Capturing the Cop

“Oh.”

Her face pinkened again, and Garrett’s body ignored his brain and went into overdrive. He’d never thought pink a sexy color, but darn if he wasn’t curious about what her body would be like naked and all pink from lovemaking, her flesh hot with the sheen of two bodies becoming one.

He inhaled a deep breath, trying to regain some control. Making love wasn’t part of his game plan. He didn’t need a woman in his life, or a one-night stand, no matter how sexy the counter girl was and no matter how long he’d been without. Cliff could keep his saddles-are-for-riding analogy. One date would get Garrett’s life in order and the guys on the force off his back. He gathered his wits.

“I guess we should properly introduce ourselves. I’m Garrett.” He put his hand into the slot.

“Olivia,” she said. She reached forward and touched his.

The moment their hands connected, a spark shocked him. Wow. Static in July? Her wide, beautiful blue eyes told him that she’d felt the spark, too. He dropped her hand and placed his in the back pocket of his jeans, the safest spot he could think of for the moment.

“Well, Olivia, as pleasant as this has been, I have to get home and feed my cat. He gets cantankerous when he’s not fed on time. May I call you so we can arrange our date?”

“Yes.” Her voice gave an enchanting squeak and she nodded. She grabbed a blank piece of paper, took a pen and scribbled down her first name and two phone numbers. She held the sheet out to him. “Home and cell,” she offered.

“Great. I’ll call you soon,” Garrett said.

“Okay,” she said, now seeming shell-shocked at the turn of events.

He hummed as he exited the Monitor office, deliberately leaving the handwritten classified ad behind on the counter.

OLIVIA WATCHED as Garrett moved out of sight. Had he really just asked her out? Had she really propositioned him? Surely this had been some daydream. Some fantasy.

Man, she hadn’t even closed her eyes. Would she look like an idiot if she pinched herself?

“So how did it go? Sorry I took so long. I stopped and got some candy. Did he place an ad?”

Chrissy’s return reminded Olivia that Garrett’s presence hadn’t been a daydream, and she snaked her hand forward and snatched the piece of paper that Garrett had left behind. She crumpled it and the ad form and dropped both into the wastebasket before Chrissy saw anything.

Olivia put on her best wistful expression as Chrissy returned to the counter. “He changed his mind.”

“Oh.” Chrissy sighed wistfully. “The good ones always do.” She dug into the file cabinet and brought out a calendar. “So what did he want?”

“Just some information,” Olivia answered vaguely. Her religious parents had raised her not to lie, but her PR training let her stretch the truth a little. He had wanted information. Her phone number.

The bad girl could do penance later.

“That’s too bad,” Chrissy said. “I bet he’d make some woman pretty happy. I mean, look at him.”

Olivia glanced at the calendar. Now her PR training failed. There, in full-gloss color, one foot on a police-car bumper, stood her man.

He made Erik Estrada in his CHIPs heyday look like a nerd.

Garrett wore his dress uniform and a come-hither smile that could melt chocolate. He dangled handcuffs from his left hand.

“He’s the only one not showing any skin, but he doesn’t need to, does he?” Chrissy blew out a breath of air. “He’s Mr. August, so I can stare at him all next month. And you should see some of the other guys.” Chrissy flipped through the pages quickly. “I had to buy this calendar—after all, it was for charity.”

She held up the photo of another guy, this one a fire-fighter, bare-chested and wearing suspenders and his firefighting pants. “Twelve months of yum.”

Chrissy turned back to Mr. August—Garrett, Olivia thought, remembering his name. He’d be on display for thirty-one days next month.

“He was just as good in person,” Chrissy continued. “If I wasn’t married I’d let him cuff me anytime. Heck, I’d put 911 on speed-dial if he showed up when I called. Wouldn’t you?”

Olivia giggled, her laugh due to from the hysterical combination of having a date with the man and Chrissy’s silly behavior. “You’re funny.”

“Yeah, I know,” Chrissy said with a grin. “Some things don’t change.”

Olivia knew that her friend would never cheat and that her words were all for show. Still, Olivia thought, as she took a final glance at the calendar, Garrett sure did make you aspire to commit a crime. And she had a date with him. One date. One night. If this was what being a bad girl got you, maybe she should have signed up earlier.

Panic suddenly roared in as the full impact of her brash actions hit her. The man was sex personified, whereas she hadn’t seduced anyone. He was excitement; she was boring. Exactly what had she gotten herself into?

Chapter Three

“So, did you do it?”

In the middle of opening the refrigerator in the staff lounge the next morning, Garrett stopped. Cold air swirled around him as he checked his watch. He punctuated his words with a low whistle. “Impressive. You waited all of ten minutes before you jumped me.”

“What?” Cliff frowned. He leaned against the doorframe.

Garrett retrieved a bottle of cold water, then he shut the refrigerator door. “I said, I was impressed that you waited a full ten minutes to find me once my shift started.”

Cliff grinned, his guilt obvious and unabashed. “Yeah, well, I had to stop for coffee. The stuff here is not that good when Cletus brews it, and Tuesday’s always his day.”

Cliff saluted Garrett with his coffee mug and pried himself from the door frame. He walked over to a red vinyl chair and sat. “And you still haven’t answered my question. Did you place the ad?”

Garrett took his time walking to the table. He made a show of opening the plastic water bottle and taking a long sip. Then he set the bottle down, and just to stall for more time, he ran a finger under his collar. Since he was headed into the field, he wore casual clothes: a blue polo shirt and jeans.

Cliff narrowed his eyes, indicating his displeasure at Garrett’s stalling. “Should I get Ben and Mason in here? They’re dying for information, but I told them that you might be threatened by all of us interrogating you at once.”

“Like, that’s probable,” Garrett said, taking perverse pleasure in Cliff’s being antsy. “As if Ben and Mason would intimidate me. You just wanted to be able to spread the news yourself.”

“That, too,” Cliff admitted with a sly grin. “So?”

“So what?” Someone had left the front-page section of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on the table and Garrett pulled the newspaper toward him. The Cardinals had won again.

As for the deliberate delay, Garrett figured his best friend deserved some grief for his impertinence. That Garrett had lost a poker game and gotten himself into this situation didn’t matter; in life post-Brenda, Garrett was a man determined to control his own destiny as much as he could. And that meant making Cliff squirm. Call it part of the guy code.

“Even a few of us against one is intimidating to any man,” Cliff said lamely. “They were going to be here, but I stopped them.”

Garrett grinned, the image of the counter girl in her silly high-school outfit entering his head. He’d been thinking about her all night.

“But I’m not any man. I’m Garrett Krause, bachelor god. All women want me.”

Cliff practically spit out his sip of coffee he started laughing so hard. “Such ego. You’re a thirty-six-year-old has-been with only a cat to keep him warm at night. Now, did you place the personal ad or not?”

Garrett couldn’t resist. He gripped the edge of the table with both hands, leaned forward and stared Cliff in the eye. “No,” he said.

Cliff’s reaction was textbook. In the midst of another drink, he muttered and sputtered. His hand shook, sending hot java over the edge of the cup and splattering onto the white table. “Great. Not only did you wimp out, but I could use a paper towel.”