CHAPTER 1
May
I push open the door to the coffee shop and my eyes immediately find him.
He’s in the corner, his back to the wall, and those piercing brown eyes of his lock on mine. His hands are steepled, his posture upright and his gaze intense.
If he’s trying to look like a civilian he’s doing a poor job of it, not that I’d ever want him to look like anything he isn’t.
And what he is is one of L.A.’s toughest cops. And to roam these mean streets you have to look even meaner and be prepared to deal with anything that comes your way, no matter the size of the threat.
But size doesn’t matter when you’re already the biggest, baddest, lion in the concrete jungle. He strikes fear into bad guys and strikes a different kind of feeling inside women all over town.
And it’s easy to see why. Everything about him screams alpha. From his well groomed beard that covers his square jawline right down to his thick neck and hulking shoulders.
And his chest? It’s been famous for years. Ever since the L.A.P.D. picked twelve officers for their charity calendar years ago. At least half the ladies in town were stuck on January the entire year. Whoever put that calendar together knew the number one rule of publishing…lead with your strongest piece.
And a piece of him is exactly what I’d always wanted.
When I was in high school I suddenly had a whole lot of new “friends” once they found out my dad’s best friend was Police Sergeant Steven Shield. But I had an imaginary shield of my own, keeping the other girls back so I could have him all for myself. At least in my dreams that is.
But only in my dreams is where he’s stayed these last few years. I haven’t seen much of him since my parent’s funeral. He calls to check up on me and I just might have recorded that deep baritone voice of his a time or two, but laying eyes on him is a different story. At least seeing him in the flesh that is.
From time to time I, um, do pull out that calendar and have some me time with it, but since I went all the way to the East Coast for college that calendar is as close as I’ve got to getting a look at him…until now.
And the man hasn’t changed one bit.
He must be, what? Forty-one now? I do the math in my head pretending like I don’t know his birthday off the top of my head. It’s the combination to the lock on my bike I ride to and from campus but the real combination is the one he’s holding to my heart, not that he knows it.
Like a star struck fool, I’ve been saving myself for the only man I really ever had these kinds of feelings for. Even through four years of college living in co-ed dorms, going to events where alcohol was consumed, and knowing plenty of very attractive guys I was never tempted once. They just didn’t have that same “it” factor that he does.
There’s just something about the way he wears that badge, not that most people would know. He keeps it fixed to his belt right on his hip bones which form that line on either side of his twelve-pack-abs and lead right down to the biggest prize of all. And oh is it ever big.
How could I ever forget that time he got promoted and he and my dad got three sheets to the wind before deciding it would be a good idea to strip down to their underwear and jump into the next-door-neighbor’s pool?
He had on a pair of white Calvin Klein boxer briefs and when he came out of that water I could see everything. Every single inch, and let’s just say I hope he had a permit for that thing because it was definitely a concealed weapon.
It was after my junior year of high school, but there was nothing “junior” about his manhood. He was full grown and then some, and that image that shocked me at the time stayed with me all these years since, foolishly thinking maybe one day I’d get a chance to see it up close and personal.
I’d lived the fantasy plenty of times. He’d push me up against the wall and tell me to spread ‘em and then he’d put that nightstick right in between my legs.
Oh how I dreamed of that moment, but these last few weeks my dreams had turned to nightmares.
And that’s what I was here to talk with him about. If there’s anyone on earth who can help me it’s him.
But I know he’s not ready for what little ol’ me is about ready to propose.