Her Holiday Fling

by Jennifer Snow

  * * *

  “MAN, WE REALLY need to find a new coffee shop. That place is always busy this time of morning,” Cooper Jennings said, climbing into the passenger seat of the police squad car. He placed the steaming drinks into the cup holders.

  Chase reached for his and took a gulp, feeling his throat burn from the hot liquid. “That’s hot.”

  Next to him, Cooper opened a paper bag and retrieved a Boston cream–filled donut.

  Chase shook his head as the kid bit into the pastry. A month on the job and his new partner was already embracing the stereotype. Before long he’d look like one of the paper-pushing desk job guys if refined sugar and caffeine continued to be his breakfast after their long night shift. “You have to stop eating that crap. I want a partner who can run more than ten feet without gasping for air.”

  “Don’t sweat it, man. I got you.”

  He wouldn’t bet his life on that. Why had he agreed to train the new guy? Oh, right—Kate had begged him to.

  Putting the car in Drive, he pulled out into traffic. He could barely keep his eyes open after the twelve-hour night shifts every day this week, and he was desperate to drop Cooper off at the station and get his ass home to a hot shower and his bed. In fact, even the shower might have to wait.

  His cell phone rang at his side and, pulling the squad car into the police station, he reached for it and groaned. “Cooper, why is your fiancée calling me?” he asked, unbuckling his seat belt.

  “Beats me, man. She’s your sister.”

  “Not going to help me out here?”

  The young cop who’d joined the force, against Chase’s advice, shook his head. “You’re on your own. Tell her I’ll be home in an hour,” he said, grabbing his coffee and getting out of the vehicle.

  Chase tossed the ringing phone between his hands. If he didn’t answer now, she’d keep calling, interrupting his plans of sleeping the day away. “Hey, Kate,” he said a second later, resting the phone against his shoulder as he grabbed his bag from the backseat and got out of the car.

  “Have you gone to Joseph’s to try on your tuxedo yet?” His sister’s voice was far too perky for 6:00 a.m.

  He shot Cooper a questioning look as they walked toward the station. “Joseph who?”

  His soon-to-be brother-in-law just laughed as he opened the door and stood back to let him enter.

  “The men’s formal-wear shop. Chase, tell me you’re messing with me.”

  Nope. The tux fitting for his sister’s wedding had escaped his mind the moment she’d mentioned it the month before. “I was planning to go today,” he muttered, grabbing his notebook and pen from his shirt pocket and writing Joseph’s on an empty page.

  “No, you weren’t. You forgot,” Kate said and he could almost hear her pout. The youngest child of four and the only daughter, Kate had been spoiled from the time she’d poked her screaming head out, and somehow she’d managed to find a fiancé who continued to spoil her. He liked Cooper well enough, but a fellow cop would have been the last person he’d have wanted for his sister. Unfortunately, they’d met at the station when Kate had stopped in for lunch eight months before. Cooper had been signing some paperwork and the two had hit it off, much to Chase’s dismay. They were getting married the following week.

  After only eight months—it seemed too fast to him.

  He didn’t believe it was possible to know anyone well enough to get married after eight months. Of course his baby sister didn’t want to hear his opinion, so he’d kept his mouth shut. To Kate, at least. To Cooper, he’d threatened life and limb should he ever hurt her. And it was the only reason he’d agreed to train the man once he’d graduated from the academy. This way he could keep an eye on him and keep his ass safe.

  Something he hadn’t managed to do for his last partner...

  “Fine, I forgot. But the wedding is still a week away.” What was the big deal? He’d go try on a tux later that day. Hemming a pair of pants couldn’t possibly take that long.

  “Yes, but we leave for Maui in two days.”

  Great, no more avoiding that discussion. He still hadn’t told his sister that his plan was to take the red-eye flight the night before the wedding then leave right after the reception dinner. Three days away from his job with the Los Angeles Police Department was more than enough. “About that—”

  “Chase, don’t even say it.”

  “Kate, you know it’s hard for me to get time off.”

  “I’m hanging up now.”

  “Kate...” He suppressed a yawn. The twelve-hour night shift had been tough, but not as tough as this conversation with his sister. Was there a way to block stressful calls from coming in this early? If not, someone should definitely create an app for that.

  “It’s my wedding, Chase. And you’re giving me away, remember?”

  As the oldest, he’d taken over for both parents when his mother and father died in a car explosion years earlier. Alan Hartley had been an undercover cop working a long-term case in drug exports. An informant had leaked his identity to the cartel leader, just days before the bust that would have put the criminal behind bars for a long time. Unfortunately, his parents had lost their lives and the investigation had been for nothing. Chase had dropped out of college and enrolled in the police force.

  Setting his bag next to his desk, he collapsed into the chair and eyed the stack of paperwork in his inbox tray. He rubbed his forehead and rested his head in his hand. “Look, Adam isn’t flying in until the day before.” If his youngest brother could get away with it, why couldn’t he?

  “Adam is a pro NFL player with a game schedule and a contract he needs to worry about.”

  Right, and he was just responsible for civilian safety. “I’ll be there for the ceremony.”

  “No, you know what, forget it—if taking time off work for your sister’s wedding is too hard for you, I’ll ask Eric to give me away instead.”

  His sister was one of the best wedding planners in Los Angeles. Weddings were her life and she believed them to be one of the most important days in her clients’ lives. Trying to tell her to relax about her own would only be met with an argument he was too exhausted for. “You won’t ask Eric because—”

  At the dial tone, he knew she was continuing her temper tantrum in her home across town.

  He had seven minutes until she called back, because despite her threat, there was no way she would leave something that important in the hands of their carefree, laid-back younger brother.

  He scanned the work on his desk. He needed a shower to wake himself up before tackling the pile of paperwork. In the locker room he tossed his vest, gun holster and boots into his locker, and removed his shirt and pants.

  In the mirror he examined a gash above his left eyebrow from an untimely encounter with a knife as he’d broken up a bar fight the evening before. He’d accepted a tetanus shot at the hospital but refused stitches... In hindsight, maybe that wasn’t the best idea. Shampoo in the deep wound was going to hurt like a son of a bitch.

  He turned on the shower and let the steam from the hot water fill the room as he removed his boxer briefs. Then, climbing in, he assessed the rest of the damage—bruising on his rib cage and another small flesh wound on his upper thigh.

  Assholes high on crack and who knew what else. They’d spent the night in a drunk tank, but Chase had been unable to charge them for possession, finding only a small bag of marijuana on the youngest kid, who—as luck would have it—actually had a prescription for medicinal use. Today they would go free. And no doubt they’d mess up worse the next time and the next time, until finally landing in a state penitentiary, which would ultimately serve to make them better criminals.

  As the water poured down his back, he leaned an arm against the shower wall and rested his head against it. He’d take another knife fight at that moment o
ver a battle with his sister. He knew she’d get her way—Kate always did.

  She knew it, too. That was why she was calling back two minutes earlier than he’d predicted. Turning off the shower taps, he reached for a towel and his ringing cell phone. “I’ll change my flights,” he said with a sigh.

  “I know.”

  2

  “NO, HE CAN’T have the boat,” Hayley said into her cell phone, cradled between her shoulder and ear as she stuffed her bursting-at-the-seams suitcase under the seat in front of her. The early-morning flight to Maui was full and there was never enough room under these seats.

  “Why not? He paid for it,” Mark Phillips, the opposing attorney on her latest divorce case, said.

  “Because my client is getting the lake house.” She paused. “What’s the point of having the boat when he’s getting the summer home in Phoenix?” Were they seriously fighting over this? Mark had to know how stupid his client’s request sounded. Clearly, it was just another tactic to piss off his soon-to-be ex-wife.

  The flight attendant approached, indicating that she end the call.

  She nodded.

  “He says he wants to sell it,” Mark was saying.

  “No, forget it. He’s not getting it.” Even if the early morning and lack of coffee wasn’t making her cranky, the opposing attorney’s request was one she refused to waver on. Her client’s husband had cleaned out their savings to support his gambling hobby. She wasn’t giving him anything else to sell to support his addiction. He was lucky his wife wasn’t planning on airing his other addictions in court, as well.

  “What about the fishing gear? Mrs. Leslie admitted she doesn’t fish.”

  “Maybe she’ll develop a sudden interest.”

  The flight attendant stopped by her row and gave Hayley the evil eye.

  “Bye, Mark. See you in court next week.” Her tone was final. “Sorry, done,” she told the flight attendant, turning the phone off and dropping it into her purse. It would be the last time she answered it for days, and the thought nearly brought on an anxiety attack. Marvin’s rules for the company retreat were simple—no work. He’d made them all clear their calendars and move appointments to make sure they could focus on team building throughout the retreat. Thank God she could count on her assistant to take care of important things like filing affidavits and booking court dates for her return.

  She sighed, sitting back in the seat. Right now she had enough to worry about, trying to keep her job. Before leaving the office the day before, she’d stopped by Marvin’s with the perfect excuse for why her fiancé would be unable to attend the retreat, but her boss had already left for the day. Now she had the entire flight to stress over his reaction to her arriving solo.

  She needed this job. While no one ever said it, everyone knew that her father’s influence had secured her current position at Marshall and Thompson after she’d been fired from the law firm in New York where she’d been working since graduating from Harvard. As a well-respected corporate law attorney, he had a lot of friends and he’d used his connections. She appreciated his help, especially since being let go had made it impossible to secure interviews with some of her top firm choices. Annoyance rose in her chest when she thought about it. She’d only gotten fired because she’d made the mistake of sleeping with a senior partner at the firm. Once she’d ended things, he’d turned her recent lack of success in the courtroom into a reason to let her go.

  As the plane filled and the seats next to her remained empty, she entertained the hope that she’d have the row to herself. But of course there was always that one guy, Hayley thought as a man hurried onto the plane. The one who was never early for a flight, the one who thought the plane should just wait for him, the one who was...drop-dead gorgeous.

  Hell, if she was a plane, she’d wait for him, too.

  He towered over the flight attendant, which would put him at about six feet, and his shirt—open at the top—revealed that it was six feet of tanned, sculpted muscle. His dark hair was gelled in a messy tousle and when he smiled at the young attendant, his cheeks gave way to the deepest dimples she’d ever seen on a man.

  Either an actor or a model. The only people on earth that had the right to be that good-looking, serving as eye candy for mere mortals.

  “Hi,” he said, stopping next to her row. “This is me.” He pointed to the aisle seat as he stuffed a small carry-on into the overhead compartment. He looked for a place to hang a dark garment bag from Joseph’s Formal Wear.

  Of course he was sitting next to her—fate hated her. The hottest guy on the planet was going to Maui for a wedding. She scanned the aisle behind him, expecting to see a dazzling, supermodel-gorgeous woman rushing to take the middle seat between them, but the aisle was empty. “Hi.”

  “Here, Officer Hartley, let me hang this in the cockpit for you.” The flight attendant who’d earlier given her a menacing glare showed no signs of the terrifying authority now as she touched his arm.

  Officer? This guy was a police officer? She studied him more closely. Okay, she could see that. Looking beyond the obvious physical qualities was a strong, sturdy, cautious air about him... And now at least the gash above his left eyebrow made sense.

  “Thank you,” he told her, handing her the garment bag. “Everyone on this airline is so friendly and helpful,” he said to Hayley.

  “Yeah, I don’t think it has anything to do with the airline.” The man couldn’t possibly be humble enough to think that the flight attendants treated everyone the same. She was sure he’d stirred the same body-tingling, pulse-racing effect in every woman he’d passed on the way to his seat, including the crew.

  He laughed as he sat, and all cop-like attributes disappeared. That easy, confidence-filled sound was anything but good, decent and safe. It was the bad-boy heartbreaker soundtrack. “Chase Hartley,” he said, extending a hand toward her.

  Suddenly chitchat with a perfect stranger didn’t seem so inconvenient. Really, only five hours? “Hayley Hanna. On your way to a destination wedding?” She nodded toward the disappearing garment bag.

  “My sister’s. And you? Vacation or obligatory attendance at a family event?”

  Cute. He was definitely cute. “Work, actually. A corporate retreat.”

  “Corporate retreat—that makes you a...doctor?”

  “Lawyer.”

  His smile faded slightly.

  “Divorce and family law,” she added.

  The smile was back with a vengeance, bringing out the big guns—those two never-ending dimples in his five o’clock shadow that were even more fantastic up close. “That’s a relief. It would be a shame if we couldn’t be friends.”

  A shame indeed. Terri-Lynn’s advice echoed in her mind.

  Have lots of vacation sex—the best sex you’ll ever have.

  She didn’t doubt for a second that this man could fulfill that fantasy. An image of his incredible body lying on top of her as those tempting-as-hell lips kissed her everywhere flashed in her mind, and a wave of heat crashed over her. It had been far too long since someone had kept her awake all night with mind-blowing sex. Hell, it had been months since anyone had appealed to her as a potential candidate.

  What was she thinking? For all she knew, this guy was meeting someone in Maui and she had more important things to think about, like...um...surely, there was something.

  “So, Hayley, corporate retreat—as boring as it sounds?”

  “Let’s just say I’m looking forward to it about as much as you’re looking forward to the wedding.”

  He grinned and oh, my God—the smile was perfection, the laugh was mesmerizing, but the grin was sexy and mischievous. “That obvious, huh?” he asked.

  “You’re not flying with the rest of the wedding party,” she said, “and by the look of disappointment on your face when you barely made thi
s flight, you were hoping the plane would leave without you. I’m guessing that duffel bag you somehow found space for in the overhead is the only piece of luggage you’re bringing other than the tuxedo that you’d rather burn than wear.”

  He clapped. “You nailed me.”

  Wouldn’t that be a dream?

  “It actually sounds like you know something about avoiding weddings.”

  “My best friend got married twice—last year...making me the maid of honor twice in one year.” Only for Terri-Lynn would she put herself through that. She just prayed her friend wouldn’t rush down the aisle again anytime soon.

  “I thought all women loved weddings.”

  “Common misconception. Women love their own weddings. Other people’s weddings just remind them how alone they are and create a panic—that their biological clocks are ticking and to hurry up and find someone before they die alone.”

  “Harsh assessment,” he said with a note of amusement in his voice.

  “I don’t sugarcoat much.” Which was exactly why she’d ended up in hot water over that stupid article. Maybe she needed to adopt a more bullshit-your-way-through-life approach. People who did that seemed to get into trouble a lot less.

  “Should I be worried that I’m sitting next to a walking time bomb?” Chase asked, interrupting her thoughts.

  “Nope, not me... I’m blissfully betrothed to a dentist who unfortunately cannot make this corporate retreat because he’s performing emergency dental surgery on Wednesday afternoon.” She toyed with the fake engagement ring on her finger.

  Chase frowned as he cocked his head to the side. “He knows about an emergency surgery in advance?”

  Good point. She was glad she’d tested her fabricated excuse on Mr. Heartbreaker Hartley. “Thank you. I didn’t think of that.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “It’s a lie I’m trying to perfect,” she said, not really caring if she was making a bad impression. After this plane ride, she’d never see him again anyway. Both a relief and somewhat disappointing. He might be the only person on the tropical island she’d have enjoyed spending time with.