Chapter 6
TWO MONTHS LATER
“No, no, no!” Deputy Yates yelled across the sand. “Just because he’s your boyfriend doesn’t mean you automatically get him on your team.”
“I think that’s exactly what that means,” Bel shouted back.
“Not so fast, Emerson,” Griffin chimed in. “Adding Mr. Stone to your team will give you an unfair advantage.”
“What?” Bel shifted the volleyball to her hip. “Afraid you can’t handle a tall opponent?”
“Tall?” Yates scoffed. “Yeah, sure, that’s it.” He gave the bathing-suit-clad Eamon an exaggerated once-over, not that he needed to. The sheen of sweat reflecting the sunlight highlighted every curved muscle of his powerful frame, making it painfully obvious that he was the opponent to beat.
“Well, I’m still team captain, and it’s my turn to pick,” Bel said.
“Yes, a cop pick,” Griffin argued. “This is the Police Department Fourth of July party. No civilians until all officers have been assigned.”
“Why, so you can steal him?”
“How about he decides for himself?” Eamon surged forward to grab Bel’s waist, wrestling the volleyball from her before jogging to the opposite side of the net, Cerberus chasing hard on his heels. “Let’s make it interesting and put money down on the game. Me against the entire police department.”
“Now that’s a bet I can get behind.” Yates smirked, the other deputies chiming in with their agreement.
“I wouldn’t take that bet. It’s not the sure win you think it is,” Griffin whispered so that only Bel heard.
“Come on, it’ll be fun.” Eamon spiked the ball, pretending his hearing hadn’t picked up the sheriff’s muttered sentiments, and Bel almost wiped out trying to catch it before her pitbull did.
“Stop teasing the dog with this.” She ducked under the net to return it to her boyfriend. “He’ll ruin it if he catches it.”
“So let him pop it.” Eamon caught her waist and tugged her mostly bare body against his. “I brought extras just for that reason.” He launched the volleyball across the sand, sending it flying down the lake’s beach for Cerberus to chase before kissing Bel until her coworkers whistled suggestively.
“All right, all right, you guys can have him.” She turned pink as she returned to her team. “He’ll probably throw the game so I win anyway.”
“He wouldn’t dare.” Griffin thumped Eamon’s back in triumph. “You would hate winning by default.”
“You’re right.” Bel aimed her pointer and index fingers at her eyes before flipping them on Eamon. “Don’t insult me by letting me win. When I beat you, I want everyone to know it’s because I’m that good.”
“You are that good, Detective.” Eamon winked as the officers took their positions. “Too bad it’s not enough to beat me.”
“Sorry, Emerson!” Griffin shouted. “But you are going down.”
“Maybe not.” Olivia appeared beside her, and Bel’s heart stumbled at her partner’s voluntary closeness.
It had been over six months since their falling out over Eamon and Ewan’s truths, but the hostility brewing between them seemed to have defrosted with the winter snows.
Or maybe it was just the atmosphere of Independence Day at the lake.
With all the deaths of the past year, and with the Ariella Triton case growing cold, Griffin decided that the Bajka Police Department needed an afternoon of pure fun.
The rookies had drawn the short straw and were manning the station, but the rest of the exhausted officers had gathered on the packed lake’s shore to barbecue, swim, play overly competitive games, and chase Cerberus away from the burgers.
“Bel, as team captain, you can pick one more player.” Olivia nodded to the sand’s outskirts, where a mountain of a rugged man stood watching with Violet.
“Ewan?” Bel gawked at her partner. They’d graduated from enemies to work acquaintances, but she’d yet to forgive her ex-boyfriend for his lies. By all accounts, she hated him.
“Don’t read into it,” Olivia whispered. “I just want to win, and we all know Eamon will murder us.”
“He’s not stupid,” Bel said. “He’ll make sure his team wins, but he won’t draw attention to himself… well, more than he has being six foot five and carved out of pure muscle.”
“Get a room.” Olivia rolled her eyes. “Still, I want a fighting chance. The bear against… whatever he is.”
Bel raised her eyebrows.
“I said, don’t read into it,” Olivia hissed.
“Fine.” Bel caught her boss in her gaze. “We want Ewan.”
“That would give you an extra player,” Griffin argued.
“Oh, let her have him.” Eamon accepted the mauled ball from Cerberus and launched it back across the shore before grabbing a fresh one. “We’ll still win.”
“He’s right,” Ewan said as he jogged into position. “I could never beat him.”
“I know.” Bel shrugged. “Maybe I’ll play dirty.” She blew Eamon a kiss as she settled into her starting stance, but he just rolled his eyes.
“Don’t do it,” he mouthed at her, which only drove her to bend over slightly and pose to give him a better view of all his favorite curves. “Don’t,” he mouthed again. “I can play dirty too.”
“Bring it, big guy.” She winked at him. And he brought it, beating her team so soundly that not even Ewan could manage much against him.
“My god!” Yates panted from his collapsed position on the sand. “Thanks for helping us win, but what on earth was that? Did you play in college?”
“Something like that.” Eamon helped the deputy off the ground before joining Bel by the coolers.
“Did you really play in college?” she asked, dumping the ice water down her overheated chest, and Eamon didn’t hide how much he enjoyed watching the droplets race down her skin.
“Sometimes, sure,” he said, catching the rivulets rolling down her belly in his fingers before gesturing for Bel to look at her pitbull lying spread-eagle in the shade. “I played pro before the internet was a thing, too.”
“Really? What sports?”
“You name it.”
“You’ve mentioned Rome and the gladiator games.” She crossed the beach to offer Cerberus his water bowl. “So, you were alive during the original Olympics too. Did you compete?”
“Picturing me running naked, Detective?”
“Always.”
“No, I didn’t participate, sorry.” He scratched her dog’s heaving ribs.
“Sports didn’t hold my interest then. I was still too much of a monster.
I preferred the Colosseum and all the blood Rome had to offer.
But I had my fun a few decades ago. I could never play pro now, though, which is a bummer.
Football is a blast when you’re my size, but it’s too public. ”
“I’ll tackle you.” Bel lunged for him, and without missing a beat, he scooped her into his arms.
“I’ll babysit your hot puppy if you want,” Violet called, still managing to look pristine in her all-black bathing attire despite the scathing heat. “We can nap in the shade together while you go for a walk… or a swim to cool down.”
“We that obvious?” Bel smirked at her friend.
“I would say no, but….” She dragged the word out with a smile. “You’re making me feel very single.”
“I thought you’d sworn off men?”
“Yeah, well, a girl can only be so strong when surrounded by cute, shirtless cops… but I already tried dating an officer, and that turned out fantastically, so I’m going to cozy up to the only man I trust. Come on, Baby Beast. Do you want a burger?
” She tapped her leg, but Cerberus was already moving, his brain wired to respond to the three words ‘do you want?’.
“But you’ll have to eat off a fork because I am not touching meat…
unless you want to share my black bean burger. ”
“So he can fart in our bed all night?” Eamon laced his fingers through Bel’s and tugged her toward the water. “No beans for Mr. Piggy, but he’s good at eating with a fork. I think it’s funny when he eats like that, so we practice.”
“Huh…” Violet pinched her brows at the hulking man. “Okay, burger on a fork it is.”
“What did I say?” Eamon directed his question at Bel.
“Nothing… you’ve just started talking like Cerberus is your dog lately. I’ve noticed it, and I think she just did too.”
“Why, because I don’t want to give him gas?”
“It’s the way you said it. You didn’t wait for me to answer about his diet before speaking.”
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to overstep.”
“You didn’t.” Bel tugged her hand free and wrapped her arm around his waist. “It’s not a bad thing. It’s just funny. At some point, he stopped being only my dog.”
“He’s your boy. He always will be.”
“And I will die on that hill, but I don’t think you’re as opposed to kids as you claim to be. You like the idea of having a furkid with me.”
“Furkids I can do.” He kissed her forehead. “I love the dog. He smells like you. He acts like you. Sometimes, I think he even looks like you. I love having him around.”
“I do not have a meaty face.” Bel feigned shocked outrage.
“It’s the eyes.” Eamon bumped her hip to set her straight. “You have blue eyes, and he has brown, but to me, they’re windows to the same soul. So yeah, I guess I’ve started thinking of him as mine, but only because you’re mine.”
“Looking into his eyes is like looking into my soul?” Bel shook her head. “You, sir, have it bad.”
“I know. I’ve been trying to tell you that.”
“And I don’t mind that you think of him as your dog. I thought it would bother me, sharing my little soulmate with someone else, but you don’t make me feel territorial. You love him the way I love him, so I like the idea that we’re his parents.”
“You like that I’m his built-in babysitter for when you work long hours.”
“Yeah, that too.” She swatted his abs, but he caught her wrist and tossed her over his shoulder, and before she could protest, they were careening down the beach to crash into the water.
“A little warning next time!” Bel sputtered when they resurfaced.
“Please, you knew I was going to dunk you the second we aimed this way.” Eamon tugged her close until her legs wrapped around his waist and slid a slow kiss over her scars. “Want to swim out where no one can see us?”