Take Me As I Am (Center City First Responders #6)

Chapter 1

ONE

Detective Walker Ashley wasn’t someone that did easy family gatherings. He liked watching games with them on TV. BBQs in the backyard? Sure!

He liked action.

Sitting around a table and talking?

He felt like an animal in a trap, ready to gnaw off his paw to get out and run away.

So, sitting at a table in a coffee shop shooting the shit over wedding plans?

Dear God in Heaven!

He was hoping that a crime might happen right outside the window so he could excuse himself to kick some ass.

“Hello?”

A couple passed by the window completely in love, holding hands and gazing into each other’s eyes.

That had to be a crime, right?

Please. Oh, please, be a crime.

“Hey, idiot!”

Someone flicked his shoulder, and he recoiled and looked in the direction of the pain.

“What the hell, Kate?”

His sister, step-sister, if you had to go by the strict definition, crossed her arms and smiled at him, smug and proud of herself. “You totally clocked out on us, little bro.”

“Little bro?”

He narrowed his eyes at her and glared.

“Who the fuck calls me little?”

Roan raised his hand and sighed. “I do. She does. You’re the little bro to both of us, Walker.”

“That’s not what your fiancée says.” Walker didn’t even have to cringe away from his brother, Roan.

Roan didn’t take the bait about his fiancée, Pilar Bravo.

The two were disgustingly in love and didn’t have a single doubt about each other.

And, it was their wedding that Walker was at the coffee shop to discuss.

Roan sat back in his chair and shook his head. “If you don’t want to discuss this, you can go home.”

Walker would normally jump at the chance, but going home to his empty apartment just didn’t have the appeal it used to. “I’m good, man. I just need to get over the shudder-worthy thought of you finally shackled to the old ball ‘n chain.”

Kate lifted her hand to flick him again and Walker moved his chair to the side, closer to Roan’s chair. “You need to stop with the nasty little comments.”

He shrugged. “I can’t help it that I’m the last one in our family that’s free and wild.”

Kate rolled her eyes and sighed to Roan. “He means feral.”

Roan shrugged and smiled at their sister. “Six of one…”

“Half dozen of another,” Kate answered.

Walker leaned forward on his arms, bracing them on the back of the chair that he’d turned around at the table. “Hey… don’t act like I’m not here, sitting between the two of you.”

Roan huffed out a breath. “You haven’t been focused in on the conversation since we sat down.”

Walker wasn’t used to his brother sounding like that about him. Disappointed.

It didn’t sit well with him.

Walker blew out a breath. “I’m sorry, Roan. I am. I just wish we weren’t sitting down at a table. If we could have done this running down by the river, I’d be okay.”

Kate gestured at the tablet opened up in front of her at the table. “Hard to take notes on the run.”

Walker felt like a complete ass. “Yeah. Sorry.”

Roan gave him a familiar smile.

It was his, ‘You’re an idiot, but you’re my brother’ smile.

“Let’s make this quick and then you can run free.”

Walker was more than grateful for the understanding. “Sounds great. I can do a short meeting.”

Kate’s grin deepened and Walker heard her grumbling under her breath. “You do a lot of things, why not a short meeting.”

Walker opened his mouth to reply, but Roan leaned forward with his hands up between them.

“Let’s not get totally off topic, okay?”

“Okay.” “Okay.”

Roan looked at Walker. “I know when I first told you that I was getting married you thought I was a little bit crazy.”

“I knew you were certifiable when you told me,” Walker looked at his brother with an open, honest stare, “but I know you and Pilar are crazy in love. Perfect for each other, which isn’t hard for me to say at all. I am happy for you, Roan. I hope you know that.”

“I do.” Roan had always had his back as long as they’d known each other, which was forever. “I just know that you’d rather joke about it instead of being serious.”

“I told you I’d do my best as best man, but it’s not really my thing.”

Roan nodded. “Yeah. I think your exact answer to my question about being my best man was something I can’t say around the public.”

Kate chuckled. “I’m guessing it was something regarding the stag party and the laundry list of women you could have there in a heartbeat.”

“Kind of.” Walker wanted to laugh, but Kate was nearly spot on. “You’d be surprised how many women would love to give my brother a lap dance and other… gifts.”

Kate shook her head. “I don’t think I would be all that shocked. Both of you are objectively hot. I hear more than enough around the water cooler at work.”

Walker smiled at her for a moment and then frowned. “We have a water cooler at work?”

Kate grinned at him. “We do on our side of the floor.”

Walker narrowed his eyes at her. They both worked in Precinct Four on the second floor. Kate on the ‘Beat Cop’ side with her officers and he worked on the opposite end of the floor with the detectives.

“That’s not fair.”

Kate shook her head. “Suck it up, buttercup. My guys work for a living.”

Walker pointed at their sister and looked at Roan. “Did you hear that, bro? Kate called your woman a guy.”

“Children, play nice.” Roan sighed and turned the topic back around. “Walker, I was wondering if you would mind if I had Kate stand up for me at the wedding.”

Walker drew back a little, confused. “You want to have Kate be the best man?”

Roan looked between them both and nodded, slowly. “As my best person. I still want you to be one of my groomsmen, but I was thinking it might be easier for everyone if you weren’t…”

“If I wasn’t complaining about you getting married as the best man.” Walker nodded and saw how nervous Roan and Kate were. “Wait, this whole meeting was about the best man thing?”

Roan looked more nervous by the moment. “No, not the whole thing but I wasn’t sure how you’d take the suggestion.”

Walker leaned over and clapped his hand on Roan’s shoulder. “Don’t worry about that! This is your wedding, man! If you wanted the Loch Ness monster or Big Foot to be your best man, I’d be good. I just want you to be happy!”

Kate looked at him as if she was waiting for his head to fly off.

“Seriously, I was thinking of how many drinks I’d have to have before the wedding so I’d manage to keep my mouth shut at the church.” He sagged back against his chair. “Thank god, I can just relax and have fun.”

Ow!

Kate kicked him under the table.

“And support you and my newest sister in your head long dive into the treacherous waters of marriage.”

Roan sighed. “Maybe just come and have fun… but don’t say anything to anyone. Okay?”

Walker gave his bother a salute. “That, I can do.”

Kate lifted a brow in his direction. “Are you bringing a guest with you to the wedding?”

“Hell no.” Walker rolled his eyes. “The women I know would see that as a suggestion of where my head was going, and that couldn’t be further from the truth.”

“That’s right,” Kate nodded, “wild and free.”

“You know it.”

Even as he said the words with a bright ass smile on his face, he ignored the feeling in his gut that told him he was full of it. No, he didn’t see himself putting a ring on anyone’s finger. He was grateful that Roan was taking one for the team and making their mom happy.

If Walker was a betting man, and he was, he would bet that Pilar and Roan would be giving his mom a bunch of grandkids before long.

“So, do you want to help organize the stag party?”

“Stag party,” Walker shook his head. “You make it sound like we’re British or something. American’s call it a Bachelor party and Bachelorette party.”

Kate grinned at him. “Now you’re the one who knows everything about weddings, Mister I hate weddings.”

“I don’t hate weddings. It’s prime ground for one-night stands, not that I would know anything about that.”

He heard a soft laugh from the sugar counter and turned around in his seat.

Fuck. Me.

Kennedy Heart, the sweetheart reporter at WCCN was putting a heaping ton of sugar in her cup. Her shoulders were shaking.

“Well, hello, Kennedy Heart.”

She went silent and turned around, her lips pressed lightly together. “Hello, Detective Ashley.” Then she lifted her gaze from his face and greeted his sibs. “Doctor Ashley. Sergeant Turner.”

Walker opened his mouth to say something to her, but Kennedy was still talking.

“Congrats on your upcoming wedding, Doctor Ashley. I bet it’s going to be beautiful.”

“Thank you, Miss Heart, I-”

“I bet you heard my brother’s comments on weddings, right?”

Kennedy blushed and kept her gaze studiously off of him.

“I might have heard a thing or two.” Her blush deepened as she looked over at Roan again. “I wasn’t trying to eavesdrop. I promise. The counter,” she pointed at the small pile of natural sugar paper wrappers she had piled up, “is really close.”

Roan grinned at her like a stupid fool. “I didn’t think you were eavesdropping. My brother talks loudly out of both ends. The bigger an ass he makes of himself, the louder he is.”

Kate laughed out loud, and Kennedy barely held in her own laughter as her blush creeped up to her temples, making her peaches and cream skin look good enough to eat.

Kate’s hand pushed at his upper arm, and he rocked in his chair. “Come on, lil’ bro. You’ve got to laugh. Roan has you dead to rights on that.”

“Ha. Ha.”

He tried to ignore how much he wanted to laugh at himself, but he was busy trying to think exactly what he’d said that she could have heard.

Something about one-night stands?

Oh, fuck.

Roan was up on his feet before Walker could get his mind to focus. “Here, Miss Heart. Why don’t you take my chair, I have to get back to the hospital and start the second half of my shift.”

“Oh.” Kate was up, too. “I have to get back to the precinct. Roan, I-”

“I can give you a ride back.”

Walker was finally on his feet as Roan and Kate were walking to the front door of the shop. “I… I guess I’ve been left behind.”

Kennedy looked at him with surprise. “I thought I saw your SUV out back when I walked through the parking lot.”

Walker looked at her and blinked while he tried to scrape his brain cells together. “You know what car I drive?”

She bit into the corner of her bottom lip and gave him a hesitant smile. “It’s a thing I know from my time on the news. I recognize all of the ambulances. All of the service vehicles. I can tell which station houses that the fire vehicles belong to if I see a truck turning at a light. I can tell which patrol cars belong to which precincts. And if I can get a view of the numbers on top of the vehicles from helicopters or CCTV or if their license plates are visible, I know.”

Her words made sense, but he was a little disappointed, too.

“I thought you just knew my car.”

Her blush deepened and she turned back to the counter to finish doctoring her coffee.

Walker moved around the table and followed her over. By the time he got to her side she was sliding the trash off of the counter into the trash can.

“I guess that sounded a little egotistical, hmm?”

She glanced at him and covered her coffee with the lid. “I do know your car.” She explained. “I know we’ll at least have some good footage when you’re on scene.”

He raised a brow at that. “Do I make a lot of strange facial expressions?”

She shook her head and turned until her hip was leaning against the counter. “No. But the clicks on our crime scene and investigation videos go up when our viewers see you. And the comments- Oh!”

A man reached across the counter, bumping into Kennedy’s back.

Walker took her arm and pulled her closer so he could give the man a hard stare.

“Apologize to the lady.”

The man in his ill-fitting suit and large messenger bag looked at him with shock. “What?”

Walker tucked Kennedy up against his side and gestured to her. “You bumped into the lady. You should apologize to her.”

The man gave them both a look. “She was blocking the sugar.”

“Detective Ashley-”

“Detective? Figures.” The man blew out a breath through his nose. “What? Are you going to arrest me?”

“This is a matter of manners, man, or don’t you have any?”

“What’s your problem, asshole-”

“Walker!”

Kennedy pulled him away and back to his table, but Walker kept his eyes on the other man, memorizing his face.

“Walker, please.”

His head snapped around and he looked at her only to realize that they were just inches apart. “What did you just call me?”

She put up her free hand and her fingers touched his chest.

Well, his shirt, but his chest was under the shirt.

So, to his body and what was left of his brain, it mattered.

“I needed to get your attention away from that horrible man.”

He smiled at her even though she probably couldn’t see it with the way she had her gaze directed off to the side. “He is an asshole.”

“I said horrible,” she countered back.

“Your horrible, my asshole. It can be the same thing.”

The man in the suit was walking away and Walker noticed that the man had his eyes fixed on Kennedy’s ass.

Fucker.

Walker turned and pulled himself between the two, smiling even more.

He heard Kennedy laugh and he looked over to see her smiling at him, finally. “What?”

He winced inwardly at the way he spoke to her.

Now who was being the asshole?

She shook her head. “Sorry. You just had this… fearsome look on your face. No wonder that man walked away in a huff.”

“I don’t think that’s why he walked away. Here,” he gestured back to the chair, “have a seat.”

She shook her head. “Thanks, but I have to get to the station for work.” She looked back at the chair and paused as if she was rethinking it.

And he was thinking, too. Was he actually thinking about sitting down with sweeter than honey, Kennedy Heart?

She wasn’t the kind of woman who spent time with a man like him.

If she knew about the kinds of women he spent his off time with, she’d run the opposite way.

“So you walked here?”

She shrugged. “I walk all over the place.”

The daily crimes that he dealt with made him want to yell at her.

She walked…. All over the place?

He wanted to throw her over his shoulder and take her back to his apartment and lock her away to keep her safe.

He wanted to hit his head against a wall.

What the hell was he thinking?

He was for the most part the opposite of his brother.

Roan was a doctor. A healer. A peacemaker.

Walker? He was defined by his physicality. His work in law. And yes, his history as a womanizer.

That was the reason why he had a network of women at clubs all over Center City who gave him information for his cases.

And in public he got cozy with those women.

That’s why people think he’s a man whore.

He loved women.

Now, he just keeps them at arm’s length because he didn’t want to get drawn into a relationship.

And Kennedy?

She was the kind of woman who could easily cast a spell over him.

But she didn’t need to be around a guy like him.

He was rough. Visceral.

She was sweetness. And yes, heart.

It was in her god damn name!

“Uh, okay. I guess I’ll see you around.”

Shit!

He’d been lost in his damn head, just like he’d checked out of his conversation with his sibs,and now she was about to walk away

“Shit. Kennedy, wait.”

He caught up to her just outside the door.

“Let me drive you to the station.”

Kennedy was standing in the sunlight and his mind ground down to a halt when she turned her wholesomely beautiful face in his direction.

Every physical inch of him stood at attention as her auburn hair shone like gold.

“You… you don’t have to drive me, detective. I usually walk to the station in the mornings. Oh!”

He had her by the arm before he could pull himself together and he had to work to slow his steps, so she didn’t have to run along beside him as they took the short walk around the building to the parking lot.

Reaching into his pocket he pushed the unlock button that opened the doors to his SUV.

By the time he had her door open, and he was ready to hand her up into the vehicle, his nose was filled with her scent. Whatever perfume she was wearing should be outlawed.

And the smell of her drink-

“What is that?”

“Hmm?” Her voice sounded a little dreamy as she turned around to look up into his face. “What is what?”

“Your drink? What did you order?”

She looked down at her cup as if she’d forgotten that she was holding it. “Oh.” She looked back up at him and a light of humor shone in her eyes. “Hot tea with a ton of sugar.”

He must have given her a crazy look.

She laughed again. “I know. I know. It’s crazy, but John says I can’t keep drinking iced sweet tea all the time, so I started coming here for hot tea and making it sweet. It makes no sense, but John just knows I’m drinking something hot.”

Hot.

Yes

He was familiar with the concept.

He was hot. Under the collar for Miss Kennedy Heart.

She made him hot to the touch.

And this John she was talking about?

Well, he was going to find out who he was and make sure that he was treating her right.

Fuck.

He helped her up into the SUV and picked up the seatbelt and reached in.

“Oh. Goodness.” Her laughter was going to unman him. If she did it again, his dick was going to be so damn hard it was going to suffocate in his pants. “That’s um… helpful.”

He looked up at her as soon as the seatbelt clicked into place. “Need to make sure you’re safe.”

Her smile was fucking torture. “Thanks, detective.”

She thought he was being sweet.

He was going to go to hell.

Walker stepped back and reached for the door to close it.

“Detective Ashley?”

He felt his molars grind together. He was back to being Detective Ashley again, instead of Walker.

“Yes?” He wanted to kick himself when he heard the tight sound of his voice, but Kennedy didn’t seem affected by it.

“You were right, you know.”

“Right?” He didn’t have any idea what she was talking about, but he liked being right.

“When Sergeant Turner said ‘Stag Party,’ you said it made y’all sound British.”

Walker dragged a breath into his lungs. Hearing that tinge of a Southern Accent creep out in her words was going to keep him hard all fucking day.

“You were right. The Brits call it Stag Party and Hen Party. Americans call them bachelor and bachelorette parties. I think it’s sweet that you knew that.”

Then she turned to face front, looking out through the windshield from the passenger seat.

He closed the door and walked around to the driver’s side of the SUV.

Sweet.

Kennedy fucking Heart thought that he was sweet.

He bit down hard on the inside of his cheek until he was sure he was close to drawing blood.

She thought he was sweet, and he was damn sure that he’d be beating himself off to the memory of her smile and her voice before he went to sleep.

He was definitely going to hell.