Revelation: A Contemporary Erotic Romance (Iris Series) (48 page)

She rolled her eyes even though they were closed at the moment.  “Yes, Mike, you’re good.  But you already knew that.  Now shut up.”

He chuckled behind her, kissing her between her shoulder blades.  “Guys need to hear these things.”

“Uh, huh.”

“You’re the best I’ve ever had, Em.  Remember when I first told you that?”

She smiled.  “Uh, huh.”

“You are,” he murmured, still kissing her back.  “Made even better because of how much I love you.  Sex means so much more now.”  He was still seated deeply inside her.  She could feel him getting bigger.  “And since I’m already here,” he began, then started moving again.

Her insides lit up, not prepared for his movements.  Her inner walls were so sensitive that she jumped.  He sucked on the back of her neck and took the next several minutes to bring her to completion, both of them marking the other as their own.

……

Monday and Tuesday they didn’t see each other until they were crawling into bed at the end of the day.  They both had cases that took up their time.

Wednesday afternoon, Emily got a text from Mike.

MC: 
I arrested two kids today.  One was drinking battery acid and the other was eating fireworks.  We charged one and let the other one off.

She chuckled and shook her head at his bad jokes.

EW: 
Hello, Detective.  Will I be seeing u today?

MC: 
Let’s get something straight, GC.  As far as I’m concerned, you’ll be seeing me every day from this point on.  Period, no arguments.

Emily smiled and felt all warm inside.

EW: 
Let’s get something straight, Detective.  I reserve the right to argue when I see fit.  However, on this point, I’ll happily agree w/ ur edict.

MC: 
My edict would be foolproof if we were living together.  Hint, hint.

EW: 
Yes, you’ve mentioned this idea before.

MC: 
Let’s talk over Krav Maga.  Meet u there @ 6.

Then while she was writing her response, another one from him came in almost immediately.

MC: 
Btw, have I told u how much I adore u today?

She sighed giddily, a stupid sappy grin on her face.

EW: 
No, as a matter of fact, u haven’t.  But u can tell me when I’m kicking ur ass at about 6:05.

MC: 
I’ll look forward to it.  XO

Mike was already at the studio when Emily arrived.  He was talking to Jose, but as soon as she walked in, he felt her presence and turned to her.  A sexy smile lit up his face as she walked toward them.

Would her heart always speed up like this whenever she saw him?  He always looked so gorgeous and edible.

“Hi Detective,” she drawled.

“Counselor,” he said, leaning in to give her one of his trademark enormous full bodied hugs.  “Go get changed.  I’ve been waiting impatiently for you.”  He leaned her over his arm to give her a sultry kiss.

When he released her, she said, “You’re early.”  She turned to Jose.  “Hey Jose,” she said knocking shoulders with him.  “I’ve been looking at my schedule for teaching.  Let’s chat sometime soon.”

“Nice.  And what about this one?” he asked, cocking his thumb over toward Mike.

She looked at Mike.  “We’ll talk about it.”

“Good.  Have a good workout, you two.”

She ran into the locker room to change then met Mike on the mat five minutes later.  Within the hour, she had pinned him three times and knocked him on his ass once.

“I don’t understand it,” Mike panted while sitting on the floor shaking his head.  “Just when I think I know your ‘tells’, you throw me a curveball.”

She breathed on her nails and buffed them on her tank top, as if toppling this giant of a man was no big deal.  In truth, she was done for the evening.  Sparring with Mike always tuckered her out.  It was harder to keep her concentration due to the sexual awareness that was always close to the surface with him.

By the time they’d showered at the studio, made it to her place, and picked up some food, they’d settled in and relaxed at the small dining table to eat.

“So, my captain had an interesting phone call today,” Mike said around the food in his mouth.

“Yeah?  Who from?”  

“A one Scott Matthews,” Mike said, letting the syllables draw out on his name.  He looked completely nonplussed by this turn of events.

Emily, however, nearly choked.  “
What?!
” She swallowed and tried to calm herself, her mind racing in a million directions.  “Don’t even tell me he –?”

“Oh, he did.”

She put her fork down.  “What the hell happened?  What did he say?  Was he filing a complaint?”

“He tried.”  He didn’t elaborate.

“Well, come on!  Tell me!”

“He wanted my captain to know that he had a detective working for him who was ‘using his badge inappropriately’, I believe his words were.”

Emily dropped her head in her hand then looked back at him.  “What did your captain say?”

Mike smirked and said, “Like a good captain, he listened to the complaint, said he would talk to the detective then hung up.”

“And?”

“And he called me in, I explained the entire situation, he warned me to stay out of trouble, we had a good laugh, and that was that.”

Emily pinched her eyes under her glasses which she’d put on when she’d gotten home.  “I don’t believe this.  How friggin’ embarrassing.  I could kill him.”

“I don’t think we’ll be hearing from him again.”

“Did you do anything after he called?” she asked, her eyes narrowing.

“Moi?”

“I’m serious, Mike.”

“No, I didn’t do anything.  I wanted to do something, but I didn’t.”

She sighed.

“He’s not worth either of our time, baby,” he said.  “But if I see him again, I’ll be happy to give him a few of my thoughts.”

“No, let’s just let it lie, okay?”

Mike smiled innocently at her.

“Mike,” she growled.

“You’re so sexy when you growl.”  She began to speak but Mike beat her to it.  “Listen, he’s an asshole who likes to put down and intimidate women.  So the next time I happen to bump into him, I
will
be giving him a piece of my mind.  I won’t touch him, I won’t threaten him, I won’t take out my badge unless it’s warranted, but I
will
be saying what I need to say.”  He ended his diatribe with a smile then shoveled more food into his mouth.

She looked at him trying to stay mad, but she couldn’t hold onto the emotion for long.  She loved this man to the point of pain and as far as she was concerned, she didn’t care what happened to Scott just as long as Mike didn’t get in trouble.

She reached over and took his hand, bringing it to her lips.  “I love you.”

Mike swallowed his food and pushed his plate away so he could take both of her hands in his.  “There is no doubt that you can protect yourself against anyone, baby.  This is undisputed.  But if there is ever anyone out there who treats you the way he treated you?  I’m just lettin’ you know, I’m not gonna stand for that.  I wouldn’t stand for that if a guy did that to anyone just walking on the street.  I’m certainly not gonna stand for it if it’s done to the woman I love.  I’ll do anything for you, including slaying those dragons.  Even if you do slay them better than me half the time,” he said dryly.  He looked at her seriously then said, “You’re my sweetheart, baby.  So let me take care of you when I can, okay?”

She looked at him, so touched by his words.  A pool of unshed tears wet her eyes while a smile floated over her lips.  Then she got up and moved over to him, straddling his lap.

“Don’t ever just up and leave me, Mike,” she admitted.  “And if you ever want to, let’s talk about it first.  Don’t cheat on me, okay?”

“Whoa.  Where did that come from?”

She shrugged.  “Just thinking of what a clusterfuck of a relationship I had with Scott.”

“Listen to me.  No one’s leavin’ and no one’s cheatin’.  I will never do to you what he did, Em.  Ever.  Even on my worst day.  Period.  We’ll always talk it out.  You have my word on that.”

She pressed her forehead to his.  “Good.  Because if you did –”

“I know.  You’d cut me into little pieces and stick me down the garbage disposal.”

She looked at him.  “That’s gross.”

“You’d be surprised what people do in fits of rage.  Trust me, I’ve seen it,” he said.  His tone changed to one of mirth when he continued.  “If you have any pent up rage, I’d much rather you take it out on me in different ways.”  He wiggled his eyebrows.

“On the mat.”

“Or in bed, against the wall, in the shower, on the sofa, straddling me on a dining chair…”  He said that last part while wiggling under her, giving her a hint.

“Mm, hm.  I’ll remember that.”  She got quiet then finished her statement from before, feeling courageous and vulnerable for perhaps the first time.  “What I was going to say was if you did ever cheat or leave,” she looked at him, “it would really hurt.”

He cupped her face, soothing her immediately.  “I love you, Emily White.  I’m in love with you.  It kills me when you talk like this, baby, because I need you to understand how much I want only you.”

“I do know,” she nodded.  “I just really wanna make sure our communication stays open so we can always have our fingers on the pulse of how we’re doing.  I have a feeling you’re gonna be better at that than me, so I’ll apologize now if you have to drag stuff out of me at times.”  She took a deep breath and finished with, “But you have my word that I will always work on this.  I’ve waited for a relationship like this my whole life.  I’ve
longed
for it.  And I don’t wanna mess this up.”

“You can’t think about it that way, Em.  We’re both gonna mess up.  But let’s agree right now, there will be no cheating or intentional hurting.  We’ll figure out the rest as we go.”

Emily smiled.  “I’m glad you’re with me.”

“I’m here to stay so get used to it.”

“I already am and I like it,” she murmured, wrapping her arms around his neck and inhaling his scent.  “I think it’s time we made our way back to the sofa.  I wanna cuddle, Detective.”

He chuckled, picked her up and said, “You got it, GC.”

……

When Friday came, Emily was super excited.  Joe let her take a half day so she could be at the Academy for the first mentoring class.  Even though she wouldn’t be with the students, she and Rene planned on making themselves available in case anything happened during the class
time.  It would also give them a little time to debrief with the guys right afterwards.

By 1:45, all of the guys were gathered in the guidance office conference room getting all of their last minute details figured out.

“You guys are gonna be great.  The students have been talking about it all week,” Rene said.

“Listen, since we haven’t had a chance to just relax and hang, Ryann wanted to know if you all wanted to come over for some app
ys tonight,” Jeremy said, then directed the next comment to Rene and Maurice.  “She’d love to meet you both as would some of our other significant others.  I know it’s last minute, but Jon’s girlfriend and my cousin,” he interrupted himself.  “Do you remember Mike and Robbie’s sister, Janie? Well, both Janie and Jon’s girlfriends are chefs and they have these recipes that they’re dying to try out.  We’d love it if you all could make it.  It’ll be at our place in the West Village.  Bring whomever you’d like.”

“Someone’s gonna cook?  I’m there.”  Maurice turned to Mike and teased, “I’m flyin’ solo, but hey, if your sister isn’t seeing anyone, my mom always said I needed to find a woman who could cook.  I’d starve if it wasn’t for Chinese food, pizza, and knowing how to boil water for my Ramen noodles.”

“Actually, she’s very available, my friend,” Mike chuckled then sat back waiting for the reaction he knew would come a second later.

As if on cue, Luke said, “What happened to Gonzalez?”

Jeremy, Jonathan, Emily and Mike all said, “Fernandez,” at the same time. 

Luke ignored the correction.  “They called it quits?”

“Yup,” Mike said happily. “Thank the good Lord above.  And hey, why don’t you bring Vanessa?” Mike said to Luke.

Luke shrugged.  “I’ll see if she’s available.”

“I have rounds later at the hospital,” Drew said, “but I can probably swing by around 7.”

“I’ll call my husband to make sure I’m not missing anything on the calendar and let you know after class if we can make it.  Thanks for the invite,” Rene smiled. 

“Perfect,” Jeremy said.  “Let me text Ryann and Janie really quick so they know.”  He started tapping on his phone.

“I’ll get the address later,” Rene continued.  “But for now, we should probably get going.  You guys know my extension if you need to call for anything during class time but I doubt you’ll need to.  It’ll be a fun and loose class this first time so I know you’ll all be fine.  You’re really just getting to know them today.  The bell’s gonna ring in about five minutes, so if you wanna head down to your rooms and set things up a certain way…”