Uncovering Officer Smith (The Discovering Trilogy #2) (10 page)

I pull away, leaning nose-to-nose. I need a few breaths. My eyes flick up to hers. They are closed as she breathes deeply. Suddenly they open, staring into mine. Those eyes are beautiful, as if they hold the entire sky within them; endless as the sea and gleaming like stars. One look silences my thoughts. Her long legs wrap around me, pulling herself on top of me. I place my hands on her tight ass. Her panties only cover about half of it. The lace under my fingers teases me.

She’s sitting on my lap when her hands cup the sides of my face. I can only watch her lean down, kissing me again. Maybe it’s the liquor, or maybe it’s this girl, but I don't feel like myself. It's like I’m a bystander, watching some stranger being kissed so tenderly by some girl. As if reading my thoughts, the kiss goes from tender, gentle, to deep, and passionate within seconds. Her body moves closer to me, hands tangling at the nape of my neck.

My hands explore her body. They slip under her sweatshirt. Becca lets out a little gasp against my lips, but she never stops. I don’t want her to. I want this girl right here and right now, more that I’ve ever wanted anyone, ever.

Slipping my hands out of her shirt, they continue further north.

My fingers wrap in her long, still damp hair, as her hips begin to move slightly against mine. Then, just as quickly as it starts, she pulls away, biting her lip. I stare at her—
Don’t stop now
.

“We need to stop.” Her words echo what I didn’t want to hear.

“What? Why?”

She spins off my lap in one swift motion, propping herself on the pillow beside me. “Because I don’t do casual, remember?”

Something inside me seizes. I just want her lips on mine again. “What if it wasn’t casual?”

She giggles. “Then you won’t mind waiting until tomorrow, when I’m of sound mind.”

My eyes scan up to her face. Becca holds my glare, even gives one slightly back to me. Even drunk, this girl is stubborn. I’m not going to get any tonight and a huge piece of me, not just my blue balls, is disappointed.

A sigh escapes my lips before I finally collapse onto the pillows. “I don’t like you of sound mind.”

That fantastic giggle comes again. “I don’t like you sober, either.” I turn slightly just to shoot her a look, but she turns, facing the ceiling as well. “You’re a lot more fun when you’re drunk.”

I hide a smile before my eyes grow heavy and I give in to my drunken stupor.

The sun makes me turn away from the window and rub my eyes.
Damn, what time is it?
I peek my eyes open to see a pile of blonde hair next to me. I’m immediately awake. What happened last night? Did I really just sleep with a girl and not screw her? What the hell is going on with me? I’m about to get up and sneak out when Becca sighs in her sleep. Her blonde eyelashes are soft against her pale cheeks. Her lips are still pouty but not red from all the kissing we did last night. I can’t believe she made me feel passion without even having sex. Connection: isn’t that what she was talking about? Is that what this is? Blonde hair cascades down her neck and swirls all around her breasts. She’s still in the hoodie from last night, long, smooth legs tucked under her as she sleeps. Something inside me aches for her. I need her like I’ve never needed anything in my life. I want to find the idiots that planned to hurt her and kill them with my bare hands, and yet I want to hold her and kiss her pain away. I find myself wanting to know what kind of joke she’ll tell me when she wakes up, or how deep she’ll smile if I bring her coffee just the way she likes it.

Oh, fuck. I’m in trouble
. This is April all over again. I fling my arm over my eyes. This can’t happen. I have to distance myself from her. I need to focus on the case at hand. Once I solve this case, I’m done with her. Done.

“Morning, Sleeping Beauty!” Bedford prances into his spare bedroom before locking eyes with me. “Smith?”

I’m immediately on my feet. “It’s not what it looks like.”

“My… my sister, dude?”

“No… I…” I sigh. “Nothing happened.”

“Yeah, like I believe that!”

“Relax, Beddy. He kept it in his pants,” Becca mutters from the bed behind me.

“Really?”

“Yes, but I appreciate you trying to protect my virtue.”

Bedford looks back and forth from me to his sister a few times before giving me a look that tells me he doesn’t exactly believe us. But then he mutters, “There are bagels downstairs,” before stomping out of the room.

“Well, that was embarrassing.” I turn to see Becca throwing her hair into a ponytail on the edge of the bed before yawning so unattractively wide.

“It was the truth.”

“Was it now?” She shoots me a sexy smirk, grabbing her white shorts off the couch and slipping back into them. “Well,”—She slips her flip flops back on and slaps her hands on her knees—“Let's go downstairs, playboy, before we start even more rumors.”

I watch her leave in awe. I’ve had my awkward share of morning-after encounters, but none that left me speechless—None like this. The way she is so confident and casual, leaves me feeling… incomplete.

I take a deep breath, shoving down the thought that, if she can do this without even having sex with me, what will
sex
with her be like?

The house is an utter mess. My entire descent downstairs is echoed by the crunch of potato chips and directed around a maze of red cups. The voices from the kitchen echo loudly before I even make it down the hall.

“—Laid a hand on you, I swear to God!”

“Oh please.” I can practically hear her eyes roll. “What would you do? Beat him up?” She starts to laugh and a few other people snicker. There’s some rustling, a ding of a timer, and then, “What if it was
me
that couldn’t keep my hands off him?”

“Becca—”

I walk into the room just in time to save her from the verbal assault that’s coming. “Did you guys save me any bagels?”

All eyes move to me: Ford, Courtney, Paul, and Matt. Rod is there, also, but he’s facedown on the couch still, so I don’t think he counts. All eyes but the ones I want. Becca is concentrating on the bagel she’s spreading with cream cheese.

“There are a few left.” Becca throws me the white paper bag without even looking at me. “Slim pickings, I’m afraid—Only onion or cinnamon raisin. Apparently Court doesn’t believe in plain bagels on a hung over stomach.”

Her joke seems to liven things up a bit. “Hey, that wasn’t me. Your brother picked the assortment.” She leans back in her chair before shooting Bedford a smile.

Paul’s the next one to get up. “I’m outta here—Gotta get to work,” he calls, grabbing a bottle of water off the island before heading for the door. The door shuts behind him when I feel the tone of the room change.

Bedford’s eyes have been on me since I walked in the doorway. I feel them bore through me like a bullet. But all I can think of is Becca. I slip the cinnamon bagel out of the bag and reach for the knife she just placed down on the marble countertop.

She glances down at my hand, and I pause. Finally, she meets my eyes. I was hoping when I finally saw her it would all make sense. Her eyes would tell me all I needed to know. But now that I’m looking at them, they are just as unreadable as my own. She tears her eyes away, sliding the cream cheese over to me with her fingertips.

While I prepare my bagel, I can feel everything about her: the heat radiating from her body and the little glances she shoots me from the side of her eyes. When she props herself up on the counter while she takes a bite of the bagel, I have to advert my eyes because they keep staring at her bare thighs. My eyes skim over anything and everything before they meet Bedford’s. His face is anything but happy.

“Well, I have to get home. Finals and everything,” Becca mutters, slipping down to the ground and digging into her purse for her keys.

“Do you need help?” I snap to my senses. For some reason, I don’t want her to leave. There are still things I need to figure out. Things I need to ask her.

“My final is tomorrow, so unless you’re a statistics expert, I really don’t see how you can help me.”

Math: probably my worst subject. She’s won and I know it, so I nod in assent. I watch as she walks over to her brother and kisses him on the cheek. She whispers something into his ear before walking over and giving Courtney a hug.

When she’s walking back around, she eyes Rod, still immobile. “Nice talking to you, Rod. As always, a pleasure!” Her sarcasm is loud enough to make him roll over, but his eyes are still closed. It’s my turn; I can feel it as she begins walking towards me. Almost shy, her blue eyes meet mine and she smiles. A real smile; a flirty smile. “I’ll see you around, John Smith.” She fakes a salute and heads past me towards the door.

That’s it? The big build up for that? I bounce from one foot to the other, deciding what I should do, things I could say. But when I hear that door open my body reacts like I would on the field. Even with her brother’s eyes still on me, I slip into the hallway. “That’s it?”

She pauses in the doorway, slowly turning to face me, hand still on the door. “A weak salute – which is the army, by the way – and I’ll see ya ‘round?”

“What do you want me to say?” Her shoulders straighten and I pause, thinking, because honestly, I don’t know. “I’d say call me—But we both know that isn’t going to happen.”

“You don’t know that.” I run my fingers through my hair, trying to dispel some nervous energy.

“Don’t we?” It’s like she can see right through me.

“Okay, John Smith—Call me.” This time she twirls her hand and bows to me obnoxiously. “Was the bow better?” She smirks at me, hiding a giggle before turning and leaving me, standing in the hallway staring after her.

I can’t hide the smile even as I walk back into the kitchen to face her brother. It disappears when I see him. The softness he was holding because of his sister is long gone. “My
sister,
you asshole!” He lunges around the center island before heading right for me. We fall with him on top of me, winding up for a punch.

“Ford! It’s not –”

“My sister!” A punch comes and I turn my head just in time for Bedford to catch the floor.

“Nothing happened!”

“Liar! I saw your faces.”

“We kissed—That’s it!”

“You kissed my sister!” He gets me in the stomach now. I cough.

“That’s it! That’s all that happened.”

“Of all the girls in the world, why my sister?” The last part is soft as he loses his fight.

“I didn’t… I couldn’t plan this. It just happened. She kissed me, although I didn’t stop it. But that’s all that happened, I swear to you.”

“You stay away from my sister, Smith.”

The hurt in his eyes is apparent, and I can’t say that I blame him. I treat women like crap; I use them and leave them like a dirty tissue. As much as this new feeling intrigues me, I can’t help but think I will do the same thing to Becca as all the other girls. The only thing that has caught my attention is the fact that she didn’t give it up to me. Once I get that, I’ll lose interest like always. That’s what I tell myself, when I open my mouth to respond. “I promise. I’ll leave her alone.”