by Blue Saffire
“Yeah?”
“I love ya. Ya call anytime and come to me whenever ya need,” I say as emotions try to take over my voice.
“I love you too, Uncle Kevin. Even when I’m a pain in your ass.”
I chuckle. “Later, kid.”
Chapter 12
Slip Up
Kevin
“Look alive, Con,” I say as I release a jumper.
Con frowns and turns to watch the ball sink into the basket. The hoop at my house is already up and the driveway has been set with new asphalt. Perfect for me to kick Con’s ass on the court.
“Oh, man. Come on,” he groans. “Aren’t you supposed to let me win?”
“Aye, in yer dreams.” I chuckle.
“I like when you guys do that.”
I tilt my head to the side and study my nephew as his cheeks pink. “Do what?”
“With Uncle Quinn, you’re never going to get anything other than an accent, but with you and Uncle Shane, even Uncle Trent sometimes, you guys slip in and out. It’s like our family’s thing. It’s always made me feel… I don’t know. Like we have something special about us. Not everyone can always understand it, but I get it and that makes me feel…” His cheeks turn a deeper shade of red. “Safe.”
“Safe,” I repeat.
I’m hearing that as a need from those around me a lot lately. It makes me both angry and concerned that they feel anything but safe on my watch. It especially guts me when I see the fear in my baby sister’s eyes.
This has taken a toll on Erin, and now I can see more clearly that it’s having a big effect on my nephew and nieces. I squash my anger to address Con’s needs as his words settle in. I want nothing more than for him to be safe and happy.
“Never mind. Forget I said anything. It’s stupid,” he mutters.
“It’s not stupid,” I say, allowing my accent to show through. “I think I know what ya mean. In school, when we first started in elementary, it was hard. Mum and Da have such thick Norn Iron accents, it was all we knew.
“I didn’t think I’d ever be able to speak like everyone else. I got picked on and teased for at least the first two years, but when I got home around family, it didn’t matter. We all sounded the same, and it did feel safe.
“I think that may be why we cling to the comfort now when we get around one another. I get ya, Con. It’s not stupid. It makes a lot of sense,” I say, reaching to place a hand on his shoulder and giving it a gentle squeeze.
“I remember Mom used to sing me to sleep in Gaelic,” he says with a small smile. “Dad tried a few times, but his singing is terrible and so is his Gaelic.”
I give a good laugh. Cal is third generation Irish. His Gaelic does suck, and he has always had trouble following our dialect in my family’s home. Sometimes my brothers and I make it so he can’t keep up. It’s funny as hell and pisses him off.
“No one told me we were going to be playing hoops.” I turn to find Danita in my driveway in a pair of jeans and heels. My favorite on her. She points over her shoulder. “I have sneakers in my car.”
I don’t think twice. I saunter over to her and grab a fist full of her black button-down blouse. Without a word, I capture her lips and devour her.
She moans into my mouth and locks her fingers into my sweaty hair, bringing a smile to my face. I let go of her shirt and cup her ass, drawing her closer to me. When I start to grow hard, I release her and take a step back.
She looks at me in a daze for a few seconds. “What was that about?”
I step in closer and place my forehead to hers. “One, my nephew is watching. Two, we don’t know who is watching you. Either way, we want this to look real.”
“I think number one should have been that you just wanted to,” she breathes.
“There’s that.” I laugh.
“Hey, Detective Moralez.” Con walks over. I turn to see a cheeky smile on his face.
“Call me Danita, kid,” she replies. “Were you out here giving your uncle the business?”
“No,” Con murmurs and looks down at his feet. “He’s kicking my butt.”
“Is that right? Well, I’m going to go get my kicks. I’ll show you how to handle giants like this guy,” she says with a saucy smile on her lips.
“Oh really?”
“Yeah, really. I think I have my gym bag with me. Can I change inside?”
I lift a brow. “You’re serious?”
She gives me this gorgeous smile that takes over her face. “Yeah, I grew up with three brothers. I can—”
The color drains from her face. I search her eyes to figure out what happened that fast. One minute, she was all smiles and playful. The next, she’s so ashen, my heart starts to race as I wonder if she’s okay.
She ducks her head and frustration covers her features as I duck my head and try to read her. I reach to lift her chin with my fingertips. I use my other arm to wrap around her and tug her closer to me.
“What is it, love?”
She shakes her head. “Maybe this isn’t a good idea. I’ll come back some other time.”
I grind my teeth. I had asked her to come over and spend time with me and Conroy. I thought this weekend would be a great time to bond with him and get him to bond with her.
I kiss the tip of her nose. “There’s no time like the present. Get your bag. You can use one of the rooms in the house to change. You have to beware of the windows is all. No drapes up yet. Don’t want to be giving my neighbors a show, you don’t.”
“I’m so here for this,” Con says.
“See, you can’t disappoint the kid. You just made some big promises.”
She gives a small forced smile. Something is still lurking in her eyes as her gaze takes on a distant look. Con’s attention is focused on us, so I let it go and don’t press to find out what the heck happened.
“I’ll get my things,” she says.
“I’ll come with you. I can show you inside after.”
Con goes back to dribbling the basketball as I walk side by side with Danita to her car. She pops the trunk and retrieves a gym bag. She’s lost in her thoughts as we walk back to the house.
“What happened back there?”
“I think I need to get some sleep. That’s all,” she murmurs.
Okay, she’s not going to give me any answers. I run the conversation back and try to figure it out on my own. I stop outside of one of the guestrooms right as it hits me.
“When I first met you, you said you were an only child,” I say.
She freezes. “What?”
“You were saying that you grew up with three brothers. However, that night we spent together when I told you I had four siblings, you told me you had none.”
“That was two years ago. You’re probably mixing me up with someone else,” she says.
I scoff. “I haven’t been dating. I also have a steel-trap memory. I know what you told me.”
She turns to look up at me. “Let this one go.”
I crowd her space, backing her into the guest room door. Placing both arms on either side of her head, I look down into her eyes. I search her face closely.
“I’ll let this go if you have dinner with me,” I say.
* * *
Danita
“Dinner with you?” I repeat back to him. My anger with myself rises. “Seriously? I just made a huge mistake. A mistake that’s so not like me. The last thing I need to do is go out to dinner with you.”
He reaches to trace his fingertips along my hairline. “I don’t think anything between us is a mistake. I think your spirit knows mine and you’re as drawn to me as I’m drawn to you. You can’t help showing me who you are.”
“I need to keep my head. I have to finish what I started. I don’t need anything to distract me from that.”
He lifts my chin
with his pointer finger. “Distraction. I don’t see any distractions,” he says before crushing his mouth to mine.
One minute we’re in the hallway, the next he has pushed our way into the room at my back. I drop my bag once inside and wrap my arms around his neck. Swift as a cat, he closes the door behind us and slams my back against it.
I moan and claw my fingers into his hair. He groans into my mouth. I’ve never been silly over a man, but this one has me doing some stupid shit.
Knowing I need to gain control of the situation, I break the kiss and push at his chest. The heat in his eyes as he stares at my lips almost causes me to change my mind. I cup his handsome face.
“What I don’t think you understand is that we wouldn’t be a one-night thing,” I say.
“Never said we would, love. I know we wouldn’t.”
“Exactly. I can’t give you more than one night. It wouldn’t work.”
He shakes his head. “It’s a lie ya tell. My soul burns whenever yer near. It’s like it’s calling for me to get close to ya. Ya want to tell me that’s something that can’t work. I call bullshit, love.”
“There’s so much you don’t know about me.”
“That’s why I want to take ya to dinner. I want to get to know ya.”
I sigh and place my forehead against his chest. “What if you don’t like what you learn? I’m telling you that you’re going to pull yourself into a mess.”
He lifts my head. Those green eyes pierce right through me. It’s like they reach inside and tug something from me.
“I remember I told ya I’m willing to take ya as ya are,” he says and nips at my bottom lip. “Ya don’t have to be anything ya don’t want to be with me.”
“Dinner?” I whisper.
He smiles against my lips. “Aye, love. Dinner.”
“Okay, but first I’m going to kick your ass in basketball.”
He makes a noise in the back of his throat. “We’ll see about that. The bathroom is that way.” He points. “I’ll see ya outside.”
Chapter 13
What Do You Know?
Kevin
“Oh, you see that,” Con hoots as Danita sinks another basket.
I wish I could blame it on her round ass backing into me. Yes, that has been a distraction, but she’s actually a great player. She’s been handing me my face for the last hour.
“You ready for some more?” she says as she bounces the ball to me to check it.
I roll my shoulders. “I’m no quitter. Ya can save the trash talking.”
“I think he’s getting mad, Con,” she says and laughs.
“Yeah, he is.” He joins in on her laughter. “Man, I can’t wait to tell Uncle Trent about this.”
Danita dribbles the ball as she blocks me. “Where’s your phone? I’m sure he’ll love to see video,” she taunts.
“Oh, why didn’t I think of that?” He rushes to grab his phone and aims it at us.
I roll my eyes and focus on the woman before me. She crosses me up and goes for another layup. I curse as she stands with her head back, laughing.
The sight causes me to stop and stare. She’s so beautiful. Even with sweat soaking her face and her hair piled into a ponytail, she’s sexy and stunning. The tank top and leggings she has on show off her curvy body.
Danita is a ripe, full lass. She’s toned and thick in all the right places. Danita isn’t slim, not at all. She has the type of body that causes you to marvel at God’s creation.
“Hey, Uncle Kev. Can we still grill some food? I’m starting to get hungry,” Con calls, pulling me from my ogling of the beauty in front of me.
“Yeah, sure. I have steaks marinating inside and a few burgers.”
“Cool,” he says. “I can get the grill started. Uncle Quinn showed me how. It’s the same one he has, right?”
“Yeah, you sure you got this?” I give him a smile.
He puffs out his chest. “I got it. I can have it up in no time.”
“Careful. I’ll go inside for the meat.”
I go inside to grab the food. I’ll be so glad when this place is officially done. I miss things like being able to grill in my own backyard after work. My place before this was small, but I had that option.
When I return, Con has the grill going and he’s having an animated conversation with Danita about basketball. I grin and place the tray of meat down before I go back inside to get us some drinks. I come back with a cooler filled with bottled water and a few beers, glad I had the foresight to plan all this out.
“I’ll take over from here,” I say as I go to get the meat on the grill.
“I was wondering if you would answer a few of those questions for me,” I hear Danita saying as I place the burgers down.
I turn and Conroy looks between me and her. Indecision wars in his eyes. He fidgets around in his seat.
“I don’t think I can help you,” he says cautiously.
“Maybe, maybe not. I’m only asking you to answer a few things.”
“Like what?” he asks.
“Do you remember me?”
Con chews on his lip. He looks at me again, and I give him a nod. When he cracks his knuckles, I know he’s nervous. It’s his thing. Whenever he’s about to get in trouble, he starts cracking those knuckles.
“Sort of. I think so. You know my dad,” he mumbles low.
Danita’s face lights up with hope. “Yeah, I do. You came with him one time when he came to meet up with me. You remember that?”
“Yeah,” Con says into his lap.
“I was wondering if you can tell me about where you guys went that day before you came to meet me?” she pushes.
Con clams up right before our eyes. I bite back the curse that wants to come out of my mouth. The kid is hiding something, and I get this feeling it’s more than the answers to the questions Danita is asking.
“I don’t remember much about that day. I remember you because you were pretty and I wasn’t sure why my father was meeting up with you,” Con says.
The kid is smart. That’s a nice cover, but as we lock eyes, Danita and I both know it’s a lie. We’re going to have to keep at it. My stubborn nephew plans to keep his lips tight, which makes me wonder even more what his father was up to.
* * *
Danita
“Am I pushing him too hard, too fast?” I say to Kevin as we stand outside my car.
Kevin places a hand on my hip. “You got more out of him than I thought you would. I get the feeling he’s still trying to figure out if he can trust you. He’ll be sleeping over at my place tonight. I’m going to see if I can loosen his lips a bit.”
The night is crisp, and the stars are twinkling in the sky. There’s a comfort in the air that I can’t afford to get sucked into. And yet, here I stand.
I had fun spending the day with him and Conroy. After eating the food from the grill, we moved inside the house, where Kevin worked on installing a TV mount in the living room. Con and I sat on the floor talking and joking around.
The kid is cute and funny. Not at all the hard punk he tried to portray that first day I met him. He’s even sweet.
“I appreciate that. Thank you.”
I do. I saw him try to get Conroy to open up to me. I know I’m asking so much of Kevin. It means a lot that he has been so willing to give me his trust. I know from two years ago how much his family means to him.
“When are you free for dinner?”
I grin up at him. “I don’t know. I have a few cases I’m working. I’ll be keeping late hours this week.”
I still need to close that case Graves tossed at me out of the blue. Those rich folks have him breathing down my neck. I’d probably get it done faster if he’d back the hell off. Home intrusions aren’t my damn job anyway.
“Then maybe I need to bring dinner to
you.”
I side-glance him. “I don’t know. You already admitted your culinary skills are limited,” I tease.
“Ach, you always mean to wound me.” He tugs me into his warmth and wraps his arms around me. “Tomorrow. I’ll come to yours. We’ll have dinner and watch a movie or something. I’ll bring a bone for Sunny too.”
“Oh, you know how to play dirty.” I smile. Thinking of my dog definitely gets him a few brownie points.
He takes my lips in a searing kiss. I cling to his T-shirt as he consumes me. He’s still in his basketball shorts and T-shirt from earlier.
I would have never thought I’d find a sweat-soaked guy so damn sexy. I didn’t mind when he pulled me in to consume me when I arrived because he looked amazing as I walked up and found him playing ball with his nephew.
Now, hours later—with no shower and the light musk of playing hard beneath his cologne and natural scent—I still find him alluring in ways I should ignore. My brain warns me to pull away, but my lips want more. The more he gives, the more I want.
“You have no idea how dirty I like to play,” he breathes when he breaks the kiss. “Drive safely, love. If anything looks strange, you call me. I’ll be there.”
I’m still stuck on the dirty comment as he kisses my forehead and then my nose. I don’t know why the gesture makes me feel so cherished. I haven’t known him long enough to be cherished by him.
My phone rings, breaking me from his trance. I look at the time on my watch, causing me to wrinkle my brows. When I pull my phone from my bag and see it’s Harris, I suck my teeth, but answer the call.
“Moralez.” Even I can hear how less than thrilled I am to answer this call.
“Where are you? I have something I want you to take a look at. I found something interesting connected with that break-in,” he says.
Gah. Dáme un respiro. Seriously, I want a break from this shit.
This case is a pain in my ass. First Sergeant Graves, now Harris. I’ll be glad when I nail these bastards, so I can put this one to rest.
“Remind me again why we’re on a robbery? No drugs were found, and it wasn’t gang-related,” I grumble.
“Actually, you might be wrong. That’s what I want you to see. I can come to your place,” he offers.