NY State Trooper- The Complete Box Set

by Jen Talty

  The portrait that the man with Gray Eyes had built for Josh made him out to be a badass cop who abused his power. But when she looked at him, she saw only a young man with a boyish quality that made a woman want to curl up in his strong, powerful arms because he was the kind of man who would forever and always be her protector…and he’d love and worship her as if she were the most important person in the world.

  However, looks could be deceiving. She’d found that out the hard way.

  She swallowed her pride and stiffened her spine, noting that Josh continued to look her way even while engaged in conversation with his friends. That had to be a good sign.

  When the waitress returned, Delaney pushed aside her half-eaten salad, then quickly paid the bill. That way, she could sit and drink her second glass while she argued with herself that if the tables were turned and someone threatened to kill her, that her brother would go to any length to save her.

  The next twenty minutes dragged on for what seemed like an eternity before Josh and his friends finally stood, shaking hands. Her fingers trembled as she closed her Kindle. Fumbling to stuff it in her purse, she dropped it on the floor. “Shit,” she muttered, collecting the rest of her things as the waitress made her way across the room with another glass of wine.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t order that drink.” Delaney glanced toward the table where Josh had been. His buddies headed toward the parking lot, but Josh seemed to have disappeared. She couldn’t blow this chance. Not now.

  “I did,” a husky, deep voice said. “Thought we could have a drink together.” Josh stood in front of her, a fresh beer in his hand.

  The waitress set the glass on the table. “Let me know if I can get you anything else.”

  “Thanks,” Josh said.

  Delaney let out a long, slow breath, relieved and terrified at the same time.

  “I’m not usually this forward,” he said, “but we noticed each other, so thought I’d say hello.”

  “Hello,” she said, smiling, clutching her purse as if it would blow away in the slight breeze. “Please. Sit down.”

  Josh pulled out the spare chair at her table. His eyes sparkled in the moonlight. They were like a kaleidoscope, blending in various green shades and twisting in a few creamy brown tones. “Name is Josh Burdett.” He held out his hand.

  She took it in a firm handshake, hoping he didn’t notice her trembling fingers. “Delaney. Nice to meet you.”

  “Are you from around here?”

  “No. I’m just here for a couple of weeks.” She hadn’t been the type of girl to look a man up and down, but Josh was nothing short of perfection with his thick biceps, broad shoulders, and… Heat spread across her face as she fantasized what his rock-hard six-pack abs looked like.

  “Vacation?”

  “Kind of a working vacation,” she said.

  “What, exactly, does that mean?” His voice had a soft, kind timbre, much like the breeze, but the undertone had a deep richness that might make the seduction easier.

  She blinked a few times, trying to break free from his captivating big eyes and sweet voice. “I’m a writer, and I’m here to finish my novel.” That sounded lame, and while she did want to finish a novel, she almost never told anyone, though she had no idea why.

  “Are you published?” he asked, leaning forward, elbows on the table, gaze locked with hers. At least he wasn’t staring at her non-existent boobs. Or maybe that was a bad thing?

  “Not yet.” Keep as much of the truth about yourself as you can. That’s what grey eyes had told her, right before he reminded her what was at stake with an image of her brother’s beaten face. “The novel writing is a hobby. I hope to turn it into a paying gig sometime soon.”

  “So, what do you do…as a career?” He certainly had a lot of questions, which made her squirm.

  “I’m a copy editor for a publishing house.” So far, no lies. “What do you do?” she asked.

  “I’m a State Trooper.”

  “Impressive and dangerous. I bet exciting, too.” She did her best to act surprised by his profession while gauging his responses and body language. Judging by the way he pulled back a tad, he wasn’t into girls who thought his job was sexy, but what did she know about reading people? She’d thought Kirk was a nice guy, when he proved to be the biggest jerk she’d ever met.

  Josh smiled, flashing his perfectly straight white teeth. “Honestly, more than half my job is sitting in a patrol car or boat, waiting for something to happen, hoping nothing does, and wishing for the shift to be boring as hell, which I think is the complete opposite of why I became a Trooper in the first place.”

  “Did you join because you’re an adrenaline junkie?” What the hell kind of question was that? The gene that gave a woman the ability to flirt flawlessly with a man had passed her by.

  “Wouldn’t say that, but it was partly true when I signed up.” He swigged his beer. “However, I wanted to make a difference. Help people. Protect them.” Laughing, he shook his head. “This is a deep conversation for two people who just met.”

  “I’m always studying people from a distance. I like to try to figure out their story.”

  “Is that what you were doing earlier? Studying me?”

  “I was studying everyone.”

  “So, you weren’t just looking at me,” he said with an arched brow.

  She did her best to blush, letting her gaze drop to her lap. “No. Pretty much just you.”

  “Good to know. Do you want to go for a walk down to the water?” He pointed toward the long dock that extended off the restaurant into the lake.

  She tilted her head. “I’m not in the habit of going anywhere with strange men.”

  “Your profiling skills need work, because I’m not strange,” he said with a grin, then pointed to the other side of the deck. “The band is about to start, and it gets pretty loud, even sitting out here. We can bring our drinks. I can even have the waitress bring us down another round.”

  She bit down on her thumbnail, looking between him and the docks. There was nothing to contemplate, but she didn’t want him to think she was so eager and easy. She was willing to do whatever it took to save her brother, even if her brother didn’t deserve her loyalty.

  “It’s okay,” he said. “We can sit here and yell over the band.”

  “No, we can go for a walk.” She stood, tossing her purse over her shoulder, holding her drink in the other hand. “And since my hotel is just down the road and I walked, I just might have another.” She might need an entire bottle to make this happen.

  “After you.” He waved his hand out in front, then motioned to the waitress.

  As they walked quietly through the gate off the deck, down a winding pathway, then onto the dock, she tried to come up with something that made Josh a bad man. He had to have an imperfection. Something to justify what she was about to do, otherwise she was nothing but a bitch, or worse…a whore.

  A boat hummed in the distance as small waves lapped against the break-wall. The smell of freshly cut flowers filled her nose. The quietness of this place made her want to go running back to the city. No matter how spectacular it was, it would forever be tainted for her now.

  “It’s really beautiful here,” she said once they reached the end of the pier. She kicked off her shoes and sat, dangling her bare feet in the water, a chilly contrast from the warmth of the alcohol. “It’s so different from any water I can see in New York City.”

  “Is that where you live?” He’d shed his shoes, and had just finished rolling up his jeans as he sat next to her. Even his calves were sexy.

  She nodded. “I lived in Brooklyn until I was twelve, then my father moved us upstate to Fishkill, which I hated. Then I went to college at Columbia, and I’ve lived right near campus ever since.” The silky water rolled off her feet as she kicked her legs back and forth, gently splashing the water. She glanced in his direction. The light from the moon hit his green eyes, making them look like gems. She cleared her throat. “Ha
ve you lived here your whole life?”

  “I’m actually from the Bronx. Lived there until about a year ago.”

  “Small world.”

  “It sure is,” he said.

  “Why did you leave?”

  “I was transferred, but I didn’t realize how much I hated it there until I came here.”

  “Why’d you hate it?” Shut up. You’re asking too many questions.

  “Cliché, but I felt like a fish out of water in the city,” he said.

  “And you don’t feel that way here?” Mentally, she slapped herself. Really, inquiring minds didn’t need to know.

  “You can breathe in this town and not have it taste like a combination of your neighbor’s three-day-old Chinese takeout and the taxicabs’ exhaust.”

  “I don’t know where you were living, but I love the smell of hot dogs and fresh pretzels on a cool fall day near Central Park.”

  “Hey, Josh,” called a woman’s voice as the dock vibrated. “I got your drinks.” The waitress handed them to Josh.

  “Thanks, Viv.” He reached into his pocket, then pulled out his wallet. “What’s the damage?”

  “Fifteen.”

  He handed her a twenty. “Keep it. Thanks for bringing them down.”

  “I owed you one after what you did for me the other day. I would have lost my job before I even started it.”

  He shook his head. “It was nothing.”

  “Humble and modest, this one,” Viv said. “Tries to be the deep and brooding type, but really, he’s just the nice boy next door. You’re in good hands with him. I’ll check on you two in a bit.”

  “I think we’re good for the night,” Josh said.

  “Enjoy yourselves.” Viv winked, then turned and disappeared.

  “So, you’re a regular boy scout.” Delaney swallowed, reminding herself that she had horrible taste in men, and being attracted to this one meant he wasn’t what he seemed. Of course, that logic might help her do exactly what Gray Eyes wanted.

  “Just your average Joe Trooper.” He raised his bottle, tipping his head.

  “What did you do that earned such high praise and a wink from our waitress?”

  “Jealous?”

  She winked, wondering what the hell she was doing. As if she’d ever wink at anyone.

  His laugh rolled across the air like a feather in the wind. “She had a flat tire on the Thruway. She doesn’t have roadside assistance and couldn’t afford to pay someone to come out. She was starting her first day on the job here, so I did my job and changed her tire.”

  “Didn’t know tire changing was in the Trooper job description.”

  “Protect and serve. On my knees, getting my hands dirty. That was the serve part.”

  She burst out laughing, nearly spitting out the wine she’d managed to sip just as he spoke.

  “What’s so funny?”

  “Trust me, you don’t want to know.”

  “Did your mind just go to the gutter?” He leaned in, his green eyes turned a smoldering darker shade.

  “I plead the Fifth,” she said. “Tell me something. Did you want to transfer? Or was it something you had no control over?”

  “I wanted a change of pace,” he said. “So, I asked to be reassigned, requesting this post. A buddy of mine from the Academy is stationed up here, and he was always raving about it.”

  “I bet you left behind a string of broken hearts.”

  He shook his head. “There was no one in the city for me.”

  She noticed his voice had a tight edge and wondered if he’d had his heart crushed at some point, which made what she was about to do that much worse.

  “What about you? Do you have a boyfriend back home?”

  “No,” she said, a little too quickly.

  “Have you ever considered moving?” he asked.

  “I don’t think I’ll ever leave. I’ve always been a city girl. I like the hustle and bustle of the streets. Here”—she paused—“I feel exposed.”

  “Because you’re not just one of millions wandering the city streets. A nameless face in a sea of people going about a busy life, never really slowing down to get to know themselves, much less anyone else.”

  She glanced at the night sky, mesmerized by the number of stars and the brightness of the moon. “I never thought of it that way, being nameless, but there are so many stories in those faces. Some, you want to know. Some, you don’t. I like to sit on a bench and people watch. It inspires me somehow.”

  “Then why come here to write when you have all the inspiration you need in the city?”

  “Because I’ve never been out of the city,” she admitted.

  “Never?” He sipped his beer before lying back on the dock. “No family to visit to other places?”

  “It’s just me and my brother now.” If she could manage to pull this off. If she didn’t, Gray Eyes said Liam would be dead in a few days, leaving her alone, with no family left to speak of.

  “That means you’ve never been on an airplane?”

  “I can barely drive a car,” she said, surprised that she hadn’t had to lie…yet. Well, other than why she’d come to the area in the first place. “I almost turned around a dozen times on my way here.”

  “Normally, city girls are supposed to be so worldly.”

  “I’ve thought about leaving the city, but it just never happened.”

  “I don’t know anyone from New York that didn’t grow up somewhere else, or at least travel off the Island.”

  “I took the ferry to New Jersey once. Nice view of the city. That’s when I decided if I wanted to be a writer, I need to see some of the world. See if it was how I imagined it in my head.”

  “Well, you picked a beautiful place to start.” He tugged at her sleeve. “Lots of stars out tonight.” He patted the wooden dock with his hand. “It’s a great view from down here.”

  “Not sure I’ve ever had a man use that line on me before.” Her face heated, sending a warm sensation to places that should make this process easier, but all it did was confuse her and rattle her already frazzled nerves.

  “I didn’t intend it to be a line.” He rested one hand behind his head. “You won’t ever see a night sky like this in the city. It’s the kind of vision one writes about in books.”

  She laughed as she eased her way to her elbows, pressing her back against the hard wood and drawing her feet up from the water. “Now, that was a line.”

  “Pretty much.”

  “Wow,” she said. “The sky is like a jar filled with fireflies that never goes out.”

  “What do you know about fireflies, city girl?” He’d rolled to his side, propping up on his elbow, sipping his beer, his eyes still illuminated in the glow of the moon. His plump, full lips circled the neck of the glass bottle. She didn’t know what was more pleasing. Him, or the night sky.

  “I’ve read about them in books,” she said.

  They both laughed. She picked at her fingernail. A different place and time, she might actually enjoy being with this man.

  “How long have you been in town?” he asked.

  “Got in yesterday.”

  “I can show you around, if you’d like.”

  Closing her eyes, she breathed slowly, taking in the fresh scent of warm summer water, mixed with a faint musk of what she suspected was aftershave, but one she’d never smelled before. She wanted to turn her head, lace her fingers behind his neck, and kiss him, which was a crazy thought because she’d never acted impulsively in her life. Her older brother used to tell her to lighten up and live a little.

  But look where that got him.

  “That would be really great. Thanks.” She jerked her arm, feeling a slight tickle of something across her skin.

  “Didn’t mean to startle you.” His deep and throaty voice, sent messages to her body that she didn’t know how to answer. No man had ever made her this nervous and excited. Perhaps it was because her only reason for being with him, was to destroy him. His finger tilted her c
hin and when she looked at him, her breath hitched.

  “You have beautiful eyes.”

  She swallowed. “I bet you say that to all the women you bring down here.”

  “You’re the first.” His palm grazed her cheek. “I’ve got tomorrow off. Can I take you to lunch?”

  She nodded, holding her breath. He stared at her for a long moment. His thumb fanned across her cheek. Her stomach quivered in anticipation of something more.

  He licked his lips. “I want to kiss you.”

  “I’m thinking all the fresh air may have gone to my head, because I’m thinking I want you to kiss me.” She held his gaze for what seemed like an eternity, both her hands resting on her stomach, pinching her flesh.

  When he leaned in, she closed her eyes, waiting for his lips to brush against hers…but they didn’t. Instead, he kissed her cheek. “We’ve both had too much wine and beer,” he whispered. “Let me walk you home.”

  “You are the boy next door.”

  He smiled, helping her to her feet, then intertwining their fingers.

  “You don’t have to walk with me,” she whispered.

  “I want to. Besides, when we get there, I can kiss your other cheek.”

  “I wouldn’t be opposed to you kissing my lips, either.” The things coming out of her mouth stunned her, but the sooner she got this over with, the sooner she could run back to the city and bury herself in her work…once Liam was free.

  “Good to know.”

  They walked in silence until they reached the parking lot of her hotel. She turned to face him, rubbing her sweaty palms together. “I’m in the main building.”

  “You didn’t get a cabin?”

  “Couldn’t afford it, even if there had been one available,” she admitted, “but the rooms here are fabulous, and the owners are incredibly friendly.”

  “Reese and Patty.” He guided her up the stairs to the porch as she dug into her purse with shaky fingers.

  “I thought I recognized one of the owners at your table. Was that Reese?”

  “That was him. He and his wife are good friends of mine.”

  She held up the key she’d finally found in the bottom of her bag. Her heart fluttered as she looked between the door and Josh, trying to muster up the courage to invite him up. All she had to do was say the words. She opened her mouth, but nothing came out.