Chapter 15
Chapter Fifteen
MILES
The pie she made, though? Damn near perfect.
The grated cinnamon sprinkled on top? I didn’t even have words.
It reminded me of Grams’ apple pie, the kind that made you feel like you were home no matter where you were.
More than the teasing, that pie had me thinking all kinds of things about Loxley that I really shouldn’t be letting myself feel.
But there was no harm in liking her, right? She was easy to like. Easy to talk to, flirt with, and mess around with. As long as I reminded myself that she was a huge star and I was just a small-town cop, I was safe. No harm in enjoying the friendship we had, and I'd be crazy not to.
I pushed open the kitchen door, grinning like a fool after another day back on patrol. “Honey, I’m home,” I called, expecting her to bounce in with that same energetic smile she always had for me, but the house was deathly quiet. “Lox?”
I tossed my keys onto the hook, noting that the jeep keys were right where they should be. When I pulled into the driveway, I’d seen the jeep parked in its usual spot. So she wasn’t committing a felony—at least not grand theft auto.
At least not my car.
Again.
“Lox?” I called louder, my voice bouncing off the walls.
The quiet was starting to make it feel like something was off.
Hopefully she hadn’t ventured off into the woods or something because it was nearing dark and I wasn’t exactly Dora the Explorer.
My cop instincts and training could take me far, but I didn’t typically venture down to the ravine with a monkey and a map.
“Lox?” I hollered again, this time walking down the hall toward her room. The door was wide open, and so was the bathroom door, which made me doubt she was in there. She would’ve answered me by now.
The next door was the gym. She hadn’t stepped foot in there since she started staying with me, so I figured the odds were low that she’d be working out. Still, I checked. And when my eyes landed on her, I had to hold onto the door frame to keep myself from falling over.
She was standing in front of the full-length mirror on the far left wall, dancing around in tight shorts and a sports bra.
My Beats were over her ears, the music loud enough that I could hear faint hints of it, but not nearly enough to block out how badly my heart was hammering in my chest. I knew she couldn’t hear me coming, but God, I couldn’t look away.
Her hair—holy shit. She’d warned me she was going to dye it, but seeing it in person? It went from platinum blonde to a darker, richer blonde, almost the exact shade of mine. It was pulled back into a ponytail, and every time she moved, it swayed over her back gently.
“Lox?” I said again, my voice lowered this time, hoarse from the dryness in my throat. She didn’t hear me, but when I stepped behind her, I saw her jump slightly when she noticed my reflection in the mirror.
“Hey!” She grinned, pulling the headphones off. “What do you think?”
How the hell do I tell her she looked incredible without sounding like a complete mess?
She was already breathtaking before—dangerous, even—but now?
God, the words in my head weren’t even fitting.
“You look like you’re happy,” I finally managed, feeling a little more sure of myself.
“And happy is an incredible look on you, Lox.”
“It’s not too dark or too much of a change?”
“No.” I shook my head more adamantly than I probably needed to. “You look like this is who you really are,” I said, swallowing hard, trying to keep myself from reaching out to touch the strands that fell from the ponytail and framed her face.
“I feel so good,” she moaned, practically bouncing with excitement as she grabbed onto my bicep. “I’d never done it myself before, and I was so nervous... but I love it so much that I can’t stop dancing around!”
“Fuck,” I whispered, stepping back a little. I had just talked myself into not falling for Loxley, telling myself it was fine as long as I knew where I stood. But now? What the hell was I supposed to do with these feelings?
“What’s wrong?” she asked, noticing my sudden retreat. Her brow furrowed with concern, and it only made everything worse. It was then I realized I’d spoken the word aloud.
“Nothing,” I said, quickly flashing her a wink to cover my tracks. “You’re beautiful no matter what color your hair is, you know that?”
“Well thank you, Mr. Officer.” She winked back, walking past me toward the hallway. “Now, go get changed. I’ve got another surprise for you.”
“Is it a felony?” I grinned, watching her disappear down the hall.
“No!” she laughed over her shoulder. “Go change out of that uniform and meet me in the kitchen!”
She was gone before I had time to even react.
I walked into my bedroom and shut the door behind me, trying to calm the pounding in my chest. The first thing I did was walk straight to my gun safe, using my thumbprint to open it and unholster my weapon.
Then, I unclipped my duty belt and hung it up, taking a deep breath as I worked on stripping out of my uniform.
I pulled my shirt out of my pants, letting it fall to the floor, and toed my boots off while I unbuttoned my pants, letting them hang open while I looked for something to put on.
Normally, I would’ve just thrown on gym shorts and a t-shirt, but now.
.. now, I was overthinking everything. Before I could settle on anything, there was a knock at the door.
Without thinking, I opened it, expecting to see Loxley on the other side. “You okay?” I asked, a little too quickly.
“Um…” she backed up, her eyes raking up and down my chest, one hand still in the air as if she was going to knock again and the other searching for the wall behind her. “I…”
It wasn’t the first time she had reacted to me that way.
I wasn’t an idiot, and knew I worked hard at having all my nooks and crannies in all the right places.
That was what the home gym was for. But just like before, I liked the way she lost focus the same way I had with her.
It felt like for just a minute, I had the upper hand.
That it didn’t matter that she was THE Loxley Adams.
“What’s up?” I asked, nodding my head and biting my lip, hoping it kept me from saying anything else.
“I just… I need to take a shower. So I was going to let you know that I left the surprise in the oven. I’m cooking tonight.”
“You’re cooking me dinner?”
“Yeah,” she ran a few fingers across her forehead, taking the shorter pieces of hair that always fell there and tucked them behind her ear. “It doesn’t take long to cook so I’m gonna jump in the shower so I can get the smell off of me.”
From where I was, she smelled like that new floral scent that had taken over my house since the day she showed up. It was the smell I wanted all over the place, and I didn’t see any need for her to wash it all away.
“I need a shower too,” I shrugged. “I’ll meet you in the kitchen in twenty.”
“Deal,” she smiled, then turned quickly and made her way to her room.
I shut my door again, leaning against it and tilting my head back. For two single people that were obviously attracted to one another, and were grown ass adults, we sure were idiots. Maybe our endless flirting was a shitty idea. Maybe what we really needed was to…
“Don’t go there,” I scolded myself. Flirting and attraction was one thing. Feeling her fall apart beneath me may end up being something I wouldn’t recover from when she left.
As I climbed into the shower, I realized the shower in the other bedroom backed up to mine. I could hear the water running and Loxley singing lightly through the wall. It was too faint to hear the words, but I recognized the melody was one of her songs.
Even as I tilted my head back in the warm water, I could hear her and pictured her doing the same thing I was. Naked, dripping wet, her head held back and the day washing away.
My cock started to harden and I gritted my teeth, unsure how wrong it’d be to stroke myself as she sang on the other side of the wall.
The only person I’d hurt was myself, though.
And in the long run, I’d be able to tamp down the sudden yearning I had for her and get back to being friendly and flirty.
Deciding I had a fucking point, I grabbed my cock, squeezing and stroking as I listened to her sing about being the woman in her, needing the lover in me.
Turning to face the wall, I rested my hand below the shower head, holding myself up and letting the water run down my back.
With my other hand, I began stroking harder, anxious to let go so I could work on forgiving myself for being so damn weak.
Then, without warning, the tone in her voice changed, and although I still couldn't understand the exact words, it no longer felt like it was a part of the song I had recognized before. In fact, it didn’t sound like a song at all. At least not in the traditional sense of the word.
But it was definitely my new favorite sound…a moan, soft, with a whimper that made my hand pause and my spine stiffen. Then I heard it again, only it was deeper, louder.
“That’s it, baby,” I growled, so low I hoped she hadn’t heard me. I knew she was on the other side of that wall, pleasuring herself the same way I was, and probably for the same fucking reason.
The moans stopped, though, and I instantly regretted saying anything. She probably couldn’t hear what I said, but she could hear me speaking, she could hear my tone. And in turn, that meant she knew I heard her as well.
Without thinking, I slapped the wall, hard enough that there was no questioning that I was there. I could hear her gasp and I thought I had ruined the whole fucking thing, but then I heard her moan again, softer than before but definitely from pleasure.
To show her it was okay, I moaned as well, stroking myself again as I did. My hips began to buck, the movement of my hand not feeling like enough, and I moaned again, louder and without any hesitation.
In return, I could hear her, throwing caution to the wind and finishing what she had started as she listened to me as well.
Once I heard the guttural and unmistakable sound of her release, I let myself go, grunting and hissing as I came all over the tile in front of me.
I wanted her to know that I was with her, that I too couldn’t help myself, and that it was okay.
When I heard her water turn off, I turned mine off too and climbed out, grabbing a towel from the hook.
As I dried myself off, it finally hit me what had just happened, and panic started to seep in.
Not for me, but because I hoped she was okay.
I shouldn’t have interrupted her; I shouldn’t have banged my hand on the wall.
I should have respected her privacy.
Hanging my head low, I prepared myself for her not to show her face again. In the morning, she’d probably want to leave. But just in case, I was going to head to the kitchen like I promised her I would and hope she was okay.
Before I could make it all the way into the kitchen though, I smelled something burning and the smoke alarms went off. Running, I opened the oven to a plume of smoke, grabbed the pan out, and opened the kitchen door.
I waved the smoke away from the alarm, hoping there wasn’t some trigger that notified the fire department. The last thing I needed was my brother and his crew showing up.
Carefully, I put the pan down on the stove and waved the smoke away from the…
“Oh no,” I heard behind me, her gasp sounding innocent and sweet despite the fact that not only had she burnt dinner but she…
“You cooked my prized catfish?”