For three fucking months, images of her face covered in glass filled my nightmares. I recounted every single blink and relived the memories of wondering whether or not, this time, she’d reopen her eyes. My dreams were ruled by the girl with green eyes and red hair, and she was there, tonight, right then, in front of me. Her lips soft, and her taste was everything. I wanted to devour her, but we were in the middle of a dance floor, undoubtedly the center of everyone’s focus.

I was the first to break the connection, but I didn’t let go of her. Tugging her hand, I pulled away from the bikers, who were still hypnotized by her dance, and away from my interfering friends, who were far too interested in the girl who’d caught my eye. I wanted her alone and in my arms.

“Go out with me?” My voice cracking with this need building inside me. I wanted to taste her again, to finish what we’d started. I knew I couldn’t. I’d known Ariel for three months, but in reality, we’d just officially met. We were practically strangers. As much as I’d thought about her, I didn’t know if she’d thought about me or even knew who had helped her that day. I had never expected to run into her. If shit happened for a reason, then there was a reason we were both there tonight. I wasn’t letting this chance slip away.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.” She appeared less confident than she sounded.

“Why?”

“Listen, Kayson. I really appreciate everything you’ve done for me, and that kiss. Well, that kiss was great. It was more than great. It was . . .” She rubbed her lower lip as if trying to get the feeling of the kiss to return. A smile tugged at the corners of my mouth, and when she saw it, she pushed out a heavy breath. “Never mind what it was. I just don’t think that going out with you is a good idea.”

“Seems like the best one I’ve had in a while.” Her eyes flicked away from me, and I could almost hear the no that was on the tip of her tongue. “Ariel. Have dinner with me. One night, that’s all I’m asking. It’s the least you could do, considering I saved you.”

“You don’t play fair, do you?”

“Not really. So, what do you say? One meal as friends?” I tucked a wayward strand of hair behind her ear.

“Just one?” I nodded at her words, her resolve slipping. There was no way I was going to be friend zoned, not after a kiss like that. If she came to dinner with me, I planned to charm myself right into her heart.

Again, she let out a deep breath. “One dinner, but that’s it. I’m not ready for anything more.”

The moment she acquiesced, I seized on it and pulled my phone from my pocket. I unlocked it and offered it to her. “Call your phone, that way you’ll have my number as well.”

Ariel hesitated for a second before taking my phone. Her fingers moved hesitantly over each number. When I heard the sound of a nearby phone ringing I relaxed, she pressed end call on my phone and handed it back to me. I just jumped a huge fucking hurdle, and I knew it.

“Do you need my address?” she asked.

“I’m a deputy. I can figure it out.”

My hand rested perfectly at the curve in her lower back as I ushered her back to our group, Stella and Leo had fucking smirks on their faces, but by the looks on the guys’ faces, they had a stockpile of jabs ready to let fly.

Ariel took a seat next to Stella, “I’ll be right back, just going to talk with the guys.” Namely three guys, who’d hadn’t been here twenty minutes ago but were currently watching Ariel and me like we were some box office hit—my brothers. I sidestepped Eli, Carter, and the deputies and headed over.

“Is that her?” Damon asked. “She’s beautiful, red hair is sexy.”

“Someone care to explain where all you fuckers came from?”

“Kayson Michael Christakos.”

I recoiled at the sound of my mother’s voice. Meeting Ian’s eyes, I followed his line of sight to a phone in Damon’s hand. He had our mother on FaceTime.

“What are you doing?” I asked, the words sliding out through clenched teeth.

“You don’t tell me anything. Carter, that sweet boy.”

I looked over at Carter, and he was watching us with a grin on his face. I gave him a look that promised retribution.

“He texted your brother and informed him the girl was there. I sent them up to get pictures for me. You don’t give me pictures. You don’t bring her around to meet me. Are you embarrassed?”

I glared at them, but they cracked up.

Fuck, I was screwed. She piled on the infamous Greek guilt.

“No. Nothing like that, Mana. I haven’t seen her or even spoken to her since her accident. I had no clue that she was going to be here.”

“Yet, you were eating her face?”

“She just agreed to go out on a date with me. Okay. Give me a little breathing room. I will call you later. Love you. Bye.”

I reached for Damon’s phone and hit the button to end the call.

Really? I fucking needed new friends, new family. Fuck. Striding off, I heard Ian shout, “Thou doth protest too much.”

I had my badge on and wore an OCSO shirt, but I flipped him off anyway. Let someone file a citizen’s complaint. The satisfaction I got from raising my middle finger was worth any ass-reaming I’d get from my captain.

My gesture of love and appreciation was completely ignored, and they followed me over to the table. Thankfully, they didn’t swarm Ariel, and Stella helped to act as a barrier. I would have to send her some flowers or something for her help.

Around midnight, Ariel moved around the group, saying goodbye to Piper, Leo, Carter and, even my brothers. When she got to me, I asked, “Humor me, let me escort you home. I won’t press to come in, just see that you get there safely?”

She paused for a second before agreeing, “That’d be nice. I live off Conroy Windermere. Not far.”

I didn’t want to tell her that I knew exactly where she lived or that I drove past it every day on my way to and from work since I lived five miles past her.

Our bikes were parked on opposite sides of the building, so I followed her to her Sportster and then pushed her bike so that we could talk. It was bizarre to have her there, so close.

“How long have you lived in Orlando?” I asked.

“A year.”

“What brought you here?” Even under the darkness of night, I could tell this was a bad memory. Her eyes glistened.

“Life just sort of went pear shape for me. I lost my mama. I needed a fresh start. Orlando seemed like the kind of place I could get lost in.”

“Oh, sweet, I’m sorry for your loss.” I wasn’t sure what else to say, I still had my parents plus a large family that invaded my privacy and forced me to remember that they did it because they loved me. “Do you have any other family?”

“Nope. It was just the two of us.”

We walked the rest of the way in silence, and when we were at my bike, I popped her kickstand to set the bike up. She watched me as I unclasped her helmet from her handlebars and fastened it on her head. The tears she’d fought so valiantly to hold back pooled in her eyes, and I swiped them away with the pads of my thumbs. She let out a tiny laugh that was probably meant to cover up how upset she was about her mother, so I didn’t ask her if she was okay. Instead, I dropped my hands to her shoulders, offering silent support.

“I’ll be right behind you, okay?”

She nodded. We started our engines and pulled out of the parking lot.

Following her was the worst idea I had ever had. I was hard as a rock. Concentrating on the way her legs splayed out around that big engine and each time she shifted, her back arched and her hips thrust. Holy fuck, I had seat envy.

We pulled into her apartment complex, and I couldn’t rip my eyes away as she planted a foot on one peg, rested her weight on her right foot, and rotated. She moved like a dancer, her body spinning, her left leg came up and over the back of her bike until it rested on the ground and she faced me.

“Thanks for making sure I got home safe,” she said, slipping her helmet off.

I got off my bike and stood next to her, my hand holding on to the back of her head.

“Blink your lights for me when you get in so I know that you’re safe, okay?”

I was raised to be a gentleman, walk a lady to her door. But I didn’t want to scare her or come across too pushy. Plus, I was so hard that I didn’t think that I could walk. Before I let her go, I gave her a quick good night kiss.

Ariel had no clue, but she swaggered when she walked. It wasn’t a lot, just enough that my eyes were naturally drawn to her hips and their side-to-side motion as she entered her building.

Her lights flashed, and I saw her in an upstairs window.

Pulling out my phone, I sent her a text.

Me: See you soon. Night, sweet.

I made it all of seven hours before I sent her another text.

Me: Morning, Ariel.

Ariel: Good morning.

Fourteen hours later.

Me: I’m just getting off shift. You still up?

Ariel: Yep.

Me: Hungry?

Ariel: Starving.

That was good, because I was sitting in her parking lot with a large pizza in my passenger seat. When I ordered it, I had every intention of bringing it home and eating it there. Apparently, my subconscious had a different idea, because I had driven to her place instead.

I made my way up to her apartment, but second-guessed myself before I could knock. What if I was moving too fast? But the fucking hot box of pizza from Antonio’s smelled so good and I hadn’t eaten since lunch. When my stomach made a gurgling sound that echoed through the hallway outside her apartment, I rapped on the door.

The smile on her face when she opened assured me that this was right.

“Dinner?” I strode into her tiny apartment and set the box on the counter. It wasn’t hard to find my way around since everything was in plain sight. “Plates?”

“Is this our date?”

“No. I said go out, this is me coming in.” I wasn’t letting her get off the hook so easy. I had this planned out. I wanted her to get to know me, and if that meant me coming to her, us talking on the phone, and texting to get her caught up to where I was, then so be it.

“Semantics. Hmm, switching words around, are you sure you aren’t a dirty cop?”

I lifted one brow at her question because that could be taken two different ways. No, I wasn’t a crooked cop, but yes, I wanted to do dirty things with her, lots and lots of dirty things.

“Oh, shut up, you know what I’m talking about.” Her face was brighter than her hair when she'd figured out where my mind went.

“Yes, I know what you meant. I’m not crooked or dishonest. I just want to get to know you.” I’d been opening her cabinets as we bantered until I found her plates. After pulling down two, I opened the box to thick slices of Chicago style pizza and placed a slice on each plate.

“Want a bottle of water?” Ariel opened her fridge. “Or I have Cocola.”

“Cocola?” She stuck out her tongue, my brain thought it was cute, my lower half thought something totally different.

“Coke Cola, don’t make fun of my accent.”

“I’ll take a Coke.” We carried our plates into the living room and she turned the volume down on the television. “What are we watching?”

“Real Housewives.”

“How do you watch this shit? Carter’s sister watches this crap.”

“I know, who do you think got me hooked? But, oh my god, this one’s husband is having an affair, which is so typical, right?”

I didn’t respond to her comment, but it was a breadcrumb and I’d take it.

“And the blonde right there, she’s the richest of all of them, and she’s somehow related to the Kennedy’s and has all of these connections.” She took a bite of pizza without looking away from the hot mess happening on the screen. I had zero interest in what she was saying, but I would listen to her read the dictionary if it meant she would keep talking. I loved the sound of her voice.

By ten o’clock, the pizza was gone and Ariel was tucked against my side, passed out. I hated to wake her, but I needed to get up in eight hours for work. So, I slipped out from her hold, careful not to jostle her, and knelt in front of her. “Hey, Ariel.” I whispered. When her eyes fluttered open, I continued, “Hey, I have to go. Will you follow me to the door and lock up?”

Slowly, she did as I asked, and after the door was closed tightly behind me, I stood until the clunking sound of a deadbolt twisted into position.

* * *

The next night, I didn’t get off shift until late so I called her as I pulled back the covers and crawled into bed.

“How was your day?” I asked, wanting to hear her voice.

“I had to deal with some bridezilla who was pissed off because she ordered a wedding dress from a magazine and when it arrived it didn’t look like the picture?”

“Was she scammed?” People got scammed all the time. Hell, Florida led the country on scammers, especially those that wanted to take advantage of all the snowbirds.

“No, it is the exact same dress. Her problem is that the model is nearly six feet tall and flat chested. My client is not much taller than me and gifted in the chest area, so the dress makes her look like a burrito.” I let out a laugh at the image she painted.

“Did you calm her down?”

“Yes, but I wouldn’t doubt it if she goes and gets a second opinion just to be sure. Enough about me, how was your day? You sound exhausted.”

“I am. Today was a nightmare. I wish parents would sit their kids down and explain to them that there is a difference between an action movie and real life.”

“You’ve lost me.” She let out a yawn, and I chuckled.

“We had two college boys from UCF trying to reenact one of those street racing scenes down the interstate. Aiden, one of the guys on our squad saw them and called it in. There were so many cars around that it wasn’t safe to do a high-speed chase, so we had to set up several road blocks, but they flew through us and refused to stop. When they passed me, I clocked them at over a hundred miles an hour.”

“Holy shit.”

“Holy shit is right. When we finally caught them, we had to pull them from their cars at gunpoint. They figured we were just going to give them speeding tickets, not arrest them and impound their cars.” A soft hum vibrated into the phone, I didn’t want to hang up even though she was asleep. Laying the phone against my ear I closed my eyes.