Chapter 7
SEVEN
Walker spent the ride to his apartment wondering two things.
One – what he’d done to seriously piss off the Almighty.
Two – why the hell he’d started this thing with Kennedy in the first place?
Because having her on the back of his motorcycle?
That was fucking purgatory if anything was.
Kennedy wasn’t a shy girl.
Correctly, she wasn’t a girl.
A girl didn’t have her breasts.
And girls didn’t make him feel like shouting and taking the corners like he was on rails.
But none of that made it any easier for him to understand why he’d touched her back at the bar.
Or why he’d all but dragged her out the door with him just so they could be alone.
He didn’t even argue when she didn’t use the face shield on his helmet.
He liked hearing her laughter as they screamed through the streets toward his apartment.
It felt too damn easy.
Too damn… real.
When he pulled into the lot, he slowed down and gave his legs a stretch before steering his Kawasaki H2 into the motorbikes parking lot that the complex had put in just for him.
There were other bikes that used it… now.
But back when he’d moved in, he’d been the only motorcycle rider and after he’d taken about as much shit as he could from the residents with proper vehicles who thought he was nothing more than some kind of hoodlum or ruffian. Yes, the teetotalers had actually used those words.
That was until there had been a rash of petty thefts in the complex and he’d weeded out the criminals and brought them to justice. Well, at least he’d put nice shiny handcuffs on their wrists. DA Wielding’s staff had done the rest.
“What’s got you smiling like that?”
Walker turned before he remembered where he was and found himself creating the sweetest kind of friction between the outside of his denim-clad thigh and Kennedy’s slacks.
From the way her eyes sparkled as she pulled off his helmet, he knew she’d felt it too.
“I was just thinking about when I moved in here at the Heights.”
He saw her look up at the fancy black and gold sign up above the doors declaring the place ‘The Hilltop Heights.’ She pursed her lips together and nodded.
“Nice place.”
His snort of laughter turned her head, and he was faced with another of her curious looks.
Kennedy Heart was always curious.
And that open curiosity?
Well, it was damn fucking sexy.
And she liked to ask questions.
“Not a nice place?”
“It serves its purpose.”
She didn’t know what to make of his answer, but then she turned the tables on him when she tucked his helmet against her side, put her hand down square on his shoulder and swung her leg off of his bike. Kennedy stood there, taking his measure. Measure of what, he didn’t know, but he knew that look.
He’d given it to hundreds… maybe thousands of men in his time as a law enforcement officer.
It was over when she tilted her head and nodded.
She’d come to a decision.
What? He didn’t know.
But then she gave him a smile.
No, a smirk.
And damn it made his blood heat.
“What’s that look for?”
He blurted the question and clamped his back teeth together to stop himself from saying anything more until he got an answer.
If he got an answer.
“The look? I’m just getting to know you a little more, Detective Ashley. And I was wondering if that made you better in my eyes.”
She held out the helmet to him and he took it, tucking it under his arm. He felt his chest tighten as the silence stretched on.
And on until he had to know.
“And?”
She gave him a strange look. “And? Oh, you want to know if it makes you better?”
“Yeah.” He hoped that the word didn’t sound as rough as it felt in his throat.
“Let’s just say, it’s taken away a little more of the mystery about you.”
“Mystery?” He scoffed at that. “I’m not a mystery.”
Her lips pursed together and damn him, he wanted to taste them to see if they were sour like lemons. “You’re all kinds of mystery in my eyes.”
He straightened and stood, swinging his leg over his bike to stand up beside her.
He saw the way she held her ground and didn’t move an inch, but he also saw the way she leaned in toward him and drew in a shallow breath through her nose.
By the way her eyes had darkened when she looked up into his face, she liked what she smelled.
He bet he’d like what she smelled like up close too.
“What do you want to know, Kennedy? What do you need to know about me to come upstairs so I can make you come on my tongue?”
Her lips parted and he saw the way her breasts rose and fell when she took in a deep breath.
God, he wanted to see those breasts rising and falling again and again.
Or feel them drag against his chest.
He needed her naked.
And soon.
Fu-
“Promise?”
Her answer.
Or well, her question startled him more than he’d like to admit.
“What?”
“Promise that you’ll do just that?”
He swallowed the answer that wanted to rush past his lips because he was sure it would come out and crack like he hadn’t done since he was twelve.
When he managed a deep indrawn breath of the cold night air, he found that he was able to speak again and sound like a grown ass man.
“Promise to make you come?”
Her lips parted on a gasp and heaven help him, he wanted to see those lips open over the head of his cock.
“I’ll do that and more. Make you come. Make you scream. Give me enough time and I’ll fuck you into tomorrow morning and leave you begging for more.”
Yeah, she wanted it, but he wanted her to do more than just want it.
Want him.
He wanted her to take the first step.
Kennedy Heart did him one better.
She stepped up with both feet, grabbed the front of his t-shirt and curled her fingers enough for him to feel her trimmed nails across his chest. Even with her sensible heels she was still a few inches short of kissing him right on the mouth.
But he never thought that would stop her if she wanted something.
She sure knew how to get what she wanted.
He just wanted it to be him.
Kennedy rose up on the toes of her heels and she leaned in and pressed a kiss against the side of his neck.
She leaned back, just an inch or two, because he could feel her breath on his skin like a touch. “I’ve never had to beg before.”
His heart stuttered in his chest and then pounded even harder when she leaned back in and opened her lips over his Adam’s apple and gave it a little lick.
“And I’m pretty sure if I go upstairs, I’ll be able to give as good as I get.”
Kennedy stepped back and let go of his t-shirt.
She looked up at him and while her face said she was as innocent as new fallen snow, her eyes were full of sin.
“So, what’s the verdict, Detective? Are we going upstairs to test our theories or are-”
His helmet dropped to the pavement and rolled off somewhere.
So what? He’d get another.
His hands were otherwise occupied.
One behind her neck.
The other grabbing a handful of her ass.
And her body?
Well, it felt even better against his front than it had felt against his back.
He kissed her with just his lips, knowing that if he used his tongue…
If he tasted her tongue against his own…
“Well, fuck.”
His murmured words were what they’d be doing in the parking lot of his apartment complex, and he doubted anyone would forgive him for that no matter what badge he carried with him.
He grabbed her hand and pulled her along with him, only pausing to lift his key fob near the security pad at the side of the double doors.
The green light that blinked on made him smile, as if even the security system was giving him the go ahead to do what he knew was a foregone conclusion.
The elevator opened up on the ground floor before they even reached the panel, and he stepped inside with her beside him.
The harsh fluorescent lights gave him a good look at the woman beside him. Her peaches and cream complexion was flushed with healthy color and he couldn’t help but grin in satisfaction.
Before the night was over, he was going to make her pink… all over.
Kennedy felt like every cell of her body was vibrating with excitement.
Was it a good idea to sleep with Walker?
Hell no!
Then again, she turned and looked at him standing beside her, it might be a terrible idea, but she’d enjoy the memory again and again.
The elevator climbed up past five and she took a look at the control panel.
Eleven.
Ugh.
“Why won’t this thing go any faster?”
“You want fast?”
Before she could answer Walker, he had her up against the back of the elevator carriage, sandwiched between the shiny granite wall and his hard body.
His mouth covered hers and she sighed. ‘Yes.’
His tongue traced the seam of her lips and she opened to his touch.
Both of their cell phones went off at the same time.
His barked out the theme to COPS.
And hers? 9 to 5.
He stepped back as they both fished their phones out of their pants pockets.
“Hello.”
“Hello?”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah… fuck.”
“I’ll be there in ten minutes.”
“I’ll head to the scene.”
They ended their calls and put their phones away.
The elevator doors opened, and they both looked out into the empty hall.
Walker pointed at the door just across the hallway. “Just a few feet away.”
She looked up at him. “The night’s not over yet.”
Before he could do anything, she reached across him and pushed the button for the lobby.
The doors slid shut and the elevator car shook before it started down.
Kennedy wanted to reach out and touch him, but she felt the moment slipping away.
Neither of them had had enough to drink to make an excuse possible.
The descent seemed faster than the rise and maybe she felt that way because all of the endorphins that had been rushing through her veins were suddenly gone. Without asking, she knew it was the same for Walker. The way he stood beside her was all business.
“I’m guessing we’re headed to the same place?”
He caught her eyes in the mirrored surface of the elevator doors. “I guess.”
“The exit off of Interstate Fifty-four at Scanlon?”
He nodded. “Shooting. Looks like road rage, but the other detectives on shift are busy.”
She nodded. “Same with me. The other reporters are on other assignments. My super said he’d contact John and have him meet me there.”
They passed the fourth floor and she bit into her bottom lip for a second. Kennedy didn’t want to broach the subject, but she had to.
“I can call a cab. I don’t know what your friends would think if they-”
“They’re not my friends.”
She didn’t know what to make of the words he spoke, but his tone wasn’t mean or cold. It was just… his tone.
“I know, but it can’t be good for people to see me arrive with you.”
He thought about it.
She saw it in his expression.
And when he spoke, she was confused.
“So what?”
Kennedy shook her head. “What do you mean, ‘So what’?”
“So what.” He clipped the end of the T off with his tongue. “I’m going there to investigate. You’re going there to investigate.”
The elevator doors opened up and he stepped through. She walked out and caught up to him as they walked across the lobby.
He pushed open the front door and she walked out, stopping only when they’d reached his motorcycle.
Walker took a few steps away and picked up the helmet that had rolled into the landscaping. He turned it over in his hands before he held it out to her. “Here. You’ll need this.” He waited until she took it in her hands.
His helmet.
She could have argued with him.
Would have if they didn’t have somewhere to go.
Kennedy put it on her head and waited just long enough for him to settle on his bike before she swung her leg over and slid up behind him.
But this time, before he started up the bike, he lifted his hands and pulled her hands toward his sternum. Suddenly, she was snuggled up behind him.
And even though they hadn’t had sex, it felt more intimate than that.
A thought she shook out of her head as the bike rushed forward and up to the road.