Bad Cop Page 22

  Vance moved beside her and leaned against the car, putting his hands in his pockets. “You’re a serious lawyer. Your record in court proves that.”

  “Those officers wouldn’t have pulled that crap on a serious lawyer, and what I let happen on the dance floor in there was ridiculous.”

  The night around them fell heavy and quiet, the parking lot devoid of activity. The silence drew out, and after a while Vance pulled his hand from his pocket and reached down to hold on to hers. He rubbed his thumb across the back of her hand. His voice was low and cautious. “You running out on us?”

  “No,” she sighed, leaning her head against his shoulder. “Just coming to terms with the truth.”

  He kissed the top of her head and whispered, “You’re not ridiculous. You’re brilliant, refined, and sensuous with hints of naughtiness. And as much fun as I was having with Naughty Piper, if you want to keep her all buttoned up, then I’m down with that.”

  “Oh, God,” Piper moaned, realizing that there was no way she wanted to keep Naughty Piper buttoned up. “I am completely ridiculous.”

  Vance chuckled into her hair. “You’re a little ridiculous. But all women are a little ridiculous.”

  She should have taken offense and made a case for her gender, but she didn’t have the energy. Besides, if the shoe fit….

  “And men are assholes,” said Vance, “especially those two bozos. And me for lettin’ you come out here alone.”

  “Maybe it’s all for the best. Bribing them with baked goods,” she sighed. “From angry lawyer to Suzy Homemaker,” she grumbled.

  Vance pulled her around in front of him, tilting her chin up so she’d look him in the eye. “Piper, you’re not a ridiculous woman. You waited two hours to sober up before driving yourself out of Henderson last weekend. It was an asshole move to pull you over, especially knowing your issue with cops.”

  She held up her hand. “I overreacted. And you were right. About everything.”

  “Well, now.” Vance grinned. “There’s a first time for everything. And that was pure dumb luck because all I really wanted to do was kiss you goodnight.” He leaned forward, still grinning and pressed his lips to hers in a gentle kiss. A happy kiss, she realized and smiled right into it.

  If Vance Evans could be happy after what he’d been through, who was she to cut herself off from all that happiness had to offer.

  Chapter Twenty-three

  “I like kissing you,” Vance whispered against her lips, letting his fingers bury themselves in her hair. God, he did. He really, really did. Her lips were ripe and succulent. Her mouth warm and sweet. The touch of her tongue against his own had the power to make him come without any other physical stimulation. Not that there wasn’t plenty of that.

  While he leaned against her car with his legs spread wide, he pulled her curvaceous body tight up against him, making it easier to get his mouth on hers. He loved that she was tiny and round, that her overt femininity brought out the caveman in him. That her soft and pliant skin made him harder in all the right places. She fit into his arms, between his legs, under his mouth, like no other woman. She was perfect. Perfect Piper. And he let himself get lost in their kiss for a while before his mind started working on a way to make her his.

  Because he wanted Piper.

  For keeps.

  He wanted Piper in his bed. And not just tonight. He wanted her in his bed night after night after night after night. He wanted Piper in Henderson. He wanted to build her a kitchen, one that would make his dad’s look puny. He wanted to give her a kitchen she would never want to leave. With a bedroom right down the hall that he could drag her into and kiss her like this while her pastries baked.

  Because Piper had comforted him when his mother walked out.

  And five years ago her kiss had reminded him how good life could feel.

  And she climbed into the Maserati simply because he showed up, forgiving him for running out on her twice.

  And because she chose his beat-up old truck over the Rolls.

  And she knew that he had caught the line drive that saved Brooks’ no-hitter.

  “Whoa,” he said, pulling his lips from hers, blinking back the sexual haze. “Piper?” he breathed. “How did you know about the line drive?”

  He felt her hand curl into the fabric of his shirt, trying to pull his lips back to hers. She shook her head. “What?” she whispered. Her sweet pink cheeks were flushed, her hair was all messed up and sexy, and her gentle blue eyes were dazed.

  “Baby doll,” he breathed against her lips. “You told Officer Kreber about the line drive during the World Series game. How did you know about that?”

  She shrugged, nestled right into him, and whispered, “I was there.”

  Blink. Blink.

  “You were…there? What do you mean, you were there?

  “I was there.”

  “You weren’t there.”

  “I was there,” she insisted. “I was in Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha, Nebraska, the day NC State won the College World Series.”

  “Wha—? Wh—? How?” he sputtered, not comprehending.

  She buried her face in his shirt, nuzzling her nose against his chest. He felt her breath through the light fabric as she muttered something unintelligible.

  “What?” he asked, pushing her from him.

  She pressed back in and muttered something else.

  Vance couldn’t help himself. He burst out laughing.

  “What’s so funny?” she grumbled, finally pulling her head out of his chest.

  “I don’t know,” he said. “I just…I just feel good. Piper, you are the gift that keeps on giving.”

  “Right,” she said as if she were rolling her eyes.

  “Piper, you are like this shiny, little box, all wrapped up in yellow and gold, and I was content to simply walk by it now and again. But now, I get to open the lid from time to time, and every time I do, there’s a precious and unexpected jewel with my name on it.”

  He needed to buy her a diamond. A big one.

  “Baby doll, it doesn’t matter whether you were at the game or not. That fact that you know where it was played and that I made a diving catch—” He laughed again. “Even my father didn’t make it to that game.”

  “I was there,” she said softly. “I was there because you were playing, Vance. I was at your State Championship game too.”

  That brought him up short. Took all the joy right out of him. He let go of her arms and stood up straight, every bit of humor leaking from him. “Piper.” He felt like he’d been robbed. “Why didn’t you make yourself known?”

  “I had intended to,” she claimed. “But when the final out came, everything erupted in chaos. Everyone started rushing from the stands and onto the field. I couldn't see you in the crowd, so I climbed to the top of the stands to try to spot you. And I did. I saw you. I even called out to you and waved as you came by. There was a moment when I thought you heard me. When you looked up and saw me. And then….”

  “Then Lolly’s cousin, Molly, jumped into my arms, wrapped her legs around me, and stuck her tongue down my throat,” Vance said in defeat, remembering the scene well. That girl was nothin’ but trouble.

  “Well, I didn’t know her name,” Piper said quietly, adding a shy smile. “But I didn’t feel confident enough to step into whatever was going on between the two of you.”

  “You have no idea how much I wish you had,” He sighed heavily. “And here I thought I was the one looking for you all these years.”

  “Mmm, Vance Evans.” She wigged those luscious tits up against him as she burrowed herself back into his arms. “You don’t know the half of it.”

  “I want to know all of it,” he growled, taking her plump little bottom into his hands and pulling her hard against him. Jesus, she was hot. He dropped his mouth on top of hers and did his best to swallow her whole. Every fiber he possessed, from his knees to his neck, wanted to sink into Piper. Just lay her down and show her what the caveman in
him could do.

  “I came to an eighth grade dance,” she said into his mouth. But he wasn’t really listening. He was all about the kissing as he tried to figure out how he was going to make love to her in her little TT.

  “I asked you to dance, but you didn’t have time.”

  Not her TT idiot. Your truck. She loves your truck.

  “You said that to me. You said, ‘I’m sorry. I wish I could, but I don’t have time.’”

  No talking, Piper. Just kissing. Just…stop… Vance’s head snapped up. “What the hell did you just say?”

  “My friend, Tansy Langford, was so mad at you for not dancing with me that she dragged me out of the dance to go home and do our first shots.”

  “Wait-wait-wait-wait-wait-wait-wait.” Vance didn’t know which appendage he wanted to grab first, because both his head and his dick were about to explode. “Tansy? Langford?”

  Piper had the audacity to tilt her head and make her eyes go big, like he had the missing piece to life’s ultimate puzzle right in his hands.

  “She was in our fourth grade class.”

  “Tansy?”

  “Our parents were close. I saw her often during those elementary years after we moved. She knew I liked you. Finally my parents let me go spend the weekend with Tansy so I could go to the eighth grade dance.”

  “You were at a fucking dance? Piper!”

  “Well, don’t get mad at me, Fred Astaire. I asked you to dance, but you were more interested in every other girl there.”

  “Oh, just kill me now,” Vance groaned, rubbing his hands through his hair and then behind his neck. “Piper, their fathers paid me to dance with those girls. I was so blinded by dollar signs that I didn’t know you were there. Again. How many times have you been standing right in front of me and I didn’t know it?” he shouted.

  “Well, imagine how that’s made me feel,” she shouted back.

  Silence.

  Black night. Cool air. Quiet parking lot.

  And the girl of his dreams, his precious, sweet, little blond hologram was standing within an arm’s reach. She had never walked away from him willingly, and far more important than that, he now knew she had always come back.

  I love you.

  Vance wanted to shout the words. He wanted to tell Piper Beaumont right then and there that she was his and he wasn’t going to let her out of his sight again.

  Instead, his mouth formed the words, “Come to Henderson. Take the time off of work you were talking about and spend it in Henderson. With me.”

  “What? Vance,” she said as she came into his arms willingly, laughing. “I just can’t take a vacation…to Henderson.”

  “Of course, you can.” He began kissing her neck. If he could coax her into letting him put his hand up her dress in The Charlie Horse, this was going to be a piece of cake.

  “What about my first years?”

  “You’ve been hogging them all summer. Let them help somebody else out.”

  “But where would I stay?” she whispered, starting to get lost in the moment—just like he was.

  “Handcuffed to my bed,” he suggested.

  She giggled against his lips.

  He smiled and told her how much it would mean to him. How incredible having her back in Henderson would be. Except he didn’t tell her with words. He told her with his mouth…and his hands…and she promised him she would come, with her sighs and her lips and her fingers in his hair.

  Chapter Twenty-four

  Piper woke up Sunday morning early and alone.

  Now how the hell did that happen?

  She'd spent a long time kissing Vance, laughing with him in the parking lot, but even after his earlier threat to drag her out of the bar and his joke about handcuffing her to his bed, he didn’t attempt to talk her into going home with him or work himself into an invitation to her bed. No, he’d spent all his time manipulating her into agreeing to take two weeks off from work and spend them in Henderson.

  Which was completely absurd.

  While she agreed she had the unwanted attention of Raleigh’s police force raining down on her at the moment, she did not feel compelled to leave town until this little “tiff” ran out of steam. Which was Vance's suggestion while he took his time kissing the side of her neck and skimming his magic hands over her backside.

  And although she had told Officer Millhouse that she was taking some time off to reevaluate her courtroom demeanor, no specifics had been planned. Vance kept insisting those specifics would only take her a phone call to work out as he’d run his fingertips through her hair and kissed her lips like he was enjoying his favorite ice cream.

  And as he continued to press all those…nice…soft…buttons, he slowly convinced her that they needed quality time to get to know one another again and that coming back to the place where it had all started made complete sense.

  And it had.

  Until the sun came up.

  Let’s face it. While kissing Vance she’d probably agree to anything, but in the light of day, the idea seemed far-fetched and foolish. Henderson wasn’t a vacation destination. There was no lakeside resort. Where would she stay for two weeks? She certainly wasn’t moving in with Vance. And what would she do? Lounge beside his father’s pool like some hired escort waiting around until he needed her…lips again?

  Ridiculous.

  And why was he only after her lips? That made less sense than any of it. Especially after he’d coaxed her hand down to his groin. It was abundantly clear the man didn’t have a problem in the testosterone department. She thought for sure he’d be draggin’ her over to his truck, right before he opened the door to her car, gave her one last, lingering kiss, and then shoved her into the driver's seat and told her he’d see her later.

  “Are you kidding me?” she said out loud.

  The man was nothing but a tease. And in protest, she decided that from now on, she was going to be the one playing hard to get.

  The phone rang, interrupting the downward spiral of her thoughts. “Hello?”

  “Ms. Beaumont,” came Officer Stevenson’s husky voice. “Should I be flattered or frightened that you’re so desperate to get a hold of me that you've called my superior officer three times? And what is with this message from your boyfriend, who I understand is calling me King Kong.”

  “Oh.” Piper was mortified. “Officer Stevenson, he means no disrespect. Vance calls every—”

  His chuckle stopped her explanations. “It’s all right. I’d much rather be King Kong than Gang Bang.”

  “Well, Vance does like nicknames, but he’s not exactly my boyfriend.”

  “Your sleeping buddy then.”

  “No.” It came out as sort of a sigh before she could stop it. “I’m beginning to believe he doesn’t think of me like that either.”

  “Sweetheart,” Officer Stevenson said, “we all think of you like that.”

  “I—uh. Wow.” Piper was stunned.

  “Did that just come out of my mouth? I am soooo sorry. Forget I said that. I was out late last night and…well, why don’t you tell me what's going on.”

  That would probably be a good idea, if Piper could remember what she wanted to talk with him about. Right now her mind was blank and spinning.

  Officer Stevenson filled in the silence. “And what is this I’m hearing about cinnamon rolls?”

  Oh…right. “While I was working late at the office Friday night, something occurred to me,” she started without preamble. “You following me around last week wasn’t because you were irritated with me, was it? It’s because everyone you work with is irritated with me. You were playing bodyguard.”

  Silence.

  “I’m right, aren’t I? And it’s okay if you don’t want to spell it out. Officer Kreber and Officer Millhouse did that well enough last night. Vance suggested I try to soothe y’all with my cinnamon rolls. Which I’m happy to do. I’m just sorry that I’ve been….”

  “Been what?”

  “Taking my revenge out
on every police officer except the one I’m really mad at.”

  “Huh. And what’s his name?”

  “I don’t even remember,” she sighed.

  “What’d he do?” he asked quietly.

  “He…did his job,” she said, relenting—her eyes finally being opened. “I was a silly college freshman, and he was just doing his job.”

  “And you had to go to court?”

  “I did. And I did it without a lawyer. And things went very, very badly for me.”

  “And that’s why you became a defense attorney.”

  “Yes.”

  “And that’s why you represent the kids.”

  “Yes.”

  “Well…you are very good at your job,” he said.

  Piper dissolved into hysterical laughter. “So good I'm a pariah to law enforcement.”

  “I wouldn’t say that. But I wouldn’t go two miles over the speed limit if I were you either.”

  “So the cinnamon rolls?”

  “Might help.”

  She laughed again. “Okay. I get it. I’ll start sucking up a bit. But seriously, how much danger am I in, if you feel the need to be my bodyguard?”

  “The reason I’m your bodyguard is because I was the idiot who started the whole Bust Ms. Beaumont campaign in the first place. It was my big mouth that led the charge against you after you got that asshole, George Howling, off. But after you handed me your card offering to be my lawyer, and then cried on my shoulder, well, hell, I felt like the worst kind of gangster. That’s when I shifted gears and started running interference. Ms. Beaumont, I can’t apologize enough.”

  “You just did, Officer Stevenson. Thank you. When’s the best time to catch you, Kreber, and Millhouse at the precinct?”

  “Shifts change at four. You can get everybody coming or going then.”

  “Duly noted. Now don’t you worry one more minute about me. I’ll take it from here.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  Piper hung up the phone wishing her little kitchen had a whole lot more space.