Chapter 4
CHAPTER FOUR
Simon watched the young man sprint off into the darkness.
For a split second, he considered chasing him, but he discarded the idea almost immediately.
Instead, he rushed forward and picked up the weapon he’d dropped.
It wasn’t loaded, pissing Simon off that the young man had almost gotten shot because he was pointing an unloaded weapon at an officer.
He shoved the pistol into his waistband, then turned toward Atlee.
“What the hell was that?” he asked, a little harsher than he meant to. Adrenaline was still coursing through his veins. The what-ifs rolling around in his head.
“I called the police, like you said,” Atlee explained, staring up at him with no fear in her eyes. Which was a relief to Simon. He’d rather cut off his arm than do anything to scare this woman.
“I described what the guy looked like, and she told me that it was probably this Marley kid. Said his family wasn’t well off, and while he’d been caught shoplifting once—hot dogs, of all things—he wasn’t a bad kid.”
Simon took a deep breath. That whole incident could’ve gone so horribly wrong. He was very relieved that no one had been hurt.
“Hey, you guys okay?” the man who’d been sleeping in the Charger asked. He was standing next to his door, staring at them in concern.
“We’re okay!” Atlee said almost cheerfully. “He’s a police officer. That other guy was breaking into cars but he’s gone now, so we’re good.”
“Wow, okay. You hear anything about when we might be able to get out of here?” the man asked Simon.
“I’m guessing as soon as it’s light, the Highway Department will have as many plows as they can out here to get everyone moving again,” Simon told him.
“Yeah, the snow looks like it’s almost stopped. What do you think we got? Two feet?”
“Around that, yeah,” Simon said.
“Hey, are you hungry?”
Both Simon and the man in the Charger turned to look at Atlee when she interrupted.
“Starving,” the stranger admitted with a shrug.
“I’ve got some food. It’s just cookies and bread, but I’m happy to share.”
“I’d love that.”
And somehow, Simon found himself walking up and down the interstate, knocking on windows and offering people trapped in their cars homemade cookies, cakes, bread, and Atlee’s own brand of holiday cheer.
She smiled at everyone, asked how they were holding up, and delivered baked goods as if she was Santa Claus in a messy bun and long fucking eyelashes.
By the time she’d given out every single one of her goodies, Simon was frozen. And if he was cold, Atlee had to be even colder. He had more padding than she did.
“Can we please go back to my car now?” he growled, as he took hold of her elbow and steered her back down the interstate.
“I’m all out, so yeah,” she agreed happily.
Simon ignored his own growling belly, happy when both he and Atlee were back inside his vehicle. He cranked up the heat and took a deep breath.
When he turned to look at Atlee, she was bent down, rummaging through her purse at her feet.
He blinked in surprise when she sat up—with two cookies in her hands.
They were in a small Tupperware box, probably meant to hold a sandwich for a child’s lunchbox.
She had the lid off and was holding it out to him.
“Every year, Renee and I make two special cookies for each of us. We usually save them for New Year’s Eve and eat them at midnight. It’s our way of feeling connected, even when we’re far apart. I know it’s early, but now feels like the perfect time to break them out.”
Simon stared down at the cookie. It wasn’t anything special that he could see, but deep down, he knew how much love had gone into making them. And knowing she was willing to break a tradition she had with her daughter to share them with him…he was suddenly all choked up.
“I can’t. You can’t break tradition.”
“Okay, so, full disclosure. We call them wish cookies. We’re supposed to make a wish when we eat them. And since my wish has already come true, it feels appropriate to share them with the man I’ve wished would notice me for the last few years.”
Her words sank in…and Simon found himself reaching for a cookie before he knew what he was doing.
“What are you going to wish for?” Atlee whispered, as she picked up the second cookie.
“Don’t need to wish for anything. I’ve got what I want right here.”
“A chocolate-chip, caramel, peanut butter crisp cookie?” she asked.
Simon smirked. “Is that what this is? Damn. But no, that’s not what I want. Or at least, not all I want.”
“No?”
She was teasing him, and Simon loved it. He needed this. Usually after he had to pull his weapon in the line of duty, he felt jittery. Off-kilter. And he had been. But now, somehow this woman, with her kindness, her need to take care of others, had calmed him. Centered him.
“No,” he said with a shake of his head. Forgetting the cookie for a moment, he put his hand on Atlee’s nape and pulled her toward him. He rested his forehead against hers. “Don’t do that again,” he said seriously.
She knew exactly what he was talking about. “I couldn’t help it. That boy looked young. Too young for what he was doing. And his hand was shaking. I didn’t want either of you to get hurt. And Alice sounded sure about Marley, that he wasn’t a bad kid.”
“My job doesn’t intersect with your life. Ever. What I do doesn’t touch you. I couldn’t live with myself if you were hurt because of what I do.”
“It won’t. Because you’re the best officer I’ve ever seen.
You aren’t on a power trip when you put on your uniform.
Heck, you usually wear a polo and jeans, just like you are now.
You want to help people, and when you can’t, it eats at you.
I’ve seen it. So I have no worries about anything when it comes to your job, Simon. ”
She was too good for him. But he wasn’t giving her back. No way. She was his. She might not know it yet, but she’d just sealed her fate.
He kissed her. Long, slow, and deep. And amazingly, she kissed him back. The electricity and passion arced between them. Simon wanted her. Here and now. But he wouldn’t dishonor her like that. His Atlee deserved better.
They were both breathing hard when he finally pulled back. But he kept his hand on her nape, loving how she shivered as his thumb brushed back and forth over her sensitive skin. He held up his cookie. “A toast?” he asked. “It’s not New Year’s yet, but what the hell.”
“A toast,” she agreed with a smile, holding up her own cookie.
“To new relationships.”
“To us,” she corrected.
Simon nodded, and they touched cookies as if they were clinking champagne glasses together. They each took a bite of their cookie, and Simon couldn’t stop the moan that left his throat.
“Good God, woman,” he said, after he’d swallowed. “If I knew you could bake like this, I would’ve made a move on you years ago.”
Atlee giggled. “And if I knew how hot you could be when you were all gruff and serious in cop mode, I might’ve made my move years ago.”
“You really think I’m hot?” he asked.
“Oh yeah. Totally.” Her eyes roamed up and down his body, as if she had x-ray vision and could see right through his clothes. “And I think that’s one of the first things I said when I got into this car…like an idiot. Not that I called you hot, but that I said it in the first place.”
His dick twitched but he tried to ignore it. “I’m not taking you in the back seat of my cop car,” he said sternly.
To his amusement, her nose wrinkled and she said, “At fifty-something years old, I’m not sure I can contort my body into whatever position works for having sex in a car, anyway.”
Simon burst out laughing. It was hard to believe not thirty minutes ago, he was in a stare down with a perp, and now he was eating the best cookie of his life and laughing.
He was leaning forward to kiss her again when his phone rang. Picking it up, he saw it was one of his deputies. “Hill.”
“Simon? Just got word, highway patrol and VDOT is on their way. They’ll have you dug out hopefully within a few hours. Anything exciting happen last night?”
The sun was just inching over one of the mountain peaks. Simon looked over at the woman smiling at him from his passenger seat and said, “Not much.”
“Good. Not sure what the bypass is like. You might not make it home today. But we’ve got things here under control. If you manage to reach Christiansburg, get a hotel. Enjoy some time off for once. There will be plenty for you to do when you get back to Fallport.”
“Roger,” Simon said, his gaze locked on Atlee’s. “I’ll call tomorrow when I’m on my way.”
“Sounds good. Merry Christmas, Boss.”
“Same to you. Bye.”
Simon clicked off the phone and looked at Atlee. “Help is coming. We should be out of here within a couple hours. But the road to Fallport probably isn’t passable. Bo suggested I get a hotel room, enjoy my time off. What do you think?”
Atlee’s eyes sparkled. “If you’re asking me to stay in that hotel room with you, the answer is yes…but you promised me dinner. I’m not the kind of girl who goes home with a man without being courted first.”
“Of course you aren’t. And for the record, I’m not the kind of man who has one-night stands. Or casual dates. I want it all, Atlee. Dating, dinners, meeting your daughter, a ring on your finger, and you moving into my house.”
“Simon…” she whispered.
“I don’t know what you think is happening here, but I’m not about to let someone as perfect for me as you slip through my fingers.”
“Yes,” she said.
“Yes, what?” Simon asked.
“To all of it. The day I met you, I told my daughter I met the man I wanted to marry. So yes, Simon. Whatever you want, I’m in.”
Simon carefully placed the rest of his cookie back into the Tupperware, then plucked what was left of hers out of her hand and added it to the container. Then he put the lid back on and shoved it back into her purse.
“We’ll eat the rest of those on New Year’s Eve. In front of my fireplace. As we ring in the new year together. We’ll make new wishes, and think of your daughter doing the same miles away.”
“I’d like that. So…seems like we have a little bit of time to kill before we’re rescued…whatever shall we do?” she asked with a little smirk.
“I can think of a few things,” Simon said, as he once again reached for her.
Atlee giggled and eagerly leaned toward him.
The car wasn’t exactly the best place to make out, but they made the best of the situation. By the time the plows made it to them, the windows were fogged up and both Simon and Atlee were grinning from ear to ear.
“Can’t say I thought this is how things would turn out when I realized we were stuck,” Simon said, after they’d left his vehicle and walked over to her car.
They lingered outside her driver’s-side door as if they couldn’t stand to separate from each other, even though it wouldn’t be for long, just until they arrived at the hotel room he’d already booked in Christiansburg.
“Me either. But sometimes dreams come true in the strangest ways,” Atlee said.
“Agreed. Drive safe. I’ll be right behind you,” Simon said. “You think you can make it to Christiansburg with your remaining gas?”
“Yeah. Thanks to you and not having to keep my engine on all night.”
“You have the directions to the hotel pulled up on your phone?” he asked.
She nodded.
“Good. Atlee?”
“Yeah?”
“Just so you know, you’re my dream too. Drive safe.” Then Simon kissed her, hard, before turning toward his vehicle.
He couldn’t wait to get to the hotel and show the woman he’d been dreaming of for years how much he cared about her.