tears he’d seen earlier, she was tougher. That added to her appeal in some odd way that he couldn’t quite define.
He drove out of the parking lot, but instead of turning left, he headed right. Stupidly, he drove by her store. “Just to make sure everything is locked up,” he assured the empty car.
Driving past her store made him flash back to the nights he’d driven by her parents’ house all those years ago. But unlike tonight, those nights she’d been waiting for him. He smiled, remembering those nights. The warm, humid nights when they’d laughed and talked, made love and dreamed about the future.
<
br /> What had gone wrong? Why hadn’t they…?
“Right,” he grumbled. That stupid fight. She’d wanted to go to college. He’d wanted her to come with him to Denver, to follow him in his career.
If he’d had it to do over again, would he still ask her to come with him? Probably not, he thought. But he would have tried a long distance relationship. He’d been making enough money back then that he could have flown back and forth. They could have tried to make it work.
He supposed that their ending had been inevitable. But, he thought as he turned right and headed to his house, she was back and she was gorgeous and she’d shivered in his arms when he’d kissed her. There was still something there. Something strong and powerful.
Chris vowed that he was going to explore whatever was still between them.
Chapter 4
Clapping her hands together, Olivia looked around. “It looks great, right guys?” she asked. Tip flicked his tail, and readjusted his napping pose in his flowerpot. Hermi chased a shadow coming in through the windows, more interested in tackling the shadow than on Olivia’s progress in filling up the bookshelves. “You know, you two could be more help,” she muttered, but scratched behind Tip’s ears as she moved to the next box of books to unload.
A knock on the back door startled her and she stared at the steel door. “It’s him,” she whispered to Tip and Hermi. Neither seemed impressed. “What should I do?”
“Liv!” Chris called out. “It’s me.”
Olivia realized that she had two options. She could either open the door and find out what he wanted. Or she could pretend not to be here. Since the lights were on and he’d probably already driven past the front of the store and seen her inside putting books onto the shelves, option B probably wouldn’t work.
With a sigh, she opened the door. “Good morning,” she greeted him with what she hoped was a professional manner. She’d lain awake for hours last night, berating herself for kissing him yesterday. It had been a foolish action which she’d regretted as soon as he’d disappeared.
“Mornin’,” he replied. “Here,” and he handed one of the cups of coffee in his hand to her as he proceeded to walk into the store.
“Um…Chris…I think we should talk,” she said, hurrying to follow him inside. “About last night,” she began, her hand shifting up to her hair. She’d only showered and pulled the wet strands up into a messy bun this morning, determined to get an early start. She probably looked like a wreck!
He stopped and looked around, noticing the fancy tiled ceiling and the inviting chairs in the back. A comfortable sitting area for customers to sit and peruse their potential purchases.
“You don’t have to say it,” he interrupted. “You regret kissing me back last night. It won’t happen again. It was stupid. We’re older and wiser now.” He stopped and turned to face her, looking down at her with amusement. “Did I miss anything?”
Olivia opened her mouth, trying to think of something else. But darn it, he’d gotten it all out there, her entire speech. “Well, I guess that about covers everything.” She sighed and shifted on her feet. “Thing is, I just got out of a long-term relationship.”
“How long term?” he asked, exploring the store, taking in the titles of the books on the shelves as he paced.
“I was almost engaged to my last boyfriend. We lived together for about five years.”
He stopped and turned to look at her. “Five years?” he barked, then let out a laugh. “Good grief, Liv. If he hadn’t proposed after a few months, you should have moved on.”
Olivia huffed again, irritated by his comment. Mostly because he was right, but she wasn’t going to admit that. “Brandon was a nice man.”
“Was it the phenomenal sex that kept you clinging to hope after the first year?”
Good sex? Olivia’s mouth opened and closed. She suddenly realized that there hadn’t been any sex for the last several months of their relationship. In fact, now that she’d thought about it, there had been very little sex during the entire five years. How had she missed that?
“Obviously not,” he chuckled. “So what was it? Just inertia?”
She shifted with irritation. “I was busy with my career. And Brandon was working on his first novel.”
His blue eyes slashed back to hers, dark brows lowering in consternation. “Please tell me that you weren’t his sugar momma.”
“That’s such a crass term,” she replied, shifting her feet. Olivia would have crossed her arms, but she was still holding the coffee, which smelled really good! If there was one thing that she loved more than pizza, it was coffee. Or beer. Both were pretty much up there as her favorite things in the world.
“Wow, you were!” his eyes widened. “Did you really support him while he was writing?”
Olivia couldn’t maintain eye contact. “Why are you here?” she demanded, changing the subject.
He laughed softly and she knew that he knew he’d hit it exactly on target. “I was going to invite you to the trivia tournament tonight. But since you’re still working on healing your aching heart, I’ll find someone else to pair up with.” And he started towards the back door again.
“Trivia?” she whispered, intense excitement bubbling up inside of her. “A trivia competition?”
He stopped and turned to smile at her. “It’s at the brew house down the street. Free trivia. I’ll buy the beer.”
Olivia’s knees went weak. Oh boy, was she in trouble! Big, strong man. Beer. And trivia! Oh my!
Her eyes narrowed. “You’re a big jerk, you know that?”
He threw back his head, laughing at her anger. “Admit it, you’re a trivia junkie. And you’re also one of the most competitive people I’ve ever met. So, are you in? Should I pick you up at six? Or should I find someone else to partner with?”
“I’m in,” she hissed. “But you’re not playing fair.”
He laughed again, moving closer to her. When he was less than an inch away, he shook his head. “You should know that about me, already, Liv. I play to win.”
And then he was gone. Olivia stared at the closed door, wondering what he would win. Her? But…did he want to win her? Was this just a game to him? Her life wasn’t a game. Her life was so messed up and she’d come back home to Staunton, Virginia in order to heal. Buying the bookstore had been cathartic after the hectic pace of New York City.
Yes, it had been a frantic two weeks after buying this place and ordering her stock. But it had been wonderful. Thrilling! She felt like she was finally in control of her life. After racing around at her last job, Olivia acknowledge that she’d been drifting and reacting to life instead of living it. Now, being here after ten years and in her own store, she was finally in control.
So, Chris wasn’t allowed to step into her life and ruin her plans! Not again! She wouldn’t let him the last time, and she was stronger and wiser this time around. She would win this silly game he was playing!
Chapter 5
Chris left the station early and headed back to his house to shower and change out of his uniform. When he arrived back at her store, the anticipation was higher than normal. He usually went over to the brewery to watch the trivia game while sipping a beer and hanging out with some of the others in town, but tonight, he’d be with Olivia. The fact that she was a trivia master was only a side benefit. In fact, he considered the whole evening simply a prelude to the moment when he dropped her off after their date so that he could kiss her again.
When he knocked on the door to the small apartment over the bookstore, he looked out at the alley, noting the other apartments and cars parked along the back wall. Only about half of the store owners lived over their stores. Some expanded their merchandise to the upper level, others rented out the apartment, and some lived there.
When she opened the door, Chris noticed that her cheeks were flushed and she had a sparkle in her eyes. Bingo, he thought.
“Ready?” he asked, stepping back from the outside platform when she stepped o
ut to lock her door. He noticed that the lock wasn’t very sturdy and made a mental note to install something more secure.
“I’m ready!” she replied, but when she turned around, Olivia didn’t look at him. Interesting, he thought as he followed her down the wooden stairs. Nice view, he thought as he admired how her filled out her jeans. They weren’t overly tight, but nor were they loose. Nice!
“How long has the trivia contest been happening?” she asked, pulling her purse over her shoulder.
He led her down the street to the brewery, which was only about five doors away from her bookstore. “A few years.”
“Does Mo still own the place?” she asked.
He pulled the door to the brewery open and stepped back to let her enter first. “Mo retired to Florida about three years ago. A couple bought the place and changed it from just a bar to a brewery. They make their own beers in the back and spruced up the menu. It’s a bit more gourmet than what Mo offered. Good stuff.”
He led her over to one of the smaller tables and a waitress walked over with a bowl of chili covered popcorn. “What can I get you, Chief?” she asked, resting her hands on the back of her hips.
“Hi, Heather,” Chris replied. He looked to Olivia. “How about a burger and a house lager?”
“That sounds great!” she enthused.
Heather smiled. “Hey, aren’t you the lady who bought the old bookstore down the way?” she asked.
“That’s me!”
Heather extended her hand. “Excellent! I’m Heather. If there’s anything we can do here to help your business get going, just let us know, okay?”
Olivia blinked, not sure how to handle such a generous offer. People in New York just…they didn’t do that! Competition was fierce and she wasn’t sure how to react to the offer of assistance. But Olivia rallied quickly and extended her hand. “That would be wonderful!” she said, shaking Heather’s hand as her smile widened.
“Are you any good at trivia?” Heather asked.
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