New York's Finest Rebel

It felt as if the man she had known and disliked so much hadn’t come home and someone new had taken his place. Someone she could empathize with and wanted to get to know better.

It was just plain weird.

‘Earth to Jo …’

‘It’s going fine,’ she replied as she speared another piece of cake with her fork and popped it into her mouth. ‘Mmm, this one …’

When she risked a brief glance across the table at the only person who knew when she was hiding something, Jo was relieved to find amusement sparkling in Liv’s eyes.

‘You said that about the last two.’

Jo angled her head. ‘Remind me again why we’re doing this with you instead of Blake?’

‘Because he’s more interested in the honeymoon than the cake we have at our reception.’

Fair enough. She reached for a second sample of chocolate cake. ‘I lied, it’s still this one.’

‘You know chocolate is a substitute for sex,’ Jess commented. ‘It’s an endorphins thing.’

‘It’s more than that,’ Jo replied. ‘You never have to worry if chocolate will call … it never stands you up … and it doesn’t mind keeping you company during a rom-com on a Friday night.’ She sighed contentedly as she reached for another sample. ‘Chocolate is better than sex.’

Jess snorted. ‘The hell it is.’

‘She’s young.’ Liv nodded sagely. ‘She’ll learn.’

‘If she tried having it occasionally she’d learn a lot quicker.’

‘She scares them off.’

Jo waggled her fork in the air. ‘Still in the room …’

It wasn’t her fault guys found her intimidating. With the kind of life experience that went beyond her twenty-four years, she was self-sufficient and hard-working with her focus fixed firmly on her career. If there was overtime available, she took it. Holidays people with family commitments didn’t want to work, she volunteered. But regardless of her career, she was also very open about the fact she wasn’t interested in getting involved, even if she wasn’t prepared to explain why. Put everything together it was difficult for guys to envisage her needing them for more than one thing. Though in fairness there were plenty of them who wouldn’t see that as a problem.

There was a short debate on the merits of vanilla cream before Jess asked, ‘How’s our new neighbour?’

‘In order to be “our” new neighbour wouldn’t you need to be there more than once a week?’ Jo smiled sweetly.

‘You need reinforcements, you just have to yell.’

‘You like Daniel.’

‘Everyone but you likes Danny.’ Jess shrugged. ‘He is what he is and doesn’t make any excuses for it. There’s a lot to be said for that.’

‘There’s nothing hidden with him,’ Liv agreed. ‘When we were kids his bluntness got him into trouble, but honestly? We all kind of relied on it.’

Jo was beginning to wonder if anyone knew Daniel as well as they thought they did but she didn’t say so out loud. She couldn’t. Not without telling them there were some things he kept hidden.

‘You could try taking the high road,’ Jess suggested.

‘I get nosebleeds.’ Jo frowned.

The chocolate cake was gone and how had they got from the subject of her sex life to Daniel in the space of two minutes anyway? Apart from spending time with the friends it felt as if she hadn’t seen much of lately, part of the appeal of the cake tasting had been the opportunity to take a break from him.

‘You make a decision on the cake yet?’ she asked.

‘I’m swaying towards different layers of these three.’ Liv pointed her fork at the emptiest plates.

‘What’s next on the list?’

‘Flowers.’

The conversation swayed back towards wedding plans as they left the bakery and made their way past the public library to the nearest subway station. Jess glanced at the steps in front of the large Grecian columns where several men in helmets and bulletproof vests were gathered around one of the stone lions.

‘Isn’t that Danny?’

Oh, come on.

Reluctantly—as Olivia and Jess headed towards him and she lagged a step behind—Jo had to admit the uniform was sexy in a badass/mess-with-me-and-die kind of way. But then she’d always known Daniel had an edge to him. While he could attract women with a smile, he could make grown men cower with just a look. She had seen that look once. When was it? Tyler’s thirtieth, which his younger brother deigned to make an appearance at? Yes, she thought that was it. A giant with a brain the size of a pea was foolish enough to manhandle his girlfriend within Daniel’s line of sight. All it had taken was that look and a quietly spoken ‘show the lady some respect’ and he’d backed down with a string of mumbled apologies. When it was over Daniel had simply continued what he was doing as if nothing had happened.

Jo wondered why it had taken seeing him in uniform for her to remember she’d been impressed by that.

‘Ladies.’ He nodded once in greeting.

Gathering herself together, she stepped forward and gave the answer everyone expected. ‘Officer Moron.’

‘Really?’ he questioned with a deadpan expression. ‘When I’m holding a gun?’

‘What can I say?’ She shrugged. ‘Guess I must like living on the edge.’

While she cocked her head in challenge, he shot a brief downward glance at what she was wearing. It lasted less than a heartbeat, was immediately followed by a cursory blink and then his intense gaze locked with hers, leaving her feeling suddenly … exposed. Whether it was because she’d never noticed him looking at her before or because she was more aware of when he did, she didn’t know. But neither option sat well with her. Particularly when she suspected the momentary sense of vulnerability she’d experienced stemmed from the sensation he knew she was remembering things she’d chosen to forget.

Jess chuckled at the interaction. ‘Hey, Danny.’

He turned on the charm with the flick of an invisible switch. ‘Hey, gorgeous.’

Jo inwardly rolled her eyes at her friend’s reaction to his infamous smile before allowing her gaze to roam over the crowd. If she focused on something else, with any luck, she could try and pretend he wasn’t there. All she needed was something to take her mind off—

Her stomach dropped to the soles of her strappy heels. ‘I’ve got to go.’

‘I thought we were going to look at flowers?’

Looking into Liv’s eyes, she used the tone that translated into a hidden message. ‘I’ll call you later.’

‘Okay.’

She didn’t look at Daniel as she left, but Jo could sense his gaze on her as she merged into the crowd. How it made her feel helped explain the secret she kept from his sister. Only someone with a shadowy secret of their own could understand what it meant to bring it into the cold light of day. Gaze fixed on the figure she could see moving into the park, she shut down emotionally in preparation.

It was the only way she could deal with it.