4. Josh
4
JOSH
I handle the last call of my career as a Maine State police officer in what feels like the most ironic way possible—by telling a couple in room 202 to tone it down with the loud sex. It's almost laughable, really. Here I am, about to walk away from a decade of service, and my final act is asking two overenthusiastic lovers to keep it down. As I leave the room, the sound of muffled giggles follows me, and I can’t help but shake my head with a bemused smile. What a way to end things.
But as I stroll down the dimly lit walkway, the reality of what’s next starts to settle in. My steps slow as I approach room 222, and before I know it, I’m standing in front of the door, my hand frozen halfway to the wood, ready to knock. The cool evening air brushes against my skin, but it does nothing to cool the heat building in my chest.
What the hell am I doing?
The thought crashes into me with the force of a tidal wave. This isn’t like me at all. I’ve never been the type to randomly pick up a woman, to act on a thought based solely on a spark of attraction.
Hell, I’ve always been the guy who overthinks everything, who weighs the pros and cons before making a move. But there’s something about her—something that’s got me standing here like a damn fool, hesitating outside her door, trying to muster the courage to do something I’ve never done before.
I’ve never randomly tried to pick up a woman like this. The very thought feels foreign, almost absurd. I’m not the guy who chases after someone he barely knows, based on a few glances exchanged in a roller rink and a casual comment from a friendly innkeeper.
I’m the guy who plays it safe, who sticks to what he knows. But tonight, all those rules, all those carefully constructed boundaries, seem to have gone out the window.
And here I am, standing outside room 222, feeling like a teenager about to ask someone out for the first time. The logical part of my brain is screaming at me to walk away, to forget about this whole ridiculous idea. But that other part of me—the part that’s been dormant for so long it feels like forever—won’t let me leave. It’s urging me forward, reminding me of the way she looked at me, the way she made me feel in just a few short moments.
There is something about her that I can’t walk away from. After she vanished from the rink, I didn’t think I’d get the chance to see her. To find out why I was drawn to her from the moment I laid eyes on her.
If anyone came out of their room at this exact moment, they’d laugh and think I’m an idiot. Just standing there, with my hands at my sides, staring at a door without a key in my hand. But I’m not acting like an idiot. I’m trying to work up the courage to ask her out. At least, I don’t feel like I’m usually an idiot.
With a sigh, I finally raise my hand to knock on her door, but the damn thing opens before I can.
“Took you long enough.” The woman from earlier leans against the open doorframe and sips a beer. “I figured you’d have taken Charlie’s innuendo and thrown it out the window like yesterday’s breakfast.” Her head tilts to the side and I watch her study me, waiting for an answer.
So I oblige and say, “I’m off in an hour. I gotta shower, and then I want to take you out for a drink.”
My words catch her off guard completely, and I can’t help but relish the way her eyes widen slightly in surprise before something else takes over. It’s a subtle shift, but it’s there—the spark of interest, the thrill of being caught off guard when she didn’t expect it. For a moment, I think I see a flicker of vulnerability in her expression, something that tells me she thought I might ask for her number, that she wasn’t expecting me to be so direct and ask her out tonight. But it’s gone as quickly as it came, replaced by that familiar, confident look, the one that’s been driving me crazy since the moment I laid eyes on her in the roller rink.
“Who says I’m gonna go out for a drink with you?” she challenges, her tone playful but laced with a hint of something deeper.
She takes another sip of her beer, her eyes never leaving mine, and I can feel the tension building between us. An unspoken question hanging in the air. I lean in closer, lowering my voice to a near whisper, my smile widening as I watch the way her chest rises and falls, her breath catching ever so slightly. I’m close enough now to catch the faint scent of her perfume, something light and floral that mixes with the warm night air creating a scent that’s powerful enough to bring me to my knees.
“Because as much as you were watching me at the rink, I was watching you. Maybe more.”
Her breath catches, and I almost move in for a kiss. Almost.
Instead, I take a step back and wink at her. “Give me an hour and a half.”
She pulls her phone out of her shirt but doesn’t unlock it. The time lights up on the screen instead. “Fine.” She licks her lip. “But if you’re later than ten p.m., I’m gonna turn off all the lights and put my soundproof headphones on after I make myself come all over my hand and pass out.”
“I’ll be here,” I promise, my voice carrying an edge of determination that I hope she picks up on.
As I turn and walk back to my cruiser, the cool night air doing little to calm the heat coursing through me, all I can think about is the challenge in her eyes.
She doesn’t think I’ll come back. Doesn’t think I’m the type to follow through on a spur-of-the-moment decision like this. But what she doesn’t know, what she couldn’t possibly understand, is just how strong the pull is, how undeniable the attraction that’s been building between us since that first moment.
This isn’t something I can just walk away from.
She’s not something I can walk away from.
Not without seeing where it can go between us.
Distracted, I almost miss my phone ringing. “Hey, Kyle.” My brother’s face pops up as soon as I hit answer. “What’s going on?”
“We still on for fishing this week?” He moves around, taking me with him while he throws clothes onto his bed. “I gotta get out of here. It’s suffocating.”
Kyle’s life had taken a complete and absolute turn for the worse when his wife lost her mind and tried to kill herself and then someone else.
“Yep,” I tell him. “I’m dropping off my cruiser and department-issued gear tonight.” Tapping the steering wheel while I wait for him to pop back up on the screen, I sigh. “How are you doing?”
“Good,” he answers distractedly. “Well, shitty. But you know what I mean. I’ll be better when I offload the Sebago house and get a fresh start. How’s Blaine? Is he ready?”
My stomach pitches. “The dumbass decided to be a hero and get himself arrested for someone else’s drugs.”
Kyle’s face appears, too close to the camera, and I find myself looking at his eyeball. “What do you mean? What happened? Will he be out by the time I get there? Do I need to find him a lawyer?”
“We’re fishing next weekend, Kyle. You coming out for a vacation to get away from your shit has nothing to do with it.” I sigh deeply. “But yeah, he’ll be out Monday. When I filed the report, I made sure to document it in the right way. You know, the way that make sure he’ll be able to cover his own ass when he realizes the mistake he made.”
“Wait.” Kyle’s eyebrow raises. “You’re the one who arrested him?”
I tell him about everything that happened at Rockabilly’s and about Blaine’s stubborn insistence that the drugs are his, even though he has a history with law enforcement.
“I’ll bail him out if I have to.” Kyle is already muttering under his breath. “But we’re gonna have to get a beer tomorrow when I get there. Shit’s gone crazy for both of us, apparently.”
I nod and then clear my throat. “Look, man, as much as I love bullshitting with you, I gotta get back to the station and clear out.” I don’t mention my last-minute date with the gray-eyed beauty. But only because he’ll want details, and I don’t even know her name.
Yet.
By the end of the night, I plan on knowing a hell of a lot more about her than just her name.
“I’ll see you tomorrow.” Kyle fiddles with his phone before finally hanging up.
By the time I get back to the station, shower, and change out of my uniform, I have a lot of complicated feelings. For the first time in my career, I don’t wear my uniform home. Nor do I take my cruiser. Instead, I walk into the parking lot and see my truck sitting there, shining in the pale-yellow lights from the parking lot lighting.
“I meant it.” Bunk appears at my side, still wearing his uniform. “If you change your mind and don’t wanna fight fires anymore, you know you’ve always got a spot with our troop.”
A nod is all I manage.
We’ll still be friends.
We’ll still barbecue and shoot the shit during the day or when we see each other for some community event.
But I’m saying goodbye to the troop.
And even if neither one of us says the words, we both know I won’t be coming back.
“I’ll see ya later.” I wave him off and get into my truck, turning back toward the Belfast Inn & Suites.
This time, I park right in front of her hotel room, thankful that she is on the bottom floor, and I check the clock on my dash.
When the bright-red light showing 9:58 blinks back at me, I smile.
“Right on time.”
Yes, I’m talking to myself, but that is perfectly okay. I’ve spent the majority of my time alone in my car over the last ten years. Talking to myself is literally the only way I get to hear my own voice some days.
The lights in her room are still on, shining through the thick curtains and creating an almost orange glow that illuminates the door.
“You’re here.”
My hand instinctively goes to my left hip, reaching for the taser that I always keep there, and then I remember it was turned in with the rest of my gear. At the same time, I realize that not only am I not in danger, but the voice coming from behind me is the one I’ve come to hear.
I turn around, and if it wasn’t ridiculously cheesy to admit, I’d say that she strikes me breathless.
For no other reason than the smile on her face. Her blond hair is wrapped in a simple braid, hanging over one shoulder. The light coming from her room along with the streetlights create a halo around her head that makes her appear almost ethereal. Not for the first time since I’ve seen her, I’m more than happy that no one else can read my mind.
“Hello, earth to Josh? I think that’s what Charlie called you at least.” She waves a hand in front of my face and snaps her fingers. “Are you in there? Or did I just walk in on you having second thoughts about taking a stranger out for a drink? Are you running away?”
Do I tell her that my dick is harder than a nail, pressed against my jeans, just begging to be let out? Or that I want to walk her into her hotel room and fuck her until neither of us can see straight?
No.
“I don’t do anything that I’ll regret in the morning,” I say with a half smile. “And yeah, my name is Josh. Josh Harmon. Nice to meet you…” I don’t say anything else because I don’t actually have her name.
“Nia. It’s nice to meet you too, Josh.”
Before things get awkward, I motion to the truck. “You wanna get that drink?”
She smiles broadly, and then I watch the devious look take over. “We could.” She pauses. “Or we could grab a few drinks and then play some poker.” She nods toward room 222.
Poker and drinks win out over my initial plan of taking her out for a drink. Faced with the option of Nia, alone in a hotel room with me and a deck of cards, I can’t say no. Which is probably how I end up almost naked while she still has on all her clothes an hour later as we play what turns into strip poker.
Her hotel room is immaculate, and I don’t even notice a suitcase or any sort of personal belongings, which surprises me since Nia said she’s here for the weekend. While she is lying on her stomach, using her arms and a well-placed pillow to hold her up, I stare at her chest and the cleavage from her shirt every chance I get, because I’m not sure if she’ll move and cover herself up at any moment. Her hair hangs forward, some of it having escaped her braid, and my mind keeps drifting to thoughts of it wrapped around my hand as I take her from behind.
“I think you’re a lot better at poker than you’re letting on,” I say after our third round, where she’s somehow managed to bluff her way into me taking off my shirt so that all I’m left in is my unbuttoned pants.
Nia’s sultry laugh fills the air around us, and it isn’t the little bit of alcohol I’ve had that puts the smile on my face while I look at her. It’s everything about her. Her scent. The way she smiles, like she has a secret that she is keeping from the rest of the world. It is the way she is more innocent than anyone else I’ve ever met, but dirtier, too. She is a contradiction wrapped in a blanket of desire aimed straight at my dick. My dick that literally hasn’t stopped throbbing since I first saw her tonight.
“I think you’re just bad at cards.” Nia taps the cards in her hand. “Either that or you just want to show off your body to get me naked.”
The playful edge to her words cuts through the sass and the insinuation that I’m trying to get her naked. “I thought you were the one to suggest strip poker.” I pick up my beer and take a small swig, watching the way her eyes follow my hands.
Another thought, this one of what I can do with a piece of ice on her skin, comes unbidden into my mind, and my mouth goes dry.
Her nipples would be so responsive to the cold.
“If you remember correctly, this wasn’t my idea.” Nia laughs and pulls my beer out of my hand. “I tried to invite you over to mess up the bed, without buying me a drink first.” She stares at my naked chest while drinking the beer she stole. “You can concede anytime you want.”
My mouth waters, thinking about every single thing I can possibly do to her, given the amount of time we still have throughout the night and into the next morning.
“One more hand?” I make the offer, keeping my eyes locked on hers, the challenge simple and everything that we both want. “Winner takes all?”
“Oh.” Nia smiles. “Now things are getting interesting.”